Fastest way to sponsor my girlfriend to Canada

[MrNobody]

Hello folks, I'd like to request your help in making my dream come true.

My girlfriend is currently in the UK on a work visa, and we've known each other for about 2 months. I want to marry her and sponsor her to come to Canada as my wife. I'm wondering what's the best option to do this. Based on all I've read, here are the various alternatives:

1. Have her come to Canada as a tourist, do a court marriage, then apply for inland spousal sponsorship and the open work permit right away. The disadvantage of this is that she feels it would be misusing the tourist visa and this may cause problems with the PR application (?).

2. Have her come to Canada on a work permit, then do a court marriage, then apply for inland spousal sponsorship. This way she will be working very soon after she gets here. Downside is that it might be very difficult to obtain jobs in Canada from the UK.

3. Marry in our home country (India), then apply for outland spousal sponsorship from London ( since she will have to go back after marriage to her job). The huge downside to this is that the London office takes 28 months to complete step 2 of the outland sponsorship process and she will be away from me in another country during this time.

4. Marry in our home country, then have her apply for a visitor visa to Canada from the London office, clearly stating that the purpose of the visit is to meet her husband. After she gets here, I apply for inland spousal sponsorship.

Are there any other ways to sponsor her to come to Canada that i may have missed? Which would be the easiest option?

And finally, would CIC be suspicious of we got married within a couple months, since by then, we would have been in a relationship for less than 6 months?

Thanks in advance for your help folks!

 

[Rob_TO]

And finally, would CIC be suspicious of we got married within a couple months, since by then, we would have been in a relationship for less than 6 months?

A huge YES to this question. CIC would be extremely suspicious.

Would you be marrying because it's something you both really want to do in general, or is it just to start the immigration process?

Best advice I can give is before you even consider marriage and sponsorship and worry about inland vs outland, have a dating relationship for at least 8-12 months first.

 

[MrNobody]

Thanks Rob_TO. We both do want to get married as we've talked about everything under the sun and also spent some time together. Since we both like each other, we thought why delay the marriage?

I did read somewhere earlier that CIC liked to see a relationship develop in order to believe the marriage was genuine though, so thanks for clarifying that point.

 

[Aquakitty]

If she can get her own work visa in Canada you will have time to live together and see if you truly want to get married. It's no ones business what you do, but marriage after only 2 months is a bad idea all around, never mind what immigration will think.

Yes the process can take a lot of time but if you are together it's not really a big deal to wait to get married.

 

[deweysmith]

Hello folks, I'd like to request your help in making my dream come true.

My girlfriend is currently in the UK on a work visa, and we've known each other for about 2 months. I want to marry her and spake her to come to Canada as my wife. I'm wondering what's the best option to do this. Based on all I've read, here are the various alternatives:

1. Have her come to Canada as a tourist, do a court marriage, then apply for inland spousal sponsorship and the open work permit right away. The disadvantage of this is that she feels it would be misusing the tourist visa and this may cause problems with the PR application (?).

This is not misuse of the tourist/visitor visa at all, and is in fact perfectly legal. I would not put on the paperwork that this is your plan, as the officer will use it as grounds to deny her a visa, since she would have insufficient ties to the UK/India and therefore would not "satisfy an immigration officer" that she will leave Canada at the end of her authorized stay. However, getting married while she's here on a visitor visa is totally allowed, and then applying to change your status like this is exactly why the Inland sponsorship program exists.

2. Have her come to Canada on a work permit, then do a court marriage, then apply for inland spousal sponsorship. This way she will be working very soon after she gets here. Downside is that it might be very difficult to obtain jobs in Canada from the UK.

This seems easier said than done, but if she can get a job, this would be ideal.

3. Marry in our home country (India), then apply for outland spousal sponsorship from London ( since she will have to go back after marriage to her job). The huge downside to this is that the London office takes 28 months to complete step 2 of the outland sponsorship process and she will be away from me in another country during this time.

I don't think London would process her application necessarily. Previously you could request that a specific office handle your case, so you could request it be sent to NDVO, but this is no longer allowed. Someone with more experience than me with offices on that side of the world may be able to answer this better.

Also, 28 months is for 80% of applications. Some can and do go through much quicker, but I don't know anything about the relative timelines for the London office. For example, many cases are being processed in Ottawa within 4-5 months, but their listed processing time is 16 months.

4. Marry in our home country, then have her apply for a visitor visa to Canada from the London office, clearly stating that the purpose of the visit is to meet her husband. After she gets here, I apply for inland spousal sponsorship.

This would be the most difficult, as a visitor visa is very unlikely to be granted in this case, since being married establishes very strong ties to Canada and makes her ties to the UK/India look much weaker.

Are there any other ways to sponsor her to come to Canada that i may have missed? Which would be the easiest option?

And finally, would CIC be suspicious of we got married within a couple months, since by then, we would have been in a relationship for less than 6 months?

Thanks in advance for your help folks!

I will be a bit more optimistic here. As long as you have further proof of your relationship before she came to Canada, (even if it is for only a couple of months) it shouldn't be hard to prove your marriage is not just for immigration purposes. I would say she should come on the visitor visa and be with you for 2-3 months or longer before you get married and file the sponsorship application.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks Rob_TO. We both do want to get married as we've talked about everything under the sun and also spent some time together. Since we both like each other, we thought why delay the marriage?

I did read somewhere earlier that CIC liked to see a relationship develop in order to believe the marriage was genuine though, so thanks for clarifying that point.

Marriage is more about "liking each other". CIC frowns on any relationship less than 1 year, especially for applicants with non-visa exempt passports (like India) so just keep that in mind. Even if you get married after 6 months, I'd strongly advise to hold off on submitting the app until you have a longer relationship in general. Any suspicion of a marriage of convenience and your app could face an interview and long delays.

Also note that processing time for London is not accurate on the site. They are showing worst-case times that really are only applicable to applicants from Pakistan that go through the London office. UK residents processed through London should see times in the 12 month range (but check the London thread for more details).

Also note that it's up to CIC where any OUTLAND application is processed. If you have legal status and a long residence in a country then hopefully they process it based on that, but in many cases they also process it based on citizenship so in your partner's case that could be New Delhi if she's citizen of India.

 

[truesmile]

All valid points aside, I agree that your Option #1 is not an abuse or misuse of the TRV. It's perfectly legitimate to go about it that way. As stated already, you just can't say so ahead of time.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

And just to add, a court marriage between 2 Indians is generally a red flag for CIC because it goes against the cultural norm of the big traditional wedding.

 

[deweysmith]

And just to add, a court marriage between 2 Indians is generally a red flag for CIC because it goes against the cultural norm of the big traditional wedding.

And do note, this will probably have more bearing on the decision than the length of the relationship. Arranged marriages and the "married at first sight"-style marriage is not outside the cultural norm in India, but a small court ceremony (especially if the family is uninformed) is VERY outside the customs of the culture.