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| Subject: Sponsorship options |
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Hi,
Hoping some wise people in this forum might be gracious enough to help me answer some questions... (I´ve called Canada Immigration but they don´t seem very helpful)
I am a Canadian living in Ontario and my significant other is Austrian living in Austria.
I´m considering all options for her to come to Ontario so we can be together AND allow her to work.
- We are currently not married
- We do not qualify as "common-law"
- We DO qualify as "federal skilled workers"
It seems that we have 4 options:
A) Apply for Temporary Work Permit
- very hard for her to obtain a job offer letter
B) Apply for Permanent Residence as a Federal Skilled Worker
- processing times are on average > 9 months (Vienna 50%)
and up to > 3years
C) Apply for Permanent Residence by Spousal Sponsorship
- would require us to get married
- processing times are on average 3 months (Vienna 50%) and
up to 6 months
(** PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG ABOUT THIS DURATION **)
Now my questions:
1) Are there any errors/omissions in the above options?
2) Regarding Option C:
i) We can apply while she is outside of Canada
If we do this, do we have to wait for a decision to be rendered
before she visits me?
ii) She visits me and then we apply while she is living with me
If we do this, everything i´ve read tells me that she can continue
to stay in Canada (though not work) until a decision has been rendered.
I´ve also read "in between the lines", that if the process takes a long
time, they may grant her a work permit before coming to a decision.
Is this true?
Are there any disadvantages of doing (i) rather than (ii)?
If so, what?
Does (ii) take longer to process than (i)?
If so, how much longer on average?
3) Can we apply for all or any combination of (A), (B), and (C) concurrently?
Is this a waste of time or dangerous?
Thank you for any generous advice you might offer,
Ignac
[09-02-2007,12:11]
[**.96.101.194]
Ignac Vucko |
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(in reply to: Sponsorship options)
>- We DO qualify as "federal skilled workers"
(It doesn´t matter if you do, as you´re already Canadian.)
>A) Apply for Temporary Work Permit
>- very hard for her to obtain a job offer letter
Yes, depending on what she does for a living, but if you can avoid it, it would be easier (see later suggestions)
>B) Apply for Permanent Residence as a Federal Skilled >Worker
>- processing times are on average > 9 months (Vienna 50%)
>and up to > 3years
True. Don´t even bother. These are for people not in a relationship with a Canadian, there are faster ways.
>C) Apply for Permanent Residence by Spousal Sponsorship
>- would require us to get married
Yes, unless your Significant Other is young enough to get a working holiday visa and come over for a year that way so you have enough time to apply as common-law without having to get married. Or, would you consider somehow going there?
>- processing times are on average 3 months (Vienna 50%) >and up to 6 months
>(** PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG ABOUT THIS DURATION >**)
I´m not sure but if you got the figures from the CIC website, they´re about right.
>2) Regarding Option C:
>i) We can apply while she is outside of Canada
>If we do this, do we have to wait for a decision to be >rendered before she visits me?
No, she can come over on a visitor´s visa, but be careful about telling immigration at the border that she is there to visit or they might think she won´t leave, even if her application is in process.
Getting married is basically your best option and is by far the faster route into Canada to be together.
>ii) She visits me and then we apply while she is living >with me If we do this, everything i?ve read tells me that >she can continue to stay in Canada (though not work) >until a decision has been rendered.
Yes, but she needs to keep her status up by reapplying for an extension every time her visitor´s visa expires. It´s not usually a problem but I´ve heard of cases where after 4 or 5 times, the visa has been denied, even if you are waiting for PR. It just depends on what the granting officer gives you by way of time, you can´t be sure of anything. Also, full PR could take up to 18 months, although she could probably work after about 8. It takes a lot out of you not being able to work at all (trust me!).
>I?ve also read "in between the lines", that if the >process takes a long time, they may grant her a work >permit before coming to a decision.
>Is this true?
Not quite. You wait about 8 months and get approval in principle (AIP), at which point you can apply for an open work permit. This takes about another month to get so you can in fact include it with your PR application and say that you want it processed at the same time so when they send AIP you get the permit straight away and can start work and regain sanity.
Alternatively, a few people get full PR with AIP (depending on the paperwork - mine was minimal, no kids, EU member, etc., but I still had to wait a year after AIP to get full PR). So you can choose to wait and see, in which case you wouldn´t need a work permit as you´d have full PR. Saves money, but I recommend getting that work permit just in case.
>Are there any disadvantages of doing (i) rather than
>(ii)?
She would have to pay to visit you, return to Austria to get the PR and come back. But other than that, it´s easily the fastest route. It just depends if you want to be together straight away in Canada and wait, or if you don´t mind coming and going for a shorter amount of time by applying outside. Highly recommend you get married and apply outside ASAP.
>Does (ii) take longer to process than (i)?
Yes, if you say Vienna is around 3-6 months, in Canada applications vary between about 8 and 10 months (exact figures on the CIC´s site) - and full PR can come up to 18 months after applying.
>3) Can we apply for all or any combination of (A), (B), >and (C) concurrently?
Not sure, but honestly, I wouldn´t bother with skilled or temporary workers. They created family category for a reason, make good use of it!
[09-02-2007,13:37]
[**.203.42.95]
Anonymous |
thank you for your reply! (in reply to: Sponsorship options)
Thanks for your reply!
It cleared up all of my questions.
If you have any other useful tips/suggestions/gotchas
of going down the sponsorship route, i´de love to hear
them.
Thanks again,
Ignac
[10-02-2007,16:37]
[**.96.101.194]
Ignac Vucko |
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