marriage in montreal!

[meikemuffinx3]

Hello! My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and we want to get married and move to Montreal, we're from Florida. He is a born Canadian citizen and I am a duel citizen, German and Trinidad & Tobago. If I fly into Montreal with a visitor visa, would I be able to get married and stay with him in Montreal until I get all of my Canadian papers? Would I have to leave? How long would it take before I could legally get a job in Montreal?

 

[costaudjoe]

You will want to research the timelines for "applying inland" if you want to live together in Montreal. However, it might be faster to apply outland.

According to: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp
Outland: the time to approve your boyfriend is currently 55 days PLUS 30 days for CSQ (approval from Quebec) = 3 months.
Vienna office average processing time: 14 months. Total = 17 months
Trinidad Tobago office average processing time: 21 months. Total = 24 months


Inland: Assessment of you and your bf = 10 months PLUS the rest = 8 months PLUS CSQ = 30 days. Total = 19 months (during which you cannot leave Canada).

 

[Ponga]

Hello! My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years and we want to get married and move to Montreal, we're from Florida. He is a born Canadian citizen and I am a duel citizen, German and Trinidad & Tobago. If I fly into Montreal with a visitor visa, would I be able to get married and stay with him in Montreal until I get all of my Canadian papers? Would I have to leave? How long would it take before I could legally get a job in Montreal?

1. Yes you could get married. The duration of your stay, however, will be determined by the CBSA upon your entry. Since you are a German citizen, you do not require a visitor's visa and could get the automatic 6 months that you are eligible for. This is never a guarantee, but being from a visa-exempt country, you may.

2. You and your husband would file an Outland application. You would need to extend your visitor status to coincide with the processing times for your country (not sure which visa office you would select, but I'm sure that one will be faster than the other).
IF you are granted the visitor extension, you can remain in Canada with your husband. You would not be eligible to work until you have completed the PR process and have officially `landed'. This would likely be several months, or perhaps a year + (but I have no idea what the processing time would be for you).

3. If you could find an employer in Canada that would be willing to hire you, and complete the LMO (Labour Market Opinion) process, you could then obtain a work permit, but this would be independent of your spousal sponsorship PR application.

 

[meikemuffinx3]

So basically I can get married in Montreal, but I can legally only stay for 6 months. If I'm lucky when I apply for a visa extension then I can stay longer with my husband? I'm not sure if these facts are going to make any difference, but my boyfriend and I are both 20 at the moment, he will be 21 in january and I will be 21 in march. I don't have any sort of degree, only my high school diploma and he only has his associates.

 

[meikemuffinx3]

Getting married on a regular visa, I won't be able to apply for an inland application, correct?

 

[steerpike]

So basically I can get married in Montreal, but I can legally only stay for 6 months. If I'm lucky when I apply for a visa extension then I can stay longer with my husband?

No, you will easily get the visa extension. It is almost never denied for Americans. You dont need any luck at all.

 

[meikemuffinx3]

I don't have american citizenship though, I have german & trinidadian citizenship. My boyfriend/fiancee has american and canadian citizenship. I was only a resident in the US.

 

[meikemuffinx3]

help :'(

 

[Ponga]

If you can legally enter Canada and get married, just apply for PR (Inland) before your visitor status expires. You can submit an OWP (Open Work Permit) application along with the Inland PR application. This will give you `implied status', which would allow you to remain in Canada during the entire process. You would not need to extend your visitor status, because the OWP, in essence, does that and doesn't require that it be approved (unlike a visitor extension request).

The fee for an OWP is [currently] $155

 

[danib]

You can get married with tourist visa. When your visa expires or you apply for extension or not. You dont need status to wait for you process to be complet. But, if you don't have any status as tourist or student, you can not study anything while you are waiting for and without a work visa, cannot work too. But yes, you can get married and stay in the country. You you not be illegal, good luck.

 

[Ponga]

You can get married with tourist visa. When your visa expires or you apply for extension or not. You dont need status to wait for you process to be complet. But, if you don't have any status as tourist or student, you can not study anything while you are waiting for and without a work visa, cannot work too. But yes, you can get married and stay in the country. You you not be illegal, good luck.

You do not need status to apply, but if you are out of status, you CAN be removed from Canada. CBSA no longer has the Administrative Deferral of Removal (as of Nov/2011). This does not mean that a person WILL be removed, if they have an Inland application submitted, but it is certainly possible. Even CIC states that a person without status can be removed. All the more reason to include an OWP, or at least a visitor extension request.

 

[meikemuffinx3]

So correct me if I'm wrong, the inland process would take about a year. If I fly into canada, get married right away, I have 5 months before I need to apply for a visa extension. If I wish to avoid the visa extension completely, I can apply for the OWP. Correct?

 

[Ponga]

Yes, the OWP is all you need (if submitted with your Inland application).

Also...there's NO guarantee that you will get the max (6 mos.) stay upon entry into Canada. It is the sole discretion of the CBSA officer that you encounter.