Thanks for your help. We are actually planning to move back to the UK in August 2011 and waiting until next year (June 2012) to come back to Canada as a family. How well do you think that would come across? Should I wait until we are reunited in the UK to make the application? Do you think we should apply from inland or outland? Which way would be faster for him to start working in Canada? Thanks so much!! (ps. we have been married 10 years and have a daughter).
If you go back to the UK in August 2011, you can't apply inland then because both the sponsor and the applicant have to be in Canada during the processing of an inland application.
Inland apps take much longer than outland apps through London, so I would advise you to apply outland in any case.
He can come visit you in Canada until August 2011, and then you all as a family can go back to the UK. He won't be able to work during that time, but even if he applied inland it would be too soon to have gotten permission to work.
Definitely wait until you have been reunited in the UK to apply. There is no point in applying too soon, especially in your case where the visa officer might not believe the reconciliation is genuine.
Have him vist until August, then live together in the UK for the next year. I would suggest applying after you have lived together again for at least 6 months. This will show you have really reconciled and that you have a genuine relationship again.
The problem is that even though your relationship lasted 10 years, it ended - so you will have to show proof to the visa officer that the two of you have reconciled and have a genuine realtionship once again. So gather all the evidence you can of the time you and he spend together in Canada and then in the UK.
Immigration Forum
