Canadian immigration for my fiancee

I’m giving very serious thought to marrying my Taiwanese girlfriend, but there are some blank spots regarding immigrating back to Canada (I spent 9 years in Taiwan, it was enough).
Years ago, when I was teaching in China, a Canadian colleague of mine married his Chinese girlfriend in China. As far as I know, he had to return to Canada first, get a job, get re-established in Canada and then apply for her to join him from Canada. The downside to this was that they were seperated for about 18 months.
When I was in Taiwan, I had two Canadian buddies who both married Filipinas. They were able to apply for their wives to immigrate from the Canadian “embassy” in Taipei. They were able to work in Taiwan and wait with their wives for the paperwork to clear, once it did they went to Canada together and avoided the nasty seperation the first guy went through.
Has anyone had any experience with this? I really don’t want to be seperated from my special lady friend if it’s at all possible.
In reading another page, I saw some Americans talking about a “fiancee visa” Does such a thing exist for Canada?

I am interested in knowing what happened and any other information people have.

You can apply in Taiwan although the application process in handled in HK. It will get processed faster outside of the country than inside Canada. Spousal visas can take from 7 to 18 months to process. So you get married, start the process right away, and wait 7 to 18 months while it is processed. At that time, you quit your job in Taiwan, and fly back together where her PR immigrant visa allows here to live in Canada with a 5 year PR card. After 3, she’s eligible for citizenship.