When to apply?

[Spun]

I'm British and my husband is Canadian. We've been romantically involved for 15 years and married for the last 7 of those years. We've been living together in the UK for the last 9 years but our intention is to move permanently to Canada. Apart from a short overstay on a tourist visa ten years ago (which Canada does not seem to know about as it's never been raised and I'd left the country voluntarily - though I obviously will mention it on my application), we think we'd have a fairly straightforward case. We have 15 years of proof of our relationship.

The only thing stopping me from applying for PR now is that we have a chunk of debt that we would ideally like to clear first, so that we can start life in Canada with a clean slate. However, life keeps "getting in the way", in that we've had a series of expensive emergencies over the last while which has set us back financially and pushed our plans to move to Canada further away.

I'd always thought it would be better to wait until we were debt-free before applying for PR but I've been lurking on the Outland UK applicants board for quite some time and I can see that it's taking many people over a year to get PR. I'm wondering whether I should apply now, even though we're in no way able to move for quite some time? I think that it could take us a couple years to get in the position where we could comfortably move (e.g. all debt paid and sufficient savings so we could survive once there). So I'm left pondering the following questions:

1. Is it too soon to apply? When would be the best time?
2. What would happen if I got PR before I was ready to move? (Could I flagpole? - But what would happen if I couldn't move for a further year or so after I got PR?)

Any advice or guidance gratefully received! Thank you

 

[brucem]

I'm British and my husband is Canadian. We've been romantically involved for 15 years and married for the last 7 of those years. We've been living together in the UK for the last 9 years but our intention is to move permanently to Canada. Apart from a short overstay on a tourist visa ten years ago (which Canada does not seem to know about as it's never been raised and I'd left the country voluntarily - though I obviously will mention it on my application), we think we'd have a fairly straightforward case. We have 15 years of proof of our relationship.

The only thing stopping me from applying for PR now is that we have a chunk of debt that we would ideally like to clear first, so that we can start life in Canada with a clean slate. However, life keeps "getting in the way", in that we've had a series of expensive emergencies over the last while which has set us back financially and pushed our plans to move to Canada further away.

I'd always thought it would be better to wait until we were debt-free before applying for PR but I've been lurking on the Outland UK applicants board for quite some time and I can see that it's taking many people over a year to get PR. I'm wondering whether I should apply now, even though we're in no way able to move for quite some time? I think that it could take us a couple years to get in the position where we could comfortably move (e.g. all debt paid and sufficient savings so we could survive once there). So I'm left pondering the following questions:

1. Is it too soon to apply? When would be the best time?
2. What would happen if I got PR before I was ready to move? (Could I flagpole? - But what would happen if I couldn't move for a further year or so after I got PR?)

Any advice or guidance gratefully received! Thank you

Really when you apply is probably down to your own personal circumstances. For example can you afford to be both without jobs and still service remaining debt, do you have a place to stay can you get a job beforehand in Canada? I guess these are questions you would have to ponder so I don't think anyone can give you a definite answer to Q1 although from what you have said it sounds like it would be a bit of a struggle.

However in relation to your second question your COPR is linked to the date of your medical. For example if you did your medical today 03.07.2015 it would expire exactly a year later. You would normally have to move by this date. Sometimes depending on the length of time it takes to process your PR they may extend your medical to allow you to have a reasonable time to pack up and move. They gave me only two weeks extra. Its basically a use it or lose it scenario, if you couldnt move by the date specified on your COPR you would have to start all over again. You also risk having your application rejected if you state that you couldnt move for a year or two as they may tell you to apply when you were actually ready to move.

Flagpoling is for those who apply outland while living IN Canada so this wouldn't be applicable to you unless you were planning to mvoe to Canada before your COPR was issued.

Here is a very useful link with lots of answers to some FAQ specific to Brits!

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ

 

[Mapleson]

The real questions you should be asking is why you want to move to Canada and if you could pay your debt off faster here. If you can, then it would make more sense to have enough to transition, rather than trying to pay everything off first.

You could complete the PR process, take a "vacation" to Canada to land, but then return to the UK indefinitely.

The application process cost about 1000 pounds once you've included all the costs of getting the paperwork in order.

 

[Majromax]

You could complete the PR process, take a "vacation" to Canada to land, but then return to the UK indefinitely.

This has been done, but is technically not permissible. One is supposed to land at the time of moving to Canada; if CBSA suspects that there is no actual intent to relocate then they can cancel the COPR. This is of course very rare.

 

[tishness]

I would suggest waiting until you feel better financially. Aside from your debt and moving costs, this process can be very expensive, between multiple shipping costs for filing and additional documents, possible travel costs for medicals/interviews (you likely won't have an interview), medical costs, notary costs, additional costs for police checks, certificates and photos, plus the application costs, it will cost in the thousands of dollars. When approval is given you have a short window to land, likely somewhere in 2-9 months, depending on the visa officer and expiration of your medicals. If you aren't ready to go at that point, they do not grant extensions, you basically will have done it all for nothing.

And I would agree with Majromax. Besides that you can loose your status if you do not fulfill the time requirements... so what would the point be?

 

[Majromax]

I would suggest waiting until you feel better financially. Aside from your debt and moving costs, this process can be very expensive, between multiple shipping costs for filing and additional documents, possible travel costs for medicals/interviews (you likely won't have an interview), medical costs, notary costs, additional costs for police checks, certificates and photos, plus the application costs, it will cost in the thousands of dollars.

"Thousands" of dollars is a bit of an overestimate for an ordinary application from the United Kingdom, I feel. The application fees and medical exam are not inexpensive, but together those were nearly the full extent of my costs applying as a US citizen. An applicant from the United Kingdom will obviously not need to provide certified translations of UK-originated documents, and the marriage will alleviate the need for a statutory (notarized) declaration of union.

 

[Spun]

Thank you so much for the responses everyone. Sounds like things are pretty much as I suspected - that we should get our finances better sorted before we apply. Appreciate you all helping