How to get my girlfriend to Canada?

[ProjectGFResidency]

Hi -

Firstly, apologies for posting such a common topic. I have looked through previous posts, but I feel the situation I am in is quite unique.

My girlfriend and I have been together for going on five years. I am 26, she is 23. We met at university and both have masters degrees. We studied together (in London, UK) for our BAs.

I currently live in Dubai - I am here for work - and she lives in London. We are both in marketing. I am moving back to London in November and we will live together. I should say now I have never lived in Canada; however, I am a citizen. I am also a citizen of the UK and Ireland. The UK is my 'home' as it were; all my family are there.

I am going to study an MBA at the Uni of Toronto next August and I am desperately trying to work out how to bring her over.

She is very keen, but also has a great job in London and is, understandably, reluctant to just pack it all in. Fortunately, she has degrees from two of the world's top universities, both of which will be recognised in Canada and the USA, so I doubt she will have much trouble finding a job, as long as she has residency. One of many obstacles, however, is that she only has 1.5 years exp, so she might struggle getting a work visa without my assistance.

I should also note that, between us, we have a decent amount of money. My savings will be spent on my MBA, but she owns properties in the UK and has significant liquid assets. In other words, we will have no issue proving that we can support ourselves. Furthermore, she has clear ties to the UK. She's not moving to Canada to take advantage of the welfare system.

I see there being several options:

1) She gets a job in Canada/East Coast of America. I do see there being visa issues, though. It's so difficult.
2) She applies for an IEC visa: working holiday permit.
3) We get a civil partnership (hetero couples are eligible on the Isle of Man. Not sure if this will hold up, though).
4) We get married - I am ok doing a registry office marriage and then discussing a 'real' marriage later on in life. She is not willing to do this as thinks it's horrendously unromantic. I guess she's right, but I cannot afford a real marriage right now. I am about to spend a lot of money on my MBA... I'm also not quite ready to have a 'real' marriage yet, and I don't think she is, either. I will be willing to do it after my MBA, though.

Thanks for taking the time to read through.

EDIT: We do have a joint bank account that's been open since 2014. It's registered to her parents' address. Will this help at all?
EDIT 2: GF is a UK citizen. I didn't explicitly mention this.

 

[scylla]

1) Typically extremely difficult to do since a work permit requires a job offer and approved LMIA and the vast majority of employers aren't willing to go through the LMIA process. But she can certainly try.
2) Yes - she should put her name in the pool since this would give her an open work permit. For the UK, there are always way more applicants than spaces available - so it's far from a guarantee she will be selected and you should have a 'plan B' in place.
3) This partnership has no value for Canadian immigration - so no point getting it. To sponsor her for PR as your common law partner, you must have physically lived together for at least one year continuously and be able to prove it. This is what common law means for Canadian immigration purposes.
4) If you wish to sponsor her for PR and aren't common law, getting married would be the easiest option.

 

[spousalsponsee]

Hi -

Firstly, apologies for posting such a common topic. I have looked through previous posts, but I feel the situation I am in is quite unique.

My girlfriend and I have been together for going on five years. I am 26, she is 23. We met at university and both have masters degrees. We studied together (in London, UK) for our BAs.

I currently live in Dubai - I am here for work - and she lives in London. We are both in marketing. I am moving back to London in November and we will live together. I should say now I have never lived in Canada; however, I am a citizen. I am also a citizen of the UK and Ireland. The UK is my 'home' as it were; all my family are there.

I am going to study an MBA at the Uni of Toronto next August and I am desperately trying to work out how to bring her over.

She is very keen, but also has a great job in London and is, understandably, reluctant to just pack it all in. Fortunately, she has degrees from two of the world's top universities, both of which will be recognised in Canada and the USA, so I doubt she will have much trouble finding a job, as long as she has residency. One of many obstacles, however, is that she only has 1.5 years exp, so she might struggle getting a work visa without my assistance.

I should also note that, between us, we have a decent amount of money. My savings will be spent on my MBA, but she owns properties in the UK and has significant liquid assets. In other words, we will have no issue proving that we can support ourselves. Furthermore, she has clear ties to the UK. She's not moving to Canada to take advantage of the welfare system.

I see there being several options:

1) She gets a job in Canada/East Coast of America. I do see there being visa issues, though. It's so difficult.
2) She applies for an IEC visa: working holiday permit.
3) We get a civil partnership (hetero couples are eligible on the Isle of Man. Not sure if this will hold up, though).
4) We get married - I am ok doing a registry office marriage and then discussing a 'real' marriage later on in life. She is not willing to do this as thinks it's horrendously unromantic. I guess she's right, but I cannot afford a real marriage right now. I am about to spend a lot of money on my MBA... I'm also not quite ready to have a 'real' marriage yet, and I don't think she is, either. I will be willing to do it after my MBA, though.

Thanks for taking the time to read through.

EDIT: We do have a joint bank account that's been open since 2014. It's registered to her parents' address. Will this help at all?
EDIT 2: GF is a UK citizen. I didn't explicitly mention this.

Your situation's pretty normal, and most of what you posted isn't relevant to it.

You're a Canadian citizen, so you can sponsor a partner. If you have already lived together for a year as part of your relationship, and can prove it, then you are a common law couple in the eyes of the Canadian government, and you can sponsor her for Permanent Residency.

If you have not yet established CL status, you would not be able to in Britain on your current plans, as you need to live together for 12 months (you say you are moving back to London in November, and moving to Toronto for August). You could live together in Britain for those 8-9 months, and then she can go with you to Toronto as a visitor to complete the year.

If you want to sponsor her for PR before then, or she doesn't want to move as a visitor, you will need to get married (if you want to split a semantic difference and get a 'civil partnership' instead of a 'civil marriage', you'd need to check if an IoM CP equates to marriage in Canada).

If you don't want to sponsor her for PR, she would need to get a work permit for Canada, or a work visa for the USA if she would rather go to the north east to be near you, rather than with you. For Canada, her options would be random draw on IEC permit, or getting a Labour Market Impact Assessment to prove a Canadian business had tried and failed to recruit a Canadian for a job that she can do. I don't know about the USA route.

Alternatively, she could try to migrate herself through Federal Skilled Worker Express Entry - she'd get good points for age and education, if she speaks French that would be more, but she wouldn't get many points for work experience. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-factors.asp

 

[ProjectGFResidency]

Thank you for your very helpful advice!

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Hi -

Firstly, apologies for posting such a common topic. I have looked through previous posts, but I feel the situation I am in is quite unique.

My girlfriend and I have been together for going on five years. I am 26, she is 23. We met at university and both have masters degrees. We studied together (in London, UK) for our BAs.

I currently live in Dubai - I am here for work - and she lives in London. We are both in marketing. I am moving back to London in November and we will live together. I should say now I have never lived in Canada; however, I am a citizen. I am also a citizen of the UK and Ireland. The UK is my 'home' as it were; all my family are there.

I am going to study an MBA at the Uni of Toronto next August and I am desperately trying to work out how to bring her over.

She is very keen, but also has a great job in London and is, understandably, reluctant to just pack it all in. Fortunately, she has degrees from two of the world's top universities, both of which will be recognised in Canada and the USA, so I doubt she will have much trouble finding a job, as long as she has residency. One of many obstacles, however, is that she only has 1.5 years exp, so she might struggle getting a work visa without my assistance.

I should also note that, between us, we have a decent amount of money. My savings will be spent on my MBA, but she owns properties in the UK and has significant liquid assets. In other words, we will have no issue proving that we can support ourselves. Furthermore, she has clear ties to the UK. She's not moving to Canada to take advantage of the welfare system.

I see there being several options:

1) She gets a job in Canada/East Coast of America. I do see there being visa issues, though. It's so difficult.
2) She applies for an IEC visa: working holiday permit.
3) We get a civil partnership (hetero couples are eligible on the Isle of Man. Not sure if this will hold up, though).
4) We get married - I am ok doing a registry office marriage and then discussing a 'real' marriage later on in life. She is not willing to do this as thinks it's horrendously unromantic. I guess she's right, but I cannot afford a real marriage right now. I am about to spend a lot of money on my MBA... I'm also not quite ready to have a 'real' marriage yet, and I don't think she is, either. I will be willing to do it after my MBA, though.

Thanks for taking the time to read through.

EDIT: We do have a joint bank account that's been open since 2014. It's registered to her parents' address. Will this help at all?
EDIT 2: GF is a UK citizen. I didn't explicitly mention this.

The IEC really is the best "foot in the door" to Canada at the age you guys are at. I am not 100% sure how its works now as it has changed since i did it, but definitely a great starter route to go down. And that option wont always be there for you age wise so take advantage of it if you can!

 

[spousalsponsee]

The IEC really is the best "foot in the door" to Canada at the age you guys are at. I am not 100% sure how its works now as it has changed since i did it, but definitely a great starter route to go down. And that option wont always be there for you age wise so take advantage of it if you can!

It's a really easy way in, the downside is that it used to be first-come-first-served, so if there was a space, you applied, you got it. It's now random draw, with about 12,000 people going for 5-7000 spots (program is officially 5k for UK, but this year 2k additional spaces were added, last year 1k were). So you apply in Nov/Dec, and then.... might get drawn right away. Might get drawn September a year later. Might never. It makes it really hard to plan, or use it for something where you know timelines are coming at specific points.

 

[ProjectGFResidency]

Thanks - we're going to try for the IEC route and see what happens!

 

[ProjectGFResidency]

Your situation's pretty normal, and most of what you posted isn't relevant to it.

You're a Canadian citizen, so you can sponsor a partner. If you have already lived together for a year as part of your relationship, and can prove it, then you are a common law couple in the eyes of the Canadian government, and you can sponsor her for Permanent Residency.

If you have not yet established CL status, you would not be able to in Britain on your current plans, as you need to live together for 12 months (you say you are moving back to London in November, and moving to Toronto for August). You could live together in Britain for those 8-9 months, and then she can go with you to Toronto as a visitor to complete the year.

If you want to sponsor her for PR before then, or she doesn't want to move as a visitor, you will need to get married (if you want to split a semantic difference and get a 'civil partnership' instead of a 'civil marriage', you'd need to check if an IoM CP equates to marriage in Canada).

If you don't want to sponsor her for PR, she would need to get a work permit for Canada, or a work visa for the USA if she would rather go to the north east to be near you, rather than with you. For Canada, her options would be random draw on IEC permit, or getting a Labour Market Impact Assessment to prove a Canadian business had tried and failed to recruit a Canadian for a job that she can do. I don't know about the USA route.

Alternatively, she could try to migrate herself through Federal Skilled Worker Express Entry - she'd get good points for age and education, if she speaks French that would be more, but she wouldn't get many points for work experience. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-factors.asp

Hi, one question on the CL status. I don't suppose you know whether people get rejected from this? My girlfriend is concerned that, if w go down this route and she moves to Canada for a few months with no job, she will then get rejected and have to return to the UK but without a job and having been out of the workforce for X amount of time.

 

[spousalsponsee]

Hi, one question on the CL status. I don't suppose you know whether people get rejected from this? My girlfriend is concerned that, if w go down this route and she moves to Canada for a few months with no job, she will then get rejected and have to return to the UK but without a job and having been out of the workforce for X amount of time.

Depends on what you mean by 'get rejected'; if you have lived together for 12 months and can prove it, you are a CL couple; from the perspective of the Canadian Government, you are functionally married. If this applies to you, there isn't the option of being found 'not a common law couple'. The only question is one of proof. If you have a lease together, bills in both your names, mail to both of you at the same address, and photos/conversations/letters from friends that show you're a romantic couple rather than merely housemates, and these things span 12 months+ then, in Ottawa's eyes, you are married for any Federal purpose (eg immigration, tax, etc), and it's exactly the same as if you had a marriage certificate, which affords you those rights in a shorter time due to a ceremony (Note that the Provinces can and do have their own definitions for Provincial services and laws).

 

[ProjectGFResidency]

Depends on what you mean by 'get rejected'; if you have lived together for 12 months and can prove it, you are a CL couple; from the perspective of the Canadian Government, you are functionally married. If this applies to you, there isn't the option of being found 'not a common law couple'. The only question is one of proof. If you have a lease together, bills in both your names, mail to both of you at the same address, and photos/conversations/letters from friends that show you're a romantic couple rather than merely housemates, and these things span 12 months+ then, in Ottawa's eyes, you are married for any Federal purpose (eg immigration, tax, etc), and it's exactly the same as if you had a marriage certificate, which affords you those rights in a shorter time due to a ceremony (Note that the Provinces can and do have their own definitions for Provincial services and laws).

Thank you - very helpful.