Please Help.. Inland/Outland?

[ajford0413]

Hello,
If you are reading this I thank you in advance for doing so My husband is American and I am Canadian. I am trying to figure out if it would be faster for me to apply for his sponsorship/residency as if he is in Canada right now (which he will be legally for another 2 months. We had some trouble with the border crossing when he tried to apply for a work permit and ended up getting screwed over. So now they have given him until Jan 5th to be in Canada.) or apply outland? We are also pregnant by at least a month, so we are trying to figure out what the best solution would be that would allow as little separation as possible. Thank you for your help!

 

[Rob_TO]

Hello,
If you are reading this I thank you in advance for doing so My husband is American and I am Canadian. I am trying to figure out if it would be faster for me to apply for his sponsorship/residency as if he is in Canada right now (which he will be legally for another 2 months. We had some trouble with the border crossing when he tried to apply for a work permit and ended up getting screwed over. So now they have given him until Jan 5th to be in Canada.) or apply outland? We are also pregnant by at least a month, so we are trying to figure out what the best solution would be that would allow as little separation as possible. Thank you for your help!

If you apply outland, he will need to maintain visitor (or work or study) status on his own to remain in Canada. You could try for a visitor status extension request beyond Jan 5th, but this is not guaranteed to be successful, especially if there was some specific reason they requested he leave by Jan 5th. Also if you had problems once at the border, he may have problems again so there's no guarantee he will be allowed back into Canada if he tries to re-cross the border shortly after he leaves Jan 5th.

If you apply inland, he can stay in Canada during the entire PR processing time. During this time he should not leave the country since if he's denied back into Canada for any reason, the application is abandoned and you have to start again from scratch. After stage 1 approval (around 11 months) he could get an open work permit.

If you want to guarantee you can remain together in Canada during the entire time, then you would have to choose inland.

 

[CheshireCats]

Why did you have problems at the border? If he has any inadmissibility issues...then DO NOT apply inland, especially without a good immigration lawyer!
Unfortunately, I'm speaking from experience.
We just waited 2 years, and got refused for minor inadmissibility...about to start from scratch outland!

 

[ajford0413]

He had problems at the border because he tried to go and apply for a work permit, because an employer here in Canada was going to sponsor his work permit, but it fell through with some sort of miscommunication so he had to be in the USA for a few days while I sent him papers to prove that he is married to a Canadian and that I can financially support him etc. They said there wouldn't be any "bad marks" on his file, but that they were giving him 2 months to be here.

So what you are saying is that if we applied from inland he would automatically be allowed to stay here without having to apply for an extension on his visitor record? I was told that applying outland would be faster, and that most often they approve extensions on his visitors record as long as we can prove that the sponsorship and PR is pending and show proof that I am pregnant.

If I was to apply outland, he is technically living with me right now, so would I say that he is currently living with me on the application and put my address? and use his address in the states as the mailing address? I know that sounds like a silly question, but its nice to have some clarification.

 

[Catou]

For immigration purposes he isn't "living" with you now - he is "visiting" with you. It's an important distinction because he cannot legally live in Canada until he has PR. He can stay with you, but don't use the word, "living". His address should be his US address.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

He had problems at the border because he tried to go and apply for a work permit, because an employer here in Canada was going to sponsor his work permit, but it fell through with some sort of miscommunication so he had to be in the USA for a few days while I sent him papers to prove that he is married to a Canadian and that I can financially support him etc. They said there wouldn't be any "bad marks" on his file, but that they were giving him 2 months to be here.

So what you are saying is that if we applied from inland he would automatically be allowed to stay here without having to apply for an extension on his visitor record? I was told that applying outland would be faster, and that most often they approve extensions on his visitors record as long as we can prove that the sponsorship and PR is pending and show proof that I am pregnant.

If I was to apply outland, he is technically living with me right now, so would I say that he is currently living with me on the application and put my address? and use his address in the states as the mailing address? I know that sounds like a silly question, but its nice to have some clarification.

If you apply inland and submit an Open Work Permit app along with the PR app, he will have Implied Status allowing him to stay in Canada throughout the processing time. However, with an inland app, he will need to stay in Canada the whole time (processing time is around 19 months right now). If he left Canada during the processing and was then refused entry back in, the app would be cancelled.

If you apply outland, as said above, he would need to maintain his status as a visitor. It is very unlikely that his extension would be rejected, provided you include proof you can support him and proof of the PR app. He can request a longer extension, I would suggest he ask for a year.

Some advise using the Canadian address for the mailing and the home country address for the residential but quite a few people in Canada as visitors have used the Canadian address for both with no issues. For IMM0008, where it asks for "Current Country of Residence", the guide states "Your country of residence is the country in which you are residing, provided that you have been lawfully admitted to that country". There is no qualifier that a person must have been admitted for a minimum amount of time or on a certain type of visa, only that they have been legally admitted to the country. Your husband is currently residing in Canada as a legally admitted visitor.

As well, many people apply outland while outside Canada, then come to Canada during the processing and change their address to their Canadian one while still a visitor. CIC has no issues with that.

 

[Canuckluvus]

If you apply inland and submit an Open Work Permit app along with the PR app, he will have Implied Status allowing him to stay in Canada throughout the processing time. However, with an inland app, he will need to stay in Canada the whole time (processing time is around 19 months right now). If he left Canada during the processing and was then refused entry back in, the app would be cancelled.

If you apply outland, as said above, he would need to maintain his status as a visitor. It is very unlikely that his extension would be rejected, provided you include proof you can support him and proof of the PR app. He can request a longer extension, I would suggest he ask for a year.

Some advise using the Canadian address for the mailing and the home country address for the residential but quite a few people in Canada as visitors have used the Canadian address for both with no issues. For IMM0008, where it asks for "Current Country of Residence", the guide states "Your country of residence is the country in which you are residing, provided that you have been lawfully admitted to that country". There is no qualifier that a person must have been admitted for a minimum amount of time or on a certain type of visa, only that they have been legally admitted to the country. Your husband is currently residing in Canada as a legally admitted visitor.

As well, many people apply outland while outside Canada, then come to Canada during the processing and change their address to their Canadian one while still a visitor. CIC has no issues with that.

even if you apply inland don't you need to apply for visitor extensions to keep the implied status? A friend of mine has applied inland to sponsor her husband and she has applied for extensions and the work permit. They began their application in March and are still awaiting sponsorship approval. They were told the work permit won't get approved until after the sponsorship approval comes through. I applied to sponsor my wife a week before them Outland and the sponsorship was approved 27 days later and we got the ppr in September. She is a US citizen and has been here as a visitor since over a year now. She couldn't work but it looks like we will get her COPR before my friend gets sponsorship approval. If you r US I think Outland is the way to go even if u can't get a work permit because it seems faster .

 

[canuck_in_uk]

even if you apply inland don't you need to apply for visitor extensions to keep the implied status? A friend of mine has applied inland to sponsor her husband and she has applied for extensions and the work permit. If you r US I think Outland is the way to go even if u can't get a work permit because it seems faster .

No, you don't need to submit any type of extension app if you submit the OWP app with the inland PR app. Once the applicant's current status expires, s/he will have Implied Status while waiting for a decision on the OWP app, which happens after stage 1 approval.

It's true that there is almost no advantage to a US applicant to apply inland. Outland is faster and the better choice.