Not yet married... best way to apply for PR and to enter Canada

[jak82]

Hi everyone,

I'm not yet married, but will be getting married soon. I'm looking for advice on the most efficient and effective way to apply for PR for my fiancée.

My fiancée is currently on a visitor’s visa studying English and will be returning to Korea in November. I’m a Korean-Canadian, born and raised in Toronto. I will be visiting her in December for a month, but we’d like to officially get married in March 2016 in Korea.

I’m looking for advice on if it’d be best to (1) have a civil marriage ceremony in Canada before my fiancée leaves in November and begin the PR sponsorship application NOW; or if we should (2) wait until we receive all of our documentation after our wedding ceremony in Korea in March 2016 and begin the PR application process later (understanding we'd have to wait approx. an extra 6 months).

Essentially, I’d like for her to return with me to Canada in March 2016. I’d prefer to sponsor my spouse from outside Canada, yet I’d like for my wife to be with me while we’re applying for PR. However, are there any potential issues with her returning in March?

In Canada, my fiancee would like to go back to school next year, first for English and then to a college program. There is financial incentive to apply for PR sooner as international student tuition fees are insane. However, for her return in March, should my fiancee apply for a student visa or a visitor visa?

Are there also any potential issues when returning with the dual intent of her coming back to Canada (if she intends to either visit/study and apply for PR)?

Considering we're not yet spouses and our intentions for my fiancee to go back to school, what are your thoughts?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[Leon]

If she is Korean, does she even need a visit visa? If she needs a visit visa and already has one, is it a multiple entry visa?

Having a civil ceremony now and applying right away could possibly cause red flags by immigration, quick wedding, not a big wedding with family. Immigration has the right to deny applications based on that a marriage was entered into for immigration purposes even though the relationship is genuine. Therefore, I think it would be better for you to wait to apply until March. You can still apply outland even though she may go with you to Canada as a visitor after the wedding. If she is visa exempt or has a multiple entry visa, they will not deny her entry when she is arriving with a Canadian spouse. You can say that you are sponsoring her and that she has come with you to wait and you will vouch for her that she will either extend her status or leave and not get out of status.

Already having a multiple entry visit visa would not stop her from applying for a study permit if she wants to. For that, she will have to have picked a program, applied for it and gotten accepted. As a student, she can get a student work permit and work up to 20 hrs. a week during the semester or full time during holidays.

 

[yvr1234]

getting married sooner will allow them to start the process sooner.

I think being a red flag or not depends on when they started their relationship. OP didn't state how long have they been dating and if they have a reasonable relationship development, it won't be a red flag.

 

[Mapleson]

If you have all your paper work sorted, then applying in November saves you 6 months from applying in April. If she is studying in Canada, she probably needs a student visit, but there are some limited cases where you can study as a visitor. There isn't a problem of being in Canada on a visa while applying for PR status.

 

[floomy]

1. not sure how long you guys have been together, but I agreed with Leon.

Having a civil ceremony now and applying right away could possibly cause red flags by immigration, quick wedding, not a big wedding with family. Immigration has the right to deny applications based on that a marriage was entered into for immigration purposes even though the relationship is genuine. Therefore, I think it would be better for you to wait to apply until March.

2. you can get married on March and apply for outland after.
I know you would be busy for wedding, but try to prepare all docs are ready.
You can get marriage cert. in Korean in a week after you registered your marriage.
so if you have all docs and forms are prepared and do medical, you can send off your app in a month (you might wanna add some wedding photos and revise some details on the forms)

All docs for immigration purpose are good for a year except police check certificate(6 month )
and medical is also good for a year.
so I would do medical right before sending off app, but still there is chance that she might request to redo medical while VO process her file.


3. She can come back to Canada with you.
show CBSA that she applied for outland ( ex: receipt of fees or carrier receipt with tracking no. etc) and tell that she wanna wait for her PR in CANADA with you.
If she is with you/husband, don't think CBSA would give you guys hard time for her visa.

4. she can apply for student permit in Korea or Canada.
if she is accepted by any school (college or University) or register ESL school (need to enrol more than 6 months), she can apply for student permit.
Applying for Student permit and Family sponsorship is different.
she should well prepared for forms and docs - especially financial support.
I do not think she can work as part time if she is ESL student, though.

5. whether she come to Canada as visitor or with student permit, she can renew her permit/status and keep staying in Canada.



hope it helps.

good luck.

 

[kaur1172]

Hi Peeps,

I am looking for a little help from Canada visa forum community on my case. Right now I am applying for my husband's application in Sponsoring spouse within Canada.
We were dating since Sept 2019 and started living together in Aug 2020. Then we got married in May 2021.

He holds an international student visa. and got a study permit renewed twice. The most recent study permit was renewed in Dec 2020.
But did not attend school this time.

I am working on his Open work Permit application. On the Document CheckList imm 5556, Am I supposed to check the box saying
"If You a Student" Provide proof of your academic standing: letter from the institutional registrar and/or photocopies of transcripts from your last two periods of study.
OR
could I provide. "Letter of completion" of his previous program which was completed in Jun 2020.

 

[YVR123]

Hi Peeps,

I am looking for a little help from Canada visa forum community on my case. Right now I am applying for my husband's application in Sponsoring spouse within Canada.

This is a very old post in 2015... stick to your other post.... since you already got some replies.