Is Canada Right For You?
Moving to a new country can be extremely exciting and a little overwhelming. For my partner and I, it was the perfect solution. Canada is one of the most vibrant and wonderful countries in the world. It has a strong economy and a standard of living similar to that of the United States. I've found Canada to be a friendly, welcoming country, with it's own unique personality. I'm happy to have the chance to live here and I intend to give back to this great country that has given us so much. Click here for links to information about Canada.

For a number of reasons, we decided to move to the city of Toronto in the province of Ontario. Growing up in Upstate New York allowed me the freedom to frequently visit Montreal, which is a very unique and incredible city. Initially, we planned to move to Montreal since I'd spent so much time there and just loved the place. But Montreal is in the province of Quebec, and the provincial government requires that you make a separate immigration application to Quebec before you can apply to the government of Canada. As a practical matter, we wanted to pursue the speediest avenue to immigration, so we decided to look elsewhere. Also, I think it might be difficult to work in Montreal if you're not biligual. Since neither my partner or I speak French, we worried about finding work. Keep in mind that once you do arrive in Canada and become a resident, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees you the right of mobility... in other words, you can move anywhere in the country that you'd like.

Our Case
Other than Quebec, no matter where you choose to live, the immigration process will be the same. We made our initial application in November of 2000, which means that we applied under the previous rules related to same sex couples. Prior to June 28, 2002 same sex couples applying to move to Canada had to apply as 'Independent' candidates and request Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) consideration of their application if one of the two didn't qualify individually. In other words, Canada used the H&C waiver as a backdoor for same sex couples to immigrate together. The procedure worked well for us, but now it's become even more fair due to the recent changes in the law.

Independent candidates to Canada have to meet certain requirements and are rated on a point scale that considers things like education, work experience, age, and language ability. If the candidate has enough points and passes the medical and criminal checks, he or she is granted residency. It really is a straight forward process. One of the requirements is that candidates have at least one year of work experience in their field in order to apply. In our case, my partner did not have the required work experience, so we had to seek H&C consideration for his application.

We both filled out standard Independent applications and included them along with a letter explaining our situation and a voluminous amount of documentation to prove the existence of our relationship. Since I had enough work experience and met the other qualifications, I would in essence be bringing my partner along as my spouse. It really wasn't a difficult process, but now Canada has elevated same sex couples to the family category, so they can apply as common law partners.

As of July 28, 2002, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act went into effect. The new law elevates same sex couples to the Family class of applicants, so new applicants won't have to rely on the H&C consideration of their application. Instead, couples file a single application and are considered together. The partner with the highest number of points will still be considered the primary applicant, but no waivers are necessary since the law specifically provides for same sex couples to apply together. This is a significant development in the law and demonstrates the progressive nature of Canadian human rights law. Click here for more information about the point system and the application process.

Our TimeLine
There is one thing anyone that hopes to immigrate to Canada must get used to... waiting. While the process is transparent and fair, it is not speedy. We spent almost 15 anxious months waiting to finally move to our new home, and we didn't have to attend an interview, which can add months to the process. Things may have changed a bit since the new laws went into effect, but I'll provide our timeline for comparison.

August 17, 2000
Decided to move to Canada and completed the self assessment questionnaire.

Septmeber 11, 2000
Decided to hire an attorney. We retained Rob Hughes of Smith-Hughes in Vancouver. We may not have needed an attorney, but we had some special considerations and wanted the piece of mind. Rob turned out to be great and we highly recommend him should you feel you want an attorney to guide you.

October 12, 2000
Sent our applications to our attorney's office in Vancouver. Both my and my partner's applications were filed together with a cover letter and supporting documentation.

November 6, 2000
Attorney filed application with Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) in the Buffalo, NY office.

January 4, 2001
Received & forwarded FBI background check records to our attorney who sent them to CIC.

January 22, 2001
Received Notice Of Receipt Of Application from CIC.

March 13, 2001
Received my Initial Assessment Letter from CIC. This letter informed me that an interview would not be required.

April 13, 2001
Had my medical tests completed by a local doctor as directed by CIC. You shouldn't have your medical tests completed too early as the results are only good for one year. If your application is held up for even routine reasons, your medical tests may expire.

July 10, 2001
Received my partner's Initial Assessment Letter from CIC. This letter informed him that an interview would not be required.

July 31, 2001
My partner had his medical tests completed by a local doctor as directed by CIC.

November 6, 2001
Received both of our visas together in the same envelope.

February 15, 2002
Crossed the border and became 'Landed Immigrants' (legalese for Permanent Resident) in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Yipppeee!

Other Information
If you think moving to Canada might be an option for you, I suggest you visit my links page and read everything you can about the process and the country. The Canadian government's website is very good, and all of the applications can be downloaded. In addition there is a ton of information available on the web that will help you along the way. Rather than duplicate what is written elsewhere, I've written about some specifics about the process below.

Supporting Documentation
We were a bit overwhelmed when we began to think about what sort of documentation we could put together to "prove" the existence of our relationship. But if you give it some thought, you'll be able to come up with plenty. We had several of our mutual friends and members of my family write letters of support. The letters don't have to be very long... just something along the lines of "we have know Jim and Bob as a couple for X years and support their decision to move to Canada to be together." Have the writer include a short personal story about his or her realtionship to you and it's done. I believe we ended up with about 10 letters total. We also provided color laser copies of pictures taken of us over the years; things like vacations, holidays, special events, etc. To keep it organized we provided a written timeline that referenced the photographs. We were lucky to have opened financial accounts together so we provided a few copies of those as well. Of course, each couple's supporting documents will be different depending on their circumstances. We'd been together for several years, so we'd accumulated quite a bit, but I'm quite sure we overdid it.

Do I Need An Attorney?
I've spoken to a few others that have been through the process without the help of attorney. I have to say, the application and requirments are very straightforward and I'm confident that I could have completed the process on my own. We were concerned that we might run into problems along the way, however, because we knew my partner's U.S. visa would expire well before our application was processed. We decided that hiring an attorney would give us some much needed piece of mind. Also, it's nice to be able to get in touch with someone with knowledge of the process to clarify things, or reassure you when you think it's taking too long. It's definitely a very personal decision. But let me say this... if you absolutely can't afford an attorney, don't let that dissuade you from applying. You will get through it!

Medical Exam
Our medical exam was very cursory and took no more than an hour. You first get a standard physical; throat, eyes, breathing, etc. You're also required to give a urine sample and get a chest x-ray. When we had our medical exam in April 2001, the Canadian government did not require an HIV test unless the doctor felt there was a need for one. I've recently been informed that an HIV test is now a standard part of the immigration medical exam. This can cause problems for HIV positive independent applicants, but medical inadmissability is not a factor for family class immigration. If you have concerns in this area, I suggest contacting an attorney for a more thorough explanation. Thanks to Rob Hughes for providing the above information.

Immigration Interview
We were fortunate to have both of our interviews waived. Apparently the interview is sometimes used to assess the legitimacy of your relationship, your language skills, or for other reasons. If you are required to have an interview, don't panic. There are plenty of people who have been through it.

What If One Of Us Is In The U.S. Illegally?
We were concerned about this as well. We knew when we applied that we wouldn't have our visas before my partner's U.S. student visa expired. We also knew that it would be foolish to fly him back to Venezuela for a few months only to fly back to Canada. At that time, an applicant's U.S. immigration status had no bearing on his or her application to Canada. That has apparently changed (see update below). Note: You must have a valid passport issued by your home country when you cross the border. If you think your passport may expire before you cross the border, renew it as soon as possible. We went to the Venezuelan Consulate General in New York City to renew my partner's passport and I believe you can do the same at most country's embassies and consulates. Update July 2003: This situation is not as cut and dried as it used to be and can vary from visa office to visa office. If you have concerns in this area, consider contacting an attorney to get advice. Thanks to Rob Hughes for clarifying the above.

Background Checks / Getting Fingerprinted
Our application required a document from each country we'd resided in since age 18 stating that we'd had no criminal convictions. For me, that was just the U.S., but my partner had to have a background check done in Venezuela as well. In order to get a the document from the FBI, we had to send them our fingerprints on standard fingerprint cards. Sometimes the little things can be the most difficult. Initially we gave no thought to getting fingerprinted, as we figured we'd head over to the local police station and they'd do it for us. Unfortunately it was much more difficult than we anticipated. After trying for several weeks, we were simply unable to find someone to do it in our area of Upstate New York. The local police wouldn't do it because it was related to immigration and they insisted we contact the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service. They were totally ridiculous about it... they just couldn't understand the difference between people immigrating to the U.S. and those leaving the U.S. We also couldn't get the state police to do it because they wouldn't allow us to use their fingerprint cards and we had no idea where to get them. The FBI makes it very clear that they will not provide the cards, although I've heard from others that they have indeed provided them if you stop by one of their offices. After searching on the Internet, I found out that people get fingerprinted all of the time in Las Vegas for casino work. They have actual services that will come to your hotel and fingerprint you for a small fee. We needed a vacation at this point anyway, so we hopped on a plane to Vegas and had it done. It was very easy and cost no more than $50. I've learned since that many people have problems getting fingerprinted. If both partners are legally in the U.S. you probably could make an appointment with the local branch of the INS. In our case, my partner's U.S. visa was expired and there was no way I was taking him anywhere near the INS office. Here's a link to a site that lists fingerprint companies nationwide (there aren't that many).

Additionally, because my partner had to have a background check in Venezuela, we believe our application took longer than it otherwise might have. There are several countries where the Canadian government does the background check for you, and Venezuela happens to be one of them.