Aussie-American Applying for PR & work permit - need advice

[Tania]

We're new to this forum & I'm hoping someone out there can give us some advice.

My partner is an holds both Australian & American citizenship. He was in the process of moving from Australia back to the US when he visited friends in Canada, met me & decided he'd rather stay here.

He now wants to apply for PR & I am more than happy to sponsor him.

The catch is that I am only legally seperated from my X at this time (but getting the paperwork done for a divorce). My partner & I haveonly been together for 8 months & I'm still getting on my feet financially in regards to the divorce so I do have income but it's fairly low right now.

My partner is a jeweler & artist by trade so he's not a 'skilled' worker by their definition.

My partner has no family in Canada to sponsor him. Can we get a friend or someone in my family (ie: someone who has more income than I do) to co-sponsor?

Thanks for any help you may have.

 

[GK]

1) You have to complete your divorce and be legally divorced before you can sponsor
2) In order to claim common law you have to be living together for 1 year and be able to prove that with joint accounts, credit cards, lease etc
3) In order to sponsor a spouse (husband, wife or same-sex partner) you have to be legally married
4) CIC doesn not allow any co-sponsorship

 

[Leon]

You don't need income to sponsor a spouse or a common law. I am not sure if you have to be legally divorced to sponsor a common law but you would have to live together for 12 months and be able to prove it. You don't need to be married to him to sponsor him. Common law is enough.

 

[Tania]

From what I read on the gov't website I think we match the criteria for 'conjugal partners' in most ways but for common low we've not been living together for long enough.
Looks like a co-sponsor to my partner would have to be in a situation where my self & my spouse were sponsoring someone - still don't have an answer on weather someone else in my family could co-sponsor.

The other problem seems to be a work visa. He's a jeweler & just wants to be able to start up his little business here & maybe get a part-time paid job for extra income esp. as he establishes his repuatation. Anyone know the best way to go about this? I've looked at the websites but it's not making it any clearer.

thanks so much for looking.

 

[Leon]

Did you read the part of my previous message where I said that you don't need to show income to sponsor a spouse? You don't need a co-sponsor. Besides, co-sponsors are not allowed unless as you said, if you and your husband together are sponsoring somebody else, say for example his parents.

It's not that simple to get a work permit in Canada. You can apply as an investor or a self-employed person but it takes a long time and you need to have money. Otherwise, to get a work permit, he would need an employer. He would have a work permit only for one employer. The employer has to show that the job was advertised and nobody else wanted it.

 

[Tania]

Yes, thanks for letting me know about the income part. The form is a bit intimidating!

Some things I'm reading say he needs the work permit first & others say the job first. He'll need to work soon as his savings will eventually run out.

We're still trolling for any tidbits of advice.

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[Leon]

There are very few instances that people are given work permit without having a job offer and a positive labour market opinion. Those are basically for spouses of temporary workers, for spouses of students, for spouses who are being sponsored for PR with an in-Canada application and have reached first stage approval and for live-in caregivers who have done their 2 years and applied for PR and gotten their first stage approval.

Since none of those apply to him, he will need an employer who will apply for his labour market opinion and if it's granted, he can apply for the work permit to go with it.