I need some advice/help

[Rainbow1198]

Hello

I am a Canadian, and my fiancé is a US citizen. We are getting married in April, but she has been here since January. Does she have to go back to the US before the 6 month mark, or can she apply for a visa extension? Would she then be unlikely to receive a second extension to cover until our application has gone through? How soon can I put in the sponsorship application and how long does it take to get that back? We can’t apply for PR until sponsorship is approved, correct? We are planning on applying outland. How difficult is it to travel back and forth? Are the border guards more likely to refuse reentry?

Thank you!!

 

[trackgal1]

I'm not sure how the visa extension thing works, as technically a US citizen is visa exempt. There have been people on here granted multiple extension. You apply for everything all at one time. You need to be legally married before you're able to do so. Personally, I had a few issues with crossing the border but never got refused entry. I tried to cross as least as possible because of that, but it's all up to the agent you get. Your fiance will need to have proof that she still has ties to the USA, as they're trying to make sure she is not living here instead of a visitor.

 

[KBH]

Whew, lots of questions here and you have a few misconceptions so I'll do my best to unpack everything

Since your fiance is a US citizen, she does not have a visa at all (she doesn't require one). She is automatically granted a 6 month stay when she enters Canada unless the border guards tell her otherwise.

The extension you're talking about applying for is called a "visitor extension" and results in a piece of paper called a "visitor record" being issued for her that lists the date she is allowed to stay until. This piece of paper is only valid as long as she stays in Canada. If she goes back to the US and comes back to Canada, it "resets" her 6 months and thus invalidates any visitor record that has been issued to her. For this reason, if she plans to be traveling back and forth to the US more frequently than every six months, you don't need to apply to extend her stay online, as her six months will reset each time she leaves Canada and comes back. However, if she'd like to stay put in Canada and avoid the risk of border crossing, applying to extend her stay online is a great option. US citizens commonly have multiple extensions approved with absolutely no issue, so you don't have to worry about it being a one-time thing.

The sponsorship application and PR application are one in the same (you seem to be under the impression they are two different applications). Everything is submitted all at once, and cannot be submitted until after you are married. They do approve you as a sponsor before processing the rest of the application, but it's part of the overall process and not something that is submitted separately.