Seeking Advice on US-Canada Spousal Sponsorship

[clue12]

Hi all! My fiance (Canadian citizen) and I (American citizen) are planning to get married at the end of the summer, after which I would like to join him in Canada and apply for PR through outland spousal sponsorship.

I've been reading through previous threads and gathering information, and wanted to check if anyone could confirm whether we have a solid plan in place, or whether there's something we've missed or misunderstood.

Currently, the plan is to get married in the States and fly back to Vancouver immediately after, entering as a visitor. I work online for an American company and have never had any issues staying with him as a "visitor" for up to 3 months before in the past, and am hoping to continue working as such for the duration of my stay as a "visitor." After we arrive, we will move into a new apartment together and begin collecting all the necessary documents for a PR application, with the hopes of being able to submit the application within 1-2 months after I arrive.

From there, I would like to stay with my husband until we receive a decision on the application. From what I understand, I can apply to extend my status as a visitor once my first 6 months are up, explaining that we have a PR application in progress. Any potential issues we should anticipate with this, especially with COVID? Any specific information we could explain or include that would help ensure that the extension is granted? I'm also considering only staying for 2-3 months initially and then returning home to the States to visit family for a short while before going back to Vancouver to wait out the application, but I'm not sure if I'd be risking getting stopped at the border for some reason. The one thing we want to avoid is getting separated indefinitely for a long stretch of time again, as we have been for the past six months.

Any and all advice (or just confirmation of whether this sounds like a solid plan) is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[thevisawhisperer]

Why not apply for an in-Canada sponsorship? That way, you can apply for an open work permit (even if you don't intend to work in Canada, it serves as a status document) and don't need to worry about your visitor status.

 

[clue12]

We were originally thinking that outland would be faster and give me more flexibility to travel to and from the States when necessary, especially since I don't actually need the work permit, but I guess with the current situation, the safest bet to avoid any potential issues at the border is to just plan to stay put in Canada (with proper status of course) until the application goes through, regardless of whether I apply inland or outland?

Thank you for your response btw--I hadn't considered applying for the open work permit without the intention of using it! Do you know if the process of applying for and receiving it is fairly straightforward, or are there certain circumstances in which it would be refused? In which case, I guess I would be back to the first option of applying for extension of visitor status?

Looks like I'll need to do more research myself, too, but if anyone else has additional advice or suggestions, it's all very greatly appreciated!

 

[thevisawhisperer]

"give me more flexibility to travel to and from the States when necessary"
You are not a prisoner in Canada during the process (my daughter was a prisoner of the US during her green card application, but spousal applicants can travel for business, holidays, family visits or whatever life presents as a reason).

"Do you know if the process of applying for and receiving it is fairly straightforward, or are there certain circumstances in which it would be refused?"
You include a work permit application form in your sponsorship/application package. If the sponsorship is approved there should be no reason for your work permit to be refused.