Canadian Girlfriend Pregnant

[Chrisgraham]

Hello all, firstly I apologize if there has been a thread related to this. I'm just looking for some advise as I don't know much about immigration and when I research I get a little bit overwhelmed.

I met my girlfriend online, who lives in Canada and I am from Scotland. I've spent the last 7 months in Canada on a visitor visa with an extension on top. I arrived home one week ago, in Scotland, and we've just found out she's pregnant, which we are absolutely thrilled about as we were trying, but also worried as to how things will work out with me staying there when I return in a few months.

I was already planning on immigrating there before the pregnancy but had to return as I had a job waiting here.

I am planning on getting a working visa when I return to Canada and I am wondering if there is anything else I should apply for on top of that. I'm also wondering if this changes any immigration rules for me.

I apologize if this is a lot of reading for a small, basic answer but I just want to be 100% sure on everything.. If there's any other advise anyone could give about the situation would be greatly appreciation, thank you.

 

[bellaluna]

Hello all, firstly I apologize if there has been a thread related to this. I'm just looking for some advise as I don't know much about immigration and when I research I get a little bit overwhelmed.

I met my girlfriend online, who lives in Canada and I am from Scotland. I've spent the last 7 months in Canada on a visitor visa with an extension on top. I arrived home one week ago, in Scotland, and we've just found out she's pregnant, which we are absolutely thrilled about as we were trying, but also worried as to how things will work out with me staying there when I return in a few months.

I was already planning on immigrating there before the pregnancy but had to return as I had a job waiting here.

I am planning on getting a working visa when I return to Canada and I am wondering if there is anything else I should apply for on top of that. I'm also wondering if this changes any immigration rules for me.

I apologize if this is a lot of reading for a small, basic answer but I just want to be 100% sure on everything.. If there's any other advise anyone could give about the situation would be greatly appreciation, thank you.

Congratulations.

I don't think anything's changed in terms of your immigration though.

Just that, if you had lived with her for 12 consecutive months, instead of 7, you could have qualified to be sponsored for permanent residence.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Okay thank you very much. I just worry a lot about immigration because I don't want anything to go wrong as I want to live there so badly. Anyway thanks for the info!

 

[Rob_TO]

I am planning on getting a working visa when I return to Canada and I am wondering if there is anything else I should apply for on top of that..

How exactly do you intend to get a work permit?

There are very few ways a foreigner can work in Canada:
1. With a working holiday/IEC open work permit obtained from their home country
2. Canadian employer going through long/expensive LMIA process to secure a closed work permit
3. Get an open work permit via being married/common-law with a Canadian, and having an inland app for PR submitted

 

[Chrisgraham]

Well from what I read online I was aware I could apply for a job,and If I get accepted I then send away for a work permit before actually starting work and then my employer also has to send away for something that allows him to hire a foreigner.. Am I wrong? I'm not too good at this whole immigration/work permit. I also thought I could apply for an open work permit before going over there to be able to work for any employer.

Any advise whatsoever would be great.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Any advise on what's the best for me to do?
Thanks in advance.

 

[scylla]

How exactly do you intend to get a work permit?

There are very few ways a foreigner can work in Canada:
1. With a working holiday/IEC open work permit obtained from their home country
2. Canadian employer going through long/expensive LMIA process to secure a closed work permit
3. Get an open work permit via being married/common-law with a Canadian, and having an inland app for PR submitted

OP mentioned working holiday - so I assume IEC. IECs in some cases can be obtained from outside of the applicant's home country. For individuals with a UK passport, there is no requirement to be residing in the UK at the time they apply (can be done from within Canada). The downside is there are very few spots available.

 

[Rob_TO]

Well from what I read online I was aware I could apply for a job,and If I get accepted I then send away for a work permit before actually starting work and then my employer also has to send away for something that allows him to hire a foreigner.. Am I wrong? I'm not too good at this whole immigration/work permit. I also thought I could apply for an open work permit before going over there to be able to work for any employer.

.

Not quite the way it works in reality. A Canadian employer must go through the LMIA process meaning paying a fee (around $1000), advertising the job for several months to prove no Canadian can be hired for the role, and then getting the LMIA approved to hire a foreigner. Only after LMIA approval from IRCC can the closed work permit be applied for. In most cases, employers won't even bother and will simply hire a Canadian. So you can generally only do this if the employer really wants to hire you due to some unique or exceptional skill/education you have.

You can apply for IEC/working holiday open work permit, only if you qualify based on your country of citizenship and if they're accepting new apps at the time.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Oh dear. I had a feeling most employers wouldn't bother going through with the LMIA. Well I shall go for the open work permit for my return. I checked for eligibility today, and I am eligible but if I actually get accepted that's another story. Will be applying for that in the next couple of weeks due to funds. Thank you so much for this information.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Okay so say I don't accepted into the IEC... What should I do?

 

[Rob_TO]

Okay so say I don't accepted into the IEC... What should I do?

1 idea - Come as a visitor, get married, then apply for PR with OWP inland under a family class app.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Okay great. I was worried that there may be complications with marriage like they'd find it suspicious or something.. But I clearly worry too much about this stuff. Sorry but what's OWP? When it comes to all this stuff I'm utterly clueless. Its all new to me.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out, means a hell of a lot to me.

 

[canuck78]

Once you get married you will need to apply for inland spousal sponsorship with an open work permit (owp). The spousal sponsorship will take around a year but probably a bit less in your case but the owp will take around 3 months. Getting the application together can be quite time consuming so make sure give yourself at least a month to put it together.

 

[Chrisgraham]

Jeez OWP - Open Work Permit.. Sorry can't believe I couldn't put that together haha... Brilliant, you guys have all put my mind at ease and cleared a lot of this up for me. Got a good idea how I should approach all of this now.
I'm going to leave this thread open just in case someone has some more advise for me, any and all is welcome.

Thank you all so much!

 

[Sarantos]

Working holiday visa IEC your best bet. You get a 2 year work visa