Immigration for wife while being in US

[sunny78]

Hi..

I became a PR of Canada about 2 years ago. I landed in Canada and came back to US because I had a job over here.

After few months of getting PR, I got married.

Now, I'm interested in moving to Canada but I want to apply for immigration for my wife as she is in US on temporary staus as a dependent. Can I apply for her PR while me and my wife being in US?

If not, What is the other option? if I get a job in Canada, my wife will have only a visitor visa to Canada, can I apply for her PR over there while she is on visitor visa?

How much time does it takes for spouse to get visa extension if I apply ?

I would apprecaite if you can help me out to sort out this situation.

Thanks

[RobsLuv]

As a Canadian PR you can apply to sponsor your wife, but you have to be residing in Canada in order to be eligible.  Also, you should know that you have to reside in Canada for at least 730 days (2 years) of each 5 year period in order to maintain your PR, so you should probably be making plans to return to Canada soon anyway. 

If your wife can get visitor status in Canada, you can bring her to Canada with you and apply for her PR while she's in Canada.  If she still has valid temporary status in the US, that should enable her to come to Canada as a visitor, and to have an outland PR application processed through Buffalo.  That would take approximately 4-10 months total.  Or you could apply to sponsor her via the inland process: that will take 12-18 months to finalize, as long as you submit her application, and an extension to her temporary status in Canada, BEFORE the status she's given on entry to Canada expires. 

If she currently doesn't have valid temporary status in the States, and if she's from a non-visa-exempt nation, she will have to apply for a visitor visa to enter Canada - and that will probably be refused because she's married to a Canadian PR.  In that case you'll have to come to Canada alone and apply to sponsor her, via the outland PR process, through the visa office that represents her country of birth. 

If you can give us a bit more info about her country of origin, and her current status in the US, it'll be easier to give you some idea of how to proceed.   

[sunny78]

Thanks RobsLuv for this information.

She is currently on H-4 visa (dependent) as I'm on H-1 visa and her country of birth is India.

So, from your reply, the bottom line is that I need to go to Canada. My wife can apply for Visitor's visa and I can file for extension of status and for her PR in Canada.

I didnt really get what you meant by outland application at Buffalo as my wife would lose her status in US if I move to Canada.

I would apprecaite if you can respond to this and any other information helpful

Thanks

[Leon]

If you go to Canada and sponsor your wife and she goes with you on a visit visa, I am sure there is at least a day that she has not lost her status in the US yet and if she was admitted to the US on a 1 year visa originally, you would be able to apply outland through the US.  However, if she would get called for interview, she would have to get a visit visa to go to the US because she would not have status there anymore and if she was for whatever reason denied visit visa to the US, that would obviously be a problem.

Another option, you can file outland through India.  Takes approximately 3-8 months for her to get PR.  This is what you would have to do if she can't get a visit visa to go with you to Canada.  If she does get a visit visa to go with you to Canada, it's still an option.  If she has to do an interview, it would be in India.

Last option, if she does get a visit visa to come with you, you can file inland like Robsluv said, takes 12 to 18 months to get PR, not advised to travel while it's being processed because if she were for whatever reason refused re-entry, the application goes out the window.  With an inland application, you would send a visit visa extension and open work permit application.  She could expect to get the open work permit at first stage approval in about 6 months.