My wife is a Canadian citizen, I'm a US citizen, and we currently both live outside Canada. The processing time is estimated at 22 months.
I'm now wondering if we could just move to Canada and start the process there...would this be a faster way to go?
We own two residential properties in the Toronto area and we are financially stable.
Thanks for any advice you could offer.
If you do not need to work, then you could basically do a version of this. Read up the basic instructions.
-It does save (likely anyway) time if you submit your spouse's app when she is residing in Canada - because she will not need to show intent to return to Canada.
-You cannot 'move' to reside in Canada, but you can visit and extend your stay without too much trouble - usually. Just don't arrive at the border wtih all your worldly possessions - they can get picky if it's completely obvious intent is to arrive and never leave. (Your wife can ship all her stuff and if your joint stuff is intermingled, probably they won't open it and check to see it's only 'lady stuff.')
[editadd] To be clear, I mean the non-citizen can't just 'move' to Canada permanently, only be a visitor. But a visitor in Canada can stay six months and then extend, and IRCC routinely extends for spouses with PR applications in process.
-It gets more complicated, or rather more risk, if you need to cross the border a lot - you could get denied entry at some point.
-Read the instructions and start working on it. If your intended move time is more than, say, 8-12 monhts away, better to just apply sooner. The timelines are
somewhat exaggerated for outland applicants esp from USA/NATO (this is only my opinion).
-Won't get technical but if you apply from outside, must apply as 'outside Canada.' Even if you apply from within Canada, my suggestion is better to apply as 'outside Canada'
if you expect you'll have to cross border a lot. 'Inside Canada' better if you intend to stay inside Canada throughout the process. (Yes you can apply as outside Canada or 'outland' even if inside Canada).