Hi all, I've been reading a lot about the permanent residency process and I've more or less settled on 3 possible plans of attack, and I need the benefit of your experience as to which plan to choose. First my situation:
I'm a Canadian living outside Canada for 9 years. I followed my family when they moved away from Canada. I have no assets, bank accounts, or family in Canada. I've got a nice telecommute job that I can take anywhere with me, and I met the woman of my dreams here a couple years ago and we've been married now for a year. Now we want to move to Vancouver. My wife is going to take a six month English class there, and then do a 2-year study/coop program in makeup artistry. I want to sponsor my wife for PR, but having lived outside the country for so long, and with no family there, and no desire to get a job in Canada (I like my job, and I can take it with me!) I also have no desire to buy property there, I'd rather rent with the prices being what they are in Vancouver. I feel like it will be very difficult to prove our intent to return. Additionally, if we apply from outside Canada, she needs to maintain legal status when we're in Canada. The six months English course is fine on a tourist visa, which we already have, and it probably won't be too hard to get a study/coop via because her school is accredited and they help people get those visas all the time.
From what I can tell the options are:
1) Go there in the new year on the tourist visa. Before leaving get all the documents and forms ready for the PR application and submit it as the "inside Canada process" shortly after arriving. If I understand correctly we can remain there until the PR process is complete. I don't know if we have to apply to extend our stay or not, but if so it seems straightforward. The benefits are she'll soon be able to work and apply for BC health care. We won't even need an additional study visa. The downside is the process will likely take 2.5 years, but we're there anyway living the life we want to, with the only notable restriction being that she can't leave the country until the process is complete. There's no appeal, but re-applying usually seems preferable (faster, simpler) to appeal anyway, and I don't think it's common for spouses to be denied. It's also possible that the pilot program of giving work permits to sponsored spouses will end this year, and they may not continue it, in which case we're unable to advance with our plans for the future while we're stuck waiting for CIC, which would be horrible.
2) Go there for six months, do the English course. Return to foreign country and apply for the student visa. Wait until we have the visa and are back inside Canada, legally, for 2 years. Then apply using the "outside Canada process". That only takes ~1.5 years, and can be appealed, and I think since we're living in Canada by the time we apply it should be trivial to prove intent to return. Since we start the process six months later, it's about 6 months faster than option 1. The downside is we need a separate study visa and we'll need private health insurance for her. If she needs an interview we'll have to go back again. There's 1-2 more possible trips, but we can visit our families at the same time, so that's ok.
3) Apply now using the "outside Canada process". We may be denied entry to Canada. We may be denied the study visa. The process would be finished the fastest, but it's also the riskiest. It's also difficult to prove intent to return, so the PR process itself might be unsuccessful.
What would you do if you were me? The last option seems too risky to me, but I'm torn between the other two.
Thanks,
Dan
I'm a Canadian living outside Canada for 9 years. I followed my family when they moved away from Canada. I have no assets, bank accounts, or family in Canada. I've got a nice telecommute job that I can take anywhere with me, and I met the woman of my dreams here a couple years ago and we've been married now for a year. Now we want to move to Vancouver. My wife is going to take a six month English class there, and then do a 2-year study/coop program in makeup artistry. I want to sponsor my wife for PR, but having lived outside the country for so long, and with no family there, and no desire to get a job in Canada (I like my job, and I can take it with me!) I also have no desire to buy property there, I'd rather rent with the prices being what they are in Vancouver. I feel like it will be very difficult to prove our intent to return. Additionally, if we apply from outside Canada, she needs to maintain legal status when we're in Canada. The six months English course is fine on a tourist visa, which we already have, and it probably won't be too hard to get a study/coop via because her school is accredited and they help people get those visas all the time.
From what I can tell the options are:
1) Go there in the new year on the tourist visa. Before leaving get all the documents and forms ready for the PR application and submit it as the "inside Canada process" shortly after arriving. If I understand correctly we can remain there until the PR process is complete. I don't know if we have to apply to extend our stay or not, but if so it seems straightforward. The benefits are she'll soon be able to work and apply for BC health care. We won't even need an additional study visa. The downside is the process will likely take 2.5 years, but we're there anyway living the life we want to, with the only notable restriction being that she can't leave the country until the process is complete. There's no appeal, but re-applying usually seems preferable (faster, simpler) to appeal anyway, and I don't think it's common for spouses to be denied. It's also possible that the pilot program of giving work permits to sponsored spouses will end this year, and they may not continue it, in which case we're unable to advance with our plans for the future while we're stuck waiting for CIC, which would be horrible.
2) Go there for six months, do the English course. Return to foreign country and apply for the student visa. Wait until we have the visa and are back inside Canada, legally, for 2 years. Then apply using the "outside Canada process". That only takes ~1.5 years, and can be appealed, and I think since we're living in Canada by the time we apply it should be trivial to prove intent to return. Since we start the process six months later, it's about 6 months faster than option 1. The downside is we need a separate study visa and we'll need private health insurance for her. If she needs an interview we'll have to go back again. There's 1-2 more possible trips, but we can visit our families at the same time, so that's ok.
3) Apply now using the "outside Canada process". We may be denied entry to Canada. We may be denied the study visa. The process would be finished the fastest, but it's also the riskiest. It's also difficult to prove intent to return, so the PR process itself might be unsuccessful.
What would you do if you were me? The last option seems too risky to me, but I'm torn between the other two.
Thanks,
Dan
