markandling

Hi

I hope somebody will be able to give me some help on this as so far i've received conflicting information.

My wife and I live in London UK, I'm British, she is Canadian. We want to move to BC. I know we can apply formy visa from here but what we would like to do is to go to BC and do the application whilst in Canada. We have a place to stay, family in Ottawa etc. My wife should be able to start work almost immediately on our arrival although I do realise that I may not be permitted to work for a while. By profession I was a company director and plan to start my own store in Vancouver asap.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Mark

Atlantic Xpat

Welcome.

Start with www.cic.gc.ca and read up on family class sponsorship. Fairly straightforward but you want to investigate whether timeline is quicker in Uk or Canada. I seem to recall that through UK is faster. FWIW it took 6 months total for me in 2004.

AX

markandling

Thanks for that. I've had a look at the site and it seems to say everything is fine for us to move there and apply from within Canada, but i'm hoping to get 100% confirmation or speak to somebody who has done the same.

Thanks for the help

mark

Atlantic Xpat

Oh it can definately be done. I have an english guy working for me who moved over and applied within Canada. The process did take almost two years though and he wasn't able to work until a fair way through it on an open WP. It all depends whether you can survive on one salary (assuming your wife walks into a job) or need two.

Island_Girl

even if you have moved to Canada I would still apply from outside it is much quicker usually less than 6 months. You could not work while waiting but it can be done. you would just be here as a visitor until your visa was granted you would have to send your passport to London and have it mailed back to you but then you just have to leave and re-enter the country which can be done by driving over the boarder to the states and back.

Island Girl

markandling

Thanks for the help. One more question, any idea of how long it takes to apply from within Canada?

Thanks
again

mark

Atlantic Xpat

I'm sure that data is somewhere on the cic website if you take the time to search for it. But check out Andrew Miller's post #2 in this thread. http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=438561 It seems that application through London is the fastest route. Note that you could apply through London and then move to Canada (but not work). However if you were called for an interview you'd need to travel back to London & you would also need to submit your passport to London for visa.

markandling

Thanks again for the help!

Seems like the best thing to do is to start the applcation from London then move to BC.
Is there anything else we should know or is the process pretty straightforward once we've made that decision and lastly, when we land in Canada do we need to declare we're moving there etc?

Thanks again

mark

JAJ

Is your wife dual British/Canadian, or just Canadian? If just Canadian, how long has she lived in the UK?

markandling

She's Canadian only and has lived outside Canada for 10 years now

Kat1981

Hi Mark,

I'm married to a Canadian and we did almost exactly what you're looking to do. After a bit of back and forwarding between here and scotland, we decided to live off one salary and apply from here. So I've not been able to work here in BC but submitted the application for PR (under the spousal sponsorship class) last month. I've been advised by almost everyone I've spoken to, mainly the CIC call centre here, that it takes much less time applying in the Outside Canada Class - and it goes to London. This can still be done even though you live in Canada, on a visitors visa (which can be extended if 6 months passes). So we sent it off last month, they've already assessed my husband being eligible to sponsor me, and now its in London. Not sure how long it will take in London, but according to the website no longer than 6 months (I know people who got it back in 3!).

Hope that helps!
Katrina.

JAJ

Has she thought about becoming a British citizen, if she has lived in the UK for 3 years. This will make a return to the UK - or even extended vacations - very much easier.

markandling

Hi there

Hope everybody had a good easter break.

JAJ, she has thought about it, but we don't intend to move back to the UK, and you now have to pass an exam and pay to become a citizen, so really, its just not work it for us.

Katrina, thanks for that, sounds like thats the route to take for us, get the application in from here then get over to BC and try and get settled.

Off to download some forms I guess.

Thanks to everybody for their help.

mark

JAJ

The "exam" is no more difficult than the one you will have to take in due course to become a Canadian citizen.

Her choice obviously, but many people have abandoned their resident status like she is planning to do and then regretted it, often many years later.

What happens if, for example, your future children decide to live in the UK (as adults) and she wants to join them but is unable to because of the immigration laws?

Rob_999

I agree - you never know what the future holds.