Spouse Visa
 

Hi all,

We are new to this forum. I am Canadian, my husband is British and we currently live in the UK. We are thinking about a move to Canada and wondered about a spouse visa.

The wait times say up to 12 months. Has anyone recently applied for/got a spouse visa? If so, how long did it take?
Also, after the visa is approved, is there a stated amount of time you have to move within?
Any information would be helpful!
Thank you!
Robyn and Dave

Re: Spouse Visa
 

It is called 'spousal sponsorship'. All of your questions and more are answered here:

Spousal Sponsorship-Canada : British Expat Wiki

and here:

Spousal Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ - New Application Forms : British Expat Wiki

As regards processing timescales, please refer to the spreadsheet link in my signature line. These are actuals for people applying for spousal sponsorship processed by London. Plan on a minimum of 6 months and a likely (but not guaranteed) maximum of 12 months.

Once approved, your husband would be issued with a CoPR with an expiry date that is usually 12 months from the date of the medical. He must land and declare PR before that date (although this is not necessarily the same as landing to establish residence, which could be done later).

Happy reading!

Re: Spouse Visa
 

Thanks for that!
Another question!
If we apply and want to move whilst the application is being processed, can my husband work in Canada during that time?
Will/Can he apply for some sort of temporary permit?
Thanks

Re: Spouse Visa
 

I have just been through this. My wife is Canadian and I am British. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to send me a personal message.

We decided to use an agent. Plenty of people will tell you that you don't need to but we decided that spending our married life together was important and we didn't want to mess anything up.

From submitting the application for my wife to sponsor me into the country, it was 4.5 months to get my confirmation of permanent residence. To get into the position of actually submitting the application took around 2/3 months before that, although I feel we could have got there quicker (we had a lot of other things going on during our life's too).

Scott

Re: Spouse Visa
 

Thank you, we will put together a few questions and message you soon.

Re: Spouse Visa
 

No.

Read the heading in the link called 'dual intent'.

You can only apply 'outland'. Once you have applied and your application is well underway (ideally sponsor approved), you can both move to Canada, but he can only go as a visitor and specifically is not allowed to work. Fully described in the link.

Re: Spouse Visa
 

Please don't!

We ask that people don't send private messages regarding immigration matters - it's far better to have questions posted to the board where members are able to correct any information given, if necessary; what is the 'right answer' for one person isn't necessarily the right answer for all. We have a 'sticky' note about it here: http://britishexpats.com/forum/immig...stions-840829/

Thanks for understanding. :)

Welcome to BE! :welcome:

You will find lots of helpful information in the links given by Hurlabrick and from our many members that have been through the process themselves. We also have members who work for the CBSA and others that are experienced in working for or with Immigration Consultants. Unless you have a particularly complicated situation to overcome (such as a serious medical issue or criminal background) there's really no need to employ an Immigration Consultant as Spousal Sponsorship is the easiest application to complete. Just follow the guidelines and the wiki links and if you have any other questions - fire away! We're more than happy to help.

Best of luck!

:)

Re: Spouse Visa
 

Doesn't look like we can send a private message! Which company did you use for that and how much did they charge? Not sure whether to do that but if it isn't crazy expensive then worth thinking about.

Many Thanks

Re: Spouse Visa
 

We used visa2canada because we were moving house, getting married and my wife was starting a new job, all around the same time! They just took one thing off our hands and it was a great decision for us.

I'm sure we could have done it ourselves, but I don't really care now. That's all water under the bridge and now I'm just enjoying life with my new wife. :thumbsup:

You've definitely made one good decision already by coming to this forum. The people here are super-helpful and the wiki answers a lot of questions and I found it an invaluable resource.

Cheers,

Scott