DCF for my Canadian spouse

[Rob'sLuv 1]

Hi, I'm new here. I am a US citizen, "visiting" in Canada with my Canadian citizen husband while awaiting approval of my application for a Permanent Resident visa here. I love America and I still have two adult children living in California with their Dad - but I married a Canadian who has sole custody of his minor children and his divorce agreement requires that they remain in the Province so that their mother has access to them. I have been completely immersed in the Canadian immigration process for months now - Canada has got to be the least efficient bureaucracy in the world!! But in another 7 years we can seriously consider relocating to the States. (My husband's father was a US citizen - how I wish my hubby had claimed his dual citizenship, but that was during the Vietnam war and he did not want to be drafted, so he gave it up.) Anyway, I recommended this forum to someone on the Canadian forums because they had a question about different visas in the US, and I decided I would venture over here to see what we might do one day to facilitate my husband acquiring PR status in the States. I discovered this DCF procedure here, just now, and it sounds like the way to go. What I'm wondering about is the "logistics" - so here are my questions:

A post in this thread alluded to this DCF being the "first step" in the process - that it's quickly approved but then you go on to another type of application? (I forget now, without backing out of this thread, what that was called.) Anyway, it looks as though maybe I could apply with the DCF for my husband as soon as I have my PR visa in Canada, and then we'd move on to this other process. How long does this all take? And assuming all was approved eventually, is there a certain period of time within which he would have to "land" in the States - and what is the residency requirement from then on? In other words, being our situation is that we basically have to remain in Canada until his youngest is 18 (another 7 years) is there any point to doing all of this now? In addition, at what age are his children too old for me to apply for them to immigrate?

One other question: Canada requires reams of paperwork and medical clearances by special doctors and State and FBI criminal clearances for all US citizens immigrating to Canada. Does the US require all this stuff of immigrants from Canada? Is there a link someone can provide to the actual immigration applications?

I'm really glad to have found a US equivalent to the Canadian forums that have been my Bible for the past year. Looking forward to getting to know some of you if we're indeed going to pursue this issue in the near future. Thanks.

Rob'sLuv

[YuAndDan 153]

I believe that the CR-1 or IR-1 visa that is generated by DCF is only valid for 6 months, so you should hold on filing until at least 1 year prior to intending to move to the USA.

Also big one don't give up domicile in the USA, as well as don't stop filing returns to the IRS, even though you may not have to pay taxes on foreign income you are not exempt from filing a return. These 2 things you will need to file the I-864 as part of the DCF IR-1 visa process.

As for medical, and background checks, yes they will be needed, The consulate and USCIS will handle most of it, you will just need to get a police report from Canada as part of the interview process.

See this guide:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...page=i130guide1 (Pretty much the same only the I-130 gets submitted to the consulate in Canada for DCF)

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...om&page=dcf (DCF Info)

[umngmc 0]

Hi Rob's Luv

Like you, I was a newbie when I stumbled upon this forum, but after reading the wealth of information on this site, I came out much better prepared for the immigration process.

My wife is American and I am Canadian. We moved up here for my job opportunity and got her immigrated in no time. The application for Canadian PR is a little bit more time consuming, but we got approved in less than 3 months. Once you get approved and "land" as a PR, I believe the requirements for DCF filing require that you live in Canada for 6 months. But either way, I would recommend that you DO NOT file for USA Green Card until you have a better timeline as to when you and your husband will move back down.

The USA immigrant visa is only good for 6 months. And if you don't "land" before the 6 months is up, it will affect your future application for an immigrant visa. The residency requirement to retain your Green Card is 6 months of the year in the USA (I believe).

To answer some of your other questions:

1) The first step is to file for a petition at your local consulate office. The time for approval is very fast and they will mail a package to you explaning more. Basically, you will need to fill out an application for immigration, get some passport photos, get police clearances for your husband and his kids for each country they have lived in since the age of 16, and an affidavit of financial support.

As a special note, if you are living in Canada, you will need USA source income to be financially eligible as a sponsor. It is not good enough to earn Canadian income, and convert it to USD. If you do not meet the salary requirement for sponsorship, than you may use your assets, but they must be liquid, and you must show proof of ownership, ie. savings accounts, brokerage accounts, etc.

As a second note, you must retain your USA domicile. What does that mean? It means you must maintain ties to the USA. If you have an address in the states where you continue to receive mail. Own real estate in the USA. Maintain voting record, file tax returns, etc etc If you have no ties in the USA, than you are not eligible as a sponsor.

2) You can immigrate your husband's kids to the USA at any time. But I believe they put special priority to kids under the age of 18.

3) As mentioned earlier, your husband will need police clearance certificate(s), but a certificate from your local city will be sufficient as long as they perform a national registry search. The information will be in the packet. And the certificate is only valid for a year, so there is no point in getting one done until you are ready to immigrate. If he has ever lived in the USA, than you don't have to worry, the INS will search the FBI database to ensure of no criminal record whilst in the USA.

4) Your husband will need a medical exam, this is the last step before the immigrant interview (see timeline below). Same requirements as Canada immigration, just more hoops to jump. In Canadian immigration, it's labor intensive all up front.

Timeline:

a)After you petition (the first step), the approval happens in less than a month.

b)You will get a "checklist" to gather all your documents, applications, affidavits and police certifcates.

c)After you mail in the checklist, you play the waiting game, typically 6-9 months in Canada waiting for the "interview packet"

d)You will have 1-1.5 months of notice before your interview. The interview is only at the consulate in Montreal.

e)the interview packet will contain more information, to get your medical, more passport photos, and updated application and affidavit.

From start to finish, you can expect a 7-11 month wait......

Good luck with your endeavours and welcoe to the forum.

Matt

Hi, I'm new here. I am a US citizen, "visiting" in Canada with my Canadian citizen husband while awaiting approval of my application for a Permanent Resident visa here. I love America and I still have two adult children living in California with their Dad - but I married a Canadian who has sole custody of his minor children and his divorce agreement requires that they remain in the Province so that their mother has access to them. I have been completely immersed in the Canadian immigration process for months now - Canada has got to be the least efficient bureaucracy in the world!! But in another 7 years we can seriously consider relocating to the States. (My husband's father was a US citizen - how I wish my hubby had claimed his dual citizenship, but that was during the Vietnam war and he did not want to be drafted, so he gave it up.) Anyway, I recommended this forum to someone on the Canadian forums because they had a question about different visas in the US, and I decided I would venture over here to see what we might do one day to facilitate my husband acquiring PR status in the States. I discovered this DCF procedure here, just now, and it sounds like the way to go. What I'm wondering about is the "logistics" - so here are my questions:

A post in this thread alluded to this DCF being the "first step" in the process - that it's quickly approved but then you go on to another type of application? (I forget now, without backing out of this thread, what that was called.) Anyway, it looks as though maybe I could apply with the DCF for my husband as soon as I have my PR visa in Canada, and then we'd move on to this other process. How long does this all take? And assuming all was approved eventually, is there a certain period of time within which he would have to "land" in the States - and what is the residency requirement from then on? In other words, being our situation is that we basically have to remain in Canada until his youngest is 18 (another 7 years) is there any point to doing all of this now? In addition, at what age are his children too old for me to apply for them to immigrate?

One other question: Canada requires reams of paperwork and medical clearances by special doctors and State and FBI criminal clearances for all US citizens immigrating to Canada. Does the US require all this stuff of immigrants from Canada? Is there a link someone can provide to the actual immigration applications?

I'm really glad to have found a US equivalent to the Canadian forums that have been my Bible for the past year. Looking forward to getting to know some of you if we're indeed going to pursue this issue in the near future. Thanks.

Rob'sLuv

[Rob'sLuv 1]

Thank you both for the valuable information - the biggest issue I can see is that I will not have an income in the States while I am living in Canada - and I have no assets, at least not now. At some point I will inherit property from my mother in California - so either the property or the sale of the property will give me assets, but I was a stay-at-home Mom in California and I am and will continue to be one in Canada, too. So I guess that's where the financial assets factor in?

Obviously it will be years, under the circumstances before we ever do this - and the residency requirement shouldn't be too difficult to keep as we intend to divide our time equally between Canada and the States, that is if any of our children decide to remain in Canada for life. There are definite advantages to being here - my biggest reason for wanting to be "dual" is that my sons don't want to immigrate to Canada. Who'd want to move to a place where it snows all winter and is hot and muggy in the summer when they can be in California??!!

I guess it will be awhile before I need to come back here, and you will all be done with your processes and on with your lives by then. I'm thankful for your help and info and wish you the best life has to offer.

Cheers,

Rob's Luv

Edited June 16, 2007 by Rob'sLuv

[misa 2]

I have been completely immersed in the Canadian immigration process for months now - Canada has got to be the least efficient bureaucracy in the world!!

Just wait until you have to deal with USCIS!

You're lucky though since you'll be filing DCF (eventually). Any other visa (K1, K3, CR-I/IR-1 that is not DCF) is pure bureaucratic hell!

Enjoy Canada while you're there. A lot of us Canucks miss it dearly.

Edited June 17, 2007 by misa

[Rob'sLuv 1]

I have been completely immersed in the Canadian immigration process for months now - Canada has got to be the least efficient bureaucracy in the world!!

Just wait until you have to deal with USCIS!

You're lucky though since you'll be filing DCF (eventually). Any other visa (K1, K3, CR-I/IR-1 that is not DCF) is pure bureaucratic hell!

Enjoy Canada while you're there. A lot of us Canucks miss it dearly.

Does USCIS do the security/background check stuff? If so, Canada has it's equivalent - CSIS. Nobody knows exactly what they do - only that it takes forever for those who fall under their scrutiny (not everybody does, it seems). I do appreciate that Canada pretty much makes you pull together everything upfront, so that once you submit your application packet you have nothing to do but sit back and wait until you hear from them. The waiting, of course, drives some people bonkers, but at least you're not constantly drawn back into the process to submit the "next step". Sometimes there's additional stuff they request - and the process seems to drag on forever for some, but I think I prefer that to the "one step at a time" scenario it seems US applicants are subjected to.

I can certainly understand your missing Canada - it's a beautiful place. I miss California, too - but there are some things I don't miss one bit, like the cost of housing. I'm glad my family is still there and I can always visit - just wish travel (I'm in Ontario) wasn't so far and so expensive to accomplish.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Does USCIS do the security/background check stuff? If so, Canada has it's equivalent - CSIS. Nobody knows exactly what they do - only that it takes forever for those who fall under their scrutiny (not everybody does, it seems). I do appreciate that Canada pretty much makes you pull together everything upfront, so that once you submit your application packet you have nothing to do but sit back and wait until you hear from them. The waiting, of course, drives some people bonkers, but at least you're not constantly drawn back into the process to submit the "next step". Sometimes there's additional stuff they request - and the process seems to drag on forever for some, but I think I prefer that to the "one step at a time" scenario it seems US applicants are subjected to.

I can certainly understand your missing Canada - it's a beautiful place. I miss California, too - but there are some things I don't miss one bit, like the cost of housing. I'm glad my family is still there and I can always visit - just wish travel (I'm in Ontario) wasn't so far and so expensive to accomplish.

Nope, the security check is done by your friendly neighboorhood RCMP or police station, as long as it's a Canada wide check and it takes little time in most circumstances (some folks have gotten it in 1 hour!!!). If Rob has a criminal record (even for the smallest offence), fingerprint check is required and takes I think 8 weeks or so. These certificates are valid for I think 1 year.

Hope this helps, L.