Girlfriend - Working Holiday change to visitor - Question Regarding Financials

[Sheps]

Hello,

I have been lurking here for a few days for reasons unrelated to this specific thread.

I met my girlfriend online at the start of March, she is in Toronto, and we physically met at the end of March. Since the end of March, we have been "offically" dating (my wallet proves it, back and forth from Winnipeg to Toronto can get expensive).

Her working holiday expires in the middle of may and we have just now started exploring options for her staying a little longer, not to see if we should be married (we are pretty set on that, honestly after even being "together" for a month), but to take some time and live together and decide when exactly. She is from a visa exempt country, so there is no issues there, originally I was thinking of taking her to the closest border, spending a day (or two) in the US and then coming back as a visitor.

She is looking into going into a language school and applying for a student VISA, however I am not sure where that will get us if she can't get the paper work in time, so I have also been looking for a way for her to stay as a visitor. I called the border crossing where my cousin works (CBSA, not IO) today and asked the IO there and they recommended the change of status from working holiday to visitor. I zipped through the "application" (the pre-screening questions) because she is at work and I wanted to see what all was needed and it appears the main thing is going to be proof of financial support since she is here on a working holiday, and most of her funds are back in Japan she would need to contact the bank and arrange for it to be transferred here somehow.

I was wondering, would it be advisable to write a letter:

1) Background our relationship
2) Confirm intent to assume financial responsibility for her while she is in Canada as a visitor
3) Confirm intent for her to leave at the end of her visitor visa
4) Affirm that I will take all steps to ensure she does leave

Thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[Jalex23]

Re: Girlfriend - Working Holiday change to visitor

Her working holiday expires in the middle of may and we have just now started exploring options for her staying a little longer, not to see if we should be married (we are pretty set on that, honestly after even being "together" for a month), but to take some time and live together and decide when exactly. She is from a visa exempt country, so there is no issues there, originally I was thinking of taking her to the closest border, spending a day (or two) in the US and then coming back as a visitor.

Would work for one attempt or maybe two, after that each time she enters Canada she can get questions asks of why if she is a visitor she is spending more time in Canada than in her own country (therefore she is not a visitor anymore).

She is looking into going into a language school and applying for a student VISA, however I am not sure where that will get us if she can't get the paper work in time, so I have also been looking for a way for her to stay as a visitor. I called the border crossing where my cousin works (CBSA, not IO) today and asked the IO there and they recommended the change of status from working holiday to visitor. I zipped through the "application" (the pre-screening questions) because she is at work and I wanted to see what all was needed and it appears the main thing is going to be proof of financial support since she is here on a working holiday, and most of her funds are back in Japan she would need to contact the bank and arrange for it to be transferred here somehow.

I don't get this. Why would you do that? Nowadays it is easy to spend money via credit card, in fact almost no visitors carry much money with them, it is a few bucks and cards.

The proof of financial support would be your task, you have to prove you can support her. She can request a bank statement where her funds appear (abroad is ok) and a credit card.

I was wondering, would it be advisable to write a letter:

1) Background our relationship
2) Confirm intent to assume financial responsibility for her while she is in Canada as a visitor
3) Confirm intent for her to leave at the end of her visitor visa
4) Affirm that I will take all steps to ensure she does leave

Thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

Sounds like a good strategy. Good luck.

 

[scylla]

Re: Girlfriend - Working Holiday change to visitor

Changing her status to visitor from within Canada is the best way to go.

I don't think you should write a letter. She needs to prove on her own that she can support herself as a visitor and plans to leave at the end of her visit. If I was a CIC officer your letter would seem strange to me given how new your relationship is.

Don't to the language school thing. It's pretty difficult to get an approved student visa these days for language schools since they're commonly seen by CIC as something people use to stay / come to Canada who aren't genuine students. If she wanted to continue her education by attending college (a public reputable college) or university in Canada for a degree or diploma - that would be a different matter. However it's far too late for her to get admission for the May intake. So the earliest she would be able to start and get the visa for is September.

 

[Sheps]

Re: Girlfriend - Working Holiday change to visitor

She tried to get into a college in Toronto around the start of March, however when she took her test she didn't meet the entrance requirements. She does have all the information from when she applied for college, she just didn't get accepted.

She does have the funds to support herself, however since she is living with me I would be at least equally responsible for her.

 

[Sheps]

I would like to hear other opinions, I have 1 for and 1 against the letter.

Does anyone have any experience first hand experience either writing a letter and it helping hurting as well as not writing a letter and wishing you had?

Right now, we are pretty serious about this relationship, we both know what we want and think we found it, we just need a little more time. To give some context, I am 30, she is 29 and have both had previous good and previous bad relationships with others so this isn't something being done on a whim. We have both put some serious thought into what we want.

 

[rhcohen2014]

I would like to hear other opinions, I have 1 for and 1 against the letter.

Does anyone have any experience first hand experience either writing a letter and it helping hurting as well as not writing a letter and wishing you had?

Right now, we are pretty serious about this relationship, we both know what we want and think we found it, we just need a little more time. To give some context, I am 30, she is 29 and have both had previous good and previous bad relationships with others so this isn't something being done on a whim. We have both put some serious thought into what we want.

quite honestly, i would think scylla's response holds a lot of weight on here. if scylla is giving advice, it's usually right on the mark. i agree that theproof needs to come from her, since she is the one asking to change her status. I would think having you write the letter would cause suspicion on her intent to overstay.

also, i agree with the other poster about having her money transfered from her japanese bank. doesn't she have a ATM card? how has she been supporting herself and getting money while here? I have found using the ATM is a lot cheaper than going to a currency exchange (At least for my bank).

 

[Sheps]

She is getting a bank statement sent which shows she has access to $18,000. As for supporting herself, she had enough money to support herself for the first part of her working holiday and once she was working, she was self-sufficient.

I know scylla's response does hold a lot of weight, I wasn't questioning that, but I always like to be fully informed which is why I was looking for other responses as well.