ticky said:
I will be going down to the border to re-enter as a visitor and apply for a new two-year visa, but that will take two months.
This may prove problematic. There is a realistic chance that CBSA will refuse your entry as a visitor because you have already overstayed an earlier temporary status. If it has been less than 90 days since the expiry of your visa, you may apply to
restore your status from within Canada.
1) On the CIC processing times page, if the person being sponsored lives in Canada (which I do), it says the total waiting time is 25 months with the initial assessment being 15 months. Does this mean I should say I don't live in Canada or does it not count as living if I am a visitor here/on a temp work permit?
That is the inland application process. This process is
available to applicants who live with their sponsors in Canada at the time of application and for the duration of the process. It is not mandatory; many applicants who currently reside in Canada on temporary status still apply via the outland process.
The inland process provides an open work permit after stage-1 processing (if you apply), which is the initial assessment. As part of a pilot program, CIC will provide an OWP after the application is initially received
to people who apply whilst already having valid temporary status in Canada. This is the part that currently takes ~4 months.
2a) I am leaning towards sending the application to Australia due to the shorter waiting period. If I send it to Australia, am I still able to send in an open work permit application and if so, at what stage/time frame does this get approved? I've read something about two stages for processing, but haven't seen any information on how long each stage takes, or is her approval one stage and my approval another?
No. Outland applications do not qualify for open work permits, however most users here would recommend it for the significantly faster processing times.
Outland applications go through two stages. The first is approval of the sponsor, establishing that they are not in default and are attesting a valid relationship; for non-spousal cases this is also where income is verified. The second is approval of the sponsored person, which is where the visa office looks at overall eligibility and the medical/criminal/security checks.
Inland applications go through similar stages, only the first one also covers the initial eligibility of the sponsored person. This first stage is the part that is currently taking 15 months.
(There
is a similar split between "selection decision" and "final decision" for outland applicants, but this occurs inside the visa processing centre and it is not communicated to the applicant. Generally there is only a short period of time between these steps, which is why it's not usually relevant.)
2b) If I apply in Canada, the opening post says I shouldn't leave the country. What exactly does this mean? I will ruin the application if I leave the country at all, as in a day trip to Buffalo, or that if I leave the country, there is a slight chance I'll have an issue at the border and not be let in, thus ruining my application.
Inland applications require continual residence in Canada. If you applied inland now and were denied entry by CBSA on account of your overstaying, then your application would be cancelled. Outland applications carry no such requirement. This is extremely important for applicants who are out-of-status or are not visa-exempt.
CIC's
IP-8 provides some more detail here:
[quote author="CIC, IP-8"]Foreign nationals who have left Canada after submitting an application under the Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada class, are not provided with any guarantees that they will be allowed to return to or re-enter Canada. If they are unable to do so, their application for permanent residence may be refused because they are not cohabiting with their spouse or common-law partner at the time the case is finalized [R72(1)(d) and R124(a)].[/quote]