Some advice needed for sponsoring my soon-to-be upcoming US wife to Canada

[keesio]

Hello all,
Newbie here. I have a few questions regarding sponsoring a spouse.

I am a US citizen with a Canadian permanent residency living and working full-time in Canada. I am getting married in the US in the fall and plan to bring my American wife to Canada. At the same time, I am ready to file for Canadian citizenship. My questions are as follows:

1. I know we must be married before I can submit an application. But we'd like to prep as much as possible before the marriage. Looking at the CIC website for step 1 and step 2...

-Can I do step 1 (assessment of sponsor (me) ) before the marriage? I assume no, but figure I'd ask anyway.
-Can she get started with parts of step 2 (medical, background check, etc) before part 1? Again it doesn't look to be the case according to the website but just wanted to confirm.

2. It sounds like for sponsoring US citizens, it is faster to have the person being sponsored to live outside Canada since 'step 1' is faster that way and the difference between step 2 does not make up all the difference.

3. My (soon to be) wife is a health professional and may be able to secure a work permit via a work sponsor. Is it reasonable that she apply and get a work permit while waiting for her spousal visa? Is that even allowed (applying for two different visas)? Does it cause all sorts of headaches (I would assume it would complicate things a lot even if it was allowed).

4. I was planning on applying for Canadian citizenship this summer. Is it best to avoid applying for citizenship until after I sponsor my wife and everything is fully processed? It would be possible that when I apply for a spousal visa, I am a permanent resident, and in the middle of processing the spousal visa, my status will change to a Canadian citizen. Again, would that cause all sorts of headaches and slow things down on the spousal visa front or even void my spousal visa application?

Thanks in advance?
k

 

[scylla]

1. Both parts of the application must be submitted together - including all supporting documentation such as the medical, background check, etc. So no - you can't do step 1 first. Don't get the medical and background check too far in advance. They expire.
2. Definitely apply outland. It's typically much much faster for Americans.
3. Sure - she can try to secure a work permit while waiting for the spousal application. No complications in doing this.
4. Go ahead and apply for citizenship. No issues.

 

[scylla]

Just to add...

Unless your wife falls under NAFTA - she can't just apply for a work permit.

She will first need to find an employer willing to hire her. That employer will then have to obtain an approved LMO. As part of the process, the employer will have to prove they advertised the job and were unable to find a Canadian to fill the role. If the LMO is approved (not all are), your wife can then apply for a work permit. This entire process can take several months and many employers aren't willing to consider foreign workers due to the amount of waiting and paperwork involved (and no guarantee of approval). So it's doable - but definitely not easy.

 

[keesio]

scylla - awesome, thanks!!!

regarding #3, yes I was referring to am employer maybe sponsoring her. Not sure if she will indeed find a sponsor just throwing out ideas

regarding #4, I'm glad it is no issue to apply for citizenship first. I assume though that for the citizenship application they will ask for my marital status so I would just put 'NO' since the application will be before the wedding. I was worried that they could invalidate my application because that 'NO' would change to a 'YES' while that application is being processed. If it is ok, would I still have to contact CIC to let them know of a marital status change during processing?

Thanks again