MelM

all messages by user

2/5/2015 Topic: Renewal of PR in July 2015 MelM	Yes - even with a house and family in Canada you must still meet the 730 day residency requirement in order to renew your PR card. How long it may take for your wife to sponsor you if you lose your PR status depends on where you are from (your home country). You can get an idea of processing times here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp
2/6/2015 Topic: Sponsorship of a Nephew MelM	The short answer to all of your questions is no. CIC no longer recognizes adoptions from Pakistan. The nephew cannot be sponsored. See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2013-07-01.asp
2/6/2015 Topic: Renewal of PR in July 2015 MelM	No - you cannot send your application to any country you wish. You can only pick your home country (country of your citizenship) or the country where you are living now (as long as you were admitted to that country for at least one year).
2/16/2015 Topic: Undeclared Child - Options? MelM	An undeclared child can never be sponsored. What were the circumstances? Why wasn't the child declared?
2/20/2015 Topic: Permanent Residency Expired MelM	What do you mean by "cancelled"? Can you provide more information? If your PR status was really cancelled - then moving to Canada and renewing PR is not an option. You would have to apply for PR again from scratch under the current immigration programs and criteria.
3/9/2015 Topic: Visitor Visa for Mother - What should I apply for? MelM	In order to apply for a super visa, you will need to meet minimum income requirements and this income will have to come from Canadian sources. In other words, to apply for a super visa, you will need to have a job in Canada that meets the low income cut off. A super visa will allow your mother to visit Canada for a prolonged period of time - but technically not live in Canada. Alternatively your mother can apply for a regular visitor visa. There is no income requirement on your part for a regular visitor visa. A visitor visa will allow your mother to visit you in Canada for a few months (but once again, will not allow your mother to live with you in Canada). There is nothing stopping you from applying to sponsor your spouse and also having your mother apply for a visitor visa (either super or regular) at the same time. A visitor visa will be processed faster than permanent residency sponsorship.
3/11/2015 Topic: Questions about the Sponsorship Undertaking MelM	You won't be able to go on welfare for three years from the time your husband becomes a PR without being forced to pay this money back to the government. You will have to declare yourself as married when you apply for welfare and you will be assessed as a couple based on your joint income (you can't apply as single). When you sponsored your husband, you stated that you would be financially responsible for him for a three year period. So if you go on welfare during this time, this will put you in violation of the agreement you signed and you'll be responsible for repaying any money you receive.
3/18/2015 Topic: Renewal of PR Status MelM	In order to keep your PR status, you must live in Canada for 2 out of every 5 rolling years. Since you have been outside of Canada for 3 years, you now need to remain in Canada for 2 years straight to be certain you can keep your PR status. It doesn't matter when your PR card was renewed. The PR obligation is a rolling obligation. So yes - if you leave now for another three years - you could very well put your PR status in jeopardy.
3/29/2015 Topic: Citizenship Physical Presence Requirement MelM	No - you can't. You need physical presence in Canada to qualify to apply for Canadian citizenship. The time you spent outside of Canada with your wife can be counted towards keeping your PR status. It cannot be counted towards citizenship - for that you need to actually live here.
3/31/2015 Topic: Citizenship Physical Presence Requirement MelM	The web site you've referenced isn't an official web site - but rather a petition that someone has put together. The information about how current laws are applied is extremely misleading. Currently, if you have less than 1095 days of physical presence you must appear in front of a judge to argue why citizenship should be granted even though you don't meet the physical residency requirement. If you are short a handful of days (i.e. less than 5 days) - there's a small chance the judge will approved citizenship (although generally people are refused if they are even 1 days short). In your case, for all practical purposes, you have almost no physical residency days in Canada and you're guaranteed a refusal. There's no chance citizenship will be approved with so few days spent in Canada. You'll be wasting $500.
4/2/2015 Topic: Bring my Pregnant Wife to Canada on Visitor Visa MelM	There is insurance available to cover the cost of delivery - however you can only purchase it before pregnancy (i.e. it has to be purchased at least 10 months before the baby is born). So since your wife is already pregnant, you will have to bear the costs of the deliver and pre-delivery care. You can significantly lower the costs for the birth by having the baby at home with the assistance of a mid-wife. If you wish the birth to take place at a hospital - I would budget $7K. I would definitely not mention the pregnancy on the visitor visa application - this will most likely lead to refusal. Also, your wife should travel to Canada before she is visibly pregnant. Sometimes pregnant travelers are refused entry into Canada if CIC believes they are specifically coming here to deliver a baby.
4/5/2015 Topic: Renewing Work Permit - Sponsorship MelM	You can certainly renew your work permit. However in order to do so your employer first needs to obtain an approved LMIA.
4/14/2015 Topic: Can I renew my PR Card when not meeting residency? MelM	1 & 2) It could take a number of months for CIC to make a decision. 3) It's impossible for any of us to say if they will waive the days or not. It depends on the strength of the evidence you were able to provide. Note that it's 142 days they will have to waive (not 70). The number of residency days is locked in at the time your application is recieved. Residency days you accummulate after the application is submitted do not count towards the total.
4/25/2015 Topic: New Residency Requirements for Citizenship MelM	It's the date your application is physically received by CIC. This is the date that determines which rule you fall under (i.e. old or new).
4/29/2015 Topic: Travel outside Canada during Sponsorship MelM	There is nothing you can do to guarantee you will be allowed back into Canada. Since you are a visa exempt visitor - chances are extremely high you will be allowed back in without issues. But again, there's no way to guarantee this. Have you already submitted your sponsorship application? If not, applying outland would be the far better way to go.