GF got TRV till 2018.

[Shoeb]

Hi,

My girlfriend applied for a tourist visa in the Philippines and got approved for multiple and now her expiration of the TRV is in 2018. She is now here and living with me in Canada.

I'm aware that she cannot stay here indefinitely till 2018 and that she needs to renew her visa every 6 months. I suggested that she first get a visit visa to the US, go to US for a week or so and visit her relative and then drive back in to Canada and get a new 6 month TRV upon re-entry. Will that work?

FYI, our goal is to keep her here with me for the next two years till I'm ready to marry her and sponsor her.

Please advise, and thanks in advance!

 

[nismopinoy]

Hi,

My girlfriend applied for a tourist visa in the Philippines and got approved for multiple and now her expiration of the TRV is in 2018. She is now here and living with me in Canada.

I'm aware that she cannot stay here indefinitely till 2018 and that she needs to renew her visa every 6 months. I suggested that she first get a visit visa to the US, go to US for a week or so and visit her relative and then drive back in to Canada and get a new 6 month TRV upon re-entry. Will that work?

FYI, our goal is to keep her here with me for the next two years till I'm ready to marry her and sponsor her.

Please advise, and thanks in advance!

Did your gf had medical in the Philippines when you applied her for multiple visa?

 

[sshh13]

Hi,

My girlfriend applied for a tourist visa in the Philippines and got approved for multiple and now her expiration of the TRV is in 2018. She is now here and living with me in Canada.

I'm aware that she cannot stay here indefinitely till 2018 and that she needs to renew her visa every 6 months. I suggested that she first get a visit visa to the US, go to US for a week or so and visit her relative and then drive back in to Canada and get a new 6 month TRV upon re-entry. Will that work?

FYI, our goal is to keep her here with me for the next two years till I'm ready to marry her and sponsor her.

Please advise, and thanks in advance!

Hi!

There should be a stamp with the date, showing the allowed duration of the stay. It either full 6 months, or shorter (check it). There two ways to extend the stay: first as you have said - to leave the country for a while and come back again. Second, 30 days prior the expiration dat to apply online for an extension of a stay http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp
As for the first option, there is quite a big chance that next time she will enter Canada, they might cut her for a shorter stay (less than 6 months), since she is unemployed (I assume) and she is "just" a GF. Every time she s gonna cross the border, she might get quite a rough time while interviewed. On my opinion, I would suggest to extend her stay online within Canada and get married and start the sponsorship as soon as possible.

 

[Shoeb]

Hi!

There should be a stamp with the date, showing the allowed duration of the stay. It either full 6 months, or shorter (check it). There two ways to extend the stay: first as you have said - to leave the country for a while and come back again. Second, 30 days prior the expiration dat to apply online for an extension of a stay http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp
As for the first option, there is quite a big chance that next time she will enter Canada, they might cut her for a shorter stay (less than 6 months), since she is unemployed (I assume) and she is "just" a GF. Every time she s gonna cross the border, she might get quite a rough time while interviewed. On my opinion, I would suggest to extend her stay online within Canada and get married and start the sponsorship as soon as possible.

Hi there!

Thanks for your response.
She is "employed" in the Philippines. She's a full time fashion model and she works with various production houses. Ofcourse, she's works with them 2-3 times a week each so she's not on payroll and gets paid for each job she does. So technically, she's still employed with them but not like you would think. She doesn't have a stamp with date on it, except the Canada Border entry stamp.

We're thinking of getting her a work permit or a study permit, so she won't need to keep going out and coming back in. We just need a little time which is why we were thinking it is best for her to apply to the US, go there for a week or two and then return to Canada. My main question would be then would be, upon her re-entry back into Canada, will she be re-issued a new 6 month stamp (or a lesser month stamp) or if they will let her through and let her expire the initial 6 month period that she's valid here for.

Her initial 6 month period expires on March 25, 2014.

 

[sshh13]

WP or SP would be a good option.
If she doesn't have a date on her CBSA stamp, than she is surely allowed to stay 6 months.
When she's gonna cross the border next time, it will be a new stamp with a new duration of 6 months (or less).

 

[Shoeb]

What is WP or SP?

 

[nismopinoy]

What is WP or SP?

Work Permit
Student Permit

 

[Shoeb]

Gotcha.
So, what about my idea of her going away to the USA for a week or two? Will it work for her upon re-entry that she gets the extension of visitor visa?

 

[scylla]

Gotcha.
So, what about my idea of her going away to the USA for a week or two? Will it work for her upon re-entry that she gets the extension of visitor visa?

No one can answer that question for sure. It's entirely up to the immigration officer you encounter when she enters Canada. She might get six months, she might get less and there's always a small chance they won't allow her to re-enter Canada. I would apply for an extension from within Canada rather than leaving and re-entering. I think that's less risky. You may find it difficult to keep extending the visitor visa for a two year period. CIC may say that she's behaving as a resident than a visitor. If you were aiming to have her live with you in Canada for a year to become common law and sponsor her for PR - then I think there's an extremely high chance the extension will be approved. However managing to extend several times to achieve a 2 year visit may be far more difficult.

 

[Shoeb]

No one can answer that question for sure. It's entirely up to the immigration officer you encounter when she enters Canada. She might get six months, she might get less and there's always a small chance they won't allow her to re-enter Canada. I would apply for an extension from within Canada rather than leaving and re-entering. I think that's less risky. You may find it difficult to keep extending the visitor visa for a two year period. CIC may say that she's behaving as a resident than a visitor. If you were aiming to have her live with you in Canada for a year to become common law and sponsor her for PR - then I think there's an extremely high chance the extension will be approved. However managing to extend several times to achieve a 2 year visit may be far more difficult.

Thanks scylla.
I see what you're saying and so this was my plan. I will need two years before I can sponsor her regardless.
The extension of the visitor visa is temporary only to allow us time to find her options in the study/work permit area. We wouldn't mind extending her visa from inside, but I'm pretty scared about that - what if she gets rejected? That will mean it is a fast-tracked way of getting her kicked out of the country and we reduce the chances of her re-entry if she wants re-enter in a few months.

The long term goal is to get her a work permit or study permit till a period that I am ready to sponsor. Her 6 month expiration being on March 25 means we don't have enough time to find work/study scenarios for her that will allow her to stay for a couple years. THAT is the main reason why I wanted to do the visitor visa by re-entry (or by extension as you guys propose)

The advantage of the re-entry is that if she needs to leave Canada, at least she won't be going too far and will only be in US.
Thoughts?

 

[scylla]

Why do you need 2 years bfore you can sponsor her? Just wondering...

 

[Shoeb]

Why do you need 2 years bfore you can sponsor her? Just wondering...

I have myself stayed out of the country longer than the period I should and barely made it back into Canada (PR requirements). Now, I will need to gather 2 years of no-movement here before applying to renew my PR card. If I sponsor, I'll be thrown in the spotlight myself.

 

[scylla]

Ah - I see. Yes - I agree you need to wait to make sure you don't put your own PR status in jeopardy.

Her chances of being approved for a work or study visa are certainly not guaranteed (even if she finds and employer or is accepted by a school). In both cases you must demonstrate that you have strong ties to your home country and have no plans on remaining in Canada long term. Applying from within Canada after having been a visitor for quite some time makes this more difficult to prove and increases the chances of refusal.

As for the visitor visa, I would lean toward extending from inside Canada rather than doing a border run. But you are the ones who will have to decide what you're most comfortable with. For the first extension, you could say that you are working towards accumulating a year of living together to qualify for common law. I've seen a number of people here use this explanation and it seems to work. And I believe a few of them asked for a one year extension and got it. After a year - I suppose you could try saying that you are working on putting the application together and hope it works.

As you know, in the end, no path is guaranteed. So I suppose you just have to pick one and go for it. Good luck.

 

[Shoeb]

Could you please elaborate the common law part? Wouldn't that still mean I show up at immigration?