Once application is successful, how soon do we have to immigrate?

[sondubucats]

Hello,
I currently live in the UK with my common-law spouse (British) but we'd like to relocate to Canada. We'll be applying for the outland common-law spousal visa. I've read that we must be prepared to move "immediately" once the visa is granted. Can anyone please help clarify what this means? Is there a typical time frame ie. 30 days? If we aren't able to move back within a short timeframe, is the visa rejected?
Thanks!

 

[Naturgrl]

Hello,
I currently live in the UK with my common-law spouse (British) but we'd like to relocate to Canada. We'll be applying for the outland common-law spousal visa. I've read that we must be prepared to move "immediately" once the visa is granted. Can anyone please help clarify what this means? Is there a typical time frame ie. 30 days? If we aren't able to move back within a short timeframe, is the visa rejected?
Thanks!

So you are Canadian. You need to show that you are moving to Canada (lease, job, bank accounts, job hunting etc.). Once partner has COPR you move before the date on the COPR.

 

[sondubucats]

So you are Canadian. You need to show that you are moving to Canada (lease, job, bank accounts, job hunting etc.). Once partner has COPR you move before the date on the COPR.

Thank you for your reply, @Naturgrl ! Yes I am Canadian.
The COPR date you are referring to - is there a typical date from the time we are notified? We are just trying to plan ahead so wondering how long the time is between being notified the application was successful and the date.

 

[Naturgrl]

Thank you for your reply, @Naturgrl ! Yes I am Canadian.
The COPR date you are referring to - is there a typical date from the time we are notified? We are just trying to plan ahead so wondering how long the time is between being notified the application was successful and the date.

Outland processing is about 13 months. Once processed partner will be given COPR with a date that he must enter by. Validity may be up to one year.

 

[armoured]

Thank you for your reply, @Naturgrl ! Yes I am Canadian.
The COPR date you are referring to - is there a typical date from the time we are notified? We are just trying to plan ahead so wondering how long the time is between being notified the application was successful and the date.

The COPR typically is set to expire one year after the medical test, which is perhaps 2-3 months after applying.

Note: you must 'land' - that is, arrive and go through the admin procedures of becoming a PR. But you can depart a few hours later if you like, eg a flight the next day. This is commonly referred to as 'soft landing' and it's fine. You don't have to move-move that same day.

Now, residency obligation starts counting from this day of landing. Which starts to 'bite', allowing for some buffer and issues, a couple of years after landing.

So: while I don't think it is advantageous to apply too much in advance of your plan for moving, there's a fair bit of flexibility. As your spouse is a Brit (nato etc and therefore rarely security issues), processing usually not delayed too much. On the other side, it's discomfiting to have a solid departure date planned and not have your docs in order 2-3 months before.

As a very rough rule of thumb, if you apply ~12 months before the earliest semi-realistic/aggressive date you might move, you'd likely have good flexibility either side and a good buffer. I'm sure others might quibble about what hits the sweet spot depending on their own experiences etc., feel free to adjust based on your own prefs; maybe this window could be anywhere between 8-18 months. Somewhat depending on nationality and some other factors.

(We applied about 11 months before we'd planned to move and then covid hit, so we both got the docs in order several months later than we'd planned, but a month after start of school year [a serious issue for us] - but then, with covid, we also decided to delay further anyway. So in theory our plan was perfect, in practice ... but then in retrospect I'd perhaps have applied a couple months earlier at most, and planning wouldn't have worked for covid anyway)