Help- Inland vs. Outland

[Nowherepuppy]

Hi all,

I am a Canadian citizen and live in Canada and my bf is Chinese citizen and currently resides in China. We've been dating for 8 months (long distance). I visited him early this year in the States for a week where he did school. He visited and stayed with me for 2 months in Canada this summer. I'm going to spend Christmas with him in China and we are going to have to have an engagement party there as well. He has met my parents and friends this summer and I have met his friends in the States and going to meet his family during my trip to China. He has a visitor visa and planning to come to Canada later next April. Our original plan is to wait till he comes back to Canada (in April 2018) and get married here, then apply for an inland application. However I have heared inland takes longer than outland and now debating on whether we should get married in China while I'm there and I can apply for an Outland application after the new year when I'm back to Canada. Then I started to worry with this Outland approach, will CIC see any risk in our relationship (I.e. Married after dated for 8 months)? Our relationship is genuine and we have tons of pictures and message histories to prove. I'm also taking him to meet all relatives and families in China this time. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ceimi]

The CIC lists target processing times as 12 months for both Spouse in Canada (Inland) and Family class (Outland) so time of processing is irrelevant.

If your bf wants to live and work in Canada while you guys wait for a decision, apply inland. Its advised not to leave during an in-process inland application though, so he should be ready to stay in Canada for a minimum of 12 months (maybe more) without leaving the Country.

The only other difference I would say is that if you'd like to submit the application immediately after getting married (AND plan to live together during the duration of it), I would start combining finances ASAP to include proof that you are indeed living together. Open joint bank accounts, get him a supplemental credit card on your account, see if you can add him to your lease, have him take over utility bills, etc. The proof they ask for is different for couples who are living together and who are not living together.