PR card! PLEASE HELP !!

[Christine]

Hi there, I am christine and from Vietnam. My boyfriend is Canadian. We are planning to get married next year in Vietnam. He will sponsor me and we will go for the outland application.
I am wondering that
1/ Can i travel to canada when the outland application is processing? (I am holding a TRV which is multiple)
2/ if my PR application gets approved, do I have to get the PR card in the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam? or I can get it in Canada?
3/ if we do all of the marriage paperwork in Vietnam, do we need to do it again in Canada or we just need to get our Vietnamese paperwork translated ?

If anyone has some experience with that please help us. Your advice would be deeply appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.
Christine

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi Christine,
Let me try to answer your questions:
[list type=decimal]
[*]If you have a valid visitor visa, you can travel to Canada during the processing of an outland application. It is possible that CBSA will not let you enter if they believe you will overstay, however.
[*]What happens when you are approved for PR is you receive a document (often called a "PR visa" by people") which gives you a fixed length of time to come to Canada. When you land in Canada within that timeframe, you officially become a permanent resident, and your PR Card is automatically in process. It will be mailed to your Canadian address on file and most people receive it within 2 months.
[*]You just need to get the marriage certificate translated (notarized translations are better) for use in Canada.
[/list]

 

[Christine]

I see. Thank you so much for your answer . It helps me a lot.
I have one more thing that I want to make sure about the PR visa.
If I get approved, where will i get the PR visa? and How does it work? Is it possible for me to get it in Canada as well? Thank you a lot!

Christine

 

[Riley Haas]

You have to submit your passport, usually to the visa office responsible for sponsorship for the country you currently live in, and they send it back to you with it attached.

 

[Christine]

Because my boyfriend is planing to bring me to Canada 2-3 months after our marriage as a visitor and stay until i get my PR card. So is it possible for me to get the PR card without the Pr visa? Or I must have the PR Visa ?
Thank you so much!

 

[Riley Haas]

You must be sponsored for permanent residence, or must get permanent residence some other way. The PR Card is only a document that proves you are a permanent resident; you cannot apply for it without being a permanent resident.

There are two ways to be sponsored: outland - the way you are intending at the moment - and inland. Since you already have a visitor visa, maybe inland is better for you: you submit the sponsorship application after you have both traveled to Canada.

 

[Christine]

hi, thanks we are planning on the outland application because I already have a multiple entry TRV.

What I wanted to find out was if we do the outland application and I come to Canada on my TRV while the paperwork is processing, I don't want to have to fly back to Vietnam at all to pick up paperwork or a PR visa or something silly like that. We would rather time it so that I will travel to Canada approx 6 months after the application so that when the approval comes, the 6 month TRV limit will just be running down. Is that possible?

 

[Riley Haas]

thanks we are planning on the outland application because I already have a multiple entry TRV.

I'm a little confused by this. Normally, this would be the reason to do an inland application, because you can get here. Outland applications are for people who cannot get into Canada first.

We would rather time it so that I will travel to Canada approx 6 months after the application so that when the approval comes, the 6 month TRV limit will just be running down. Is that possible?

I guess so. I think you could change your address on your file and they would mail your passport back to Canada, I suppose. (You would have to send your passport to the overseas visa office for your country anyway, because you are applying Outland.) I honestly don't know of anyone who has done this so I'm not sure to what extent it will create problems. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[Christine]

Thank you so much for your time and your help. You've been very helpful. We really appreciate it.
We are still a bit confused about the inland application. We hope you can give us some ideas about it.
So we are planning to do our wedding in Vietnam next year. Then i will go to Canada again to get the marriage certificate there and summit our application. Do you think it is possible if the officer figures it out that we do the wedding already then refusing our application?
Do we need to show them any proof that we don't have any plans to get married in Canada?
And the last thing is I want to join the same flight with my boyfriend to Canada after our wedding. Is that ok? Or It will create some suspicion that we are going to get married there.
We both have been very stressed about that lately. We haven't figured it out what the best way for us to do it and be together real soon. Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Riley Haas]

Do you think it is possible if the officer figures it out that we do the wedding already then refusing our application?

Which application? I'm not sure which one you are referring to. The issue with inland is entering the country as a visitor with the intent to get sponsored. It's called "dual intent" and you have to convince the officer that you will leave before your status expires while also getting sponsored. It's a tough line to walk.

Do we need to show them any proof that we don't have any plans to get married in Canada?

No, Canada recognizes legal marriages in other countries your Vietnamese marriage certificate is enough to show you are married, provided it is translated and the translation is notarized.

And the last thing is I want to join the same flight with my boyfriend to Canada after our wedding. Is that ok? Or It will create some suspicion that we are going to get married there.

You should probably travel together, not separately. Traveling separately could be viewed as suspicious.

I hope this helps.

 

[Christine]

sorry if it's confusing, we want to do an inland not outland application. We want to do the ceremony only in Vietnam, but with no legal marriage, the reason is we are afraid that if we admitted to legal marriage she would not be allowed in because there is no longer intent to leave. Even though it is sort of silly if she comes in on the TRV as a visitor we are free to marry and apply for inland and she would be allowed to remain while the application is in process.

Basically this is the situation we want to avoid:

We get married in Vietnam. Fly back to Canada together. Immigration officer asks her "are you single or married?"
Her: "We got married in Vietnam"
Officer "You are being denied entry under your TRV because you cannot demonstrate an intent to return to your home country."

However the situation as I see it if we arrive at the border.
Officer "Are you single or married"
Her: "Single."
Officer "Do you plan to get married to remain in Canada past your TRV"
Her: "No"
Officer "Welcome to Canada"
*the second she gets stamped in*
"changed my mind, decided to get married, putting in the inland application, 6 month TRV limit no longer applies to me"

So it is a bit of a silly situation where if you admit you want to enter the country under a TRV to marry you may be turned around but the second you are in the country you can decide to marry and not only can the government object but will even extend your visa and allow you an open work permit.

 

[Riley Haas]

I don't know how many people are denied entry solely because they are married. I doubt it's many but I can't tell you for sure.

I am not going to be able to reassure you. All I can say is that people do indeed enter Canada, already married or intending to marry in Canada, and get sponsored inland. How your interview goes at the border is entirely up to you but the officers are aware of "dual intent" - the intent to enter Canada as a visitor, to be sponsored, but the intent to leave if not successfully sponsored - but how they apply that is up to the individual. Sorry I can't be of more help.