MelM

all messages by user

7/20/2015 Topic: Advice regarding Citizenship (June, 2015) MelM	And just to be clear, you would follow this process to apply: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/become.asp
7/21/2015 Topic: Can I re-enter Canada as a Permanent Resident? MelM	You are confusing the new citizenship residency rules with PR residency rules. There is no 183 rule when it comes to PR residency requirements (this is a citizenship rule).
7/21/2015 Topic: PR card Questions MelM	The processing time for new PR cards is currently 84 calendar days. So you still have a number of weeks to wait until you receive yours. I assume you hold a non-visa exempt passport. If so, then you can re-enter Canada using your COPR provided you travel in a private vehicle (e.g. friend's car) when you cross the border. You must avoid commercial transportation (e.g. airplane, bus). Otherwise your only other option is to apply for a Travel Document once you are in the US to allow you to return to Canada. You cannot apply for a TD from within Canada. You must wait until you are in the US.
7/30/2015 Topic: Re-entering Canada after Landing in 2014 MelM	Keep in mind that you will have to sponsor your family for PR if you want them to live in Canada as well. In order to sponsor your family for PR, you must meet the residency requirement. In addition, if you do not have citizenship, you must be living in Canada when the application is submitted and you must continue living in Canada while the application is being process (until the application is approved). You can take short trips outside of Canada while the application is being processed, but you can't live in another country.
8/5/2015 Topic: Canadian Born Mother- How do I obtain citizenship? MelM	Instructions are here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof-how.asp You'll need to include proof of your mother's birth in Canada (e.g. birth certificate).
8/13/2015 Topic: Visit/Study Permit during Spouse Sponsorship MelM	Yes - she can certainly apply for a study permit or visitor visa. It does tend to be more difficult to be approved if you have a spouse who is Canadian and who has sponsored you for PR (since CIC know you have plans to eventually remain in Canada long term). However you can certainly give it a shot. If she is applying for a study permit, she should make sure the education she plans to complete in Canada makes sense in light of her previous education and work experience.
8/14/2015 Topic: Eligibility to Maintain OHIP Coverage - Questions MelM	No - you won't have OHIP coverage when you return to Canada. To maintain OHIP coverage you must be physically present in Ontario for 153 days in any 12-month period. Since you don't meet this requirement, you will have to wait for three months after your return to Canada before you will once again qualify for OHIP coverage.
8/17/2015 Topic: How can They Get Health Insurance Again? MelM	Since they were outside of Canada for such a long time and lost coverage, they will have to wait until they have resided in Canada for three months before they will qualify for health care coverage again. Once they have lived in Canada for three months, they should have no issues getting coverage. During the three month waiting period, they will either have to pay for any care out of pocket or purchase private insurance to cover themselves.
8/17/2015 Topic: How can I get my COPR and Status back? MelM	Can you provide additional details regarding why your COPR was taken and landing refused? What exactly were the officer's concerns? Did he believe you have a spouse / common law partner even though your COPR states you are single? Or did he have a different concern?
8/20/2015 Topic: Very Old Elevators MelM	The first person you should contact to express your concerns is the property manager. If you want to take this issue further after speaking with your property manager, I would recommend you read through the Questions and Answers on the TSSA web site (the TSSA is responsible for elevator safety regulations). https://www.tssa.org/regulated/elevating/generalSafetyQuestons.aspx Note that it is entirely possible the elevators are completely safe even though they are older. Ontario has many buildings with old elevators that function perfectly. You may also want to look inside of the elevator to see if there is a notice posted regarding when the elevator was last inspected. If the last inspection was recent, then the TSSA has confirmed the elevator is safe for use.
8/22/2015 Topic: Same Digits? - OHIP and SIN MelM	No - they are not the same. They are two completely different numbers.
8/24/2015 Topic: ECA evaluation for CIC purposes MelM	It means your education is not recognized by Canada and you will not receive points for this education under Express Entry.
8/25/2015 Topic: Enter High School as an International Student? MelM	You should expect to pay approximately $15K a year to attend a public high school in Canada as an international student. To obtain a study permit, you will first have to find a Canadian high school willing to accept you as a student. When you apply for the study permit, you will need to show a bank balance of at least $25K to show that you have enough funds to cover the tuition and also an additional $10K for living expenses. Note that you will not be able to work while attending high school in Canada.
9/10/2015 Topic: What are our Chances for Undeclared Children? MelM	You have to declare all children under the age of 19 even if they are non-accompanying. Failing to do so is misrepresentation (lying in your application) which will guarantee a refusal and may also result in a 5 year ban from Canada. When you say "during the call with immigration" are you referring to CIC? It's not all that clear in your post. If you have actually already submitted your application with the misrepresentation and CIC has called you on it - then you need to explain why you omitted the children, apologize for this mistake and include corrected forms with all of the children and their information listed (even though they are non accompanying). Even if you do this, there is certainly still a significant chance CIC will refuse your application because you committed misrepresentation in your original application. Note that if your immigration stream requires proof of funds, you will have to make sure that you have sufficient proof of funds to cover all of your dependents (both accompanying and non accompanying). This means you'll need to be able to show proof of funds to cover 8 people.
9/11/2015 Topic: What are our Chances for Undeclared Children? MelM	The Manila visa office is CIC (the Manila visa office is CIC's local office in Manila). So the bearing is the same. There is always some chance you may be able to mitigate the situation - and you should certainly try. However if you submitted an application without declaring children, this is a clear case of misrepresentation and it's quite possible CIC will treat it as such. Good luck.