GF Moving to Canada as a Nurse

[mdav922]

Hello,

Some background information on us... I am currently a 23 year old male (Canadian citizen residing around Toronto) with a background in Civil Engineering. I met a girl online in April of 2014 and we ended up meeting in August 2014. She is 24, a citizen of the USA living around Columbus, Ohio with a background in nursing. She has finished her bachelors of nursing at a university down in Ohio. She has about 2 years of relevant experience as a Registered Nurse in the state of Ohio.


My girlfriend is moving in with me this month in order to start the one year process for sponsorship under common law. We have enough money to keep us afloat for a while but she doesn't want to be out of work for too long so we have been looking at options for work permits... it seems the only option that there would be is the Federal Skilled Worker program which she may barely qualify for and I hear that it is extremely competitive so it seems like a stretch.. What other options would there be for getting a work permit?


She has had her bachelor degree credential assessed by the ECA and is currently having her nursing credentials assessed by the NNAS to become certified in Ontario. Once NNAS gives her authority to register to the College of Nurses of Ontario would she be able to apply for jobs then?


I am making this post looking for some guidance if anyone has any experience immigrating from the USA as a nurse to Ontario. We have been looking through all of this information online and its pretty damn confusing, any advice would be appreciated.

 

[scylla]

Hello,

Some background information on us... I am currently a 23 year old male (Canadian citizen residing around Toronto) with a background in Civil Engineering. I met a girl online in April of 2014 and we ended up meeting in August 2014. She is 24, a citizen of the USA living around Columbus, Ohio with a background in nursing. She has finished her bachelors of nursing at a university down in Ohio. She has about 2 years of relevant experience as a Registered Nurse in the state of Ohio.


My girlfriend is moving in with me this month in order to start the one year process for sponsorship under common law. We have enough money to keep us afloat for a while but she doesn't want to be out of work for too long so we have been looking at options for work permits... it seems the only option that there would be is the Federal Skilled Worker program which she may barely qualify for and I hear that it is extremely competitive so it seems like a stretch.. What other options would there be for getting a work permit?


She has had her bachelor degree credential assessed by the ECA and is currently having her nursing credentials assessed by the NNAS to become certified in Ontario. Once NNAS gives her authority to register to the College of Nurses of Ontario would she be able to apply for jobs then?


I am making this post looking for some guidance if anyone has any experience immigrating from the USA as a nurse to Ontario. We have been looking through all of this information online and its pretty damn confusing, any advice would be appreciated.

You need to be either married or common law in order to sponsor her for PR. As you know, you have to live together for at least one year continuously to become common law. Once you are common law/married, you can sponsor her using the inland route and include an open work permit with the application. That work permit will be granted around four months after you submit the application. So if you go the common law route, you're looking at a minimum of around 16 months from the time she first arrives here to the time she is able to work. Getting married would obviously speed up the process.

If she wants to apply for immigrate on her own, she should calculate how many points she has under the Express Entry system. It's a points-based system and those with the most points are selected. Right now you need to have 440+ points to be selected.

 

[scylla]

Oh - to apply for a work permit she would first need to secure a job offer from an employer in Canada (as well as getting certified to work as a nurse in Canada). Right now she doesn't need an LMIA to apply for a work permit because her occupation falls under NAFTA. However that could change any day because of Trump. Generally speaking, it's next to impossible to secure a job offer as a foreign worker. Best to assume the chances of this happening are very low.

 

[mdav922]

Oh - to apply for a work permit she would first need to secure a job offer from an employer in Canada (as well as getting certified to work as a nurse in Canada). Right now she doesn't need an LMIA to apply for a work permit because her occupation falls under NAFTA. However that could change any day because of Trump. Generally speaking, it's next to impossible to secure a job offer as a foreign worker. Best to assume the chances of this happening are very low.

Thanks for your replies. So basically there are no options for her to work until we apply for PR and get an open work permit for her? I know that nursing is somewhat in demand in Ontario so I was hoping maybe there would be something faster to get her employed...

As for marriage, how much faster would this be? Does getting married just skip the process of having to live together for 12 months to establish common law?

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your replies. So basically there are no options for her to work until we apply for PR and get an open work permit for her? I know that nursing is somewhat in demand in Ontario so I was hoping maybe there would be something faster to get her employed...

As for marriage, how much faster would this be? Does getting married just skip the process of having to live together for 12 months to establish common law?

Yes - married would skip the four months required to become common law. You would be able to submit an inland application right after marriage and have an open work permit about 4 months after submitting the inland application. That's a lot faster than the 16 months through the common law route. Unless she has an Express Entry score of 440 or more, being sponsored by you is her only realistic option for an open work permit right now. OWPs are only granted in very specific circumstances.

 

[krishna88]

Yes - married would skip the four months required to become common law. You would be able to submit an inland application right after marriage and have an open work permit about 4 months after submitting the inland application. That's a lot faster than the 16 months through the common law route. Unless she has an Express Entry score of 440 or more, being sponsored by you is her only realistic option for an open work permit right now. OWPs are only granted in very specific circumstances.

Thanks for your replies. So basically there are no options for her to work until we apply for PR and get an open work permit for her? I know that nursing is somewhat in demand in Ontario so I was hoping maybe there would be something faster to get her employed...

As for marriage, how much faster would this be? Does getting married just skip the process of having to live together for 12 months to establish common law?

If she is US citizen she can come to canada as a visitor (no visa required). Inland work permit processing time is 6 weeks. So, she can start working after 6-8 weeks.

 

[mdav922]

If she is US citizen she can come to canada as a visitor (no visa required). Inland work permit processing time is 6 weeks. So, she can start working after 6-8 weeks.

Yeah but that is only if we have applied for spousal sponsorship right? Right now we aren't even engaged - we are both open with taking the next step but kind of want to live together for a little bit before doing so.

 

[scylla]

Yeah but that is only if we have applied for spousal sponsorship right? Right now we aren't even engaged - we are both open with taking the next step but kind of want to live together for a little bit before doing so.

Yes - that's only with spousal sponsorship.

 

[krishna88]

Yeah but that is only if we have applied for spousal sponsorship right? Right now we aren't even engaged - we are both open with taking the next step but kind of want to live together for a little bit before doing so.

If you guys are common-law partner (living together for at least one year ) then you could do so. But, if you guys are just moving forward in your relationship then she can come to canada but, can not work. My friend had the same case where her boy friend was US citizen, He had to exit and re-entry.

 

[scylla]

If she is US citizen she can come to canada as a visitor (no visa required). Inland work permit processing time is 6 weeks. So, she can start working after 6-8 weeks.

Processing time for an OWP connected to a spousal sponsorship application is actually 2-4 months. Different processing time applies in this situation than other OWPs or work permits. We're seeing most people on this forum receive their OWPs closer to the 4 month rather than 2 month mark.

 

[mdav922]

If you guys are common-law partner (living together for at least one year ) then you could do so. But, if you guys are just moving forward in your relationship then she can come to canada but, can not work. My friend had the same case where her boy friend was US citizen, He had to exit and re-entry.

Yeah, I suppose the plan for now is just have her move in and start gathering documentation for common law sponsorship (she can leave and re-enter after 6 months). If we feel comfortable moving forward together marriage could be an option to speed things up.

Also we will get her language testing done because she may actually be eligible for express entry under the Federal Skilled Worker program so we will be giving that a shot too.

 

[canuck78]

Some regions would probably offer her a job as a nurse. Perhaps not in the GTA though. You will have to investigate. Assume she is an RN. There is definitely a shortage but not sure where in Ontario or in Canada.

 

[canuck78]

Would recommend contacting various hospitals. Being covered under NAFTA (for the moment) helps. Nurses association may also be a good resource for where they are. in need of nurses and the possibility of being hired from the US

 

[mdav922]

Some regions would probably offer her a job as a nurse. Perhaps not in the GTA though. You will have to investigate. Assume she is an RN. There is definitely a shortage but not sure where in Ontario or in Canada.

I have been looking around and it seems nearly impossible. Registering with the CNO requires you to either have a work permit or be a PR/Citizen of Canada which I don't understand how its possible? All of the job postings require you to be registered with the CNO so I dont see how you can get an offer without being certified in the province.

 

[mdav922]

Would recommend contacting various hospitals. Being covered under NAFTA (for the moment) helps. Nurses association may also be a good resource for where they rein need of nurses and the possibility of being hired from the US

I have yet to actually contact anywhere, maybe I will try that and see if we can make something happen. Maybe she could luck out, I'll give it a try.