Advice appreaciated

[Ponga]

never. there is no guarantee it will be 4 months to process. we don't even know if the 4 month wait starts when the application is RECEIVED or when AOR is sent. those are 2 very different timelines. until we know how quickly owp are being issued for NEW applicants, it is STILL not advised to risk an inland application for us citizens. becoming pr and being approved for an OWP do not give you the same rights.

But...that's why I said DEPENDING on how this pilot program progresses.

And...the OP's spouse is NOT a U.S. citizen. There's no guarantee that his application would in fact be processed IN Ottawa. I have no idea how long an outland application would take it it were to be processed in his home country's visa office...hence the mere suggestion of an Inland application IF working ASAP is their main concern.

 

[rhcohen2014]

It does make sense. He has been in the US for 5 years now but as a student. If he is a resident here (USA) and I understand correctly I send our application directly to Ottawa and that it is up to them to choose where it will be processed? Will they ship it off to Mali or an embassy in the US or directly in Ottawa?

no. the application (per the guidelines) needs to be sent to Mississauga, where CIC will check for completion and process the sponsor's application. once the sponsor is deemed eligible, then CIC will internally transfer it to the appropriate visa office abroad (which Ottawa is considered for application purposes). No one can tell you if they will send it to the office based on his residency in the us or his citizenship in mali. that is up to cic to determine, and you won't know until sponsor approval.

What happens once he gets approved outland? He simply gets PR? Does he have to leave the country at any point? My understanding was that as an outland application, the spouse had to be living outside of Canada. But I guess if he has a visitor visa, there is no reason that he cannot enter the country legally and extend his stay until his PR is approved.

once he's approved, he will receive his paper and visa (assuming he requires one). he can go to any land border to "land" as a pr. it's a quick 15 minute process. from there, he's legally allowed to live and work in canada. if he's in canada when he gets approved, he doesn't have to actually leave. he can go to a land border and "flagpole" with the us. he doesn't even have to enter the us. The only reason he would need to leave during his process is if an interview is requested, then he would need to go to where the interview is. for us applications, it's LA. for mali, it's the visa office it processes at.

My understanding was that as an outland application, the spouse had to be living outside of Canada.

nope, that's certainly NOT true. An outland applicant can be anywhere in the world when the application processes, even Canada.

 

[rhcohen2014]

And...the OP's spouse is NOT a U.S. citizen. There's no guarantee that his application would in fact be processed IN Ottawa. I have no idea how long an outland application would take it it were to be processed in his home country's visa office...hence the mere suggestion of an Inland application IF working ASAP is their main concern.

yes, agreed. the important factor to find out is how long applications from mali take to process. it's certainly not guaranteed it will be processed in ottawa, or that it would see the same processing time as us citizens.

 

[Thirdjonesgirl]

Thank you all for your help and advice! So no one is saying to apply for a student visa...

Ouf, feeling a bit discouraged at all that the process involves. I am basically sure that I will have a husband at home not being able to work for 4-6 months MINIMUM (this will NOT be fun!).

As for processing times for West Africa currently 24 months.

Any thoughts on the use of an immigration lawyer to put the paperwork together? Worth it or can one do it on their own?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Thank you all for your help and advice! Feeling a bit discouraged at all that the process involves. As for processing times for West Africa currently 24 months.

Any thoughts on the use of an immigration office to put the paperwork together? Worth it or can one do it on their own?

right, but that may not REALLY be the processing time. as already suggested, the processing times you will find on the CIC website are misleading and do not reflect current application times. these are "worst case" scenarios from last year. your best bet to find the real time average is to find the thread specific to that office on this forum. i am not sure there is one, so hopefully someone will come by and provide accurate info on the current processing.

 

[Ponga]

Thank you all for your help and advice! Feeling a bit discouraged at all that the process involves. As for processing times for West Africa currently 24 months.

Any thoughts on the use of an immigration lawyer to put the paperwork together? Worth it or can one do it on their own?

Unless your partner has potential `red flags', such as past criminality issues, you should be fine doing it yourselves. Just take your time and keep coming back here for help along the way.

Good luck!

 

[Thirdjonesgirl]

Unless your partner has potential `red flags', such as past criminality issues, you should be fine doing it yourselves. Just take your time and keep coming back here for help along the way.

Good luck!

Thanks!

 

[canadianwoman]

A Mali citizen will have his application processed in Dakar, Senegal, with a current waiting time of 24 months to process 80% of the applications. (So the average time would be less than that.)
With such a long waiting time, inland processing doesn't look so bad. When applying inland, though, the applicant cannot leave Canada for the duration of the processing. If he does, and is not let back in, the application is abandoned. Since he would need a visa to reenter Canada, he probably would not get one. That's one consideration.

 

[rhcohen2014]

A Mali citizen will have his application processed in Dakar, Senegal, with a current waiting time of 24 months to process 80% of the applications. (So the average time would be less than that.)
With such a long waiting time, inland processing doesn't look so bad. When applying inland, though, the applicant cannot leave Canada for the duration of the processing. If he does, and is not let back in, the application is abandoned. Since he would need a visa to reenter Canada, he probably would not get one. That's one consideration.

again, this is the timeline from the CIC website, which we know is not a true indicator of the experience. is there a thread specific to the Dakar visa office where the current wait time can be confirmed? if the wait time is truly that long, then YES, THEN it's recommended to apply inland. ONLY IF the wait time proves to be that substantial.

 

[Thirdjonesgirl]

A Mali citizen will have his application processed in Dakar, Senegal, with a current waiting time of 24 months to process 80% of the applications. (So the average time would be less than that.)
With such a long waiting time, inland processing doesn't look so bad. When applying inland, though, the applicant cannot leave Canada for the duration of the processing. If he does, and is not let back in, the application is abandoned. Since he would need a visa to reenter Canada, he probably would not get one. That's one consideration.

He already has a visitor visa that is valid until 2017, if he was to leave the country after we applied, would he not be able to enter again on that visitor visa? Or is his visitor status annulled because he is applying for PR inland.

He is a malian citizen currently residing in the USA, would that not mean that his application would be processed with other US applicants? Or because he is malian, he is automatically processed by Dakar?

Basically what you saying is, if we apply inland, we have to remain in Canada for the duration of the process and that could be 2 years if not more.

 

[Thirdjonesgirl]

Another question, can we apply for both outland PR sponsorship and a student visa? Then, he can enter the country as a student instead of a visitor and go to school while we wait for his PR to come thru? It does mean paying international student fees, and making two visa applications but I am under the impression that a student visa application is pretty easy to obtain provided you've been accepted to a canadian school.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Another question, can we apply for both outland PR sponsorship and a student visa? Then, he can enter the country as a student instead of a visitor and go to school while we wait for his PR to come thru? It does mean paying international student fees, and making two visa applications but I am under the impression that a student visa application is pretty easy to obtain provided you've been accepted to a canadian school.

Any thoughts on that?

yes, it's possible to do that. besides the international student rates, i believe the student has to prove enough funds for the school year (tuition + expenses), so this could mean he needs to prove $30,000 CDN in funds in order to be approved for a student visa. if he receives a student visa, it will become void once he's approved and landed as a pr.

 

[canadianwoman]

He already has a visitor visa that is valid until 2017, if he was to leave the country after we applied, would he not be able to enter again on that visitor visa? Or is his visitor status annulled because he is applying for PR inland.

He is a malian citizen currently residing in the USA, would that not mean that his application would be processed with other US applicants? Or because he is malian, he is automatically processed by Dakar?

Basically what you saying is, if we apply inland, we have to remain in Canada for the duration of the process and that could be 2 years if not more.

If the visitor visa is multiple entry, or allows multiple entries, then it should be fine to reenter using it. It won't be annulled. His application might be processed with other US applicants - CIC can choose the country of nationality or the country of residence, but it is their choice.
People applying inland are recommended not to leave Canada during processing, simply because if they are not let back in, the application is abandoned. With a visitor visa, he most likely would be let back in, but there is always a risk.

 

[canadianwoman]

You also never know how long processing will take outland. The CIC website lists the average time to process 80% of applicants at that embassy or high commission, but some people get the visa much more quickly. For example, Accra used to have the longest wait times in the world, and even now it is over a year, but one woman on this forum had her husband's application processed in just a few months.
For 'difficult' visa offices, you need to submit more evidence than someone going through an 'easier' office. You should also try to look at your relationship as objectively as possible, and try to foresee aspects of it that might make a visa officer suspicious, and then address these issues in the application. For example, if the wife is 20 years older than the husband, explain how this does not matter to the couple, both families have accepted the relationship, and so on.

His application might be processed with the US applicants, in any case. Let's hope so.