Canadian Citizen sponsoring UK spouse, both living in the UK at the moment

[jamiecarlonsmith]

Hi there, I'm a Canadian citizen and I'm married to an UK citizen. My wife and I live in the UK but I've been offered a 3 year contract in Canada and it begins in October. I don't have time to start all the sponsorship/PR application business before we would need to go in September to get settled. My question is, can we both go to Canada, get settled, start my job and THEN start her process while she is a visitor in Canada? is that possible? It seems like everything is designed so that spouses have to be apart for months before they're reunited. That seems crazy. Especially since we've got a 4 month old baby that would be going with us. Anybody got any answers for this conundrum? Cheers

[Leon]

Yes, she could come with you as a visitor and you can start the process after that.  You would have the choice of an inland or outland application.  I'd pick outland because it is much faster.  She can still stay in Canada meanwhile.

[Kedeisha]

you can apply from either canada or UK your best bet is to apply outland so the application is process in UK same forms just check u would like it to be processed in the country where she holds nationality, if there is an interview she may have to fly back to London for 1, I suggested outland because on avg it is faster than inland

[Maid_Marian]

Hi there! As a British citizen, she can enter Canada for up to 6 months as a Visitor. The main touch-and-go point will be as you enter Canada. Definition of a visitor is temporary, so she will probably be asked for proof of return flights. I'm British and am in Canada on a one year visa, soon to be applying for PR through spousal sponsorship. Everytime I've come back into Canada on my current visa, they've asked for proof of return flights. It's something you might want to think about.
Another thing might be to ask your contracting company about getting a spousal temporary visa through them. That way, she could work and you'd have no trouble entering Canada. I don't know how they work, but I know there are ways to get family legally into the country with you. As you have a baby, this would be a good option.
Once you're in, definitely apply outland via London - processing time is roughly half than applying within Canada.