Hi All,
Thanks Leon for the initial post! That cut through alot of the confusion for me, as reading other people's replies, I can see many feel the same way
Bravo!
So I have a question and would love advice. I am an Australian/EU citizen (I have both passports), living in Montreal on an Australian working holiday visa that expires April 2012 (but I think I can renew it for another two years, as I will still be under 31 years of age by then). The visa is great in the sense I can work here, however I can't access the government french lessons or medicare (which I am told can differ from province to Province). I speak very little French, which anyone who has tried to get work here will know, this basically makes you an unattractive employee, no matter your qualifications. And private lessons are not cheap......
Back in January this year I submitted an inland application to the federal government to be sponsored for PR by my (then) fiance, who I subsequently married a couple of weeks ago here in Montreal (he is a citizen of Quebec). According to the immigration websites it will take about 18-20 months in total for me to become a PR. So far I have heard nothing from the office (which I am told is to be expected at this stage). It was after we submitted the application that I worked out we could have submitted as an outland application, and it would have taken 6-8 months......grrrrrrr. Frustrating! What I want is access to medicare particularly-ironically if I have a bad accident I have travel insurance to cover me, but if I want to get a simple check up, or if we get pregnant, travel insurance won't help.
So I come to my question (PS sorry about the whinging in the previous paragraph). I am thinking of withdrawing my inland application (which has about 14months to go until PR on it), losing the $75 non-refundable admin fee, and resubmitting as an outland application (to Mississauga office), to speed up the process............has anyone had experience with this? Is it worth it? are the wait times advertised on the websites real (or perhaps an overestimation of the time it takes, so I am better sticking with the application I already have in?). RE: medicare, does anyone know if an EU passport holder (I was born in England), can access healthcare based on the Quebec reciprocal agreements, or is that country specific only?
Any advice/ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thankyou in advance for your thoughts
Elizabeth