Hbee

Hi all,

I have an unexpected situation I was wondering if anyone might have some insight on.

We applied for my partners PR as Inland Common-Law in April 2021. Received AOR and medical/biometrics request last week.

We are getting married in the UK next month, so will be travelling outside Canada for a few weeks (We informed IRCC in our application and included flights, etc).

As the process is surprisingly faster than we were expecting (who would have thought!), I am now a little concerned that my partners eCOPR may arrive when we are out of the country, thus requiring us to get a PRTD.

I was wondering if they are routinely asking every applicant to verify they are in Canada through the portal before sending out eCOPR? Or if this stage is ever skipped?

Thanks!

Siouxie

Current processing times is 12 months, so you probably have a few months to go yet - have you had the medical and bio-metrics done? You can keep checking MyCIC or eCAS for status updates.. https://services3.cic.gc.ca/ecas/security.do?lang=en (for more info on this see our wiki section on spousal sponsorship.. https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spous...All_About_eCAS

Hopefully you are aware that you could potentially risk the application being rejected if for any reason your spouse is refused entry into Canada on your return. The advice for Inland applications is not to leave Canada until your application is completed, for that reason. Your spouse needs to be IN Canada at the time the application is completed and the COPR is issued..

Your soon to be spouse may need permission to return / enter Canada as well as an eTA - so do ensure you check the requirements..

Hbee

Thanks so much for your reply

We are aware of the risks involved in leaving the country during processing and have weighed it all up.

Even though processing time is currently 12 months, it seems that a lot of applicants who applied around the same time as us over on the CanadaVisa forum are starting to receive PR, and it looks like it's being processed pretty fast once medical and biometrics are received. Obviously that won't be the case for everyone but I want to make sure we are prepared for any eventuality.

Very aware that PR cards take ages to arrive right now and that we can only confirm on the portal when we are physically inside Canada.

I guess my specific question is: is there any likelihood of being sent eCOPR without having to confirm we are in Canada via the portal? I'm just not clear if the confirmation/portal step is always sent out or if it is only used for select applicants.

Snowy560

To receive eCOPR you have to confirm you're in Canada.
Your main concern should be potentially not meeting the requirements of the Spouse/Common Law Partner In Canada Class at the time the application is finalized.

Hbee

Thanks

Yeah that's certainly something we have considered.

We are travelling together for a few weeks for our wedding and we declared it in our application. I know there's always a risk leaving the country with an Inland application in process and it is generally advised against. We've weighed it up and we will both be well within our residency obligation, have been living together for 4 years, haven't left Canada at all for 3 years, have plenty of documentary evidence of our life in Canada and he's from a visa-exempt country. So fingers crossed we don't have too much of an issue!

Siouxie

All of that means nothing if he is 1 ) refused entry on your arrival back in Canada and 2) he is not in Canada when the eCOPR is ready to be issued.

Far better to have waitied until the landing interview and PR status was finalised before venturing overseas...

Hopefully he has a Temporary Open Work Permit which gives him status to re-enter Can ada. I strongly suggest that you ensure that he can prove he is a genuine visitor - with a reason to leave again.. see this: Visiting Canada under Dual Intent / Intending Inland sponsorship - please read

Snowy560

Exactly.
Because either of those things means he won't meet the requirements of the SCLPC.