Spousal Sponsorship of US wife: Open work permit? Other questions . . .

[Beehivefive]

Hello.

I am a Canadian living in the U.S. with my wife and daughter. We would like to move our family to my home country of Canada, and I was wondering what the best way to do that would be in our situation.

As I am Canadian, and my daughter has her Canadian citizenship card, the only person to figure out is my wife. We'd like to move as soon as possible, but I'm not sure we'd be able to manage without my wife working in Canada, which brings me to the question:

If we apply for my wife's PR while in Canada, can she get an open work permit, enabling her to work while we wait for her to receive her PR officially?

We are in New York right now, and when I look at the CIC website, the processing time for our office says 30 months. That seems crazy. I understand things take time, but that's over two years. We'd like to get our daughter enrolled in school before she reaches kindergarten age in a year, but having to wait 30 months, well, that makes it impossible.

So, again, we're looking for the best way to come to Canada and get our daughter in school, and don't mind having to wait for my wife's PR, as long as she can get some sort of temporary work permit.

A simple thing becomes so complicated.

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone here! Any help would be great.

Again, I'm in NY, with a U.S. wife and a Canadian/U.S. child.

Thanks!

 

[Zarilenth]

If you apply INLAND she can get a work permit after the first half of the application, which is currently sitting at 10 months. If you're sponsoring an American, INLAND is not worth it! Apply Outland. She can stay with you in Canada the whole time but cannot work, and most likely she'll have her PR before 10 months is up.

 

[Rob_TO]

This is the CIC list for where apps are processed. As you can see, US citizens PR apps are all processed at CPC-Ottawa. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/apply-where.asp

Either way it will take her 10 months to work. Only way to work quicker, is if she is eligible for SWAP, can find an employer willing to go through LMO process, or see if her skills warrant work under NAFTA agreement.