Internationally Confusing Relationship

feefifofumb

New Member
Hello everyone,
I am a mixed Canadian-Egyptian born in NB, Canada. My family moved to Egypt when I was young so I am not longer a Canadian resident, having lived abroad for the past 15 years or so. I went abroad to Malaysia to study and in November of 2015 I met my now-husband who is from Pakistan. We were together since January 2016 and took an apartment with both of our names around September 2016 where we lived together until October 2018.
It was then that my study visa expired and I went back to Egypt to discuss our marriage with my parents. He visited with his mom and we got engaged, January 2019. In March, I went to Pakistan for two weeks and we got married (Pakistani certificate). Only my mother could make it, since the dates where shifting based on our limited finances.

After that I went to China for three months to work, we have plane tickets of meet ups in that time. I was trying to secure work for him in China but it proved difficult and I flew to Egypt to regroup and find new work. Now you're all caught up, and I would really appreciate any advice!

My Husband and I realize living internationally is hard when we cannot take steps together. We've now been apart for 9 months and I see the most beneficial solution is to get him a Canadian citizenship so we may take steps together in the future. Spousal Sponsorship should take around one year, so I have the following questions:

  1. Is it possible to submit online in my situation of living separately from my husband? If I have to do it physically, can my relative do it?
  2. Do I have to go in Canada to process the application to prove that I intend to live there while sponsoring him?
  3. If so, how long would I have to be there to be able to use being there as proof before submitting the application? And would I have to stay the year and work there, or could I continue to work abroad (where I can possibly live with my husband in the meantime).
  4. If applying myself from Canada (Outland sponsorship, right?) would I need to apply in my home province? Any province?
  5. How much money is needed to prove I can support my spouse? Is it required in bank? Or a work contract? Are bank statements needed? He can also work, but we would not have a job lined up at the time of application of course.

Any help and direction on these issues would be so helpful. I wish to apply without an agent as I am currently financially limited and am not sure if the agents are just telling me what I wish to hear so I hire them. Thank you so much to the people answering questions on this site! Apologies if the questions are out of order, a lot of them are dependent on each other and I do not know how to make it more understandable.
 

Riley Haas

Administrator
Staff member
Location
Toronto
Let me try to answer your questions:
  1. You cannot at this time submit your application online but you can absolutely submit it when you are living apart from your husband. But you really should be in Canada when you submit it. The reason is that if you are not in Canada you have to prove that you intend to move to Canada, and that is really hard. In our experience, most sponsorship applications where the sponsor is living outside of Canada are refused regardless of the amount of proof of the intention to move to Canada.
  2. Yes, see above.
  3. You are a citizen and there is no residence requirement for you to live in Canada. However, your application will be assessed on your ability to provide for him while he is adjusting to life in Canada which could be hard if you are in Canada without a permanent residence or permanent job. You could, in theory, move back to Canada, submit the application and then move back overseas but, presumably, if IRCC found out about this move (as opposed to travel) your application would assessed as if you didn't live in Canada.
  4. Yes, outland sponsorship. Doesn't matter which province, there is nothing restricting where you live in Canada.
  5. There is no official amount publicly available. Here is the amount for sponsoring a parent: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1445&top=14 you can imagine that as a rough guide.
It honestly depends upon the "agent" but let me just say that when Immigroup is hired to submit a sponsorship we won't do it (and refuse to take the application) if we think there's no chance of success.
 

feefifofumb

New Member
Thank you so much Riley!!

Could I just ask what type of proof is usually needed to prove I intend to live in Canada?

Is there any way for my husband and I to live together during the year process?

By agent I meant an international consultant, which is popular in Pakistan. I believe Immigroup and companies in Canada would be a lot more reliable. I did not mean any offence, most consultants abroad have not told me to apply from Canada as they operate out of Pakistan and it could be a loss for them.
So this is the most accurate result as far as I'm concerned, so:

Would Immigroup be interested in representing our case legally?
And could I ask the usual total cost?
 

Riley Haas

Administrator
Staff member
Location
Toronto
Well, whatever you have:
  • property deed or lease
  • employment contract
  • other types of binding commitments.
But the problem is they are usually not convinced. At least that's what our consultants have consistently told me over the years.

Yes, you can live together. If he can get a visitor visa to come to Canada you can then submit an inland application once he is in Canada. The problem is a) getting the visa and b) getting entry. Once he's in there is no issue.

So I am just the webmaster. If you want to have a consultation and see if we're right for you, please email us at [email protected] and they'll book an appointment for you. As to cost, it depends upon the case but it's usually around CAD$4,500 to CAD$6000 or more. (Consultations are CAD$175 and are credited towards your total fees.)
 

feefifofumb

New Member
Thank you Riley. You have helped me clarify these matters beyond expectation. Now there is at least a path I may follow. Your help is appreciated more than you know. Thank you dearly!
 
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