Hi there,
First congratulations for getting nominated and best of luck for your wedding. Here is my feedback on your query:
After you become PR, you can sponsor your wife anytime under spousal sponsorship. You are getting married next year, so the earliest you can sponsor her is next year and then it will take 1 year of processing time. There is no financial requirements for sponsoring a spouse and the only history you need to establish is the proof of communication with your spouse, any visits and other proof of relationship etc. I would suggest that you keep proofs of communication even now if you speak with her. As long as you maintain your PR status, you should be good to go. Only thing to consider here is that you'll be financially responsible for her for 3 years when she lands in Canada and you'll have to live away from her most of the duration of your application's processing time. Lastly, if your relationship is genuine then you'll get a visa for her "guaranteed".
If you opt for option 2, then you don't have to wait As student visa has nothing to do with you and there will be no 3 years undertaking etc. She can apply even before you get married. After she lands in Canada as a student, you can marry her legally and apply inland spousal sponsorship. Only drawback is that tuition fees etc are pretty high for international students and there is no guarantee that she'll be able to secure an admission in an institute in Canada. If you think she can definitely get an offer to study in Canada then I would sugest that just go for student visa so u don't have to live away from your spouse after marriage. Just be cautious that you don't try to apply both visas together. if she mentions you in student visa application then there is a possibility of refusal as her intention to study will not be clear. Any visa refusals might impact your spousal sponsorship application in the future.
Dear Aryan,
Thanks a lot for the detailed response.
I will make sure that both visas are not applied together. This is why I am doing my complete homework to take the right steps as I am not married yet and will be once I do soft landing and come back.
Reading above, I would personally prefer to avoid student visa. I should go there ASAP and get a job an sponsor her under spousal sponsorship so that the case is simple and clear.
I was just afraid of the following:-
-- I have heard spousal sponsorship may take 3 years or so (which I believe now takes 12 months. But I am/was still worried)
-- I was worried about minimum income requirement (which you already clarified and I also researched on it that LICO is
not for spousal sponsorship).
-- I was also worried that I have to gather tax returns for 1 year or so to attach for spousal sponsorship, based on the fact that I will be new immigrant and my tax return may only cover 6 or 7 months.
These were my worries which are easing out one by one as I am reading and talking to people.I believe its not as hard as people talk about it. I am doing my research also on CIC website. Your replied to my above concerns will be helpful too.
Can I be contact with you via PM regarding some questions later on on spousal sponsorship?