Brit applying within Australia

[tr345]

My girlfriend (Canadian) and I (British) met in Australia, we've been living together here in Australia for a year and a half. We have to leave Australia in four months and are planning to relocate to Canada and want to apply for sponsored common law status at some stage.

I see my two options as:

Apply for IEC working holiday visa initially and then apply for the common law visa once in Canada.
The problem with this is that I obviously want to declare myself in a common law relationship with my girlfriend on the IEC application, but will this not complicate matters in the long run in terms of why I didn't apply for the common law visa straight away?

or

Start the application process for the common law visa now, at either the Sydney or London office and keep my fingers crossed for a very fast processing time with no interviews.
Is one better to apply to? What would happen to my application with the Sydney office after my Australian visa expires and I have to leave? Both would require a costly journey for an interview when I'm actually in Canada so applying with Sydney on the off chance it all gets processed quickly may be the better option.

And finally am I actually able to apply for both the IEC visa and common law visa simultaneously?

Any helpful information would be greatly appreciated, I'm finding the whole Canadian immigration situation unexpectedly difficult.

[tr345]

I've done a little more research and now my only real question is does anyone know if I can apply for both the IEC working holiday visa and the common law visa at the same time? I would expect the WHV to be processed quicker meaning I could get over to Canada earlier. Or would my only option be to start the common law visa application once I already have a WHV?

[Kedeisha]

I've done a little more research and now my only real question is does anyone know if I can apply for both the IEC working holiday visa and the common law visa at the same time? I would expect the WHV to be processed quicker meaning I could get over to Canada earlier. Or would my only option be to start the common law visa application once I already have a WHV?

If i am not mistaken you can apply for 2 visa at the smae time thats what i read on another thread a while back but the experts can correct me if I am wrong, as for which VO do you have a visa that is valid for at least 1 yr for both sydney and London  if an interview is required will you be able to go back to the VO you selected?

[Elizabeth Joe]

Hey, I'm not sure if I can help, but I'd apply for a WHV first, because it's really easy and fast to get (if there is still availibility for this year)
And then I'd start collecting everything for the PR Application, which is a bit more time consuming to prepare. And the better its prepared and the more proof you have, the faster it'll go. You shouldn't have any trouble getting your PR before your WHV expires.
It'll we also easier to apply for sponsorship, when the sponsor is living in Canada. So get everything ready and send the application, as soon as you are in Canada. You can still do outland.

[tr345]

Thanks for the information guys. Kedeisha - my Australian visa expires in four months, my thinking was if I was lucky and an interview came up in this time it would mean l wouldn't have to pay for expensive air fares. After that time I'd (fingers crossed for the WHV visa) be in Canada and have to pay similar amounts to travel to London or Sydney (although London would be preferable in order to visit family and friends at the same time.) At what stage of the procedure are interviews likely to arise? (roughly, I'm sure it varies hugely) and is there much difference in the processing times for either London or Sydney?
Thanks

[TracyS]

Hi tr345

Our visa office is Sydney.  Our application was recieved in Mississauga 28 February and I recieved my visa 22nd June.  This was including about 2 weeks delay due to some information I'd forgotton so hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea of the time Sydney takes.  I also didn't have a interview request.