Applying inland vs. outland; Vienna office

[gummyfish]

Hi all!

I'm in the process of gathering information to sponsor my Dutch husband to come back to Canada with me (I'm a citizen).

It seems that the popular opinion on this forum is that applications processed at an outland office is much faster than submitting an inland application, however according to the CIC processing times, it looks like the approval time of either inland or outland will be 'done' within the same amount of time (Vienna processes the applications for the Netherlands).

I realize these times are just a general estimation as a whole and some cases may be approved quicker or take longer depending on the application's content. We've been married a couple years now, so I can't imagine we'd have issues to cause our application to take longer than normal..

Currently to me it almost looks like applying inland isn't all that bad in our case; even though the sponsorship approval is ~11 months (assuming it goes well!), once approved the hubby can apply for an open work permit and start integrating within Canada while waiting on the PR application to go through.. whereas if we applied outland, it'd take ~17 months in Vienna (after sponsor approval) before he can start up in Canada.. just seems like he could start up faster if we took the inland route..

Any advice?

 

[MissRepresentation]

When it comes to the Vienna office I don't think processing times are the main thing to look for if you're trying to decide between inland and outland. If your husband is already in Canada, a more important thing to consider would be whether he's willing to stay in the country during 13+8 months (if you choose the inland route). Travel restrictions are an issue for some people, so you may want to consider that, unless you're happy taking all your holidays in Canada (and hoping that no emergencies come up in Europe) over the next year and a half.

 

[Ponga]

He also [obviously] needs to be physically present in Canada when the Inland application is submitted. As long as he is able to enter Canada as a visitor, you can include the Open Work Permit (OWP) WITH the Inland application. This will give him `implied status', meaning that he would not need to renew his visitor status and would be able to legally remain in Canada until his application for PR has been processed.

It's very important for him to write in bold letters, across the top of the OWP application (which is document IMM5710):
`OWP SUBMITTED WITH IN-CANADA SPOUSAL SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION. PROCESS AFTER AIP'

If CIC were to process his OWP prior to AIP (Approval in Principle), also known as stage 1 (of 2) approval, it would be denied. It is the Inland application itself that makes him eligible for the OWP, so it MUST be processed first.

Good luck!

 

[lellen]

If you don't mind him not working for a full year (he shouldn't leave Canada while an inland application is in process), then you can do inland. But outland gives you more options, you can go back and visit his country, he can work while he waits, and at this point it is way more likely that he'll be done the entire process before you even reach the first stage of an inland application.

This is just my opinion, of course. But while outland applicants are moving forward, inland applicants in this forum are going crazy. The only difficult part of the outland process is that you need to prove your intent to move back to Canada, so it helps if you have a job offer but I think other people have done it with letters from their relatives and such.

 

[Kayaker]

You might want to keep in mind two things:

- 17 months for outland in Vienna means it took 17 months to process 80% of cases - most of them. That is not an average, nor is it a median. You could check a thread for people applying through Vienna to get an idea of how long your wait might be. As you say you've been married for two years and don't have any issues, the actual time it takes to process your case is probably shorter than 17 months.

- Currently, the processing time for Inland sponsorship approval is getting longer and longer. People who applied in August 2013 do not have sponsorship approval yet. By the time you apply inland, it might take much, much, much longer than 11 months. It's unpredictable. There seems to be a huge backlog and people are in limbo.


Since your husband is from a visa exempt country, he might want to do the following - apply outland, then come visit you in Canada until he gets PR. He can visit for up to 6 months, then he can extend his visitor status. (I did the same, and I extended for 1 year.) He can leave Canada at any time without jeopardizing his PR application. (If he applied Inland, he would risk his PR application if he left Canada, even for emergencies.) Whether he can get healthcare or not depends on the province.

 

[gummyfish]

Cool input!

I did check out the Vienna thread, and it seemed a bit daunting with the numbers.. which is why I was wondering which was the best route to take (inland vs. outland) in the least painful amount of time

Whew! Thanks for the extra thoughts, I'll take a closer look at the outland

 

[Rob_TO]

If you apply inland, he will be here for 13 months (current actual stage 1 processing time) before he's allowed to work. Can he really stand to stay in Canada as a tourist doing absolutely no work for 13 months? During this processing time he should not be leaving Canada for any reason.

With an outland app he can come and go between the Netherlands and Canada as a visa-exempt traveler. So he can always work in the Netherlands (or anywhere he's allowed in the EU) while waiting for outland PR processing.

Also the outland times posted on CIC site are NOT averages. They are worst-case times for 80% of apps, meaning only around 20% of apps actually see those posted times. With a visa-exempt applicant you should expect quicker processing.

 

[Avadava]

Also the outland times posted on CIC site are NOT averages. They are worst-case times for 80% of apps, meaning only around 20% of apps actually see those posted times. With a visa-exempt applicant you should expect quicker processing.

Actually, I think Vienna is the worst VO in Europe, cause they actually stick to those processing times pretty closely. In our thread, people get COPR maybe 2-3 months earlier than the processing time, best case scenario. We have people from 2012 still waiting. Imagine that Vienna is only able to process between 450-520 applications per year, whereas London or Paris are processing 1700-2200 applications per year. A small VO serving 15 countries, with little personnel and a huge backlog. From when I started to prepare to apply until now, I've seen Vienna go from 8 months processing time to 17 months. Very disappointing.

I would say when it comes to Vienna, outland vs inland isn't much of a difference, except for the fact of having to stay in Canada during inland, but time wise they are almost the same.

 

[Rob_TO]

Actually, I think Vienna is the worst VO in Europe, cause they actually stick to those processing times pretty closely. In our thread, people get COPR maybe 2-3 months earlier than the processing time, best case scenario. We have people from 2012 still waiting. Imagine that Vienna is only able to process between 450-520 applications per year, whereas London or Paris are processing 1700-2200 applications per year. A small VO serving 15 countries, with little personnel and a huge backlog. From when I started to prepare to apply until now, I've seen Vienna go from 8 months processing time to 17 months. Very disappointing.

I would say when it comes to Vienna, outland vs inland isn't much of a difference, except for the fact of having to stay in Canada during inland, but time wise they are almost the same.

I notice that Vienna processes both visa-exempt and visa-required countries. Have you noticed in following this VO, if the visa-exempt applicants get processed any quicker, or is everyone pretty much lumped into the same general slow time?

 

[Avadava]

I notice that Vienna processes both visa-exempt and visa-required countries. Have you noticed in following this VO, if the visa-exempt applicants get processed any quicker, or is everyone pretty much lumped into the same general slow time?

It seems that they process everyone the same. A visa exempt applicant got COPR in 11 months when the processing time was at 14 months, so not much of a difference there.
However, for those countries in which military service is mandatory, it often happens that the process is even longer than usual.

 

[little_apple]

I went through Vienna and it was a nightmare. Processing times went up 3 or 4 times when my application was sitting there. When I got approved processing time was 14 months, I got approved within 12. I was one of the lucky ones. Everybody else around me was waiting way longer. Processing time is at 17 months now. To be honest, if I would be in the situation: no more Vienna, I would go the inland route. Vienna sucks big time and it seems to get worse