Please help! Sponsorship Question.

[Drax88]

Hi, my girlfriend is currently here in Canada (Quebec to be specific) on a student visa. Her visa is valid until next year, and she has a valid re-entry visa as well. We've been living together for two years now, and we wish to get married in the not too distant future.

In one weeks time, we will be traveling to her home country on holiday for two weeks. Once we return we wanted to start the application process for me to sponsor her as a common law partner. My concerns are that if she does not attend school this year while we are going through the sponsorship process, does her student visa become invalidated and does that mean she would be here illegally?

Is our current plan a bad idea or should everything be fine if we start the application process right away?
(If need be, would it be beneficial if we eloped while in her home country?)

 

[scylla]

Once she stops attending school for over 90 days, this will automatically cancel her study permit and would normally put her out of status in Canada.

If you apply inland, that will give her status in Canada provided you include an open work permit with the application packages. We have seen a number of application packages returned recently due to small errors like missing signatures and incorrect forms. This can create issues for people since they are no longer in status in Canada after the application is returned as incomplete. I would recommend she continue to attend school for at least another few months (likely for the fall semester/term) until the inland application has been submitted and you know it has been accepted as complete. Alternatively, apply to change her status to visitor once you return from your trip. You want to give yourself insurance in case the sponsorship application is returned for any reason.

 

[Drax88]

Once she stops attending school for over 90 days, this will automatically cancel her study permit and would normally put her out of status in Canada.

If you apply inland, that will give her status in Canada provided you include an open work permit with the application packages. We have seen a number of application packages returned recently due to small errors like missing signatures and incorrect forms. This can create issues for people since they are no longer in status in Canada after the application is returned as incomplete. I would recommend she continue to attend school for at least another few months (likely for the fall semester/term) until the inland application has been submitted and you know it has been accepted as complete. Alternatively, apply to change her status to visitor once you return from your trip. You want to give yourself insurance in case the sponsorship application is returned for any reason.

She had stayed here with a visitors visa for about 5 months before returning home and applying for her student visa. As far as I know, her visitors visa is still valid even if her student visa gets revoked?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

She had stayed here with a visitors visa for about 5 months before returning home and applying for her student visa. As far as I know, her visitors visa is still valid even if her student visa gets revoked?

A TRV allows a person to board a commercial carrier to travel to Canada; it does not grant status in Canada. Her previous visitor status ended when she left Canada.

As scylla said, you would need to actually apply to change her status to visitor.