Cancelling INLAND PR... Need to travel. Applying for Multi-Entry and OUTLAND.

[pleasenotgovagain]

Hi everyone, thanks for your contribution in building such a great community in advance! I am a Canadian citizen that is trying to sponsor my common law wife, a Serbian citizen, for permanent residency. We meet in Europe and lived together since Nov 2012 in both in Serbia and in Canada. We are currently in Canada, she entered with a multi-entry visitors visa that got extended with a single entry Visitor Record till Feb 2016.

In November 2014 we applied for her permanent resident status, but we are learning now that we applied incorrectly... We applied inside Canada via “Application for Permanent Residence in Canada—Spouse or Common-Law Partner” application and not via “Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class” application outside of Canada. This is presenting some serious issues with our life plans. Apparently the fact that we applied inside Canada prevents her from getting a new multi-entry visa since she got refused for it with government citing intention to stay in Canada. We are not sure if she can ever get another multi-entry while under application for permanent resident. The real issue is that we have to leave Canada in June so now we have to make some tough decisions and are wondering what is the best way to proceed:

1) Cancel current permanent residence application inside Canada and reapply outside of Canada? From what I read this takes forever, bt I'm not sure if we can reapply before we get the confirmation of cancellation?
2) Can we amend current application to switch to outside application? Forms are almost 95% same, but not sure if we can/should do that and what are the consequences? It would be no issue to visit whatever embassy in the world in case of interviews etc.
3) How can she get another multi-entry visa so we can travel? We are used to traveling and don't spend much time in the same spot. Waiting in Canada for 27 months is not an option.

Thanks for your time and effort, truly appreciate it!

 

[canadianwoman]

Re: Sponsorship miss-application – next steps?

You cannot amend the current application and change it to outland. You can cancel the current application and reapply outland. If she wants to leave Canada during processing time, outland is the only option. Once you have cancelled the inland application, she can try applying for another visitor visa. She will have to show ties to her home country.

 

[suzanne2014]

Re: Sponsorship miss-application – next steps?

Apply out of Canada I did too just pray it don't take long wishing you luck

 

[Garry2008]

Re: Sponsorship miss-application – next steps?

You cannot amend the current application and change it to outland. You can cancel the current application and reapply outland. If she wants to leave Canada during processing time, outland is the only option. Once you have cancelled the inland application, she can try applying for another visitor visa. She will have to show ties to her home country.

Fully Agree with you. This is the best Option.

 

[pleasenotgovagain]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. To be clear on next steps, this is what we need to do:

1) Cancel current INLAND PR visa application. It has not started processing so it should be easy.
2) Leave Canada in June.
3) Apply for new multi-entry in the closest Canadian embassy in a country we spend at least a day in. Likely Australia. Hand in the passport for a month. Pray she gets it.
4) Go back to my wife's country of origin, Serbia, and apply for OUTLAND PR.

We still need clarity on how long cancellation takes and if we can apply for multi-entry in parallel if it takes forever so we will consult with a lawyer. Thanks again for your insight. If you have any experiences with the process above, please post them. It will definitely help us and probably many people down the road.

 

[pleasenotgovagain]

I want to give everyone an update - someone might find it useful in the future. We went to see the lawyer about this situation. Not for a free consultation, I preferred to pay and get a full hour to discuss options in peace. This is the outcome:

1) There is a option is to cancel the INLAND PR application. Its done electronically. CIC usually gets back to you within a month or so.
2) Another option is to submit a request, through the same systems as cancellation, to transfer INLAND to OUTLAND. We would include all additional forms required for the new application. CIC may or may not do this, we would note that if they can not transfer, then cancel. Along with this we would apply OUTLAND anyway, with the same UCI number and note on the cover letter that the documentation enclosed is for the same application we requested transfer of. So they can count it as new application or amendment to the old one, depending on what they decide for the old one. This option covers all the loopholes apparently.
3) We need to establish residence outside of Canada in order to request new TRV, which is not a problem since that is why we need to leave anyways. We would apply for TVR right before we wanted to come back and OUTLAND application would not affect that.

Back to filling out forms. If anyone has any other experiences to add, please post below. Thanks!

 

[MissRepresentation]

Back to filling out forms. If anyone has any other experiences to add, please post below. Thanks!

We did this (although I'm from a visa exempt country) and there is no need to wait for confirmation of withdrawal before you reapply. Some people at the call centre will tell you otherwise but they don't necessarily know what they're talking about. Also, CIC will tell you that they'll refund the fees within 16 weeks, but in most cases it will take longer than that and you will have to chase them to get the money refunded. Good luck with it.