Bringing my spouse on the IEC (Slightly Complicated))

[Simondial]

Hello People,
My name is Simon, I am from Ireland, in Canada since August on a one year IEC visa.
I am living between Edmonton and Fort Mcmurray in Alberta and am a fully qualified carpenter (Journeyman) working through the carpenter's Union.

My Fiancé is from Guinea in West Africa (a place I lived for over a year and two years on and off) and we have one child (with an Irish Passport) and a second on the way, which is due around May.My wife is a French Speaker and is a qualified Hairdresser.

Basically I am just looking for advice on bringing them to Canada as soon as possible, should I wait until the second baby is born?
I want them to be here asap, but don't want to make any mistakes in my aplication that might delay the process.
Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Simon.

 

[scylla]

I'd recommend you wait until the baby is born. Your wife won't be covered by the health care system and having a baby in Canada without coverage is very expensive.

Note that you will not be able to sponsor them (only Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor).

However they can certainly try coming here as visitors (no guarantee of approval unfortunately). Your wife might qualify for a work permit if your job is classified as skilled.

 

[Sweden]

Hello People,
My name is Simon, I am from Ireland, in Canada since August on a one year IEC visa.
I am living between Edmonton and Fort Mcmurray in Alberta and am a fully qualified carpenter (Journeyman) working through the carpenter's Union.

My Fiancé is from Guinea in West Africa (a place I lived for over a year and two years on and off) and we have one child (with an Irish Passport) and a second on the way, which is due around May.My wife is a French Speaker and is a qualified Hairdresser.

Basically I am just looking for advice on bringing them to Canada as soon as possible, should I wait until the second baby is born?
I want them to be here asap, but don't want to make any mistakes in my aplication that might delay the process.
Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Simon.

Hey Simon,

Congrats on the upcoming baby! hope all is going well.

You are posting in the "spousal sponsorship"section of the forum, but you won't qualify for that. To be able to sponsor your partner to Canada, you need to be either a Canadian citizen, or a Permanent Resident of Canada - which you are not, given the fact that you have an IEC visa for one year.

I am not sure what your intentions in Canada are - will you stay in Canada passed your one year IEC visa? if yes, how do you intend to do that - will you apply for immigration yourself, through skilled worker path, or will you be sponsored by your current employer with a LMO ( Labout Market opinion, where your employer has to prove that he can not find somebody in Canada qualified for the job, hence needs a work permit for you etc), or something else?

Your fiancee can try and apply by herself through the Skilled worker scheme, but I am not very familiar with it. Also, as you can see from CIC website http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who.asp the Federal Skilled Workers program is on hold for the moment, so I would encourage you to have a look at Alberta PNP programs to see if she can fit into one of the categories, or not.

I am not sure you will be able to get much help from this forum, as most people here are familiar with the Spousal Sponsorship path, for which you don't qualify.
Good luck,
Sweden

 

[amikety]

Have a look at AINP. Alberta gives nominations to semi-skilled workers. As a carpenter, you may qualify. (But you may need another year experience.)

http://www.albertacanada.com/immigration/immigrating/ainp-eds-semi-skilled-criteria.aspx

It's also easier for employers to hire workers that fall into the semi-skilled category. If you aren't already familiar with the program, please take a look. This could help you remain in Canada.

 

[Simondial]

Thanks for all your replies.
It's food for thought.