chs2yyc said:
My wife arrived in Canada on 10 January 2013.
We will be submitting a spousal PR app for her shortly.
Does this time she waits here waiting for PR approval count towards the three years necessary for Canadian citizenship?
Did she enter as a visitor? If she is from a visitor visa exempt country was she given a visitor's record?
Legal time in Canada before PR is credited at half for each day to a max of 1 year i.e. she can use 2 years of non PR time = 1 year + 2 Years of PR to get the 3 years required for Citizenship. The 4 years would have to be consecutive though.
Depending on her nationality you may wish to have outland sponsorship i.e. the visa post back at her home processes her PR. It may be significantly faster than inland sponsorship which last time I checked was around 18 months. With inland sponsorship until she gets an Approval in Principle then no employment or health coverage so you better have some private insurance.