Bringing non-PR child into Canada

My wife and I have PR cards. My family and I are contemplating moving from Silicon Valley to Toronto next month. My child was born in US after we (my wife and I) got our PR cards. Can I bring in my little one on visitor visa and apply for PR once I am in Canada (as we will be moving soon)? What other options do I have? Do I need to get separate private insurance for the kid as a non-PR might not be eligible for state-sponsored health benefits?

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I think your situation is a little complicated. As a US citizen he does not need a visitor visa he can fly in on his passport. As a PR you or your wife can sponsor him to be a PR but according to current processing timelines it would take at least 14 months for him to get it and a US citizen can only live in Canada for 6 months. Also I’m guessing that your child was born after you filed and received PR?

It’s possible that Canada might give you special permission to keep the child in Canada while your application is getting processed but this is a pretty special case. My advice is this is to reach out to a immigration lawyer at the earliest since the “Family Class” applications can only be filed from outside Canada.

Yes he would not receive state sponsored health insurance, but I think the bigger issue here is permission to stay in Canada. Applying for the child is a straight forward process what I am not clear about is on what status would your child live in Canada while the application is being processed.

In our case we waited and delayed our application (informed them via email) since we were expecting a child and only filed after we included him on the application.

Details on sponsoring your child

The sponsorship application process

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Ok I did some more research. You can appeal to the Canadian Embassy in the US or to Canadian Immigration once your in the country to extend the visa or stay on “compassionate grounds”. So your child can stay until he receives PR. Its outside my area of knowhow on how to go about this. See the below link for details.

CIC - Humanitarian and compassionate grounds

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One quick question here, suppose one start the PR process for couple and submits the application, while waiting for the invitation the couple starts expecting a baby, what would happen in that scenario?

You would have to call their contact center ask them to hold the application and either resubmit it with the child included or an amended one according to what they advice. If you have a child outside Canada when you are a PR holder (which i suppose is your case) then you need to sponsor the child’s PR application. It’s not a situation I’ve come across so I won’t be able to advice you on how your to go about that.

Also keep in mind I’m not an immigration lawyer or consultant. I only share my opinions and my experience. :smile:

Hi Guys,

This is my first post on this community. Great idea @anon25417004 - big kudos for creating this space!

@t.anand - I am curious to learn how you resolved this. Will appreciate you sharing your experience here.

@anon25417004 - Did you write to delay after you were invited? Also, how long was the granted delay in your case?

We are expecting too. However, we are yet to start on the PR process in earnest - I am trying to determine what parts of the application we can proceed with, before our child is here.

Thanks,
Ranjit

Hi Ranjit,

We actually were not able to file our toddler’s PR from outside Canada as we had not ‘established residency’ (settled) in Canada. Although we had collected our PR cards 3 years back (our child was not born then), we settled in Canada only in Sep 2017.

We consulted an immigration attorney and she asked us to wait for one year before we apply for the PR even though we are in Canada now and have an address and jobs. According to the attorney, it is preferable to show 12 months of income in Canada before sponsoring the child. In the interim, we have to keep extending our child’s visitor visa online

Good luck with the PR process.

-Anand.

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Technically when I applied last year the “invite” step did not exist we just filed out full application and waited. When we were expecting a child we contacted CIC and ask them to delay our application. There was no timeline given we were instructed to submit the pages that would need updating including a additional form for the baby once he’s born and we had this passport in hand. So our entire application got delayed there was no way around that.

As for the invite I would think they would do the same as a baby would not change your points they would just give you till when he’s born and you get his passport. I’m sure its a pretty common request so reach out asap.

Thanks a lot @t.anand, @anon25417004 for sharing your stories. This was really helpful.

Hello everyone!

I am planning to move with my family as PRs to Toronto from Dallas this summer. Been reading the posts on this forum and love it.

We are also in a similar situation and expecting our second baby in April. We have delayed our move to summer because of the pregnancy. @t.anand can you share your immigration lawyers details. Does it help if you show savings rather than income as soon as you move to Canada to sponsor the baby’s PR. I was hoping to file it in the first couple of months after moving.

Thanks,
Ali

Hi Ali,
I consulted two attorneys - Joshua, whose details had shared in this forum and Aki & associates immigration law firm. Joshua does not directly do PR for child but he can connect you to another attorney who can do it.

Joshua Schachnow, J.D.
Immigration Lawyer
613-277-7795

In our case, we got our PR prior to our child being born and she’s a US citizen - so below applies to our specific scenario:
When we were filling up the application for our child, one of the forms is a financial information form which asks for ‘Notice of Assessment (NOA)’ which has details of your net income. The Canadian govt. provides an NOA only after you file tax returns. I was advised by Aki & associates to wait until I get an NOA (I will get one this year as I will file tax returns for last year) before applying for my child’s PR. Without an NOA, it may be considered an incomplete form and returned. You could take a chance and apply but we decided to wait, so it doesn’t fall under officer discretion and get rejected. And savings do not count - income is what is considered. Again, I am not a lawyer, so you can consult one.

Btw, do you already have your PR? If not, then I would recommend applying for your child’s PR along with yours after he/she is born. If you already have yours, you can take a chance and apply here with the attorney’s help (charge will be around CAD2500) or wait and extend your child’s visitor stay and then apply for PR after you get your NOA.

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Thanks @t.anand… We are already PRs and our scenario is very similar to yours. Is getting a newborn on US passport and extending visitor visa straight forward.

Also, how are you handling your child’s insurance while you wait for the PR process to be completed.

Thanks a ton for your help!

Hi Ali,
A newborn on US passport can come in on a visitor visa for 6 months. You will apply for an extension close to the 6-month expiry date for an additional 6-months. We have not done it yet (as it is 4 months since we are here) but I hear its straightforward and is explained in IRCC website - will be in a better position to comment after 2 months. Worst case, if you don’t get an extension (I hear this is highly unlikely as Canada is very family-oriented), you can cross to US and drive back the same day for additional 6 months’ stay. For insurance, we have taken visitor’s insurance. We had to take our child to a doctor once - you have to claim later as they will not accept visitor’s insurance. However, the doctor took a minimal amount.

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Thanks for the detailed response.

Hi, We are in a similar situation currently. I and my wife did soft landing in July 2018 and have PR cards. We are Indian citizens, currently working in USA (me on H1B, she on H4) and are expecting our first child in August 2020. We were planning to move to Canada in April 2020, however due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic impact thought it would be better to delay our move until December 2020. If we delay our move, it means our baby would be born in USA and will get US citizenship and will not be a Canadian PR. I understand the health insurance implications for the child that isn’t a PR but am concerned if the child can get an extension to stay in Canada beyond the initial 6 months on a visitor visa. @t.anand , I would appreciate if you can shed some light on your experience regarding extending the stay for your child. Thanks.

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Hi @katz, you can bring non-PR child from US to Canada on visitor visa. Our kid got a visitor visa extension after 6 months for an additional 6 months with no questions asked. Online extension application is very simple.

If you file for a PR later for your child, you will need to have filed taxes at least once before you can apply for PR. So it is advisable to move before end of 2020 so you can file for returns in 2021 and then apply for PR (else you would have to wait one more year). You will get a Notice of Assessment from CRA on filing tax returns which is a required document to apply for PR. You will need to get private insurance or insurance through your company for your child until then.

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This is really good information !

Thanks

That’s good to know. Thanks so much for the information.

@t.anand: very similar situation but little more complicated. Due to points, I applied PR just for me and got it. So, once I am in Canada, I have to apply PR for my wife, elder son (both Indian citizens) and my younger son (US citizen). Do you suggest I have to wait for at least one tax filing before I can start their PR application process?
I have heard another thing called visitor permit. Is this something that you can apply while you are in Canada?
I have heard it takes 12 months or so to get the PR for you dependents from inside. Visitor visa might not be enough.

Please give me some pointers!

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@nik first of all, love your dp (Calvin :slight_smile:) yes, it does become a bit challenging when you have to apply for PR for spouses - it takes 12+ months for spouses (and could be longer now due to covid). For our kid, it only took 3 months to get PR. And it was highly recommended by the lawyer who I spoke to here that we sponsor for family once we file the taxes and also preferably be here for 12 months to show that we have established residency. I am not a lawyer, so advise you to consult as yours is a bit complicated or see if there is a way to apply for your spouse from outside Canada and get it for her before moving. Not familiar with visitor permit though (unless you are referring to visitor visa)

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