Questions on sponsoring spouse application as a PR

[x3wilson]

Hi All! ;D

Thank you for taking your time to read over this.

- Me and my girlfriend have been together for 4 years and 8 months now. We are both 21.
- I am a Canadian Citizen and is currently going to finish my Bachelor's degree in one year. (Expected Graduation 2016 December)
- She is on study permit close to finishing her studies, however for some medical reasons she could not complete her program on time. And we do not know when she will be fit enough to finish the program either.
- Her study permit is expiring October 2016
- We are reliant on each other and we have lived together for almost 2 years now. So any separation is not preferred.
- We plan to live together here in Canada, and we are serious about our relationship. So we are planning to marry right now.

Some questions follow to this situation that I do not know how to decide on. Hoping to get some insights from you folks. 8)

1. After we get married, how long should we wait before we actually apply and submit the application of sponsorship? I was thinking too much of a rush would make us look suspicious, but at the same time, the processing times are so long that we would not want to waste any more time on waiting.

2. I learnt that now CIC can grant work permits to applicants like my girlfriend while waiting for the approval of PR status. How long would she have to wait for the work permit after submitting the application for sponsorship？Because her study permit expires on October 2016. I am concerned that she will lose her legal status to stay in Canada

3. Following from #2, what happens if an individual remain in Canada with an expired status? Does that simply mean she won't be able to do anything or go anywhere before she gets her Work permit or PR from CIC?

4. If we applied outland, does that mean she will have to leave Canada and wait until the status of PR has been granted?

5. If we applied inland, could we travel anywhere? We also hold the same nationality outside of Canada, but we plan on living together in Canada. So if CIC is not going to accommodate her and avoid our separation while waiting for the approval. We would much prefer to stay together back in our home country while waiting. But would that be a problem with CIC?

Thank you for reading, any input is greatly appreciated ;D

 

[MilesAway]

1. You've been in a relationship for a while, and you've lived together for 2 years, so you are already common-law. I don't think there would be an issue with you applying as soon as you have all the documents after marriage.
2. If you apply inland, you could get an OWP as part of the pilot project. That takes about 4 months. The entire inland process takes about 2 years though.
3. If you are out of status, there is always the potential of being removed by CBSA. A person without status does not qualify for the OWP through the pilot project and would need to wait until the end of stage 1 for inland, which is 17 months.
4. No. A person can apply outland and remain in Canada, as long as they have valid status. She could switch her status to visitor and apply for extensions.
5. One of the requirements of inland is that the couple be living together in Canada. If she is denied entry for whatever reason, then her application would be deemed abandoned. Therefore it is not recommended that applicants leave the country with an inland application in process.

What country is she from? Outland is generally much faster than inland.

 

[surleplateau]

- She is on study permit close to finishing her studies, however for some medical reasons she could not complete her program on time. And we do not know when she will be fit enough to finish the program either.
- Her study permit is expiring October 2016

I'm pretty sure that CIC has made a change in recent years to the study permit, that if the student is not enrolled in the program according to their study permit for 90 days, the study permit is no longer valid.

As of June 1, 2014, all study permit holders in Canada will need to actively pursue studies. This means that:

if you hold a study permit, you must remain enrolled and make reasonable and timely progress towards completing your program;

Note: Under the new rules, your study permit will become invalid 90 days after you have completed your study program. If you switch to a shorter-term program or finish your studies early, your study permit will expire 90 days after your study program has been completed. Your program is considered complete when you receive written notification of program completion (for example, a transcript or an official letter) from your institution or once you obtain your degree, diploma or certificate. This does not apply to you if your study permit application was received before June 1, 2014, or if you were issued a study permit before June 1, 2014.

If her study permit was issued after June 1, 2014, then she must take steps to maintain her status either as a student according to her permit or to change her status to visitor/temporary resident. If she is successful in changing her status to TRV, then she can also apply for extensions of her status as needed during the time that her PR application is being processed -- this way she could stay in Canada while having her OUTLAND PR sponsorship processed (it may be faster than Inland).

If she goes with an Inland application, she can obtain "implied status" as long as she:

1. has a valid status at the time of her Inland PR application
2. submits an application for an Open Work Permit (OWP) and pay the fee at the same time as #1

Inland applicants with OWP/implied status can risk exiting Canada for short vacations -- but the risk is that she has no guaranteed right of re-entry. An OWP/implied status/Inland PR app alone does not justify to CBSA a reason to let her back into Canada if she leaves. Some people take the risk and win re-entry. Others don't -- and they lose their whole Inland PR application which is only valid for people IN Canada.

Your first step is to figure out if her current status in Canada is valid or not. When was her study permit issued?