Best approach to spend as much time togther during PR sponsorship process

[CanaDutchy]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice to point me and my SO into the right direction to spend as much time together while we are going through our spousal sponsorship process. We have known each other for 10 years and reconnected this July and started dating in august when we met up in Europe (where I am from originally) to visit my family and spend time together. In october I joined her in Mexico (where she is from) and we have been living here ever since. We are planning to stay here untill April/May and hopefully be relocating to Canada together where we would live together until we reach common-law and apply for PR.

I have been through the PR process before as I have been sponsored myself, so I have experience with most of it. I know how hard it is to be away from your SO for a long time and I want to be as prepared as possible. I never had a problem coming to Canada as a visitor and extending my tourist visa, but I was visa exempt all this time and was working remotely for dutch companies while in Canada and could prove income and savings (and was likely eligible for skilled class).

I am worried that it will be a lot harder to get a tourist visa for her especially if we can not go the eTA route. I am wondering what would be the best approach.

Some details about the situation:


Me:

- Dutch citizen, Canadian PR, Sponsored more than 5 years ago, Divorced about 2 years ago

- No children

- Currently have all my belongings in storage in Calgary since July, no other significant ties to Canada other than bank/investment accounts, no family in Canada

- Self employed, able to work remotely from anywhere

- Able to prove the means to support her for a long time if necessary

- Staying in Mexico long term to become common-law will likely have serious tax/health care/relocation implications for me since I would likely become a tax resident in Mexico (which I would like to avoid) and will also be a problem by the time we are common-law because I would not be living in Canada by the time we would apply for sponsorship, which is a requirement if you want to sponsor as a PR.


Her:

- Mexican citizen, divorced 3 years ago, has been unemployed for a few years until recently (taking care of sick family members who have since passed), Will have been employed for 6 months by the time we plan to leave.

- No children

- Has visited Canada and USA in recent years as a tourist (not to meet me), recently visited Europe for a couple months with me

- US visa has expired but can likely get it renewed before spring since her sister en nephew live in Ohio

- Will be able to prove she has funds to support herself for a trip of 3-6 months


Living situation:

- She has a lease here in mexico which lists me as a resident

- We don't have any utility bills in our name together since they are all in the landlords name (very common here in Mexico)

- We can't open a shared bank account here since I would have to be a temporary resident and get a mexican drivers license



The questions I have are:

1. If she can get a US visa and apply for an eTA will there be questions about her purpose of the trip and should she say she is visiting her boyfriend? (even if we are not common-law yet) And will this be a red flag for approval.
2. If she would have to apply for a visa and she gives the reason to be visiting her boyfriend, will this likely to get refused?
3. Would marrying and applying for sponsorship before applying for a TRV give us a higher likelyhood of approval for the TRV?
4. If she does get an eTA/visa would bringing her dogs be a likely indication of her wanting to stay?
5. If she is able to come to canada and she moving in with me (with her name on the lease, shared bank account etc.), would we be able to apply in 6 months because we already started our common-law in Mexico or would we start over again?
5. If I would become a temporary resident here in Mexico, how long would I have to be back in canada to be considered living in Canada before I can start the sponsorship application?

 

[armoured]

Simplest answers:
-get married to avoid the issues with common law;
-she applies for a TRV now, if she's had them in past and not overstayed etc., probably won't have any trouble;
-she comes to visit you when you're in Canada and you apply to sponsor.

That's basically it. As long as she doesn't show up with all of her stuff when visiting, probably be fine.

You need to be in Canada to sponsor and remain living in Canada throughout, short trips abroad ok. If you apply to sponsor the day after you return, they might ask for more info to show you are living in Canada.

Now, there are a zillion what-if scenarios, but you asked for the simplest. Deal with obstacles that might arise when they occur.

Apart from this, might require SOME adjustment for timing etc as you look into it - eg it's possible you could optimize things better if you return a bit earlier than she arrives, etc. That's up to you.

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice to point me and my SO into the right direction to spend as much time together while we are going through our spousal sponsorship process. We have known each other for 10 years and reconnected this July and started dating in august when we met up in Europe (where I am from originally) to visit my family and spend time together. In october I joined her in Mexico (where she is from) and we have been living here ever since. We are planning to stay here untill April/May and hopefully be relocating to Canada together where we would live together until we reach common-law and apply for PR.

I have been through the PR process before as I have been sponsored myself, so I have experience with most of it. I know how hard it is to be away from your SO for a long time and I want to be as prepared as possible. I never had a problem coming to Canada as a visitor and extending my tourist visa, but I was visa exempt all this time and was working remotely for dutch companies while in Canada and could prove income and savings (and was likely eligible for skilled class).

I am worried that it will be a lot harder to get a tourist visa for her especially if we can not go the eTA route. I am wondering what would be the best approach.

Some details about the situation:


Me:

- Dutch citizen, Canadian PR, Sponsored more than 5 years ago, Divorced about 2 years ago

- No children

- Currently have all my belongings in storage in Calgary since July, no other significant ties to Canada other than bank/investment accounts, no family in Canada

- Self employed, able to work remotely from anywhere

- Able to prove the means to support her for a long time if necessary

- Staying in Mexico long term to become common-law will likely have serious tax/health care/relocation implications for me since I would likely become a tax resident in Mexico (which I would like to avoid) and will also be a problem by the time we are common-law because I would not be living in Canada by the time we would apply for sponsorship, which is a requirement if you want to sponsor as a PR.


Her:

- Mexican citizen, divorced 3 years ago, has been unemployed for a few years until recently (taking care of sick family members who have since passed), Will have been employed for 6 months by the time we plan to leave.

- No children

- Has visited Canada and USA in recent years as a tourist (not to meet me), recently visited Europe for a couple months with me

- US visa has expired but can likely get it renewed before spring since her sister en nephew live in Ohio

- Will be able to prove she has funds to support herself for a trip of 3-6 months


Living situation:

- She has a lease here in mexico which lists me as a resident

- We don't have any utility bills in our name together since they are all in the landlords name (very common here in Mexico)

- We can't open a shared bank account here since I would have to be a temporary resident and get a mexican drivers license



The questions I have are:

1. If she can get a US visa and apply for an eTA will there be questions about her purpose of the trip and should she say she is visiting her boyfriend? (even if we are not common-law yet) And will this be a red flag for approval.
2. If she would have to apply for a visa and she gives the reason to be visiting her boyfriend, will this likely to get refused?
3. Would marrying and applying for sponsorship before applying for a TRV give us a higher likelyhood of approval for the TRV?
4. If she does get an eTA/visa would bringing her dogs be a likely indication of her wanting to stay?
5. If she is able to come to canada and she moving in with me (with her name on the lease, shared bank account etc.), would we be able to apply in 6 months because we already started our common-law in Mexico or would we start over again?
5. If I would become a temporary resident here in Mexico, how long would I have to be back in canada to be considered living in Canada before I can start the sponsorship application?

Can you confirm that you meet the PR residency obligation? That's something you need to be aware of / be careful of - and make sure you meet the obligation now and continue to meet the obligation, even if you want to be spending quite a bit of time outside of Canada.

 

[CanaDutchy]

Can you confirm that you meet the PR residency obligation? That's something you need to be aware of / be careful of - and make sure you meet the obligation now and continue to meet the obligation, even if you want to be spending quite a bit of time outside of Canada.

Thanks for your time!

Yes I do meet the residency obilgation. Lived in Canada since becoming PR and have only left since august and some shorter holidays in the last 5 years.

 

[CanaDutchy]

Simplest answers:
-get married to avoid the issues with common law;
-she applies for a TRV now, if she's had them in past and not overstayed etc., probably won't have any trouble;
-she comes to visit you when you're in Canada and you apply to sponsor.

That's basically it. As long as she doesn't show up with all of her stuff when visiting, probably be fine.

You need to be in Canada to sponsor and remain living in Canada throughout, short trips abroad ok. If you apply to sponsor the day after you return, they might ask for more info to show you are living in Canada.

Now, there are a zillion what-if scenarios, but you asked for the simplest. Deal with obstacles that might arise when they occur.

Apart from this, might require SOME adjustment for timing etc as you look into it - eg it's possible you could optimize things better if you return a bit earlier than she arrives, etc. That's up to you.

Thanks for your reply!

So basically apply for TRV asap? Would she say she is coming to visit her boyfriend as her reason for visiting or not?

Would you say this would be a better garantuee of getting her to be able to come than apply for US visa and then do eTA? (I expect the eTA to have a lot less questions)

The previous TRV where from an eTA before mexicans needed to have a visa to visit (changed feb 2024 I believe)

I guess I forgot to mention that she might not have enough funds to sustain her trip if she applies right now, she is saving up and has a fairly good job for mexican standard, and was unemployed until a month and a half ago. Which will prob not look as good on the application. I also don't mind giving her money but I don't know if that will be a problem.

I would like to hold off on marriage for now. We can still decide that when she is in Canada or when she would be denied a visa.

I guess applying early will give us an answer earlier and we could always look at other steps if she gets denied.

 

[armoured]

Thanks for your reply!

So basically apply for TRV asap? Would she say she is coming to visit her boyfriend as her reason for visiting or not?

Would you say this would be a better garantuee of getting her to be able to come than apply for US visa and then do eTA? (I expect the eTA to have a lot less questions)

The previous TRV where from an eTA before mexicans needed to have a visa to visit (changed feb 2024 I believe)

I guess I forgot to mention that she might not have enough funds to sustain her trip if she applies right now, she is saving up and has a fairly good job for mexican standard, and was unemployed until a month and a half ago. Which will prob not look as good on the application. I also don't mind giving her money but I don't know if that will be a problem.

I would like to hold off on marriage for now. We can still decide that when she is in Canada or when she would be denied a visa.

I guess applying early will give us an answer earlier and we could always look at other steps if she gets denied.

Afraid I don't know and wouldn't want to guess given all the details.

That said, my gut is that someone who's had a history of having visited Canada and USA several times and not had issues would likely be issued without excessive review.

Your call on marriage. I think you're wasting time and resources and putting her in a less tenable position as would likley have to wait longer for work permit/PR status, harming her ability to be independent and get integrated in Canada via work.

If we assume for now that common law can't be before August 2025, means closer to best case ability to work ~beginning of 2026, and that's optimistic. And that's assuming there are no issues with common law due to livign in more than one location, extra checks, etc.

Again, up to you two together. But a trade-off that's not advantageous to her, IMO.

 

[CanaDutchy]

Afraid I don't know and wouldn't want to guess given all the details.

That said, my gut is that someone who's had a history of having visited Canada and USA several times and not had issues would likely be issued without excessive review.

Your call on marriage. I think you're wasting time and resources and putting her in a less tenable position as would likley have to wait longer for work permit/PR status, harming her ability to be independent and get integrated in Canada via work.

If we assume for now that common law can't be before August 2025, means closer to best case ability to work ~beginning of 2026, and that's optimistic. And that's assuming there are no issues with common law due to livign in more than one location, extra checks, etc.

Again, up to you two together. But a trade-off that's not advantageous to her, IMO.

Thanks for your reply!

We would definitely consider marriage, but maybe in a couple months. I know it makes things significantly easier, I don't think we would be common law until nov 2025. I just want to be prepared.

But I have read in other threads that this would actually make it more likely for her visa application to get denied because then the likelyhood of her staying is much higher.

 

[CanaDutchy]

Thanks for your reply!

We would definitely consider marriage, but maybe in a couple months. I know it makes things significantly easier, I don't think we would be common law until nov 2025. I just want to be prepared.

But I have read in other threads that this would actually make it more likely for her visa application to get denied because then the likelyhood of her staying is much higher.

 

[armoured]

Thanks for your reply!

We would definitely consider marriage, but maybe in a couple months. I know it makes things significantly easier, I don't think we would be common law until nov 2025. I just want to be prepared.

But I have read in other threads that this would actually make it more likely for her visa application to get denied because then the likelyhood of her staying is much higher.

Apply for visa first, get married afterwards.

 

[canuck78]

Would add bringing her dogs will likely not be possible until she has permanent status in Canada or at least is in Canada. Going through the process of moving your dogs from Mexico is not consistent with a genuine visitor.