Australian Working Holiday Permit to CEC

[Canalian]

I first came to Canada on the Australian Working Holiday Program. Summary of my situation:

- 18 months experience as Marketing/Trade Show Coordinator (NOC 1226-B)
- 12 months experience as Executive Assistant (NOC 1222-B)
- currently working towards a Bachelor degree but have not yet completed this

Any others with experience going from the Aussie WHP to PR via CEC? Is the 11 months processing accurate?
I still have another 18 months left on my latest work permit so I'm hoping to try and have PR approved in this time.

My alternative is spousal sponsorship as I have been with my Canadian boyfriend for 3 1/2 years. While we would like to get married we have no formal plans yet. If we did get married in the next 6-12 months an ideas on how long it would take to have him approved etc?
From what I've read on the CIC website it would be about an 18 month process.

I'm tying to find the best route for me that won't require me to have to stop working for any period of time as I love my job and the organization I work for.

 

[jes_ON]

I first came to Canada on the Australian Working Holiday Program. Summary of my situation:

- 18 months experience as Marketing/Trade Show Coordinator (NOC 1226-B)
- 12 months experience as Executive Assistant (NOC 1222-B)
- currently working towards a Bachelor degree but have not yet completed this

Any others with experience going from the Aussie WHP to PR via CEC? Is the 11 months processing accurate?
I still have another 18 months left on my latest work permit so I'm hoping to try and have PR approved in this time.

Lucky you, you have lots of options. If you apply now, it is likely that a CEC application would finish processing before the end of your current work permit. 11 months is an historical average - recently completed applications have taken a bit longer, but there are signs that processing may be speeding up again.

My alternative is spousal sponsorship as I have been with my Canadian boyfriend for 3 1/2 years. While we would like to get married we have no formal plans yet. If we did get married in the next 6-12 months an ideas on how long it would take to have him approved etc?
From what I've read on the CIC website it would be about an 18 month process.

If you have been co-habitating with your boyfriend for at least 1 year, and can prove it (e.g. both names on leases, bank accounts, etc.) you may be able to apply as a common-law spouse.

Inland processing takes about 18 months, the advantage is after his application is approved (last I heard, about 10 months), you can apply for an open work permit. (I'm not 100% sure about the timing of eligibility for the open work permit).

Overseas processing (assuming you're an Australian citizen, you could also submit your application there), has a processing standard of 6 months. Besides no provision for a work permit, I don't know what the drawbacks are, - perhaps others do.

I'm tying to find the best route for me that won't require me to have to stop working for any period of time as I love my job and the organization I work for.

You should look into your provincial nominee program, to see if you qualify - PNP applications are supposed to have priority processing, but depending on how long the first stage (provincial application) takes, it might not be faster in the end - it is definitely more expensive, because of 2 sets of application fees.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/provincial/apply-who.asp

If your employer offers you permanent employment, you may also qualify through the Federal Skilled Workers program, Arranged Employment stream.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who-employment.asp