Bringing American girlfriend into Canada

[surleplateau]

So if she did a couple trips back home. Let's say once a month for a couple days at a time then returned to Canada that would be okay?

Yes... BUT each time she makes an entry attempt into Canada without a valid work/study permit or without Canadian citizenship or PR (in other words, as a visitor), she will be risking being denied entry by CBSA. They may question her, etc.

Your best bet is to get her into Canada once, apply for extensions to maintain her status (on CIC's website, online, $100 each time, explain you guys are establishing common-law status for PR sponsorship), and avoid exiting Canada at least until you guys have 12 months continuous cohabitation.

Those 12 months of cohabitation (AND the proof for each of those 12 months) is basically your "equivalent" to a marriage certificate for common-law folks. (See my forum signature for more examples of proof.)

 

[e30m3]

Okay. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. She has been coming every other week for the last 15 months and hasn't had any troubles so far. She has her nexus card too. That helps.

 

[surleplateau]

The difference may be that CBSA asks her where her primary residence is. Right now, when she is visiting you, her primary residence is in the US (along with her job, etc). Once she comes up to Canada to establish common-law with you -- she will be transitioning from visiting you to staying with you. That is a very delicate tightrope to walk when dealing with CBSA. Once she's in, she's golden (with CIC's visa extensions). But it will be CBSA's right to question her each time she crosses through them.

 

[e30m3]

Would you guys recommend to get an immigration lawyer? Or is this a fairly simple case that I wouldn't need one? Just thinking they may know a few loop holes and give me the exact procedure and steps to go about things, pro's and con's of each.

 

[surleplateau]

The CIC PR sponsorship for US-Canada couple is really straightforward and simple, so long as you guys have a good grasp of either English or French to read the guides and forms, and also so long as there are no difficulties like an applicant's criminal history or applicant's child custody issues. Those are the kinds of things that may need some legal assistance.

A lawyer will not make the case proceed faster. And there really aren't any hidden loopholes that need to be uncovered since so many people (like on this forum) have been going through the same process. You can pretty much keep track of how things are going with the spreadsheets people maintain here.

If you have a question about a certain form's wording, it's easy enough to just Google the exact phrase, set the search to the past year, and find a lot of explanation.

You're free to spend your money the way you want.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Would you guys recommend to get an immigration lawyer? Or is this a fairly simple case that I wouldn't need one? Just thinking they may know a few loop holes and give me the exact procedure and steps to go about things, pro's and con's of each.

Pretty much no one on here will recommend you go to a lawyer. Waste of money.

 

[Panamai]

The longest trip I took back to the US during that first year was 5 days and on both of the two trips, my partner accompanied me. So, we were together continuously the whole year with no breaks at all. I think other posters are right though. If she leaves for more than a week or two without you, it might raise some red flags. If she can get by without seeing her family for the whole year, the extension idea might be better. But, CIC could reject the extension too. It's a risk either way you go. The chances of rejection in either case are very low though, especially for a US citizen. The important thing is to always tell the CBSA that her primary residence is in the US. Never let on that she is "staying with you" or "living" in Canada! She is always "just visiting" until she gets the COPR.