Hey everyone! I've read through the forum posts and have become quite informed about the whole spouse sponsorship process; however, I have some specific questions with regards to my case.
I'm a Canadian citizen and I just recently got married to my wife who's a German citizen in early December of this year; the marriage took place in Canada. I already have the record of solemnization of marriage so I figured I should go ahead and get started on the sponsorship application (didn't want to wait 10 weeks to receive my marriage certificate!).
With regards to my wife, she came to visit relatives in Canada during the winter of 2009 and returned shortly after; this was when I first met her. She later came back with a work permit from summer of 2010 to summer of 2011, but before her status expired, she applied to extend her stay as a visitor for 6 months. Before her visitor status expired in December 2011, she applied for a 3 month visitor extension but was rejected because she was missing some documents. Since she had 90 days, she re-applied with all the necessary documents and is now waiting for a reply; she mentioned she should hear back by the end of February 2012.
I was debating between Outland and Inland application and eventually went with the Outland process as it would be faster and she would be free to travel. Although we would be doing the Outland application, we both would like to stay together during the process. I would like advice on how we should proceed with matter. Would it be best to extend her visitor status for 6 months stating we are in the process of doing the outland sponsorship and then go ahead with the sponsorship application? Thanks in advance!
You should submit your sponsorship and permanent residency application documents together. Do not send the sponsorship and then wait for approval before sending the permanent residency application. They want all documents at the same time, and will forward the permanent residency application to the appropriate consulate's office once your sponsorship is approved.
When she applies for an extension of her status as visitor she should explain that you are married, and are in the process of applying for her permanent residency under the family sponsorship category and that she would like to stay with you as a visitor while the application is being processed. Before the application has begun being processed they will want to see proof of application (i.e. copies of application documents, copies of your marriage documents, etc.). Once it's in process they will have record of it and you won't have to show those documents anymore. Generally if someone is from a visa-exempt nation they are fairly generous with the visitor status extensions while awaiting the processing of a PR application. Some people have had issues based on the language they use when asking for an extension. In other words, she shouldn't say that she wants to "live" with you or "move here" to be with you, but rather she wants to "stay" with you at your residence while you await the processing of the sponsorship and PR apps, and that you, the sponsor & spouse, will be covering general expenses while she is staying with you.
Side note, if you're anywhere near the U.S. border she could also do this at the border and have her extension immediately instead of having to wait (I assume German citizens are also visa-exempt under U.S. law as well). They also do not tend to charge for extensions of visitor entry/new visitor records when you do it in person at the border.
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