Has anyone declared a 6 month stay successfully at the border?

[two.wheeled@hotmail.com]

And been accepted in? GF has a TRV visa and she would like to come for 4-5 months but I think it might be suspcicious sounding to the border. She does plan to leave but I would be mortified if she was denied entry at the border and turned around.

She just finished her degree and has plenty of time to travel. Has anyone had experience in this situation? Did they let you in with a one way ticket?

 

[Jalex23]

And been accepted in?

Many people come to visit Canada for long periods of time.

GF has a TRV visa and she would like to come for 4-5 months but I think it might be suspcicious sounding to the border.

Ah... that is different, she is not coming to visit, she is coming to LIVE for six months with you.

Yes. It is a red flag as it might seem she is coming to LIVE for good with you... maybe get married and apply for sponsorship.

She does plan to leave but I would be mortified if she was denied entry at the border and turned around.

Most probably she won't get refused (there is always a chance she might), but she will surely get heavily questioned and/or given a shorter stay.

She just finished her degree and has plenty of time to travel. Has anyone had experience in this situation? Did they let you in with a one way ticket?

But she is not travelling, or is she? Travelling or visiting requires that she is moving around, visiting places, going from one place to the other. Form what you are saying she is coming to LIVE six months with you.


This will be tricky. First of all, if she just graduated and now she is coming for six months to be with her BF, I will find it hard to believe she is not coming to get married and look for a job (now that she is done with her studies). How does she plan to prove this? Hopefully she has lots of money in her account, because staying without working for six months is tough.... and if you are paying for her expenses then that raises the chances she is not leaving by the end of her six months.

What reasons she has to go back? How does she plan to pay her expenses? How can you prove she won't be starting an sponsorship application and keep filing extensions until it resolves?

Better think on how to answer this at the point of entry.

 

[two.wheeled@hotmail.com]

good questions,

she honestly has no intention of staying. How can we prove it? Well I guess we can't really give definitive proof except the whole point that since she already has a TRV, if we were planning on getting married and filing papers we could declare a stay of 2 weeks, get married any time up to 6 months later, and she wouldn't have to leave regardless.

To that end it seems kind of futile for the border to ask any questions or try to have us prove anything. We could declare anything we wanted at the border and as soon as we filed a marriage license it's like an immunity card. Which again, is not my intent, as I do NOT want to marry right now, and she wants to go home.

As for visiting vs living, I see no difference. We will be travelling together peroidically. I dont think anyone comes to a country to visit and live in a hotel for several months. It is a temporary resident visa, not called a temporary travellers visa, I think immigration does not give anyone the benefit of the doubt and assumes all with a TRV will be temporarily residing.

So what should we say to immigration to facilitate this?

 

[Bs65]

Having a one way ticket might be the one thing wrong with any statement of intent for a long stay as a visitor given people who are serious about not having any ulterior motives have return tickets whether that return is 2 weeks away or 6 months away it still demonstrates an intention to leave.

 

[Jalex23]

To that end it seems kind of futile for the border to ask any questions or try to have us prove anything. We could declare anything we wanted at the border and as soon as we filed a marriage license it's like an immunity card.

You can try declaring "anything you want" at the border and see how that goes. People try to do that all the time and people are refused entry all the time.

As for visiting vs living, I see no difference. We will be travelling together peroidically. I dont think anyone comes to a country to visit and live in a hotel for several months. It is a temporary resident visa, not called a temporary travellers visa, I think immigration does not give anyone the benefit of the doubt and assumes all with a TRV will be temporarily residing.

A temporary resident is anyone staying from 1 to 180 days.

As stated, living vs visiting are two different things and TRVs are not issued for people that want to live in Canada claiming they are visitors. Living/Visiting is defined by the activities one will do during their stay period, "travelling periodically together" is an activity someone LIVING in once place would do.

Immigration assumes every national from a TRV-required country wants to illegally immigrate to Canada unless proven otherwise. That is the whole point of a TRV.

 

[two.wheeled@hotmail.com]

is that your personal definition or the legal definition of "living" in Canada on a TRV? The very definition of a resident is someone who resides on a long term basis. To me, TRV is very clearly named and defined as a catch-all type of naming to assume all who enter on it are going to be treated as temporary residents. There is nothing we have ever come across to suggest that a TRV is not intended for temporary living and that you must be "visiting" aka some vague definition of frequent travel. So again, is this a documented legal requirement by the CIC, or is it your personal opinion on what people should and shouldn't do on a TRV?



From the CIC website:

A TRV is an official counterfoil document issued by a visa office that is placed in a person’s passport to show that he or she has met the requirements for admission to Canada as a temporary resident.

A temporary resident is a foreign national who has applied for that status, met the obligations of A20(1)(B) and is not inadmissible or a foreign national who is inadmissible but is issued a temporary resident permit. Temporary residents may be authorized to enter and remain in Canada as a visitor, worker or student.

The admission of temporary residents into Canada is a privilege, not a right.

 

[two.wheeled@hotmail.com]

Having a one way ticket might be the one thing wrong with any statement of intent for a long stay as a visitor given people who are serious about not having any ulterior motives have return tickets whether that return is 2 weeks away or 6 months away it still demonstrates an intention to leave.

booking a round trip ticket is not the issue. The issue is if she shows up in canada with a return ticket in 6 months, and immigration says to her "That's too long, you're being denied entry and being put back on the next plane."

I also don't like to have this burden of proof each time she comes to visit me. She has been here twice already and the longest stay was 4 months. If she had plans to remain she would have done it a long time ago.

 

[Jalex23]

So again, is this a documented legal requirement by the CIC, or is it your personal opinion on what people should and shouldn't do on a TRV?

No, it is not documented, but neither is my opinion.

Anyway, I am not here to convince you.

Wish you best of lucks.

 

[Bs65]

booking a round trip ticket is not the issue. The issue is if she shows up in canada with a return ticket in 6 months, and immigration says to her "That's too long, you're being denied entry and being put back on the next plane."

I also don't like to have this burden of proof each time she comes to visit me. She has been here twice already and the longest stay was 4 months. If she had plans to remain she would have done it a long time ago.

unfortunately burden of proof is something all of us have to face when entering any country where we do not happen to be a citizen or have legal residence. Even the latter carries some burden of proof.

Although only CBSA can say at the time would think it unlikely GF would get turned back given travel history but could get a shortened visit no way to predict and may even just get 6 months no questions asked.

Making a decision to deny entry more likely where intent is more obvious either as result of questioning , arriving with multiple bags for a short stay, or searches of bags, phones, laptops , or simply hardcopy documents that indicate intent to stay on or work illegally.

With CBSA the rule is to only answer questions asked honestly and do not volunteer information or try to overthink worst case scenarios.

Good luck