Marrying fiance from Poland in Toronto and PR

[bb4557]

Hello guys!

I need some help in deciding how to apply for my fiancé, she is Polish and I'm a Canadian. We haven't lived together for long, I first met her in 2014 and that was for about 3 weeks. Then in 2015 we lived together for about 4 months - 3 weeks in Toronto and 3 months in Warsaw. Then another three weeks in Toronto in Jan 2016. She was hoping for employer to relocate her to Canada, which was their promise, but it seems like they lied and the process doesn't seem to be that easy. She is pregnant, and we desperately want to be together during the pregnancy and child birth and after.

We planned on getting married after she relocates but her relocation doesn't seem to be an option. The Canadian branch of her employer said that they can if she is eligible to work here, which I guess she is not.

What I'm confused about is that her recent trip might bar her to come to Canada. I'm not sure how the rule works of visiting to Canada for 6 months, does she have to wait 6 months before she can visit me again?

- Are the CBSA known to refuse entry if you say you are coming to visit your fiancé and are planning to get married, but are going to go back? (She has in the past said this exact thing "visiting my fiancé", and got asked where I work and that's it.)
- What is the timeline of getting a PR if the one sponsored in Polish living in Poland?
- Does being pregnant add to delays in PR?
- What if the child is born while the PR application is still in process, do we have to add an application for the child?
- We are not planning a big wedding, just doing enough to get married and have a certificate. We had that mumbo jumbo in the past when we celebrated our engagement. Will not having a "wedding" raise questions by the visa officer? (To show that we have known each other, we have a lot of documented travel since 2014, Mexico, Ontario, Poland, Prague. Our relationship is genuine, like I've phone records, emails, chats etc. since 2014.)
- Is there a way to get a work permit so the Canadian branch of employer can go forward with the relocation.
- Say by some magic, she gets her PR before she is due (early October), what is the case of OHIP? Does she have to wait 3 months?

And finally, should I go for inland or outland?

Thanks a bunch guys. I'm sure someone here might have been in a similar situation and I can learn from their experience.

 

[MilesAway]

She can still come visit. After March 15th (I think?), she'll need to apply for an eta first.

If she can prove her ties to her home country, and acts like a visitor, she shouldn't have any issues visiting you.
Being pregnant will cause a delay since it is not recommended that you do the X-ray, which means that the medical would be delayed until after she has delivered.
If you are Canadian, the child should also be Canadian. You would need to notify the VO and update a form, but it doesn't change the PR application as such.
You still need to prove the relationship is genuine, but if you can do that in other ways, you shouldn't have an issue.
The employer would have to apply for and get an LMIA, then she could apply for a work permit.
Given that she is pregnant now, and you aren't supposed to do the X-ray, there is almost no chance of you getting PR before delivery. You should expect to pay for the delivery costs out of pocket. If you opt to do the X-ray, you would have to be approved and finalized by July/August in order to be eligible for OHIP for the delivery. The odds of that are pretty slim.

Warsaw is a fast office, so I would recommend you apply outland.

 

[bb4557]

Thanks for the info!

With inland, do the spouse get OHIP as soon as the 3 months post application are up?

 

[MilesAway]

Ontario is quite strict, so applicants generally only get OHIP after they have landed as PRs (so about 2 years +3 months). Some people have gotten OHIP after AIP, which is about 17 months.

edit: I forgot that inlanders can get it after they land, as opposed to waiting 3 months like most outland applicants.

 

[bb4557]

Now I'm thinking of sponsoring her as a conjugal partner. Will this work?

 

[eric8069]

Now I'm thinking of sponsoring her as a conjugal partner. Will this work?

Did you married legally and have marriage certificate? If you have and she is pregnant? If so you can easily bring her to Canada as visitor and just make full documents. After that you better go and live in Alberta and make inland application. They have much faster health system. After 3 month of your inland application she will get the work permit and one weak after that she will receive the health card.

 

[MilesAway]

Now I'm thinking of sponsoring her as a conjugal partner. Will this work?

No. There aren't any legal barriers to getting married or becoming common-law.

 

[bb4557]

To answer both the questions. From Eric and MilesAway,

No we did not marry legally, there was no paperwork, just exchanging vows in front of family and friends. Call it marriage or engagement, I cannot wrap my head around those concepts.

The issue is not health insurance or health coverage. She has a good job, and has amazing health coverage in Poland. The only issue is that we are apart and have to stick on the phone 24/7.

The reason of not getting married earlier was her side of the family. No legal barriers, true, but mental barriers.

We have decided to have the baby in Poland, but would like to start the processes earlier so we can be together asap. I guess the only option for us is to get married asap, which will be somewhere in April. And counting from there it seems like I can apply in May and then wait for God knows how long.

 

[MilesAway]

You can only start the process when you are common-law or married. You would have to wait until after delivery anyway, since they won't do the medical during pregnancy.

As mentioned, Warsaw is fast. If you prepare everything properly, you can be done in under 6 months. There were a few couples who were done in 5 months recently.

 

[eric8069]

To answer both the questions. From Eric and MilesAway,

No we did not marry legally, there was no paperwork, just exchanging vows in front of family and friends. Call it marriage or engagement, I cannot wrap my head around those concepts.

The issue is not health insurance or health coverage. She has a good job, and has amazing health coverage in Poland. The only issue is that we are apart and have to stick on the phone 24/7.

The reason of not getting married earlier was her side of the family. No legal barriers, true, but mental barriers.

We have decided to have the baby in Poland, but would like to start the processes earlier so we can be together asap. I guess the only option for us is to get married asap, which will be somewhere in April. And counting from there it seems like I can apply in May and then wait for God knows how long.

Do you work at any company? Or do you have any friend he/she has company? they can invite her for interview and she will apply for eTA and she will easily can inter to Canada or she can register for some institute of language and she come with visitor or student visa. Then you register your marriage in Canada. Find doctor and they approve she is pregnant. Then in the months I think she will get open work permit and SIN number then she can get the AH card. Canadian government support refugees more than Canadian :'( I know your pain, I had similar pain like you.

 

[Rob_TO]

You can only start the process when you are common-law or married. You would have to wait until after delivery anyway, since they won't do the medical during pregnancy.

Actually she could do most of the medical (so doctor checkup and blood work) while pregnant, and get a deferral letter on the x-ray part. That is suitable to at least to send in the application to get it started. Then after the baby is born, she can complete the medical and inform the visa office to update her app with the x-ray and adding family member.
Assuming dad can pass Canadian citizenship directly to baby, there is no need to add baby as a dependent in the application so that part should not have any effect.

 

[Rob_TO]

Do you work at any company? Or do you have any friend he/she has company? they can invite her for interview and she will apply for eTA and she will easily can inter to Canada or she can register for some institute of language and she come with visitor or student visa. Then you register your marriage in Canada. Find doctor and they approve she is pregnant. Then in the months I think she will get open work permit and SIN number then she can get the AH card. Canadian government support refugees more than Canadian :'( I know your pain, I had similar pain like you.

You can't get a work permit/SIN unless an employer has gone through the LMIA process successfully to hire you. Very difficult to get.
And OP is from Toronto, not in Alberta. So there is also no chance to get health care here before the delivery.

 

[eric8069]

You can't get a work permit/SIN unless an employer has gone through the LMIA process successfully to hire you. Very difficult to get.
And OP is from Toronto, not in Alberta. So there is also no chance to get health care here before the delivery.

No for spouse since "December 22, 2014, eligible spouses or common-law partners have the opportunity to work in Canada while they wait for their application for permanent residence to be processed.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will issue open work permits to certain spouses or common-law partners who are applying for permanent residence from inside Canada, before the approval in principle decision on their application is made."

The stage you should do:
1- She come to Canada with any kind of Visa
2- Marry legally in Canada
3- Apply for Sponsorship
4- Send the same time Work permit application
5- SIN Number and health Card

 

[Rob_TO]

No for spouse since "December 22, 2014, eligible spouses or common-law partners have the opportunity to work in Canada while they wait for their application for permanent residence to be processed.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will issue open work permits to certain spouses or common-law partners who are applying for permanent residence from inside Canada, before the approval in principle decision on their application is made."

The stage you should do:
1- She come to Canada with any kind of Visa
2- Marry legally in Canada
3- Apply for Sponsorship
4- Send the same time Work permit application
5- SIN Number and health Card

In Ontario you don't get OHIP with the open work permit from an inland application. Also the work permit will be pretty useless for her since she''ll get it so close to her due date.

So if they came here to get married and apply inland, they would most likely have to pay for the pregnancy and delivery costs out of pocket. It makes more sense for them to apply outland while she's in Poland still, and come to Canada after PR is approved.

 

[jomz]

To answer both the questions. From Eric and MilesAway,

No we did not marry legally, there was no paperwork, just exchanging vows in front of family and friends. Call it marriage or engagement, I cannot wrap my head around those concepts.

The issue is not health insurance or health coverage. She has a good job, and has amazing health coverage in Poland. The only issue is that we are apart and have to stick on the phone 24/7.

The reason of not getting married earlier was her side of the family. No legal barriers, true, but mental barriers.

We have decided to have the baby in Poland, but would like to start the processes earlier so we can be together asap. I guess the only option for us is to get married asap, which will be somewhere in April. And counting from there it seems like I can apply in May and then wait for God knows how long.

Just so you know, the baby will need a polish passport to travel out of Poland. So in addition of processing the Canadian citizenship application for the baby (if eligible) your wife will need to get the baby a polish passport.