Outland versus Inland PR application Thailand

[Yoonglai]

Hello,

I am really worried that I made a terrible mistake. I have been approved to sponsor my Thai wife of 13 years for a PR, and we applied overseas. I was under the impression that this is a faster process than inland applications. We are currently waiting for TRV approval also, and I assume we should get it this week. We fly to Canada Aug 21. Recently my wife told me she heard that an inland application is faster because the Singapore office can take up to 26 months. I was told 8 months at the Canada visa office in Bangkok.

Am I in trouble here? I assumed that we could possibly extend the TRV in Canada and possibly have the PR within a year. Now I am worried that my wife will have to leave Canada and wait overseas, leaving myself and her two sons, who are Canadian citizens,and herself, in limbo.

Please advise..I am quite worried here.

John

 

[scylla]

The posted processing time for the Singapore office is in fact 26 months. Many applications are processed faster - some significantly faster. However I think it's very unlikely you will be done in 8 months.

I would wait until you have an answer on the TRV before you make any further plans. Since your wife is married to a Canadian and has already submitted a sponsorship application, her chances of being approved for a TRV are unfortunately quite low. But you never know - she might get lucky.

 

[Yoonglai]

After 13 years of marriage living and travelling together overseas in five different countries and with two biological sons who are Canadian, and having been granted a TRV for a previous visit to Canada in 2006, is it actually conceivable that the Government would separate our family for two years? This is beyond anything I can imagine.....I am truly devastated...

 

[scylla]

Here's the link to the posted processing times. Sorry - meant to include this in my last post:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

 

[scylla]

After 13 years of marriage living and travelling together overseas in five different countries and with two biological sons who are Canadian, and having been granted a TRV for a previous visit to Canada in 2006, is it actually conceivable that the Government would separate our family for two years? This is beyond anything I can imagine.....I am truly devastated...

Here's the issue - TRVs are meant for those who plan to visit Canada only and have no plans on remaining long term. If CIC suspects someone has plans to remain in Canada long term (past the duration of their TRV), they are typically refused. Having a Canadian spouse and a submitted PR application are typically flags that someone has plans to remain in Canada long term.

Having said that, the fact your wife was previously approved for a TRV and has an extensive travel history is definitely in your favour. So I would hope for the best - your wife may very well end up being one of the exceptions. If she's approved, then hopefully you can keep extending her TRV until her PR comes through.

 

[Yoonglai]

Oh God....I have to return to Canada because my teaching contracts are over and I must resume working in Canada. In addition, our two sons, biologically hers are already in Canada with their aunts and enrolled in school. She has shown a return ticket to Thailand just in case when applying for the TRV. Also, might there be different processing times for Myanmar, for example, compared to Thailand, or Cambodia or Bangladesh, all processed through the Singapore office?

 

[Leon]

If she was granted a TRV before, it is possible that she may be granted a TRV again. It would also be a possibility to apply to extend her visitor status every 6 months as long as you show that you can support her and that you have some emergency/accident insurance to cover her if something comes up. You'll just have to deal with it when the time comes.

Immigration would have no problem separating your family for a couple of years. They operate on the logic that they do not issue temporary visas if they believe that a person will overstay. If they believe that your wife might overstay or work illegally, they may deny her a TRV. As a citizen, you do however have the option of staying in Thailand during the processing time.

You can download some more exact immigration data which shows that for spouses and partners in Singapore in the last 12 months, only 20% of cases were completed within 12 months, 50% of cases had been completed within 23 months and 80% of cases within 33 months. You can find this data here: http://data.gc.ca/data/en/dataset/427337d0-7c36-4fed-8428-c6a63f8c19b3

 

[scylla]

I would recommend you join the Singapore family class discussion thread here:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/singapore-timeline-t28993.6540.html

I don't believe there are processing differences between applications originating in Myanmar / Thailand / Cambodia / etc.

 

[Yoonglai]

If she was granted a TRV before, it is possible that she may be granted a TRV again. It would also be a possibility to apply to extend her visitor status every 6 months as long as you show that you can support her and that you have some emergency/accident insurance to cover her if something comes up. You'll just have to deal with it when the time comes.

Immigration would have no problem separating your family for a couple of years. They operate on the logic that they do not issue temporary visas if they believe that a person will overstay. If they believe that your wife might overstay or work illegally, they may deny her a TRV. As a citizen, you do however have the option of staying in Thailand during the processing time.

You can download some more exact immigration data which shows that for spouses and partners in Singapore in the last 12 months, only 20% of cases were completed within 12 months, 50% of cases had been completed within 23 months and 80% of cases within 33 months. You can find this data here: http://data.gc.ca/data/en/dataset/427337d0-7c36-4fed-8428-c6a63f8c19b3


This is terrible...would it have been better to come over on a TRV and then apply for a PR inland? Is it too late to rectify any of this if she gets the TRV?

 

[Leon]

If she gets the TRV, you could cancel your outland application and apply inland. With inland, she could have an open work permit in 6 months and PR in around 14 but with inland, she should not leave Canada so that is the downside. If she has a family emergency and wants to return to Thailand and upon arriving in Thailand finds herself unable to get another TRV to come back, she would lose her application because it is a requirement of inland that the person is living in Canada.

 

[scylla]

If the TRV is approved and your wife is OK not leaving in Canada - then I think what Leon suggested is a great way to go.

FYI - although the posted CIC processing time for first stage inland approval is 6 months, experiences on this forum say it's closer to 9-10 months at this time.

 

[Yoonglai]

Leon and Scyla,

A ray of hope perhaps? If the TRV is granted then and we get to Canada, do I contact cic immediately and cancel the PR outland and change it to an inland application? Will I lose my payments? In addition, there are five different police checks that were done for the five different countries that we lived in together while I was teaching overseas...will they be carried over?

And is it true then that I can also apply for a work permit while she has a TRV?

My head is spinning...I spent months on the PR preparation, and it looks like everything depends on obtaining the TRV. Unbelievably stressed.

 

[scylla]

You can't change an outland application to an inland application. You will have to cancel the outland application, wait for the paperwork to be returned to you and then resubmit a brand new application inland. You'll get your fees back. However I think you'll have to re-do the police certificates since they are only valid for three months (i.e. must be recieved by CIC within three months of being issued) - and you'll be submitting a new application from scratch.

She may be able to qualify for a work permit while on a TRV. To qualify for a work permit, she will need to find an employer who is willing to offer her a job and then that employer will have to obtain an approved Labour Market Opinion. Once the employer has an approved LMO, your wife can then apply for a work permit.

 

[Yoonglai]

Ok, will all the outland documents get returned to us? (medical check, police certificates?)..we still might be able to beat the three month time if we get them back fast enough....

 

[scylla]

I would honestly start applying for new police certificates.

Based on the experiences I've seen on this forum, I would expect that it will take 1-2 months the application package to be returned to you once you've contacted CIC.