Bringing my spouse to Canada - which way to choose?

[Lillite]

Hello! After carefully reading the CIC instructions, as well as many discussions at this forum, we still have remaining questions before deciding on our application. I will greatly appreciate your help and advice!

So, I am a PR here and I am planning to marry in the coming months (my husband is outside Canada and he is not from a visa-exempt country). I learnt that we have two options for filing the application for my husband - inland and outland. However, it is still unclear to me, which way would be the fastest one in terms of living together here?

1. If we file application inland, then apparently he will be eligible for the open-work-permit only after the 1st stage approval, which is now requiring at least a year. If we file the application outland, is there still a possibility to apply for the open work permit or any other visitor visa, so that he could live with me here while waiting for the application to be processed?

2. If he comes here on a visitor visa and we file the inland application, but the extension of visitor status would be denied (for instance, due to submitted PR application), what would be the following steps? How risky is this way?

3. Would it be easier to marry outside the Canada or inside the Canada (when he comes on a visitor status)? Does it make any difference for the following PR application?

4. Might the fact that a spouse is pregnan speed up the application process?

5. Are there chances to get an open-work-permit visa for my spouse without filing the PR application immediately (and then to file the application once he comes here on the work-visa)?

 

[scylla]

1. No open work permit is granted as part of the outland process (only inland). You can certainly apply for a visitor visa but none of us can tell you if it will be approved.
2. Your spouse should have no issues remaining in Canada with an inland applications filed.
3. It doesn't make a difference.
4. No - this won't speed up the process.
5. The inland application is his only real option if he wants an open work permit.

 

[Kayaker]

Where is he from?

Many visa offices usually process outland applications faster than inland.

 

[Lillite]

Thank you very much for the answers!

Regarding the #2: do you know any reference about this in CIC documents (that the visitor status would be easily extended if the PR application is filed)? We are really worried what would happen if the extension is denied and he would need to go out of Canada for an unclear period...

If we are married, should he still apply for a standard visitor visa (or to use the one he has now) or should he apply for any particular status (i.e., fiance)? If he enters with a visitor visa, should he state that he has a wife here upon the entry to the country?

 

[Lillite]

@Kayaker: he currently resides in the USA (the website states 33 months after the sponsor's approval in Canada), since he is not planning to return to our home country during the application process, he will apply from the USA (if we go with the outland option).

 

[mikeymyke]

Never apply inland when you're from USA.

So your logical option is to go outland. If he visits you, he can't say that he doesn't plan on returning to USA, that's grounds for refusal to enter Canada. Good news for you is that most people from USA get PR in about 3 months through the Ottawa VO if you have no red flags.

 

[Kayaker]

Most US cases are processed in a few months - lots of people who applied this year have already gotten PR and landed here.

The 33 months thing is more a worst case scenario - first of all, most cases are sent to Ottawa for processing. Red flag cases are sent to LA or NY I believe.

Of course, there Is the possibility that CIC might send the file to his home country, regardless of his living in the U.S. It is ultimately CIC's decision and while you can indicate your preference, there is no guarantee.

If you have no red flags I would file outland and hope the file is processed in Ottawa.

 

[Lillite]

Thank you very much for the suggestion, I did not take into account at all that the application from the US can go to other than the NY offices...

What does it mean "to have red flags"? Does it refer to criminal records, etc.? or would the fact that we just get married and filed application immediately after be the "red flag" for CIC?

 

[mikeymyke]

Thank you very much for the suggestion, I did not take into account at all that the application from the US can go to other than the NY offices...

What does it mean "to have red flags"? Does it refer to criminal records, etc.? or would the fact that we just get married and filed application immediately after be the "red flag" for CIC?

No red flags are things such as large age difference, educational difference, cultural difference, religious difference, quick marriage after meeting, parents not attend the wedding, one partner is divorced while the other one never married, etc. However since your husband is from US, these things are largely overlooked as it's quite normal in US culture for these things to happen.

 

[Rob_TO]

@ Kayaker: he currently resides in the USA (the website states 33 months after the sponsor's approval in Canada), since he is not planning to return to our home country during the application process, he will apply from the USA (if we go with the outland option).

Hi, you need to answer specifically:
- what country is his passport from?
- what is his current status in USA (i.e. student, green card holder, worker, illegal, etc)?

 

[Lillite]

@mikeymyke: This is reassuring, we do not have any of these Thank you!

 

[mikeymyke]

Oops I realized that your husband is actually not a US citizen, but a citizen of another country who's living in the US.

 

[Lillite]

Yes, he is on a work permit there. However, from the CIC website, I understood that such an application (as well as application for regular visas) could be done according to the current residency, not according to the citizenship country. Am I wrong?

 

[Rob_TO]

Yes, he is on a work permit there. However, from the CIC website, I understood that such an application (as well as application for regular visas) could be done according to the current residency, not according to the citizenship country. Am I wrong?

You can request it, but the decision to process at the outland office based on residency or citizenship is ultimately up to CIC.

What passport does he hold?

 

[Kayaker]

Other red flags may include things such as failed refugee claimant, criminal background, dependents (children from previous relationships) not included in the application, history of attempting to immigrate to Canada, the marriage ceremony not done according to customs of the sponsored partner's country. I think they are generally more receptive of these things happening between Canadian and American or European, Australian, etc. couples, while they are more strict about people from different backgrounds that have rituals and customs about marriage. For example, they think it's not unusual for a Canadian-American couple to get just a civil marriage with no ceremony, but if a couple from, say, India did that, that would be more of a red flag because wedding celebrations with lots of family involved are more common there. Or if a man from a conservative culture married a divorced woman (if that is extremely rare in his culture) that would be a potential red flag.

It all depends on the context - what ethnicity and nationality he is.


And yes, a PR application COULD be done according to current residency, not according to the citizenship country. COULD, not will. You can request it, and there is a good chance CIC will do it, but you cannot have a 100% guarantee.