I want to bring my fiancee to Canada, from Russia... but how?

[canadianwoman]

Currently it takes 63 days for CIC to process the sponsor's part of the application, and then 18 months to process the rest of the application in Moscow. The 18 months is the average it takes to finish 80% of the applications, so yours might be done much faster.

One way to speed up the processing of the application is by slowing down now. If you marry the first time you meet, the application will be closely scrutinized by CIC, and maybe refused. If you meet a few times, and spend a fair bit of time together, then get married, your application will seem less suspicious and will probably be processed more quickly, saving you time in the long run.

She can always apply for a TRV to come visit Canada, and then she can stay in Canada either living with you for a year so you can apply common-law, or marrying you. If she is in Canada as a visitor, she can apply inland or outland. The hard part is getting the TRV. She has to show evidence that she will leave Canada after her stay. Things like proof of a job, a lease or mortgage or home ownership, a child left behind, money in the bank, etc. can be shown to prove she will leave Canada.

 

[innosense]

Not thinking of going to Russia. She wants to come as soon as possible.

So, the tour adventure might be the way to go, then. According to the wording of the waiver for spousal or common law relationship, we can apply while we already live together, even if she goes out of status. If I make her pregnant in the meantime (she already agreed to this), that should make for a stronger case to prove that the relationship is genuine.

Thanks very much to both of you for your responses!

If you apply for PR after having a child together, it may benefit you. But getting her pregnant during the processing of application will complicate things for you more than help. Sometimes they ask to redo xrays which you can't when pregnant. Same if you end up waiting for long time and ur medical expires and you get a re-medical request. And the worst of all is sometimes CIC requests DNA exam for the baby. This will delay ur process severely.
Also what about the healthcare costs for pregnancy when she is in Canada ??

 

[MilesAway]

Moscow does not process applications for Family Class anymore. All Russians are processed through Warsaw, which is a pretty fast VO. We applied in September and had the visa in hand at the beginning of May. You can apply outland even if she is in Canada on a visitor visa.

 

[Amalthea]

If you want to genuinely start a family, that's wonderful! However, having a child together does not increase your chances of being approved for Spousal PR. Pregnancy seems to make immigration more painful, not less, for reasons other members have described, such as how astronomically expensive a pregnancy is without healthcare coverage.

If you get married the first time you meet, your application will be heavily scrutinized. This is a huge red flag, along with other common red flags like language barriers or age gaps.
Just for starters, one of the main questions on the IMM008 form for the applicant is "Has your sponsor visited you during the period of your relationship? Include number, dates, lengths of visits..."

How did you meet/how were you introduced? Have you met your partner's family? Friends?

You have to think of it from an immigration officer's perspective. When you say stuff like "Not thinking of going to Russia. She wants to come as soon as possible." that makes alarm bells go off in my head, let alone how it sounds to an immigration official.

I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just trying to show you where you're going to run into some serious problems... and if you apply Inland, you forfeit your right to an appeal.

We see people on the forums all the time who have been duped by someone they loved dearly, it's truly messed up, and are now asking for help filing for divorce, reporting the fraud, canceling PR etc.. CIC is very protective of Canadians and feels - or at least states - that they want to protect Canadians from marriage fraud, hence stuff like Condition 51.... At least, that's their excuse for the heavy scrutinization of Spousal PR applications - To protect Canadians from being victims of marriage fraud.

I felt that MikeyMyke's advice is wonderful to avoid these sorts of situations and "know for sure". He applied from a difficult Visa Office (Singapore) and had great success, was approved wayyyyy under the average time - If you really want to test if someone is using you for immigration purposes, talk to your partner about going to live in their country with them instead of Canada. See how they react. If they don't agree, you obviously have a problem! If they genuinely want to be together, this should be no issue.

This question is also asked at immigration interviews. "What are your plans if your immigration is denied?". If the plan is NOT to go live in the other country together.. well, you're screwed.


This is just information for you to use. I am not telling you your relationship isn't genuine, of course! Your relationship is yours alone, and there is no judgement ! Obviously we all have international relationships, and we all had to prove that they are genuine. I just want you to get through it successfully, in one piece

 

[Ponga]

IMHO, the OP should seriously consider:

Flying to Russia to MEET his girl in person and also meet her friends and family. They are a critical ally when it comes time to prove the relationship/marriage is genuine! Spend some time getting to know here face-to-face (have you seen the show Catfish??).

I know they are both excited (and terrified at the same time), but this really needs to be done with a better plan than having her come to Canada as part of a tour group and then...disappearing from that tour. Can you imagine the complications if the disappearance were to somehow be reported to CIC/CBSA? It's highly possible that they would not be the first to have tried this. This would SCREAM a marriage of convenience, don't you think?


Lay the groundwork for a SOLID application and enjoy the start of your lives together in Canada!

 

[kettle]

Not thinking of going to Russia. She wants to come as soon as possible.

So, the tour adventure might be the way to go, then. According to the wording of the waiver for spousal or common law relationship, we can apply while we already live together, even if she goes out of status. If I make her pregnant in the meantime (she already agreed to this), that should make for a stronger case to prove that the relationship is genuine.

Thanks very much to both of you for your responses!

I really think you need to make a solid plan to visit one another and prove to the gov't that your relationship is genuine instead of using a human life as a pawn in your favour in the game of immigration.

 

[mcbeth]

Since the change to Warsaw for Russian applicants, the wait really isn't that bad, 9 months as opposed to 18 months. From what I can tell you haven't really confirmed that you've ever spent time face to face with each other, assuming you haven't you should really consider a vacation first. I met my Russian wife online, we met in Kiev 3 months later (before Kiev exploded! Beautiful city BTW), we went home without having talked marriage, I realized on the plane home this girl was special and then we talked marriage, 3 months after Kiev we were flying to Barbados for our wedding and honeymoon.

She had prepared some of the documents and medicals before arriving in Barbados like the translations, photos, and certificates, we spent one whole day of our trip filling out the other forms for her application together so I could make sure the details and spelling were correct (there were still mistakes that had to be corrected later), and then we went home separately. I did my documents, I proofread hers a hundred times, found some mistakes, got them corrected and had her mail me the updated forms, and then mailed the application.

We were light on photos together, light on supporting evidence, neither of us had met the others parents, parents weren't at the wedding, etc. A very fast relationship, a very light application, and despite waiting in vain while our application was in Moscow before going to Warsaw, her application was processed within the 9 months Warsaw takes, and it was processed without any need for an interview, she just had to send some updated forms and medical tests.

Save yourself the greif of trying to get around the system, follow the rules and you shouldn't have any problems with your application. The wait sucks, I'm still waiting for her to land, but running from a tour isn't the answer as the tour will have to report her missing, getting her pregnant isn't the answer either, if you truly want to be together you will, just do it properly from the start and you will haev the rest of your lives to make up for the separation of the first 2 or 3.

 

[Kalimar]

Very sound advice, thanks very much to all of you!

Warsaw... I see... That looks really good!

 

[LSailor]

CAN I ask similar questions here? My case is similar to Kalimar only that my fiance lives in Canada. I recently joined this forum and trying to get a hang of it.

 

[Sous02]

CAN I ask similar questions here? My case is similar to Kalimar only that my fiance lives in Canada. I recently joined this forum and trying to get a hang of it.

You can ask anything you want but certain threads are better than others. I have a Russian wife so pm me if you have any questions.

 

[mega_option101]

Moscow does not process applications for Family Class anymore. All Russians are processed through Warsaw, which is a pretty fast VO. We applied in September and had the visa in hand at the beginning of May. You can apply outland even if she is in Canada on a visitor visa.

I applied in Feb 2016, got DM last friday

Simply waiting on visa now.

 

[LSailor]

You can ask anything you want but certain threads are better than others. I have a Russian wife so pm me if you have any questions.

What is pm? Did you marry her when she came to Canada on a visit. My fiance and I are planning to marry on my first visit to Canada. I did meet him once in person in January in the US. and that's when we decided to marry.
I understand I have to apply for PR after marriage so that we can stay together. But how long will it take to approve and what happens when my visa expires or travel medical insurance expires?

 

[Sous02]

What is pm? Did you marry her when she came to Canada on a visit. My fiance and I are planning to marry on my first visit to Canada. I did meet him once in person in January in the US. and that's when we decided to marry.
I understand I have to apply for PR after marriage so that we can stay together. But how long will it take to approve and what happens when my visa expires or travel medical insurance expires?

PM is a private message. I married in Russia as a TRV is very difficult to get.