Inland/outland...again

[Knittingdemon]

Hello all,

first off, thank you to all who have provided so much good info on this forum! My question is an old one, but I can't seem to get a good sense of my best options and whether I should apply inland or outland. Advice is very welcome! This is my situation:

I'm a citizen of one of the Scandinavian countries (not much info on these nationalities on the boards), and I am enrolled as a PhD student at a university in the US (finishing in 2018, yay!). My boyfriend of 12 years (Canadian citizen) and I married in May, and I came up to join him here in Canada in mid-October. I'm currently a visitor. We're now done gathering most things we need for our application and will submit in January 2018.

The whole time I've been thinking that an inland application would be best for me, since I can apply for the OWP and am from a visa exempt country so that I can go to the US to defend my dissertation, conferences, etc. in the summer of 2018 (will hopefully have OWP then if I go the inland route).
But, reading around even more, it seems that in the past the advice for Europeans has very much been to apply outland, even when staying in Canada. Has this changed with the new, shorter application turn-arounds inland? I've tried to search for Scandinavians on the board to see how they fare, and see one Norwegian processed super fast outland...and then one Swede waiting and waiting outland (which would be bad for me, no OWP, etc). Not much to go on...

Thanks in advance for advice and/or commiseration

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Inland you are advised NOT to travel. Even with the OWP as this does not guarantee re-entry. If you are for some reason refused re-entry to Canada, your application would be considered "abandoned" and will not be processed any further. If you go outland (while in Canada) and then leave Canada and are refused re-entry, your application will still be processed.

Its a very personal choice that only you can make. And while you can look at other peoples timelines it can be misleading doing so because i am an October applicant and have received communication from CIC already, where as some September applicants haven't. While they should, it seems CIC dont process thing in a linear order, so there really is no telling.

I realise this is probably no help whatsoever!

 

[Knittingdemon]

Inland you are advised NOT to travel. Even with the OWP as this does not guarantee re-entry. If you are for some reason refused re-entry to Canada, your application would be considered "abandoned" and will not be processed any further. If you go outland (while in Canada) and then leave Canada and are refused re-entry, your application will still be processed.

Its a very personal choice that only you can make. And while you can look at other peoples timelines it can be misleading doing so because i am an October applicant and have received communication from CIC already, where as some September applicants haven't. While they should, it seems CIC dont process thing in a linear order, so there really is no telling.

I realise this is probably no help whatsoever!

It is still nice to hear from someone! Easy to feel very alone in this process. I guess I am trying to figure out if I should take a chance on an outland application, gambling that the timeline for someone of my citizenship is short. I don't think my application should be complicated. But I'm scared of having to extend and extend my visitor status in Canada and being unable to take a job after I finish the PhD in the summer, too. Choices...

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

It is still nice to hear from someone! Easy to feel very alone in this process. I guess I am trying to figure out if I should take a chance on an outland application, gambling that the timeline for someone of my citizenship is short. I don't think my application should be complicated. But I'm scared of having to extend and extend my visitor status in Canada and being unable to take a job after I finish the PhD in the summer, too. Choices...

Being from Europe you perhaps will not be under as much scrutiny as you would be if you were from other countries. But thats not to say it would be a quick process. We are seeing most outland apps processed in a 6 month timeframe. While you may not be able to find many posts/members relating to your country of citizenship, it may help if you go through and look at some of the "month" threads and the spreadsheets relating to them. On these threads/spreadsheets people state their visa office (VO) and you will be able to see their timelines. But every application is different, and theres no telling how it will all go down!

Personally if it was me, and i wasnt bothered about working until the summer, and wanted to be able to come in and out the country with relative ease (still has its risks) i would go outland. But really only YOU can decide.

We are a helpful bunch on this forum so anything you arent sure of or want an opinion on, feel free to post and someone will help you out!