Please advise: inland vs outland (South Africa)

[Famtocanada]

Hi All,

Please advise.
I am a Canadian Citizen currently married to a South Africa living in South Africa. We have four small children. We are looking to relocate to Canada. My children age 6 months - 7 years do not have Canadian passports yet.
How long does it take to apply and what is the process? Can they apply from within Canada ? (travel there on South African passport and VISA)?
Is it better to sponsor my husband from South Africa or move to Canada first? Obviously we have a family to support.

Many thanks. 8)

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

It depends on if you guys can afford to have one or both of you out of work for an extended time. If your husband is able to get a TRV for Canada and you guys apply inland, he will not be able to work for over a year, until after stage 1 approval (currently around 13 months or longer, plus another 8 months to become a PR). If you apply outland from Canada, he won't be able to work until he becomes a PR; I *think* that the Pretoria office averages around 17-18 months. If you apply outland from South Africa, he can continue to work there while the app processes.

Assuming that you can pass your citizenship on to your kids, they are Canadian even though they don't have the official proof, which means that they don't qualify for TRVs. For those that are over the age of 2, they would need to first get the Certificate of Citizenship and then a Canadian passport or you can apply for a Facilitation visa in their South African passports. For those under 2, you can apply for the Certificate of Citizenship and a limited validity Canadian passport at the same time with proof of imminent travel. Current processing times for 80% of apps outside Canada are 9-10 months; most are processed faster than that.


My advice is to submit both the outland sponsorship app and the kids' Certificate of Citizenship apps ASAP from South Africa.

The outland sponsorship app is here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp.

The Certificate of Citizenship app is here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/certif.asp.