subtain said:
Me and my wife both are from Pakistan. I am a permanent resident and my wife is on an Open Work Permit.
I am confused. How did she get an OWP? I thought OWP's were only issued in very specific cases, like inland applications.
In any case, from what I have read about what happened to the Islamabad VO, you might want to consider applying inland. Parallel threads on this forum have users sharing posts of dispaire with respect to their applications being held up in London UK after they applied outland. They closed the Islamabad VO and all of the cases in the queue ended up being moved to London. That caused the office to slow to a crawl.
That said, inland isn't an easy process. You have to acknowledge the following:
- Your wife should not leave Canada during the process. If she does, there is a risk the CBSA
might refuse re-entry into Canada. If they do that, the CIC could consider the case as abandoned. There may also be a restriction on a PR who is the sponsor from leaving during processing as well -- but please check into this.
- You give up the right to appeal the case, if the case is refused. Refusal would mean you would have to re-apply once you have corrected the reasons for the refusal.
- You must maintain status in Canada (both of you). OWP is one means to be able to do that. Other's just extend visits by (re-)applying for extensions.
For many, inland seems like a bad choice. But, it does mean you don't have to wait for your loved one to be with you.
There has been an increased velocity in cases submitted before June 13 due to an inventory reduction program that CIC is currently aggressively applying. So it can't be said for sure that applying now would result in a faster time. But compared to the London VO times, I bet the worst time (26 months) might be equivalent to what London VO processing times are .. that's what others are reporting...
Hopefully that perspective helps you to choose...
