Spousal sponsorship advice - Canuck/Aussie [complicated!]

[SchnookoLoly]

Hi All,

I'm asking this on behalf of a good friend of mine. Sorry in advance for this being a long [and complicated] post!

My friend Nat (27, F) and her fiancee Liz (36, F) met online about 10 years ago. They have oodles of emails and chats and skypes etc, kept in touch lots during this time. Other relationships during that time but stayed in touch. Nat is Canadian, Liz is Australian. No kids, no bankruptcies, no criminal histories.

A year ago they decided to meet up. Liz went to Toronto to meet Nat, and they spent a month together and decided in that time they wanted to be together. Liz went back to Australia after that month, and Nat went to visit for 2 months (Nov and Dec 2012). Liz then visited Nat for 6 weeks in June/July 2013, and during that trip Liz proposed to Nat. Nat will be going to Australia in about 2 weeks on a 1-year working holiday visa.

Nat is partway through her masters, she's taking a break from it to go to Australia. Liz is a project manager in research and collections (museums)... that is, she coordinates research projects, writes communications, was an internal journalist for one of the Toronto museums this past summer.

So the question they are running into now is what to do come August 2014 when Nat's year in Australia is up. I've been talking to them about different options, but would appreciate a bit of advice from you guys around here. For reference, CIC has the outland processing time for family class applications out of Sydney at 11 months. They obviously want to minimise the time they have to spend apart, with one of them unable to work. Inland is the standard 16 months.

Option 1: Apply as common-law in August 2014, looking at having PR granted in August 2015 (outland) or December 2015 (inland).
They'd have the 12 months living together to apply as common-law, which helps to address that they haven't spent a ton of time together in person, but results in a lot of time that only one of them would be able to work.

Option 2: Same as above, but Liz gets an LMO/TWP
This still lives the common-law time... but I don't know enough about the LMO/TWP process to give any sound advice on how likely it is for Liz to get a positive LMO in her area of work.

Option 3: Get married in December 2013, apply as spousal, looking to have PR granted in December 2014 (outland)
This is their preferred option as it means Nat would only have to go the 4 months between August and December 2014 unemployed, however there is a question about whether getting married in December 2013 would raise other flags and cause more problems and delays.
(Nat could also come back to Canada in August 2014 to continue her masters, and then Liz would join once PR has been granted.)
Worth noting here, if they did do this option, they'd have a small ceremony (would have to go to NZ for it - no same-sex marriage in Australia) with family and close friends, and would have a larger "proper" wedding in Canada in summer 2015 once they were more settled (and could afford it!).

So that's kind of the view of things... I'd love to know what you guys think of the various options, how the marriage vs common-law situation stacks up, if there are other options that we haven't thought of (study was brought up, but the international tuition for Liz would be unaffordable, even with the option to work 20h/week).

Appreciate any thoughts/advice/input! Thanks!

 

[woodyc]

Well def apply outland whichever way they go about it's a lot quicker & the Sydney office seems to move along pretty quickly.

We are applying through common-law inland wish i had of applied outland though cause the wait has gone up now for inland apps.

I have been with my girlfriend for nearly 3 years now & have been living together for nearly 2 years by the time my app goes through it'll probably be closer to 4 years by the time i get p.r.

We chose to go the inland route cause I have a decent job here & I'm legal to work till Sept 2014 with my visa but with the new processing time I might have to go into implied status hopefully not though.

I guess the only difference between applying as common-law or spousal/married is that you have the wedding certificate which is a legal document thats not saying you should get married just for the sake of residency.

They are still going to have to have all the same proof as a common-law relationship just if they get married they will have to supply wedding cert, wedding photo's etc.

If they your friends end up living together be sure they put any bills ( phone, internet,cable, hydro bills) in both there names rentals leases as well the more proof you have to show the vo's your relationship is genuine & have been living together prior to the application the better.

 

[Sweden]

Option 3 is probably a good one. Sydney is really quick, and I doubt that they would have to wait that long.

If your friend moves to Australia now ( or soon), and get married 6 months down the line, they will have enough proofs to apply ( living together, married, and previous visits), and don't have to wait the 12 months to be CL.

One thing : don't mention the "real wedding" in Canada. As far as immigration is concerned, the wedding in NZ IS the real wedding. they can explain that because they are going to NZ they will have a small wedding, make sure that they take pictures etc. and they might want to mention that they will plan a renewal of vows when they come to Canada... but not a "real wedding" - that would be a red flag on the application.

If they have everything ready, get married then apply right away, there is a good chance that the PR will be approved by August 2014, as stage 1 is 1 month, and stage 2 through Sydney can be as fast as 3 to 4 months - it's fast office.

Good luck,
Sweden