I have a general plan and am a young adult.

[ACCanada]

Hey,

My girlfriend and I have been dating for about a year and a half. I don't really feel its appropriate to qualify our love or relationship here so I won't do it but I please ask you to take the post seriously

She's finishing up her undergrad degree in the UK. I'm a full Canadian citizen. I'm still in my undergraduate degree. We have looked at marriage visas but both know that is a couple years away at least. I am struggling to see how this could go in a couple ways.

1)When (and if) we do get engaged and get married. What is the best way for her to get the sponsorship? I have been reading about inland or outland applications and I get the general feel from the forum that outland is quicker most of the time.We don't like the idea of getting married and being apart for 11 months though. Is there any practical way to get her a visa that can last the duration of an inland application? Or is the inland application enough reason to stay?

2) We have plenty of evidence of a real relationship littered all over the world. Our facebook records show when we became friends, were we have been. We've taken pictures of christmas together and all sorts. This sounds like a relatively easy part of the process?

3) Is the medical thing as daunting as it seems? I read about expiries and all sorts.

I feel out of my water here and some of the terms are quite threatening to me even if I have been perusing this forum for about 4 months.
I would really much appreciate if anybody could lay out some basics and how their own situation has gone? Things like time and different steps they had to take and setbacks that can occur?

Thank you everybody

 

[mikeymyke]

Re: I have a general plan. I am a young adult, but please listen.

The good news for you is because she's from UK, it's relatively easy for her to get a visitor visa, and even become sponsored, because UK is a very affluent country, and people from there are less likely to marry fraudulently.

Now that you guys haven't engaged yet, you should start collecting evidence of communication and take many pictures together. Send gifts, letters, anything to bolster your relationship evidence. Because she's from UK, you don't need to go overboard with the evidence. My wife's from Vietnam, a high marriage fraud region, so I had no choice but to submit 400+ photos and a bunch of other proofs, you don't even need to submit nowhere near what I did.

You can either sponsor her outland and let her come on a visitor visa (or stay in UK), or you can apply inland where she can stay in the country until she gets PR. Inland might seem ideal for you guys. Don't stress so much about it, UK citizens have an absurdly high acceptance rate for being sponsored.

98% acceptance rate, have fun ;D

 

[ACCanada]

Re: I have a general plan. I am a young adult, but please listen.

The good news for you is because she's from UK, it's relatively easy for her to get a visitor visa, and even become sponsored, because UK is a very affluent country, and people from there are less likely to marry fraudulently.

Now that you guys haven't engaged yet, you should start collecting evidence of communication and take many pictures together. Send gifts, letters, anything to bolster your relationship evidence.

You can either sponsor her outland and let her come on a visitor visa (or stay in UK), or you can apply inland where she can stay in the country until she gets PR. Inland might seem ideal for you guys. Don't stress so much about it, UK citizens have an absurdly high acceptance rate for being sponsored.

Thanks for your input. Does a visitor visa have any access to employment? 11 months is not an unreasonable amount of time to not work but it is quite a bit as we are students. I could figure something out to support the two of us for a short time but I don't know how long I could for an extended period.

The issue is being a student here with relatively low income. Now her coming her would allow her to work a lot more depending on what she does, but regardless being able to have two incomes would create a lot more wiggle room.

So is there any access to employment on inland?

Also could you explain what a visitor visa is? Is it as simple as that? Any requirements or anything? How long does it last?

Sorry for all the questions, but I appreciate it.

 

[scylla]

Re: I have a general plan. I am a young adult, but please listen.

She doesn't need a visitor visa. She can visit on her passport alone.

Visitors are not allowed to work.

However if you apply to sponsor her using the inland method, she will be able to work once the file has first stage approval. This is currently taking around six months.

She could also look into getting a working holiday visa (IEC) which would allow her to work in Canada on an open work permit for a year. The difficult with open work permits is that they get snatched up extremely quickly and only a limited number are available each year. (I believe the last round from the UK were gone in less than an hour.)

Otherwise if she wanted to work, she would have to first find an employer in Canada who is willing to hire her and then that employer would have to obtain approval to hire her and prove the job had been advertised and no qualified Canadian could be found for the role. She could then apply for a closed work permit.

 

[ACCanada]

Re: I have a general plan. I am a young adult, but please listen.

She doesn't need a visitor visa. She can visit on her passport alone.

Visitors are not allowed to work.

However if you apply to sponsor her using the inland method, she will be able to work once the file has first stage approval. This is currently taking around six months.

She could also look into getting a working holiday visa (IEC) which would allow her to work in Canada on an open work permit for a year. The difficult with open work permits is that they get snatched up extremely quickly and only a limited number are available each year. (I believe the last round from the UK were gone in less than an hour.)

Otherwise if she wanted to work, she would have to first find an employer in Canada who is willing to hire her and then that employer would have to obtain approval to hire her and prove the job had been advertised and no qualified Canadian could be found for the role. She could then apply for a closed work permit.

Okay thanks for that info. Doesn't sound like Open permits are good to rest on. Feels like closed might be a bit difficult but probably the best choice if you could get a employer to cooperate and help you out.

How long is the visit allowed for on her passport alone?

 

[Becki567]

Re: I have a general plan. I am a young adult, but please listen.

How long is the visit allowed for on her passport alone?

Its at the discretion of the boarder agent, but when my boyfriend visited me in Canada for the first 2 years he always got 6 months. He did not stay that long, but that is what was entered in the passport.

 

[little_apple]

Look into the Working Holiday program for 2015. She could work for 12 months in Canada

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/experience_canada_experience/index.aspx

 

[ACCanada]

Look into the Working Holiday program for 2015. She could work for 12 months in Canada

Any idea when this opens up for application? I looked around but couldn't find much info on the upcoming year.

 

[scylla]

Any idea when this opens up for application? I looked around but couldn't find much info on the upcoming year.

It's way too early for any information for next year to be published. Check back in early December. Note that spaces go extremely quickly when the rounds open. I believe the third round was filled up less than 1/2 hour from the time it opened. You should have a back up plan in case she can't get a spot.

 

[ACCanada]

It's way too early for any information for next year to be published. Check back in early December. Note that spaces go extremely quickly when the rounds open. I believe the third round was filled up less than 1/2 hour from the time it opened. You should have a back up plan in case she can't get a spot.

Yeah I've read that here. It definitely will not be a primary path but it seems a relatively good option if its landed. So around December is when the info will be available, thanks.

 

[scylla]

Yeah I've read that here. It definitely will not be a primary path but it seems a relatively good option if its landed. So around December is when the info will be available, thanks.

FYI - discussions for Working Holiday Visas can be found in the Foreign Workers section of the forum.