which application kit to use? please help many thanks

[Charlissimo]

when I go on the immigration website there are 2 separate application kits and they are;

•If your spouse, partner or accompanying dependent child lives with you in Canada, use the Application for Permanent Residence in Canada—Spouse or Common-law Partner.
•If your spouse, partner or dependent child lives abroad, use the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class.

I am kind of confused here. I am a born Canadian citizen looking to sponsor my fiance who is from South Korea. We are planning on getting married in Korea this December also. I am pretty sure I am suppose to fill out the 2nd application kit - If your spouse lives abroad - Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class, however I just want to be sure.

Also on the application, do I check myself off as married as we will be getting married on the 18th of December. I am looking to file this OUTSIDE OF CANADA but was advised that I have to first send all the filled out documents to the Mississauga office whereby they will forward it to Korea? Is that true?

Thanks in advance...

 

[RobsLuv]

You'll be submitting the "outland" application - the second one - but you cannot submit the application until after you are legally married. The entire application package - including all of yours and your spouse's application forms, proof of your legal marriage, proof of your spouse's medical exam and the criminal clearances, and the proofs of your "genuine relationship" go together to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga. CPC-M will assess your eligibility to sponsor. If you're approved, they send the whole application package to the embassy in South Korea to process your spouse's application, and that's where it will be finalized.

It's currently taking CPC-M 37 days to assess the sponsor. Seoul takes 6 months to finalize the applicant part.

 

[Charlissimo]

Thanks really appreciate it. However after we get married on the 18th of December we are coming back to Toronto together on the 30th of December. Do you know if it will be an issue if she only purchases a 1 way ticket to Toronto from Seoul? Also, I believe the maximum amount of time she can stay in Canada on a visitor status is only 6 months, even if I submit the full application to Mississauga in January 2011, does she have to apply for an extension until we receive an approval from the immigration office?

 

[Baloo]

Even as your wife she is still a "visitor" and needs to behave as such. Visitors need to show that they intend to leave Canada.
A return ticket is a reasonable sign of the intention to leave.
A single ticket and a return ticket are not that much different in price, look at one that you can get a partial refund on if it is not used.

Of course once she is in Canada you can apply for a visa extension.

 

[RobsLuv]

She should have a two-way ticket, because not purchasing a round-trip ticket indicates to the officer assessing her for entry that she does not intend to - and does not have the means to - return home at the end of her authorized stay. So she should have a round-trip airfare (purchase one that has a flexible return date) and you need to be accompanying her into Canada. If she can get into Canada (she should be able to as she is visa-exempt, but be prepared to produce proof that you are legally married, that you intend to sponsor her, and that you can support her financially), she will be documented on a Visitor Record that has an expiration date. If the application is not finalized by the time her temporary status is due to expire, you should apply to extend it - absolutely. It's only $75.

You can still apply outland, even if she is going to be with you in Canada. There is always a possibility that she'll be called back to Seoul for an interview - just another reason for a round-trip ticket - but you can minimize that by submitting lots of quality evidence of the development of your relationship, that it is not just to get her status in Canada. And she will need to be able to submit her passport to Seoul at some point so that she can receive her COPR . . . so make sure you're in a position to do that, even if it means that she has to travel home to get things finalized. Some countries do not allow passports to be mailed across their borders.

The inland process would be at least 8-9 months before they'd even begin her assessment - if you decide to go inland, be sure the application is submitted PRIOR TO expiration of her original status, and include the extension application WITH the inland PR ap, not separate from. You'd probably also want to opt to change her conditions from visitor to an initial work permit ($150), so that they'd issue an open work permit as soon as they complete the first stage of assessment (after 8-9 months). It's then another 3-6 months before they finalize the application - but there is no right to appeal a refusal, and she can't leave Canada during processing or she risks forfeiting the application. She has to be resident in Canada with you in order to be an eligible inland applicant, so if she leaves and can't come back, the ap is trashed and you start all over again outland anyway.