Help! Girlfriend is from Poland - best way to keep her here?

[whiffnpoof]

Hello!

I met my girlfriend (A Polish citizen) while she was visiting Canada for a wedding. We have been together for almost a year and things are starting to get serious. She was eligible for her visitor's visa for six months, and applied for another six month extension (Still waiting for a response - but she's legally allowed to stay until the government responds - as far as I understand)

If the extension is granted, it will expire around June. She wants to say and get a working visa (with a already job lined up) or a student visa. The only problem is, I'm unsure whether she can apply for either while her visitor extension is technically still being processed. In addition, she is applying for a working visa (or a student visa) while STILL inside Canada. Is this legal? How do I keep her here?

I understand this is confusing so I'll try and summarize it:

Girlfriend is on an extended visitor's visa (pending approval) and wants to begin applying for anything that can keep her here and, ideally, can lead to residence down the road.

Help!

 

[scylla]

Yes - she has implied status until a decision is made in her extension application.

To apply for a work permit, she needs to have a full time job offer AND an approved LMIA (this is something her employer must obtain). Has her employer obtained an approved LMIA yet? If not, expect this process to take months (it's also not cheap for the employer)

If she wants to apply for a study permit it must be sent to the visa office responsible for her home country (the application cannot be processed within Canada and submitting the application does not allow her to remain in Canada). Make sure she picks a program that makes sense in light of her previous experience and education to ensure it appears she is a genuine student (otherwise there's a big risk of refusal). She will also need to ensure she can show a bank balance to cover first year tuition (remember that she will be paying the much higher foreign student fees) + $10K in living expenses. To be approved, she also ideally needs to demonstrate that she has ties to her home country and has no plans on remaining in Canada long term. This will be difficult for her to do given she's on an extended visit to Canada. So there's certainly the possibility of refusal if she goes the study permit route.

She can apply for the Working Holiday visa from Canada - but again, submitting an application doesn't allow her to remain in Canada.

Easiest path to residency is for the two of you to live together for a year continuously (or to get married) and then you can sponsor her for permanent residency.

 

[sokosan]

scylla mentioned the Working Holiday visa.

This is done under the IEC program. Poland has an IEC agreement with Canada (just like I think all EU countries).

If you girlfriend is under 35, then she could be eligible to apply. The IEC has three categories:

- Working holiday - people who want to travel around Canada for an extended time, and wish to fund their trip by being able to work in Canada. As this is typically done by young people without a full-time job or families yet, it is limited to people under age 35 (otherwise it would be abused...).

- Young professionals - people who wish to gain international experience to further their career. "Young" is again defined as under 35.

- Internship (co-op) - typically done by students, hence again the limit under 35. For this I think you must be a registered student in another country, the internship program must be related to your studies.

For the details, see here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/eligibility.asp

Read the whole thing and determine which category she best fits in and where she would have the biggest chances of being accepted.

I know people from the EU who have come through the IEC program, and it is I think the easiest and fastest way for EU nationals to get a work permit (of course, there's that under 35 limit). In the past, people going through IEC have received 1, 2, or I think even 3 year work permits (not sure about the last one, but 1 and 2 definitely). Check how they do things now.

As scylla said, she can apply for it while she is here, but if a decision is not made until her visitor status expires, she must leave. However, IEC applications are processed fairly quickly - much faster than a work permit and LMIA.

scylla has given you the easiest straightforward part to residency, but keep this in mind:
- if you sponsor her for PR outland (i.e. she applies from Poland), this is faster but does not give her the right to stay in Canada until the application is finished. Therefore, she would have to leave in June.
- if you sponsor her for PR inland (she applies from Canada), this is much much slower usually, but it allows her to stay in Canada until the decision is made, but she would be "trapped" here, she could not travel anywhere, go back home to visit family, etc. If she would leave at any point, she would lose her implied status and whether she would be allowed back in would be up to the border official.

Let me give you an example I know of some friends:
- the girl was Canadian, boyfriend Italian, they were living in Italy and decided to move to Canada
- the Italian boyfriend applied for IEC and was approved quickly (less than 6 months), I think he got a 1 or 2 year work permit
- after a few months in Canada they got married, and applied for PR inland (she sponsored him)
- at some point his IEC work permit expired. However, since he applied for PR, he had implied status, so he could continue working under the same conditions as before
- then they went to Italy for Christmas - big mistake - they did not know he would lose his implied status. Back at the border the border official told him he can no longer work in Canada since his IEC permit expired. They explained they were waiting for PR, and as luckily Italians don't need a visa to enter Canada, they let him in as a tourist for 6 months. He could not go back to work, but was lucky enough that his PR application was finished and approved by the time those 6 months were up, so he could go back to work after that (and the company he was working at was kind enough to wait for him until then).