Questions regarding Inland/Outland Spousal Sponsorship for US Citizen

[OrangeMapleIsHome]

Hi, I have a few questions about helping my wife to become a Canadian citizen. I am a Canadian citizen, and my wife, a US citizen, has been in Canada since February 2020 on a working holiday visa. In January this year, she applied for an extension of her visa and was granted one until August, as we had planned to do inland spousal sponsorship for her, but things have changed, and she needs to return to the US for at least four months.

What we would like to achieve is the ability for her to come back to Canada after four to eight months in the US. We have all of our paperwork, criminal record checks, and fingerprinting ready to be sent off, but we're not sure whether to wait until she leaves Canada and then submit them as Outland sponsorship, or send them now as Inland. We had a lawyer tell us in a consultation that it is possible to submit an Inland sponsorship, and then leave the country for any period of time while a decision is being made, which is contradictory to what I've read on this forum and elsewhere. Is this true?

We would love to hear any feedback and appreciate all advice anyone can give, thanks and have a great day!

 

[armoured]

Another option would be to submit now as outland, she does not need to be out of the country to do so.

 

[OrangeMapleIsHome]

Another option would be to submit now as outland, she does not need to be out of the country to do so.

Oh wow, that is great to know! That makes this so much easier.

So in that case, can my wife re-enter Canada as a visitor at any time while we wait for her application to be processed?

If someone submits an Outland sponsorship while inside Canada, do they have to leave the country to wait until a decision is made?

It is interesting to me that people can go this route, it seems much easier than an Inland application!

 

[armoured]

Oh wow, that is great to know! That makes this so much easier.

So in that case, can my wife re-enter Canada as a visitor at any time while we wait for her application to be processed?

If someone submits an Outland sponsorship while inside Canada, do they have to leave the country to wait until a decision is made?

It is interesting to me that people can go this route, it seems much easier than an Inland application!

In this way, she can return as a visitor, although there is the possibility that she'd be refused entry if they decided she was not going to respect terms of entry (i.e. not going to leave when required).

She does not have to leave or remain outside Canada while it's going forward; when in Canada, she would have to extend her leave to stay like any visitor if eg six-month stay expires.

The main disadvantage of this approach compared to inland is no ability to get open work permit while waiting - which may not matter to you, and also, processing times for the OWP apps are somewhat longer now (i.e. if owp is approved only a month or two before PR, it's not a big advantage).

 

[OrangeMapleIsHome]

Thank you, this is making more sense now. It is a very big advantage to have that owp for us any many people.

We will work with this information, very helpful!

 

[armoured]

Thank you, this is making more sense now. It is a very big advantage to have that owp for us any many people.

We will work with this information, very helpful!

Yes, the owp is clearly a plus, but it seems in many cases the owp stage is coming only shortly before the PR. With the caveat that I don't follow the inland timelines closely.

It's up to you but I would prioritize getting the app in sooner. If you're ready you could file immediately, do not need to wait.