rsrz said:
Although I agree with Eileen's comments on non-fulfillment of PR Residency Obligation for yourself and visa requirement for yourself once your PR lapses, I do not agree with the comment of the 2-4 year processing time - I personally know of several people whose families are in Canada while they work overseas. CIC's measures under Bill C24 (has now become Law) are geared towards a quick processing time of less than a year by 2016-17 . The only additional clarification that can be sought from your wife is how she supported herself during her stay here (as her tax return will be 'nil' since I assume she will not be working with you overseas) and the simple response to this will be that she was supported by her husband who works overseas.
I agree heartily that 2-4 years could be wrong. We can't accurately predict individual processing times, especially 4+ years into the future! There are too many variables (CIC future budget, staffing levels, political climate, what local office, # of applications, merits of individual applications, implementation of new procedures, pilot projects, etc.)
However, I mentioned the 2-4 year timeline because it's better to assume there will be a challenges and then be pleased when things go smoothly rather than assume that everything will be perfect and then be knocked flat by an extra 2 years of delay and separation.
We've seen processing timelines of anywhere from 12-36 months over the last 4 years, so it's wise to remember that the situation is always changing. Some things that probably won't change though is that there will not be much political pressure to resolve "non-routine" applications in a timely manner and your wife's application may be at risk of being deemed "non-routine". It also might garner increased scrutiny under the "intent to reside" clause and result in less-than-optimal processing times.
I want to clarify, as my own application was deemed "non-routine", that that label doesn't mean the applicant has done anything wrong or is less deserving of citizenship!
Bill C24 offers no guarantees for processing times. Ministers have said that it will speed things up, but this is a political gesture rather than a factual one. The speed up that we are currently seeing (which Min. Alexander attributed to C24 even before any provision of C24 came into effect "Look it's already working! Even though it's not even in effect yet! Wow!") is due to the special $44 million one-time-funding that Parliament passed last year than C24.
Anyway, there are no official processing timelines or benchmarks for citizenship processing, so planning a life around things going perfectly is risky in my opinion.
The worst case scenario would be sacrificing so much as a family only to run into additional difficulties years later and decide that the sacrifice wasn't and isn't worth it. It's good to have a good sense of what you might be sacrificing before you commit to sacrifice it.
