Outland Spousal / Passport Request / Visiting Canada

[bmramon]

Hi Guys I have a quick question.

My sister is going thru the spousal sponsorship process, she lives in Brazil. She had her interview last week and the officer said decision would be made within 7 days.

Issue is, she has a purchased ticket to visit Canada July 4th next week.

Say she receives application approval tomorrow for example, and passport request. Can she just go to the Sao Paulo visa office with her passport and leave same day with the paperwork for landing?

Our worry is that because she already has a visit scheduled for July 4th, she cant give up her passport. Is there no way for her to just fly to canada and do the paperwork and landing in canada without sending passport to LVO in Sao Paulo since she's already travelling TO canada?

I appreciate any insights from your bright minds!

 

[evdm]

I don't believe any visa offices allow for in-person processing/issuance of CoPR documents.

July 4th is cutting things very close for getting anything processed, also keep in mind that on Monday offices will be closed to mark the Canada Day holiday.

Does your sister have a visa or is she able to otherwise enter Canada as a visitor? I believe that once a positive decision has been made she would also be able to send her passport to Ottawa if she happens to be in Canada. The visa office there will then issue the CoPR and she can either schedule an inland interview at an IRCC office in Canada (long wait times for an appointment); or she could flagpole at a land border.

 

[bmramon]

Yes she does have a valid visa to visit. Our goal was exactly that, to have her come July 4th and then just wait out the last few days or weeks of processing and ultimately flagpole at sumas.

So, if she gets accepted, would she just be able to tell LVO "could I just submit my passport to ottawa from within Canada" and that would carry things on without delays?

 

[evdm]

I don't know from experience because I'm not at that stage in my own application, but I believe that the passport request letter from the visa office will outline the steps to be taken to have the final processing done in Ottawa. From what I've read on these forums, you will have to contact the original visa office to inform them that the file will be finalized in Ottawa.