Considering moving back to Canada - application questions, queries and concerns

[Gary_87]

Hi friends!

I'm looking for some advice and am hoping you guys can help me out. A bit of background first.

I used to be active on here in 2013 when I was pursuing a commonlaw PR application. Midway through the wait time for the application (after my partner was approved) we pulled the application as my now wife and I decided that we wanted to move to Australia from Vancouver. She is Canadian (30) and I'm from the UK (29). We are currently here in Australia (I'm completing a masters degree and will be done this November) and are now thinking about our future.

Despite the weather, the opportunity to make a lot of money as jobs are better paid and how this place would probably be a good place to bring up kids, we miss Canada. We miss the affordableness (can't buy a house here), the 4 seasons (I miss the cold sometimes!) and being close to family (we want to have kids soon and bringing them up alone and away from family is a difficult thought).

We don't have PR here and are working towards that. It would take us about 3 years to be eligible for PR and we would really like to be getting on with our lives - something we have to postpone until we're PR as we wont get any mortgage benefits, have to pay huge surcharges and our kids would need visa's of their own if we aren't PR.

Things could happen quicker for us in Canada and that is what we are now considering. So, I have a few questions:
If we were to apply for spousal sponsorship which VO would we apply through? Sydney or London?
The processing times all seem to say 17 months now as opposed to different times for different VO's - why is this? Will it really take 17 months? Also, if it does take 17 months, does that mean we'd have to do medical tests again?
Will our application be affected by our decision to cancel our last application?

We feel like we have a pretty standard spousal visa application - we're married, have lived, travelled and moved around the world together, we have significant ties to Canada (family, money etc), we have joint lives etc etc.

As we both aren't in Canada, would we expect the application to run into difficulties?

Sorry for the ramble, but wanted to give a brief background first. We don't yet know what we want to do - stay here or go back to Canada - pros and cons to both. But having family, the prospect of owning a house and being able to both be residents (one citizen) and live in a country which seems more progressive than here are all drawing us in that direction right now.

Any help with my queries would be great.

Thanks!

Gary

 

[aussiepete]

Hate to tell you but Canada is almost as expensive as Australia and wages are lower in Canada! Your partner is from Vancouver? Well try and find a house under a million $$

As for applying. You go through Sydney as you are in Australia. If you applied via London you would need to travel to the UK if they ask for an interview!

As for time lines. When I did mine 10 years ago ( Sydney, Wife sponsored me ) the estimated time line was 12-18 months but it actually only took 90 days.

 

[floomy]

1. Sydney since you have lived in Australia.

2. Medical is only good for a year, so there is good chance that VO would request re-do medical (if your app has been processing over a year)

3. No, it would not affect your app if you canceled your app before.
if there is question regarding to the matter on the form, just be honest and explain the situation as you did here.

4. you and your spouse are not in Canada now, so it is more likely VO would request more supporting doc about settle down in Canada (while processing your file)
Beside submit support letters from family and asset in Canada, a job offer would be another good supporting doc.

hope it helps.
good luck.

 

[Gary_87]

Hate to tell you but Canada is almost as expensive as Australia and wages are lower in Canada! Your partner is from Vancouver? Well try and find a house under a million $$

As for applying. You go through Sydney as you are in Australia. If you applied via London you would need to travel to the UK if they ask for an interview!

As for time lines. When I did mine 10 years ago ( Sydney, Wife sponsored me ) the estimated time line was 12-18 months but it actually only took 90 days.

Hi Aussiepete!

Oh we know about Vancouver. We wouldn't move there. We're both kind of tired of living in major 'best city in the world' type places.

With both of our jobs, the income change isn't that bad. We'd definitely earn less than in Canada than in Aus, but factoring in house prices across the board here (plus stamp duty, high interest rates and the fact that aus appears to entering some form of economic recession) and other outgoing costs, our disposable income and saving potential may be better in Canada. Plus the wait for us to get started on all of this will take a lot longer here now - my occupation was just removed from the australia skilled occupation list.

Plus, our major reason for moving back wouldn't be our income potential. We want to be closer to both our families and have a good place to raise our future kids.

I wonder if the 17 months wait time is generic then or if people know about it happening a lot quicker than that? Any light anyone can shed on current processing times would be great!

Thanks!

 

[Gary_87]

1. Sydney since you have lived in Australia.

2. Medical is only good for a year, so there is good chance that VO would request re-do medical (if your app has been processing over a year)

3. No, it would not affect your app if you canceled your app before.
if there is question regarding to the matter on the form, just be honest and explain the situation as you did here.

4. you and your spouse are not in Canada now, so it is more likely VO would request more supporting doc about settle down in Canada (while processing your file)
Beside submit support letters from family and asset in Canada, a job offer would be another good supporting doc.

hope it helps.
good luck.

Thanks!

With regards to supporting documentation about settling back in Canada, how would we be able to prove we have jobs lined up and a house lined up if the processing times are 17 months? We wouldn't be applying for any of those things until we knew when we were coming.

We both have money in Canada (over $25000), my wife is enrolled to do an online course through the university of Calgary and we have proof of repeated trips back and for to Canada to visit over the last 3 years. We also have family (parents in law and sister in law) who could vouch for us returning. but we wouldnt have jobs and stuff lined up ahead of time so how could we prove our intention other than the reasons mentioned?

We're here in Aus so I could upgrade my qualification - studying here was much more viable for me than studying in Canada at the time.

 

[floomy]

I wonder if the 17 months wait time is generic then or if people know about it happening a lot quicker than that? Any light anyone can shed on current processing times would be great!

Thanks!

80% of applicants would take 17 months.
would take faster or longer than that. No one knows.

 

[Gary_87]

80% of applicants would take 17 months.
would take faster or longer than that. No one knows.

Yeah I was just curious as it seems that 17 months is standardized across all visa offices now. Was wondering if that was some weird coincidence that 80% of all applications take that long now or whether it's just generic now.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Yeah I was just curious as it seems that 17 months is standardized across all visa offices now. Was wondering if that was some weird coincidence that 80% of all applications take that long now or whether it's just generic now.

It's just a general timeframe.

You send the app to Mississauga and CIC chooses where it is processed. CIC usually chooses the VO of nationality instead of the VO of residence, so your app will most likely go to London. London averages around 8-10 months.

 

[Gary_87]

It's just a general timeframe.

You send the app to Mississauga and CIC chooses where it is processed. CIC usually chooses the VO of nationality instead of the VO of residence, so your app will most likely go to London. London averages around 8-10 months.

Thanks Canuck!

How would that work if they required an interview though? If my residence is Australia would I have to travel to the UK?

 

[Gary_87]

Also am I able to nominate a VO on my application form?

 

[MilesAway]

No, they removed that option quite a while ago. It was kind of pointless anyway since CIC just sends it wherever they see fit.
In either case, London is fairly fast, and if you get lucky and get Sydney, it's one of the fastest. Some Sydney applicants are done in 4-5 months. The odds of being called for an interview are really slim, since you've been together for a long time and you are not from a high-risk country.

 

[Gary_87]

Appreciate the info! Thanks.

Guess we have some decisions to make. If we go with it I'll be back here seeking help again! Been a while since I attempted one of these haha.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks Canuck!

How would that work if they required an interview though? If my residence is Australia would I have to travel to the UK?

Unless you have some crazy red flags that you haven't mentioned, the chance of an interview is next to none.

 

[NMGA]

We are about to go through the same thing. Partner is a Canadian citizen (1st generation born abroad) and we find our kids are ineligible for citizenship due to the 2009 rules. We will need to apply for sponsorship and family class permanent residency visas for myself and the kids. Due to the timeframe it's impossible to work out a rental and job plan! We have family in Vancouver who can assist with relocation, we also have considerable savings. But that's where it ends. What have others done to prove their intent? We would be dealing with the Sydney office as we are all Australian born.

 

[Sharonafeder]

We are about to go through the same thing. Partner is a Canadian citizen (1st generation born abroad) and we find our kids are ineligible for citizenship due to the 2009 rules. We will need to apply for sponsorship and family class permanent residency visas for myself and the kids. Due to the timeframe it's impossible to work out a rental and job plan! We have family in Vancouver who can assist with relocation, we also have considerable savings. But that's where it ends. What have others done to prove their intent? We would be dealing with the Sydney office as we are all Australian born.

Hi Newbie,
How is the application going? Are you already in Canada?
We are in the same position with our application, filing in the forms now. Im the Canadian citizen (1st Generation born abroad) Swiss husband, and two kids born after 2009.