Lithuanian Girlfriend & Canadian Visa

[afugazi0]

Hello, I came here to look for some advice and answers.

My girlfriend lives in Lithuanian and has a Lithuanian residence card and a Ukraine passport. She is just finishing up her university for International business and she is looking to move to Canadia to live with me while taking more schooling in Canada as well as work. My main questions are the following:

1. How long can we expect to wait for her to get approved for a Visa ?
2. What kind of success rate are we looking at here ? (how likely will she get approved)
3. What options do we have in regards to the Visa ?

Money isn't really an issue, if I need to spend $50,000 on a lawyer and that will get her in Canada with a Visa. I am going to be visiting an Immigration lawyer on Wednesday to hopefully get more answers and move forward with the process. All help would be fantastic.

 

[scylla]

Have you lived together for a minimum of one year? If so, then you can sponsor her as a common-law spouse. If not - then it's unlikely you would qualify to sponsor her (I don't think a conjugal application would be successful since there's nothing stopping you from getting married).

If you don't qualify as a common-law couple, then your girlfriend will have to qualify independently.

Take a read through the following links for examples of how she could apply:

Study visa (note - I don't believe visa holders are permitted to work off campus for the first six months)
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/index.asp

Immigration as a skilled worker:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp

Work temporarily:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.asp

Wait times for the various applications are posted here (they vary greatly depending on the type of application submitted):
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/index.asp

Unfortunately it's unlikely anyone will be able to comment on success rates or the likelihood that she will be approved.

Finally, I would caution you against spending too much money on a lawyer. You don't need a lawyer to apply (most do it independently). And involving a lawyer does not result in the fast-tracking of the application (i.e. applications submitted with the help of a lawyer are processed at the same speed and agaist the same rules as application submitted without a lawyer).

Good luck.