exiting and re-entering every 6 months

[OM]

Hi,

I will soon be working in Canada (LMO nearly sorted) and my partner (not yet common law or married) will be following me with a visitor's visa (she's french).
Can she easily get a 6 month multiple entry visa? She will be living with me and doing humanitarian work abroad (say 2 months out, 3 months in) with non-canadian organisations/agencies. Its no point her applying for a skilled workers visa because she is not interested in working in Canada during her time there but will be staying with me (she would be financially independent). She would need to exit and enter to get a new visitors visa every 6 months. How will that look to the IO ? And will she always be able get multi-entry one? Is it best to get endless extentions? She can easily prove she is financially covered and will have a return ticket.

Thanks

O.

 

[RobsLuv]

France is a visa-exempt country, so she will not be issued any kind of visa upon entering Canada. Once she is admitted, she is authorized to stay for up to six months. What gets complicated is that, technically, she is only supposed to stay in Canada for six months of each year - but that's hard for border officials to track and it's possible that she could leave Canada after a few months, come back and be allowed to re-enter, again authorized for six months. It's also possible that she could come to Canada for a few months, leave again, and try to come back and be refused because the IO will not allow her admission - with another authorized six months stay - after she's been in Canada for a few months already. It all depends on the situation - the IO - the reasons she gives for entering and what they believe and don't believe about her intentions to leave Canada again.

The important thing to remember is that it is always at the discretion of the border official at the port of entry whether to admit a visa-exempt foreign national to Canada. The FN has to be able to prove that their intention is only to stay temporarily and that they have the means to leave Canada at the end of their authorized stay. I suspect that the more often she comes and goes, the more attention she will draw to herself - but if she's careful not to say anything that might cause them to suspect that she intends to stay illegally, she should be okay. One caution: frequently partners of Canadian citizen/PRs are refused entry to Canada when they mention that they're coming to visit a bf/gf. She should probably not mention her association with you - the IO could misconstrue the situation and believe that she is coming to stay with a Canadian partner, and refuse her entry. Probably best if she tries to make her visit seem more "touristy" than anything else - but that's why it might raise suspicion that she is coming back and forth often. Most times people holiday for a few weeks or months and don't come back again for quite some time.

 

[Australian111]

Question for RobsLuv:

are you sure about the fact that bf/ gf of Canadian citizens are not allowed to enter the country anymore if they tell the Immigration official?
Has the law changed?

I am Dutch and have been to Vancouver 3 times in the past 3 years, each time telling the official the truth, that is " i am visiting my boyfriend".
They would ask me whether I do have a job to go back to in Holland and how long I intend to stay, but they never made any ordeal out of it and I got through without any complications.

Would like to hear your opinion on this subject!

 

[frolic]

It all depends on if they think you are likely to just stay. Someone with a job in Holland who only visits once a year isn't that much of a threat to overstay in thier minds.

Now if you had no job, or came from some other country where the standard of living was not comparable you might have been turned away.

They don't care why you come, who you visit, or if you have 17 bf's in Canada...as long as you leave at the end.