MelM

all messages by user

10/28/2014 Topic: How can I Find/Get a Start-Up or Survival Job? MelM	Unfortunately it's impossible to say what maximum time it may take for you to secure a job in the IT or aerospace fields. Some immigrants are able to secure jobs in their fields in a matter of days/weeks of arriving in Canada. Others may search years or end up in different lines of work entirely because they are unable to secure employment in their field. The experience is very individual - and for this reason it's impossible to give you a time frame.
10/31/2014 Topic: Travel to U.S. count as travel Outside Canada? MelM	Yes - of course it would (for both PR residency and citizenship residency purposes). Canada and the US are two completely separate countries.
11/3/2014 Topic: Entering with Expired PR card MelM	It depends what type of passport you hold. If you hold a visa exempt passport, go ahead and re-enter using any kind of transportation. If you hold a non-visa exempt passport, then the transportation you use must be non-commercial / private (e.g. a friend's car). And yes, it does make a difference.
11/4/2014 Topic: Sponsorship Default - Questions MelM	He cannot obtain a work permit or any papers through you. In order to obtain a work permit he will have to find an employer who is willing to give him a full time job. That employer will then have to obtain an approved LMIA (you should expect this part of the process to take at least three months - maybe more). Once the LMIA is approved, your partner will then be able to apply for a work permit.
11/5/2014 Topic: Ineligibility Issue - Sponsorship MelM	I think it's impossible for any of us to say if CIC will revoke your PR status or not. Whether CIC pursues this is their decision. Based on the very few cases I've seen, it appears that CIC typically does not revoke PR status. However you are left with the problem that you can never sponsor your spouse for PR. As for the appeal question, appealing is only worthwhile if CIC was wrong in their finding - and you married your spouse AFTER you landed and became a PR of Canada. If you did in fact marrry your spouse before landing, then you were correctly refused by CIC and an appeal won't succeed. In that case your spouse should focus on immigrating to Canada independently (e.g. as a skilled worker).
11/5/2014 Topic: Ineligibility Issue - Sponsorship MelM	No - he has absolutely no case. It doesn't matter what his status was when he submitted the application - this is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what his status was when he landed in Canada and became a permanent resident. When a person recieves their permanent resident visa/CORP, the accompanying letter very clearly spells out the fact that you need to report any changes in family composition (this includes marriage, birth) to the visa office prior to landing.
11/11/2014 Topic: Sponsoring Spouse after Re-uniting - Possible? MelM	1. As long as your spouse was medically examined as part of your application, you can submit a new application to sponsor her. 2. No - you don't need to update your citizenship application. 3. You can apply right away. 4. If you are bankrupt, then you can apply for citizenship but you cannot sponsor your spouse and children for immigration. In order to sponsor your spouse and children, you must wait until the bankruptcy has been discharged.
11/14/2014 Topic: Sponsoring While Working Outside Canada -Possible? MelM	If you are a Canadian citizen, then no issues. If you are a permanent resident, then you should keep your trips outside of Canada to three weeks at most and avoid being away frequently. Otherwise CIC may say you are no longer residing in Canada and refuse the sponsorship application.
11/14/2014 Topic: What does Full time Employment mean?- OHIP MelM	Full time hours are defined as a minimum of 30 hours per week. Your nanny is working part time only.
11/18/2014 Topic: PR Assigned to Work Abroad MelM	Your business trip days cannot be counted as days in Canada.Business trips abroad do not count towards either your PR residency calculation or your citizenship residency calculation. If your company had moved you to a permanent position outside of Canada (e.g. moved you to a different country for several years), then you would be able to count this time towards your PR residency requirement (but not towards citizenship). Unfortunately business trips count as time spent outside of Canada for both PR residency and citizenship residency requirements.
11/19/2014 Topic: Period outside Canada - PR Issues MelM	No - the PR residency obligation is not changing in 2015. Only the citizenship residency requirement is changing. No - it is not true that you have to return to Canada after six months outside of Canada. Again, the rules for PR aren't changing.
11/19/2014 Topic: WES Result - Non Recognized Institution MelM	Points are only awarded for education that is recognized. This means that you will only recieve points for the degrees/diplomas that are recognized in the ECA. So if WES did not recognize your institution, then CIC will award you no points for the degree or diploma you received from the non-recognized institution.
11/28/2014 Topic: Can Children from Visa-Free Country go to School? MelM	Your children will need to pay foreign student fees to attend public elementary school (whether they are visa exempt or not is immaterial). You should expect these fees to be around $13K per child per year. I don't know if the school board will allow you to pay only half of the fee if your children are only attending half of the school year. You will have to speak with the school board to find out. The school board may also ask that your children obtain study permits. Finally, schools are sometimes at capacity and can't accommodate foreign students (only domestic students). So you should speak with the school you plan to attend as soon as possible to determine if they have spots for your children, if they need study permits, and how much you can expect to pay in fees (full year or half year).
12/3/2014 Topic: Sponsoring my Boyfriend from the UK MelM	I think it's highly unlikely CIC will consider you common law since there has been such a significant break between the time you lived together and now. Unfortunately getting engaged won't make a difference. To qualify for sponsorship, you either need to get married first or live together for a year to be classified as common law again.
12/4/2014 Topic: Tax Calculation MelM	You can find a good list of what taxable income includes here: http://www.taxtips.ca/glossary/taxableincome.htm