racined said:
Sorry that I was not specific. I am the sponsor and I am a Canadian citizen. The applicant is a Japanese citizen. We are applying for a Canadian permanent residency card for her. We will have lived together for 1 year continuously in Canada as of April 2013 and at that time will apply under common law for permit residency. I wanted to process outland as the processing times are quicker and a right of appeal is granted. I am under the impression that we are allowed to process outside the country despite the fact she resides in Canada with me.
She will be returning to Japan in April 2013 to visit her family. I will not be travelling to Japan with her. So should I wait to the process the application after she leaves Canada or should I process the application while she is still within Canada so that we can list our current residence in Canada together as opposed to her residence in Japan?
Ah, that's much clearer. Sometimes the answers to these things are very specific to the situation.
In-Canada class applications can only be done for someone living in Canada with their sponsor. Outside Canada class applications can be done for someone living anywhere in the world - including in-Canada with their sponsor. So yes, she can return to Japan in April 2013 while you sponsor her. Please make sure you can clearly demonstrate you have been in a qualifying relationship for
at least 365 days before you submit the application. This is a statutory requirement and I've seen reports of them refusing applications just a few days short.
One difference is that an outland application does not provide any kind of status. In-Canada applications do - not only do they grant a work permit after AIP is granted (six months right now) they also permit someone without status to remain in Canada while the application is being processed. Outside Canada applications do not.
As for the right of appeal, note that it means "right to appeal to the IAD". People that must appeal through the Toronto office spend 2-3
years to wait for an appeal hearing. Some get lucky with an ADR hearing and only wait for 12-18 months. If you seriously think there is a likely chance they will refuse the application, I would do everything possible
in advance to deal with those issues.
If the refusal is procedurally incorrect or wrong in law - inland
or outland - you have the option to go to court. That will only take you 6-12 months.
I know people make a big deal about the "right of appeal to the IAD" but I for one wouldn't want to live apart from my spouse for the 2-3 years it takes.
If you don't have to go through the Toronto office, it's not nearly so bad (~6 months for Montreal and Vancouver from what I've read here) and that right of appeal might matter - if you really think there's going to be an issue.
The rate of refusal for visa exempt applicants is fairly low in any case. Such relationships typically are low risk as being "relationships of convenience" because people from visa exempt countries are typically not trying to obtain immigration status fraudulently.
Good luck!