Hi all,
My husband and I applied last June 2014 in the Inland process, only to discover the abhorrent wait times. So, in November 2014, I sent in the withdrawal of sponsorship including the reason (switching to Outland). After receiving confirmation of the withdrawal request, we started collecting everything again for an Outland application. At the beginning of February, we sent it in.
Saturday, I received AOR that the Outland package had arrived. Today, I got a letter saying that my sponsorship withdrawal had been processed and, since they hadn't started any processing, we will get the full $1040 back. Yay!
Slightly anxiety-raising, my husband also got notification of the withdrawal, along the lines of "you don't meet the requirements for immigration to Canada because you withdrew your sponsorship". I'm about 99% sure it's just a form letter... but a bit nerve-wracking to say the least.
Here's hoping that my Sponsor Approval is very soon!