My girlfriend has been in Canada on a student visa (originally from the US) since October of 2007 and is completing her studies in June 2009. We were recently married (less than three weeks ago) and are looking for a few solid answers on our best way to proceed in getting her here permanently and getting her working as soon as possible.
Our goals (in order of importance):
1) Have her stay here past the end of her student visa in June.
2) Get her working as quickly as possible.
3) Get her permanent residency
I've visited a few different websites/discussion groups and have had a few recommendations but am still unsure of which would probably work best for our situation (although I'm leaning towards outside spousal). From what I've gathered...
1) Inside spousal with a work permit
Advantages:
- she can apply for an open work permit once we reach stage one approval
- she is allowed to stay in Canada while her PR application is pending
Disadvantages:
- longer processing times (12-18 months according to the CIC website)
- no right of appeal if for whatever reason she is turned down
- not generally allowed to leave Canada while application is being processed
2) Outside spousal
Advantages:
- faster processing times (6-12 months according to the CIC website)
- right of appeal in case she is declined
- can enter/leave Canada while application is being processed as long as you meet the requirements to re-enter
Disadvantages:
- she can't apply for an open work permit while the application is processing
- if an interview does happen, I believe it would need to be in the USA (which is going to be difficult on the family finances...weddings are expensive
)
From the information we've found, option 2 (outside spousal) probably sounds like the best option for us, even if she can't work right away however there are a few things that I'm unclear on:
1) Does she have to leave Canada after her student visa is up if we apply for outside spousal? (from my understanding, it's where your application is being processed, not necessarily where she is at the time she submits it)
2) If she's allowed to stay, what processes do we have to follow to have her stay while it's pending? I've heard everything form her just staying without making any changes to her status to applying to change her status to a visitor while the application is processing?
If there's an interview, it would be much easier for inside as I believe they do interviews about 2 blocks from my work at the immigration office there but it's difficult to decide which would be better in our case.
Some of it's very confusing :-/
Our goals (in order of importance):
1) Have her stay here past the end of her student visa in June.
2) Get her working as quickly as possible.
3) Get her permanent residency
I've visited a few different websites/discussion groups and have had a few recommendations but am still unsure of which would probably work best for our situation (although I'm leaning towards outside spousal). From what I've gathered...
1) Inside spousal with a work permit
Advantages:
- she can apply for an open work permit once we reach stage one approval
- she is allowed to stay in Canada while her PR application is pending
Disadvantages:
- longer processing times (12-18 months according to the CIC website)
- no right of appeal if for whatever reason she is turned down
- not generally allowed to leave Canada while application is being processed
2) Outside spousal
Advantages:
- faster processing times (6-12 months according to the CIC website)
- right of appeal in case she is declined
- can enter/leave Canada while application is being processed as long as you meet the requirements to re-enter
Disadvantages:
- she can't apply for an open work permit while the application is processing
- if an interview does happen, I believe it would need to be in the USA (which is going to be difficult on the family finances...weddings are expensive
)From the information we've found, option 2 (outside spousal) probably sounds like the best option for us, even if she can't work right away however there are a few things that I'm unclear on:
1) Does she have to leave Canada after her student visa is up if we apply for outside spousal? (from my understanding, it's where your application is being processed, not necessarily where she is at the time she submits it)
2) If she's allowed to stay, what processes do we have to follow to have her stay while it's pending? I've heard everything form her just staying without making any changes to her status to applying to change her status to a visitor while the application is processing?
If there's an interview, it would be much easier for inside as I believe they do interviews about 2 blocks from my work at the immigration office there but it's difficult to decide which would be better in our case.
Some of it's very confusing :-/