Which is the best way to proceed?

[bubulac]

Hello,
I am a Canadian permanent resident and I would like to sponsor my Ukrainian fiancee and her son for immigration. We intend to get married soon in Canada (her son will still be in Ukraine), but I am not sure which is the best/fastest way to proceed after that.
Should we apply within Canada, since it seems to be faster (39 days listed on the CIC website)? Or do we have to send the application to Kiev (it takes about 12 months)? If we apply from within Canada, can she return to Ukraine after that and come back to Canada later together with her son?
Thank you for any suggestions,
C.

[annemyrtle]

You might want to double check that 39 days because I believe that's only for the 1st stage of the whole process your looking at, meaning they normally have 39 days to process (deny or approve you as eligible to sponsor your wife and her daughter) the day they received your aplication to sponsor. Then the additional weeks or months for the Permanent Residence application.  You need to look at inland application for permanent residents for the timeline.

[PMM]

Hi

Hello,
I am a Canadian permanent resident and I would like to sponsor my Ukrainian fiancee and her son for immigration. We intend to get married soon in Canada (her son will still be in Ukraine), but I am not sure which is the best/fastest way to proceed after that.
Should we apply within Canada, since it seems to be faster (39 days listed on the CIC website)? Or do we have to send the application to Kiev (it takes about 12 months)? If we apply from within Canada, can she return to Ukraine after that and come back to Canada later together with her son?
Thank you for any suggestions,
C.

1.  Unless your fiancee is in Canada, it is extremely unlikely that she would be given a visitor visa (TRV) for Canada to marry, as it would be her intention to remain permanently.
2.  The 39 days is for processing in Mississauga, and the processing time in Kiev is another 6-15 months for 80% of spousal applicants in Kiev.
3.  She will also require permission from either the other parent or the courts to remove the child from the Ukraine if she doesn't have sole custody.
4.  If she made it to Canada, to apply in Canada takes a minimum of 5/6 months for approval in principal from Vegreville, plus the local office process.  If she left during this processing her application would be over and would have to start again.

PMM

[bubulac]

> 1.  Unless your fiancee is in Canada, it is extremely unlikely that she would be given a visitor visa (TRV) for Canada to marry, as it would be her intention to remain permanently.

She has already come once with no problems at all at the Canadian visa office in Kiev. I don't suppose there would be any problems coming once more.

> 4.  If she made it to Canada, to apply in Canada takes a minimum of 5/6 months for approval in principal from Vegreville, plus the local office process.  If she left during this processing her application would be over and would have to start again.

So which way is faster then? Where should I send the sponsorship and immigration file? At Kiev? At Mississauga?... I don't know even where to start.
We don't intend for her to stay in Canada while waiting for the immigration visa, she would return anyway to Kiev after the wedding, and wait there together with her son.
Thank you for any other suggestions.

[mitamata]

It would be better if you went with an outland application, since your wife will not be present in Canada. If you applied inland and if for any reason she was unable to enter Canada when she was approved for PR to do the landing interview (like if for whatever reason she didn't get another visa), her application would be forfeit and you'd have to start all over again.
With an outland application she's still allowed to visit Canada, if she has a visa for it.

If you do an outland application, you send both the sponsorship and the permanent residency application together to Mississauga.
If you do an inland application, you send it all to Vegreville.

Considering the visa office it's hard to say which would be faster. The inland process can take well over a year if your case is not straight-forward. The 5-6 months is just the initial approval, then depending on the case they can transfer the app to a local CIC office - some of those are busier than others and it can take months before they even look at your app.
Personally, I'd recommend the outland route.