[canadianinneedofadvise]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading countless hours here about this topic, but need some extra advise from anyone that can help.

I am engaged to my Dominican girlfriend ( I am from Canada ). We are right now waiting for her to get either approved or denied a visitor's pass to Canada and from what I understand there is a very slim chance of it getting approved, although I am trying to stay positive until we find out this week.....

We are planning on her getting the visitors pass and coming to Canada this month and getting married while she is in Canada. My immigration lawyer tells me it's no problem for her to stay if she can just get the visitors pass, as long as we get the spousal sponsorship forms started ASAP.

However I am trying to plan what my next move will be if the visitors visa gets denied. Our goal is for us to live here in Canada as quickly as possible. My work is here and it's a much better life for us to be here. My question is, where is the best place to apply and start the spousal sponsorship forms ( Canada or the DR ) ? My lawyer tells me if we let him do all the paperwork from inside Canada it will take up to a year. Is it quicker of we file all paperwork in the DR instead ? Will this speed up the process ? Is it even possible for us to do everything from inside Canada ?

My other question is that if I go to the Canadian embassy in either Haiti or the DR, is there a way of us getting her a temporary visa to come to Canada while the application is being processed ? I mean really I am taking full responsibility as a Canadian citizen for her to be here, and would like to even know if she likes this country ( can adapt to the climate, culture change, etc. ) before we plan our futures an where we are going to live.

Any help would be very much appreciated, thanks in advance!!!