inland vs outland with UK wife - please help

[RickBuchanan]

I am Canadian and am married to a Welsh girl, and we cannot determine which process we should go through.

We have never lived together (have seen each other a lot with trips) and would like to have her fly into Canada with a 1-way ticket in a few months, with the intention to file papers and hopefully stay.

Will there be an issue with her getting through customs? We will say she is visiting me for an undetermined period of time, and she still has a home in the UK if needed.

Outland - apparently it is quicker. She would have to travel back to the UK to do an interview though? And she will have to send her Passport away... So how would this work? I have heard that Outland is recommended even if you are living in Canada together, but I am not sure how to proceed.

Inland - she has never lived with me, and officially would only be visiting. Does that suffice to apply through this method?

Please reply with any advice or suggestions. Thanks everyone.

 

[Owl29]

In my personal opinion, I think for UK citizen the best way is Outland. I am not sure about waiting times for UK citizens, but I believe it's much shorter than Inland.
Interview is not for everyone, so if you provide enough evidence that your relationship is genuine, I don't think that will be an issue. Of course, every case is different and its a bit of magic to predict future
I am married to Canadian and I have visitors status in Canada, but I will definitely apply Outland myself, as waiting for me is worse thing.
Also, keep in mind that if you apply Inland its not recommended to leave Canada, so if you won't be let in country for some reason your application will be canceled and if you apply Outland, you can travel easily.
I am not sure, but I think if you are married, you can apply right away, before her even coming. You don't need to live together before applying if you are married and she can come wait out the rest of time in Canada as a visitor if she applies before leaving.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Hi Rick,

There are a few options you have, and it's good you've started to do a bit of research.

There are pros and cons to applying inland vs outland. I would highly suggest you have a read through this wiki article, which will explain the process in more detail and will give you more information about inland vs outland. http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada

Outland is quicker, would take roughly one year to get PR, faster if the application is processed by a Canadian office (explained in the wiki). She would only have to go to the UK if an interview is requested, which is exceedingly rare for Brit/Canadian couples. In the 4 years I have been around, I've seen I think 3 people called for interviews. It's very, very rare. She will not have to send her passport away; if they do ask for it (and they may not), a full colour copy of the whole passport will suffice. (They of course reserve the right to request the full passport after, but I've never seen anyone asked for the physical passport.) Yes, Outland is generally recommended, even if you are living in Canada. This is explained in the wiki.

You can apply inland even if she's in Canada as a visitor, that's fine. You can also then apply for an OWP which should take 4ish months to arrive. This does get her working faster, but it will take probably 2-2.5 years to get full PR. Depends if you are okay to wait that long or not. She CANNOT fly over on a one-way ticket, though, as she needs to be entering Canada as a visitor - and honestly, she may have issues getting into Canada if she flies on a one-way ticket with all her worldly belongings to be with her Canadian husband living in Canada and without any PR app in progress. She does risk being refused entry. Impossible to say if she'll have issues entering or not.

Read up on the article listed above. There's also a FAQ listed in my signature, it's geared towards outland but may answer some of your questions as well. Read it all, digest it, then come back if and when you have more questions.

Best of luck!

 

[bigredmoose]

Do NOT attempt this on a one way ticket. First of all, the airline could refuse to take her and you'll only know this while attempting to board. They don't like to fly people without status to another country, because if she's refused entry the airline would have to take her back - for free. Second of all, she is only allowed entry to Canada as a visitor. People are simply not allowed to turn up at the border without status for the purpose of living in Canada. If she turns up with all her worldly posessions, on a one way ticket, with no job in the UK to return to, while wanting to stay an "undetermined period of time" you run a very strong risk of her getting turned away. Worst case scenario is she gets an exlusion order meaning she won't be allowed in the country for a year and this will be an issue in your eventual sponsorship application.

Having said that, people do what you're suggesting all the time, but it has to be done right. She must present herself as a visitor (by not doing the things I've said above) and tell the guards she will be applying for sponsorship and that she wants to wait out the process in Canada. The crucial part is that she has to convince the border guards that she understands the rules regarding not working/studying and that she will apply to extend your visitor status as long as necessary but will be prepared to leave the country should that fall through. Under no circumstances will she stay in the country without status.

As for the return ticket, spend a bit more and get a refundable one ;-)

As long as she doesn't need to work while the process is underway, there is no good reason to apply inland. Even then, the work permit would only come about 4 months after applying inland, but the whole outland process would likely be complete in 8 months or so. Meanwhile it'd be another 2 years for the inland to finish.

In the very unlikely event that she's called to an interview, it might be in the UK but it could be in Canada as well.