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Common-law Sponsorship

ChaCol927

Full Member
Aug 15, 2016
20
0
I'm going to briefly introduce my scenario and hopefully you guys can help me understand what needs to be done to become a Canadian permanent resident.

To start things off, I will provide some basic information about myself.
- I am 21 years old.
- I am attending college to obtain a Bachelors of Business Administration in Information Systems.
- I have a job that makes 32k a year.
- I have 22k in loans for my car and 23k in loans for my school.
- I have the option to open a 401k account starting in June 2017 through my employer.
- I have no criminal records.
- I have no medical issues.

My girlfriend lives in Edmonton, Alberta and we have known each other for over 3 years. We currently have been dating for a year and a half. We have visited each other numerous times with me being in Canada for about 60 days and she has been in America for about 50 days. I do not want to get married yet, however I would like to move and live in Canada with her and work there too.

My girlfriend is also 21 years old, she works at her father's gas station/propane company and coaches gymnastics making reasonable money. She has not gone to university yet and does not have any debt. We both live at home with our parents and have minimal expenses.

To be considered a common-law partnership we will need to live together for one year which means one of us will have to quit their job and "move" to the other country. My question here is would it be more beneficial for me to live in Canada for a year or for her to move to America for a year. I don't think it matters where you live for that 12 months to be considered common-law partners. To me it makes more sense for her to live here while I pay off my debt and save as much money as I can before we apply for sponsorship.

Also, if she moves here I can finish school while she is visiting for the 1 year whereas if I move to Canada it won't be until I graduate college and I may not have my debt payed off by then.

Another question that may not apply to this topic is if I plan on moving to Canada would it be at all worth it to put money into my 401k? I'm not familiar with the retirement plans Canada has or what transfers over or not, but I would only be contributing to it for about a year or two before I move to Canada.

Anyways, I'm just looking for tips and suggestions on what needs to be done to make this work.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
95,938
22,177
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
It doesn't matter if she lives with you or if you live with her.

I would recommend you wait until you have finished your degree before considering moving to Canada. Once you finish your degree, you should qualify for something called a SWAP visa which would allow you to temporarily come to Canada to live and work (without obtaining a full time job offer from an employer first).

If your girlfriend tries to move to the US now, it's quite likely she won't be able to work. Same if you try to move to Canada now.
 

ChaCol927

Full Member
Aug 15, 2016
20
0
scylla said:
It doesn't matter if she lives with you or if you live with her.

I would recommend you wait until you have finished your degree before considering moving to Canada. Once you finish your degree, you should qualify for something called a SWAP visa which would allow you to temporarily come to Canada to live and work (without obtaining a full time job offer from an employer first).

If your girlfriend tries to move to the US now, it's quite likely she won't be able to work. Same if you try to move to Canada now.
I haven't heard of this SWAP visa. I will definitely look into that.

The plan was for me to finish college before anything was done and she would move down to America with me until I pay off my debt.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
95,938
22,177
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
ChaCol927 said:
I haven't heard of this SWAP visa. I will definitely look into that.

The plan was for me to finish college before anything was done and she would move down to America with me until I pay off my debt.
In that case I would recommend that you join a US immigration program to find out what will and won't be possible with regards to her move to the US. At the beginning, she certainly won't be allowed to "move" (just visit) and may not be allowed to work. You should find a good US immigration program to discuss the feasibility of your plan. On both the US and Canadian side of things, if a border official suspects someone isn't just visiting but actually has plans to remain in the country long term - this can create issues at the border.