inland vs outland application - advice appreciated

[ella19]

Hi

my boyf is a canadian citizen and is planning on sponsoring me as a common law partner. We had planned that we would do an inland application, as that way we could be together while waiting for the approval. But after browsing around some of the messages on this forum, i see a lot advice for doing it outbound. If doing it that way, as im irish id be applying to the London office which i hear is one of the quickest to process.
I just had a few questions tho, so would appreciate if anyone can offer some advice.

If doing it outland, am i still allowed to visit canada for a few mths (i know i wouldnt be allowed anymore than 6) or do i need to remain resident in my own country for the duration of the process?

Secondly, i am unemployed in my own country right now, so would the fact that there isnt a lot holding me back from going over to Canada be seen as a negative i.e. - will cic think that if our relationship was real and i didnt have a job to tie me to my own country, why didnt i go over to canada and do an inland application?

Thirdly, we have lived together for 12mths in Ireland before my boyfs visa expired and he returned to canada, but our landlord never gave us a lease. We do have joint utility bills although this wouldnt show the length of time really. Would a letter from our old landlord to say we rented for a year suffice as proof?

Thanks :)

[Leon]

You can even go on a tourist visa to visit him right now and do your outland PR application together.  Once your 6 month visit visa is up, if you don't have PR yet by then, you can apply to extend your visit visa.  The only downside to outland is that if London wants an interview with you (normally that would be if they are not convinced that your relationship is real), you would have to go there.

Send not only proof of having lived together for 12 months but also send proof of your relationship, photos of you together, evidence of vacation together, letters from your friends and family, phone bills showing you call each other, emails and chatlogs from when you are apart etc. etc.

With inland, if you were lucky, you could have a work permit in 5-6 months and PR in under a year but you could also get unlucky and get no work permit and wait 3-4 years for your PR, stuck in Canada with no work permit and no health care so yeah, that is why outland tends to be more recommended but also depends on your situation.

[ella19]

Hi Leon,

thanks so much for your reply :)
If i did go over on a tourist visa and we did the outland application, how would you go about extending the visa after the 6mths. I know if you are inland then you can ask to stay on the basis of your application still being processed so you need to stay in the country...but how would it work for outland?

thanks

[Leon]

You would wait until you have 30 days left on your visit visa.  Then you send in an application to extend, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp  They will take about 3 months to even reply to that during which time you have implied status.  You can state the reason for wanting to extend as that you are waiting for your PR to come through.  Actually, since the London office is pretty fast, if you apply right away after coming to Canada, you have a good chance to have your PR by then.

[ella19]

Thanks for all your help Leon :)