I know I'm a little late to the conversation but I felt the need to say a few things.
1. It's not a competition between outland and inland. Nobody is competing to see who has it *censored word*tier. The whole discussion on that seemed a bit ridiculous to me, why do people have problems with someone else trying to change things for the better? Just because (in their eyes alone) they have it worse? Trust me, it's not our fault that we came here to study or work, only temporarily in our minds, and ended up finding the loves of our lives and wanted to marry them and have a family. These things just happen. And I'm sorry about pregnant people away from their spouses (which breaks my heart just to think about), but being trapped in a black hole, in the in-between of legal status/no legal status/no job/what if I get denied/what if I have to wait longer/what will my future be in a month is also HELL. And yes, I get to be with my spouse but if my ONLY two choices are: spend two years away from my husband, pregnant or not, not being able to see him, but at the same time be able to work in my own country, OR stay here in a country WITH my husband but not being able to move, visit family, see friends (and the rest of my network support), know when I'll be free, well, this just doesn't seem very fair to me. I'm not comfortable with either.
2. I keep seeing people discuss about the "conscious choice" they made by applying inland. Well, most of the people applying, and I can say this for myself because I didn't find this forum until after applying, have NO IDEA about the hell they're about to get into. Me and my husband had two choices. We visited CIC's webpage. We looked at all the options, read the guides. We counted the processing times for both Inland and Outland (from my *censored word*ty third world country's VO), and realized how much less time it would take to do it inland. Also $500 cheaper. We certainly were not expecting processing times to get longer. and longer. and longer.
If you don't frequent this forum, you are in the dark about the OWP stuff. We were unaware of the seriousness of leaving while the PR is in process. In the guide, they RECOMMEND that you don't leave. Being in this forum has made me understand that I MUST NOT leave during this process at all. I wasn't really aware of this. Now I know it, and I feel trapped and scared and like suffocating a little bit. If I had an OWP I could get a Visa, so I can fly back home and see my family, even if it's just two weeks, and then come back to my husband and to my job and my life.
3. I understand that CIC is afraid of marriage fraud. Now, I'm pretty sure there are more people marrying Canadians for genuine reasons than people committing fraud, ESPECIALLY from inside Canada. We're already here, for crying out loud. Granting an OWP for a year while the application is being processed would be just and fair, even if some people disagree with this (which confuses the hell out of me). If the application were to be denied, their work permit would expire anyway. It's a little help CIC would be throwing in to their citizens or PR's who fell in love with a foreigner.
4. I've talked too much. I think I don't have anything else to say. And to the self righteous people who were snobbing us for wanting to change things, well... I really want to say something mean but I will refrain.
Let the lashing out being, I shall take it with panache.