Spousal Sponsorship -- Apply from IRL or Canada?

sunnymeadow

Hi Im new here on boards.

Im irish born. My Husband is Canadian. We have been married five years and now wish to move to Canada. We married in Toronto. He is going back next month to work, and we were wondering which would be the best option.

1.) Apply from Ireland (London)
2.) Apply from within Canada.

I have heard that if you apply from within Canada you can work while you are waiting on the process? I was wondering if anybody on here has gone through the same or similar processes?
I have read that current processing times are between 27 - 29 months in both options...
My questions would be that if I apply from within Canada, Would I be applying on a Temporary visitors permit? Would I be allowed to leave the country. I.e in the case of an emergency while the application is in process?

Or would I be better off applying from Ireland though I would prefer to be with my Husband. Anything I have read on the Canadian Immigration website has been confusing.

Sorry for so many questions... Any help or tips would be great.

Thanks for reading!

Tigger99

I had queries about a Canadian visa and just emailed the Canadian embassy and they were very helpful.

Actually, maybe get your hubbie to check on your behalf as he's a Canadian citizen.

Best of luck

ician

I did this, if at allll possible, apply outland (london office), it is way way faster. It is possible to get a working visa if applying inland(Canada) but it's not just given to everyone who applies inland. Applicants are not eligible for a temporary work permit to cover the first stage of the inland process. I have heard horror stories from people who applied inland, cannot work and a seemingly endless visa process, easily getting over 1.5 years with straight forward applications.

When I went through the process, I applied outland but I was in Canada at the time on a tourist visa, which is perfectly fine. If your application is pretty straight forward the outland process takes about 6 months, if it does take a little longer you can apply for an extension to the tourist visa. Some people do get called for an interview, in that case you would have to go to London. They only call you for an interview if they have serious doubts about the legitimacy of your relationship, couples with big age differences, or from dodgy countries.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/family-class-sponsorship-b5.0/

This forum will provide every answer you could ever think of. There's a thread for outland UK applicants, so you can see how long stuff is taking at the moment. We went over-board with providing proof, our application was 300 pages long, but very well organized and it got approved extremely quickly. We applied as common-law so there is a much higher burden or proof. Quebec has an extra step which took over a month and we still got approved well under 6 months.

I know how insanely confusing it all is, it's not an easy process at all, but that forum is actual gold, and if you have any questions ask away.

ician

A few more things, spend as much time as you can on your application, making sure it is absolutely perfect. If they need to request any more proof, they put a note on your file to check it again later date usually +1 month, if you haven't provided the required proof yet it goes back in the filing cabinet for another month.

Pay everything upfront if doing it outland, they give you the option of paying certain parts later but this delays your application for the reasons above.

EvilDead13

Applying inland actually now has a pilot program that will grant you an open work permit while you wait for your application to be processed. I am sponsoring my fiancé and the application was received March 19th for spousal inland sponsorship and we included the open work permit application. We just received his new work permit which is valid for 2 years. It only took 2 1/2 months to process which for CIC is very fast! Best of luck!

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

I applied in Canada in February last year, and I received my notification that the information for my landing interview (which amounts to confirming my current address, who I am, that my circumstances haven't changed, and that I haven't been arrested for any crimes in Canada.

Once they started processing my application everything flew in. Got the notification to do my medical on May 29th, did it last Wednesday, and then received the confirmation email today. Should get physical mail in the next week or so with the date of my landing interview which, based on what I've seen online, should be a week or 2 after the letter arrives.

So I'll probably have everything but my PR card (which takes 6-8 weeks in the post) by the end of the month, making it a grand total of 16 months, start to finish

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

Sorry, left a bit out. I received a 2 year open work permit back in February of this year, too, since I was on implied status at that stage from a previous LMO that expired in Feb 2014