Bringing my Swedish girlfriend to Canada

[robertj01]

Hello,

My girlfriend and I are trying to figure out how to bring her in to Canada this February (2016). She is 20 years of age, of Swedish citizenship and has no offer of employment.

She would like to live in Canada with me. What are our options?

We have checked with International Experience Canada and the Working Holiday program is currently closed. We contacted IEC and they could not provide us with any information as to when it would be open again. Any guesses?

We know that as a Swedish citizen she is allow up to 6 months as a tourist. How does she go about asking for 6 months of time? When she came to Canada last year, she was only allowed 3 months. Would it be advisable for her to enter as a tourist and then go from there?

If we were to register as married or in a common law partnership, would this give her access to a residence and working permit or solely a residence permit? Would I even be accepted as a suitable sponsor, seeing as I will be in school starting January 2016 and have acquired student debt.

There must be a way for here to immigrate to Canada, we are unable to answer our own questions or find the appropriate venues for them.

Thank- you.

 

[robertj01]

Some additional information:

A plan in the works of ours was to ask my employer to offer her a job. However, I have just read this as posted by a member in this forum in a different thread:

"To obtain a work permit, she will first have to find an employer who is willing to offer her a full time job. That employer will then have to advertise the job for at least a month to prove no Canadian could be found for the role. Then the employer will have to submit an application to request approval to hire her. The processing time for this application is usually around 2-4 months and the cost is $1,000 in fees which the employer must pay. If this application is approved - she can then apply for a work permit. It tends to be difficult to find employers who are willing to go through this process because it takes so much time and costs money."

As I am relatively close with my employer, I was assuming an offer of employment would not be too difficult to acquire. However by those necessities, I am becoming uneasy. Would anyone be able to tell me how extensive the paper work is on the employers behalf? Would it be completely "wrong" to offer the employer to pay the 1000 dollars of fees. ALSO, that quote states that only after the employer has been approved then she can apply for a work permit? I don't understand. So first, the employer must offer, pay and apply to to government and then once accepted - she would have to apply herself?


It seems like the easier option here is a permit acquired through marriage or common law partnership. Would someone be able to provide some advice regarding that? I will double back to my previous questions:

If we were to register as married or in a common law partnership, would this give her access to a residence and working permit or solely a residence permit? Would I even be accepted as a suitable sponsor, seeing as I will be in school starting January 2016 and have acquired student debt.

 

[Lammawitch]

IEC is your best bet for her to come here, once it reopens, if you are not married (and don't want to be yet)/common law.

ETA: there are still places open in the Young Professionals category; would she qualify?
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/index.asp?country=se&cat=yp

You will not be considered as common-law by CIC until you have lived together for a year. Here's the spousal (common-law or marriage) info:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse.asp

Yes it's "wrong", illegal actually, for anyone other than the employer to pay the LMIA fees. Not only does the employer need to go through the steps you mention above, s/he also has to prove that there is no Canadaian or Permanent Resident available to do the job. Yes, it's an onerous procedure:
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/reform/info_emp.shtml

 

[robertj01]

IEC is your best bet for her to come here, once it reopens, if you are not married (and don't want to be yet)/common law.

ETA: there are still places open in the Young Professionals category; would she qualify?
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/index.asp?country=se&cat=yp

You will not be considered as common-law by CIC until you have lived together for a year. Here's the spousal (common-law or marriage) info:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse.asp

Yes it's "wrong", illegal actually, for anyone other than the employer to pay the LMIA fees. Not only does the employer need to go through the steps you mention above, s/he also has to prove that there is no Canadaian or Permanent Resident available to do the job. Yes, it's an onerous procedure:
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/reform/info_emp.shtml

Thank-you for you response! Unfortunately, she will not qualify for the Young Professionals category.

I've come to realize that the job offer route is not the best option for us. How does this sound? (Were trying to stay together as much as humanly possible, and this plan seems to allow us to stay together for the entire process) Do you see any flaws? As well, would I even be able to sponsor her as I will have student debt and not much money? Obviously I have enough to make do and she is well financed as well. We were thinking about transferring some money from her accounts to mine?

Have her enter Canada in February of next year as a visitor and extend as needed. We then register as being married. Hopefully - the Working Holiday program will open up sometime before March 2016 and she can apply for that. That visa takes up to 2 months to process so she could still be in Canada while she waits for it to be processed and then receive the visa and not have to leave Canada for at least another year. After she has received her Working Holiday visa (or possibly before or during the application process) I can begin to apply as her sponsor. We will apply outland (because its quicker?) Thus, it is likely that she will only have to leave Canada briefly for either the tail end months of the family sponsorship application or just that "trip to the US" that will allow her to renter Canada as a permanent resident.

 

[Lammawitch]

Thank-you for you response! Unfortunately, she will not qualify for the Young Professionals category.

I've come to realize that the job offer route is not the best option for us. How does this sound? (Were trying to stay together as much as humanly possible, and this plan seems to allow us to stay together for the entire process) Do you see any flaws? As well, would I even be able to sponsor her as I will have student debt and not much money? Obviously I have enough to make do and she is well financed as well. We were thinking about transferring some money from her accounts to mine?
There is no specific financial requirement for you to sponsor her as a spouse. As long as you're not on welfare, you'll be ok. No need to mess about with transferring money

Have her enter Canada in February of next year as a visitor and extend as needed.
Sounds good

We then register as being married.
You mean get married, right?

Hopefully - the Working Holiday program will open up sometime before March 2016 and she can apply for that. That visa takes up to 2 months to process so she could still be in Canada while she waits for it to be processed and then receive the visa and not have to leave Canada for at least another year.
Sounds like a plan. She would need to "flagpole" to activate the IEC visa

After she has received her Working Holiday visa (or possibly before or during the application process) I can begin to apply as her sponsor. We will apply outland (because its quicker?) Thus, it is likely that she will only have to leave Canada briefly for either the tail end months of the family sponsorship application or just that "trip to the US" that will allow her to renter Canada as a permanent resident.
You can apply to sponsor her as soon as you get married. Yes, Outland, even if she's in Canada, is fastest.

 

[robertj01]

You are a WONDERFUL human being. I went from on the verge of a mental breakdown (okay I actually had a minor break down) to feeling confident than my love and I can stay together. THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU.

 

[Lammawitch]

You are very welcome .

But please, calm down!! . You & your girlfriend have several straightforward, & relatively fast options. Being calm & methodical will help enormously as you plod (and sometimes plodding is better than "what if..." & trying to race through multiple scenarios) step by step through the process .

 

[89_gard]

Just a little heads up about bringing her in as a visitor and extending etc. When she comes in as a visitor you need to demonstrate that she's not going to be staying long term. Yes Canada allows 6 months, but if you go in asking for 6 months you'll be sent to secondary screening and they'll start asking a lot of questions and if you can't show she has ties to back home and intends to go back home they'll deny her entry.

She can put down a shorter period of time and then once in ask for extensions but no guarantee those will be accepted. My experience with my now wife is that 6 months and no return plane ticket looks incredibly bad (back when my wife was my gf she was denied entry).

You can get married now and apply for outland sponsorship. Or since she can't get a work visa you could have her apply to be an international student. It's expensive, but it's easier to get in that way and she can work part time (20 hours a week as a student). Once she's here as a student you can get married and apply for PR etc.

 

[robertj01]

Just a little heads up about bringing her in as a visitor and extending etc. When she comes in as a visitor you need to demonstrate that she's not going to be staying long term. Yes Canada allows 6 months, but if you go in asking for 6 months you'll be sent to secondary screening and they'll start asking a lot of questions and if you can't show she has ties to back home and intends to go back home they'll deny her entry.

She can put down a shorter period of time and then once in ask for extensions but no guarantee those will be accepted. My experience with my now wife is that 6 months and no return plane ticket looks incredibly bad (back when my wife was my gf she was denied entry).

You can get married now and apply for outland sponsorship. Or since she can't get a work visa you could have her apply to be an international student. It's expensive, but it's easier to get in that way and she can work part time (20 hours a week as a student). Once she's here as a student you can get married and apply for PR etc.

I was worried about that. When she visited Canada last time, she came in on a way one ticket and told them she was going to apply for a work permit and they were pretty harsh on her and did not give her the full six months.

This time around we thought it would be a good idea to have a return plane ticket with her, just shy of the six month mark, that she can present to border control upon arrival to curb any suspicions.

Do you or anyone else know the likelihood of having ones visitor visa extended? I thought it was pretty guaranteed?