Help :-)

[mleblanc]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone can help us.  My husband is a Canadian citizen and he wants to move back there to study medicine.  I am an Irish citizen, living in NZ and working as a professional primary school teacher.

What kind of visa would be better for me?  I am so confused.  Can he sponsor me if he is a student? Or am I better off trying to get a work visa?

[mitamata]

He doesn't need any income to sponsor his spouse. From a financial point of view, all he needs to do is show he's not on any form of social assistance. If he won't have any income, it's also a good idea to explain with he application how you intend to support yourselves in Canada (ie you will work, parents will help, etc)
He will also need to show proof that he intends to move to Canada - an acceptance letter from a university will be great help with that.

[vinz]

It would be better if you can go with him to Canada since you can visit to Canada anytime you want. From there, you could apply for working permit and by then it's easy for both of you to apply for permanent residence or it got married to make the application easier.

[mitamata]

If you file an inland application (from within Canada, processed in Canada), the open work permit, assuming you apply for it along with the sponsorship application, will take 6 months. During those 6 month, you'll be unable to work.

[Leon]

He can sponsor you while being a student.  You can choose to do outland or inland application.

If you do inland, you need to stay in Canada for 1-2 years until you get your PR, not advised to travel.  You would have an open work permit within 5-6 months if all goes well (and if you applied for one).

If you do outland, it would be processed in London and you would have your PR in about 5 months (average time).  You could still go to Canada with your husband on visit status to wait for this application to be processed.

[PMM]

Hi

He can sponsor you while being a student.  You can choose to do outland or inland application.

If you do inland, you need to stay in Canada for 1-2 years until you get your PR, not advised to travel.  You would have an open work permit within 5-6 months if all goes well (and if you applied for one).

If you do outland, it would be processed in London and you would have your PR in about 5 months (average time).  You could still go to Canada with your husband on visit status to wait for this application to be processed.

Leon they are in NZ, so the application would be processed in Sydney Australia.

PMM

[mitamata]

But since she's an Irish citizen, it could also be processed in London.

[Leon]

Yeah, if she's staying in NZ until it's done processing, then it would be a good idea to ask for it to be processed in Australia but if she is planning on visiting Canada and hanging out with her husband, if there is an interview, it would probably be cheaper to fly to London for it than to fly to Australia.