Canadian/UK Spouse Visa

[Tamara1313]

Hello,

I am currently living in London (Canadian Citizen) on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa, and my 2 years is almost up. I have been with my UK partner for a year and half, living together for 1 year 3 months. We would like to move to Canada in January but worried that the processing time for his visa will take too long.

Does anyone know if it better he applies for a spouse visa in London or is it faster for him to move to Canada with me and apply there? I've been reading all sorts of times for processing from 3-8 months. So I am not sure what to think!

Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[km9203]

Hello,

I am currently living in London (Canadian Citizen) on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa, and my 2 years is almost up. I have been with my UK partner for a year and half, living together for 1 year 3 months. We would like to move to Canada in January but worried that the processing time for his visa will take too long.

Does anyone know if it better he applies for a spouse visa in London or is it faster for him to move to Canada with me and apply there? I've been reading all sorts of times for processing from 3-8 months. So I am not sure what to think!

Any advice would be great. Thanks

We applied inland as I would get the work permit. But in all honesty, you should apply Outland. He can be in Canada and have an Outland application in. Processing times are quicker than inland. There's a timeline that hopefully someone can link you to that will give you an idea of London Outland UK processing times.

 

[andrew-brit]

Hello,

I am currently living in London (Canadian Citizen) on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa, and my 2 years is almost up. I have been with my UK partner for a year and half, living together for 1 year 3 months. We would like to move to Canada in January but worried that the processing time for his visa will take too long.

Does anyone know if it better he applies for a spouse visa in London or is it faster for him to move to Canada with me and apply there? I've been reading all sorts of times for processing from 3-8 months. So I am not sure what to think!

Any advice would be great. Thanks

Hello Tamara,

In my signature there is a link to a spreadsheet which tracks applications being processed in London. The average processing time from applying to CIC approving applications is just under 11 months. Some are faster, some are slower. Over the past 2 years London processing times have been all over the place, due to the fact London took a lot of applications from Islamabad visa office as that VO was swamped. This in turn caused the processing time for London to increase. To combat this CIC started sending applications which would normally go to London (British, Irish, etc) to either Mississauga or Ottawa for stage 2 processing. Applications are processed in Mississauga for stage 1/sponsor approval.

Since March 2015 Mississauga has stopped processing stage 2 but Ottawa continues to do so.

There is no real difference in where you apply from. Your partner can be in Canada as a visitor during the whole process, or you can apply from the UK and then move to Canada during the process. The one benefit from applying from Canada is that you (the sponsor) will not receive a request from LVO for proof that you intend to return to Canada once the visa is issued but this is not a huge advantage.

Good luck!