I'm confused - Should i apply for Family Sponsorship? Where do I start please?

[Chuie]

Hey,

Am planning in advance to get everything ready for my application and am not sure where to start exactly.

I have been with my partner (who lives and was born in Canada) for over five years and in December we are marrying. After this marriage, i plan to then apply for Permanent Residency and stuff...is that the route i should follow?

Since i am a British university student, we spoke on marriage for about a year or two but did not agree to marry until i am close to finishing my degree which i finish next year around May time.

Both me and my partner have been some what "preparing" ourselves for the idea of marriage and living together as well as our future. He has been finishing off his courses and getting a job, where i have been finishing my degree but hope to move so i can pick up my studies into a Masters. I have done research around the job line i want to follow in Canada, and it says, it best to have a Master's degree. So that is what i hope to do. We have visited each other on our small budgets to see one another at least twice a year for the past four years (for the first year we didn't meet in case this relationship didn't work out). My Winter trip this year would count as my 8th trip and he has been to England three times himself. Our trips though have been only for about 3 to 4 weeks at a time in the Summer and about 2 to 3 weeks at a time in Winter. Due to our courses (his which is finished and he works now), it had made it difficult to be with one another longer. However we have relied on the telephone, internet, web-cams, mics for the computer, playing games on the PS3 with one another and talking on the mics with that and even sending one another personally written letters (i adore it when i get a letter from him in the mail because he never tells me when he sends them and they make me so excited for he wrote it himself).

Anyway when my degree is over with (this is my final year), for i want to ensure i have an qualification behind me to entitle me to more options of work (when i work). He wanted to ensure he could be supportive so a reason he has done his course, when i first met him he was working full time but it was a dead end job and so took a course up to have a job that could ensure a positive future for us. He encouraged me to do my course after a failed attempt to gain funding to study in Canada for my degree (I was offered a place at the university but no matter how hard i tried i couldn't get the money to support me there and there was no way he could support me at that time and so the idea was scrapped. Also my parents offered no help what so ever ... and guess what. Still are not!). I was willing to move out to be with him before my degree but he told me to do it because it was what i wanted to do, to strengthen our relationship, him to reconsider his line of work and do something about it (he has) and then we can worry about this later.

Now the worrying stage has arrived. I have read websites over and over and i don't know where i should start.

Sorry...the long winded explanation was not need.

Please can someone help me from being confused. I want to start preparing for this application in advance so i know i have everything ready and pray for a smooth and not too long processing time.

 

[CharlieD10]

This process will involve both of you: you must apply for permanent residence, and your intended spouse must apply to sponsor you for the same.

Begin gathering evidence of your time together: chat logs, the letters, phone records, photographs, ticket stubs/boarding passes, copies of passport pages with entry and exit stamps. You will need to establish that this is a genuine relationship and marriage, not one entered into solely for the purpose of gaining Canadian residence. There is no such thing as too much evidence, from what I have seen on these forums.

You also should go to the CIC website and look up the requirements specific to your country regarding police clearances, medical examinations and passport requirements, all of which will be needed.

Oh, and start tallying the costs involved, as you will need to consider these as well!

Continue to frequent these boards, especially the thread for your visa office (London), there you will get a good idea of what persons from your locale have done and been through in order to file their applications and get them approved, and receive valuable, specific advice from other users already in process.

Good luck!

 

[Chuie]

Thank you very much ~

I will begin all this now. With my dissertation for my degree this year, having a solid idea on what to do for this would help greatly and allow me have more time for my university work.

 

[journeyman]

Here is the link for the guides you will need for the application process.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

Give them a read. There will be people here, happy to answer any questions you have.

Good luck.

 

[Chuie]

Thank you very much

 

[robrod]

Start by reading Leon's Spousal Sponsorship thread, which is the first posting in this column, inside it go to page 1.

 

[Chuie]

I did read it. It was one of the very first things i read on the site.

Though i guess i just needed it dumbed down for me. Am not really stupid but the process just seems a little complex with how much information is needed and so on.