Hong Kong girl marrying a Canadian boy

[Winifred]

Hello,

I am currently holding a HKSAR passport and I am on a holiday work permits in Vancouver. My partner and I have been dating for 4.5 years and we are getting married in December!!!

I am not sure should I apply inland or outland because my visa is going to expire in november 2012. I would like to know is it faster to apply outside Canada?? And how long would it take?? I checked the cic website and hong kong office will take 17 months to process my application!!! Does it really take 17 months?? What is an average time to process the application? I am really worried and stressed in the same time cause I dont want to leave my partner for that long.... plus the ceremony.

Does anyone have any ideas?? Or something to share?

Wini

 

[Fencesitter]

It really depends on you.

Outland vs Inland for the HK visa office are about the same...however, if your case is really strong and you submit a very organized application with all required documents, you should be able to get the visa within a shorter amount of time than if you were to do everything Inland.

We applied in April, and my wife is just waiting to get her passport back from HK with the visa and COPR documentation. HK received my wife's app on July 19 and sent an AOR on July 25...then the passport request came on August 28...so basically a month to approve my wife (HK only asks for the passport when they have finalized the application - i.e. approved the visa).

If I were you I would go Outland...plus you would still be able to appeal if things went pear-shaped.

FS

 

[mobeyk]

You can apply directly after marriage. Submit whatever you have on evidence, photos, travel documents, correspondences, write a detailed summary of your love story and maybe future plans. My application package was 13 pounds and it was enough evidence that we got our passport request 4.5 months after applying.It seems that my wife will get her visa beginning November, so it would be less than 7 month after we applied (outland). I suggest outland application too.

 

[Winifred]

Thank you for the suggestion.. I am thinking outland as well.

So generally for outland it will only take less than a year??? And when u said they will hold on to your passport, how long will they hold on?

 

[canadianwoman]

Hong Kong can take a long time, well over a year. It is not generally less than a year. These forum members who have gotten much faster results submitted very good applications with a lot of evidence their relationship was genuine, and also had relationships without any 'red flags'.
So going outland may be fine, and fairly quick, but only if you have a lot of evidence your relationship is genuine. If you feel you may lack enough evidence, or if your relationship is recent and so you just don't have the kinds of proof that someone like Fencesitter has, going through Hong Kong could take a long time.

 

[zeushk]

Hong Kong can take a long time, well over a year. It is not generally less than a year. These forum members who have gotten much faster results submitted very good applications with a lot of evidence their relationship was genuine, and also had relationships without any 'red flags'.
So going outland may be fine, and fairly quick, but only if you have a lot of evidence your relationship is genuine. If you feel you may lack enough evidence, or if your relationship is recent and so you just don't have the kinds of proof that someone like Fencesitter has, going through Hong Kong could take a long time.

This is very true, in our case, we are close to one year before getting the visa. (keeping our fingers crossed) and this is because we did not do everything that was asked for in the application, such as medical report, police reports, etc. These factors weight in the period of time it took for the HK visa office to ask for these report and then we had to reply back, etc. so if you were organized, it would take alot shorter than ours.

As for the holding the passport, the documentation that came along with the request does say "20 working days to issue the visa" + mailing the passport back and forth.

 

[LnVcanada]

Just for reference only,as far as I know,HK's new record of this year is 5 months to get pr visa,that is quite inspiriting