planning to get married to japanese girl >immigration how too?

[ron001]

i tried searching but couldn't figure out.
we are thinking of getting married next year but can't figure out how to proceed with immigration. it would be much appreciated if somebody answered some basic questions.

Im canadian citizen

1) get married in japan or here? (marriage certificate from japan valid in canada?)

2) Should we proceed with immigration process outside canada or inside canada. (i checked cic website and it shows 36 days to process sponsership application within canada ??? am i reading this rigth?? it cant be that fast!!! Outside is about 5-7 months?)

thanks in advance..

[arewethereyet]

Hope the following is of help

1) Try the following link, it has info for both Japan and Canada. http://www.international.gc.ca/missions/japan-japon/consular-services-consulaires/marriage-mariage-eng.asp

2) Be careful how you interpret the figures as it is real easy to misunderstand them as it's not really clear how the process outside/inside fits together.

An 'outside' actually has two main stages. The first is within Canada, at CPC Mississauga, and takes the 36 days you refer to (this figure changes about every couple of weeks as they work through applications in batches) the second stage is when it passes over to the appropriate visa office ouside of Canada the processing 'windows' are listed here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/05-fc-spouses.asp.

An 'inside' may have lots of little stages within Canada and can take a long time when compared to outland. The first main stage is done at CPC Vegreville and is the one listed further down the page http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/process-in.asp. Beyond this stage don't expect the application to proceed particularly quickly.

It is possible to apply via 'outside' while remaining 'inside', you just have to make sure that you have some way of monitoring your 'home' address that you have given outside of Canada, in order to check for any correspondance from CIC.

Other threads here cover the pros and cons of inside v.s outside.

Hope this helps.

[Leon]

You can apply outland and give a Canadian address as your mailing address in which case there would be no need to monitor the mail to an overseas address.

After the 36 days when the file goes to Japan, it would take 5-7 months, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/05-fc-spouses.asp#asia and then she would have her PR.

For inland, it's 5-6 months to first stage approval.  That means that she could get a work permit and probably qualify to apply for health care depending on province but the actual PR often takes about a year but can actually take longer.

The complications arise when there are questions about your application and an interview is required.  For outland, that would mean she has to go to Japan for the interview but would otherwise not delay your processing much.  For inland, an interview can be a disaster because it means that there is no first stage approval, no work permit or health care but the file is sent to your local CIC office in your town and sits there until they have time for the interview which depending on their caseload can be up to 3 years.  Another downside with inland is that it's not advisable to leave Canada while it's being processed because if for any reason she can't get back into Canada, she loses the application and all the waiting time already put in.