O-PNP applicant - best time for marriage? Please help!

[rstyle]

Hi all,

I'm quite new to this forum but I would really appreciate your advice on my particular problem.

I just finished my Master degree in Ontario and am ready to apply for PNP. I currently hold a 3-yr post-grad work permit and I have permanent full time employment in my area of study. My girlfriend is a Doctor of Pharmacy student in the US (not US citizen though) graduating in 2016. We are planning to get married but we do not want this marriage to hurt any immigration application. In the meantime, we hope that she could start working in Canada once she graduates. Here are a few thoughts that we have and please share your advice:

1. We get married after I receive PNP nomination (hopefully 3 months later), and then apply for PR together to CIC. In this case, would my nomination still be valid? And would this lower our chance of getting PR?
2. We get married right after I get PR (after about 1 yr), and I sponsor her asap. However, it seems that it takes really long to get her PR, especially she's in the US and the processing time is like 22 months in New York office? Would she be able to work while she's under review for PR?
3. We still get married after I get PR, but then we apply open work permit for her. Once she graduated and start living in Canada together with me, we then apply PR for her.

Please let me know what you guys think. We just want the safest way to secure PR in the first place and then hope that she can start working after graduation. Thank you so much.

 

[taurus1985]

Get PNP approval and apply for pr. do the marriage whenever u want (While ur Pr in Process) and add spouse to ur file and she will we able to get open work permit also.

 

[rstyle]

Get PNP approval and apply for pr. do the marriage whenever u want (While ur Pr in Process) and add spouse to ur file and she will we able to get open work permit also.

Thank you so much, taurus. In your method, when I add my spouse to my file, would she be automatically considered for PR or open work permit? or by adding my spouse to my file, CIC will only update that I have a spouse and thus then we could apply for her open work permit while my PR is in process?

 

[taurus1985]

once you add your spouse in your PR file she will get PR with you.

secondly, once you got the UCI from CIC for your wife you can apply for her work permit.

In your case as you are already on work permit, you can take a chance of applying for her open work permit after marriage, as she is eligible to apply.

all the mentioned scenario's applies to you.

 

[akapoor]

Apply for PNP after marriage. It will go smooth and your wife will be eligible to apply for open work permit. My brother did the same thing he got married before applying PNP and they both got nominated by the province. My sister in law is in Canada now on Open work permit.

 

[rstyle]

once you add your spouse in your PR file she will get PR with you.

secondly, once you got the UCI from CIC for your wife you can apply for her work permit.

In your case as you are already on work permit, you can take a chance of applying for her open work permit after marriage, as she is eligible to apply.

all the mentioned scenario's applies to you.

Thanks, taurus. Are you saying that if I add my spouse during PR review, my spouse will be reviewed for PR as well even if she wasn't nominated for PNP? If so, I would definitely consider this route if it does not lower our chance of getting PR.

 

[rstyle]

Apply for PNP after marriage. It will go smooth and your wife will be eligible to apply for open work permit. My brother did the same thing he got married before applying PNP and they both got nominated by the province. My sister in law is in Canada now on Open work permit.

Hi akapoor, thank you for your reply. The reason we are not getting married before PNP is that there are a lot to prepare for marriage. I haven't even bought the ring yet also, my gf hasn't taken IELTS so if we want to apply for PNP together, I'd say we need another 2-3 months at least. but as PNP nomination quota is limited each year, we do not want to wait so long. Plus, I'm not sure if adding a spouse will benefit or harm my PNP application.

 

[akapoor]

Then the best bet would be to apply for PR together and apply for your wife's OPW. or you can get married while your PNP is in process and submit the documents to them later.

 

[rstyle]

Then the best bet would be to apply for PR together and apply for your wife's OPW. or you can get married while your PNP is in process and submit the documents to them later.

Thank you, akapoor. Any chance that this will lower my candidacy for PNP nomination as you may know?

 

[akapoor]

Thank you, akapoor. Any chance that this will lower my candidacy for PNP nomination as you may know?

No, not at all.

 

[taurus1985]

Thanks, taurus. Are you saying that if I add my spouse during PR review, my spouse will be reviewed for PR as well even if she wasn't nominated for PNP? If so, I would definitely consider this route if it does not lower our chance of getting PR.

I did the same thing .. it doesnot affect ur chances of getting pr.

My file is in process and it doesnt affect anything

 

[rstyle]

I did the same thing .. it doesnot affect ur chances of getting pr.

My file is in process and it doesnt affect anything

got it. thank you so much.

 

[rstyle]

Just one more question: does family member (spouse) need IELTS test for PNP nomination? I tried to find information regarding this with no success. If not, is her IELTS test required for PR application once PNP has been approved? Thank you so much.

 

[SaiSivaRam]

Just one more question: does family member (spouse) need IELTS test for PNP nomination? I tried to find information regarding this with no success. If not, is her IELTS test required for PR application once PNP has been approved? Thank you so much.

No - only the principal applicant requires IELTS score to go along with the OPNP application - i recommend the same route as 'taurus1985' suggested - apply for nomination (i am not sure exactly, but you can only apply for nomination within one year after graduation - i may be totally wrong) and once you got nominated apply for PR - add your spouse once you got married to her & have official docs, at the start or middle (if you do it at the middle of processing, then it could cause minor time delay, but nothing major) - also, as far as i know, federal part of processing doesnt look for whether both of you got nominated, so why wait to apply for nomination until you get married ? - sorry i may be repeating what others said... but those are my two cents !!

 

[rstyle]

No - only the principal applicant requires IELTS score to go along with the OPNP application - i recommend the same route as 'taurus1985' suggested - apply for nomination (i am not sure exactly, but you can only apply for nomination within one year after graduation - i may be totally wrong) and once you got nominated apply for PR - add your spouse once you got married to her & have official docs, at the start or middle (if you do it at the middle of processing, then it could cause minor time delay, but nothing major) - also, as far as i know, federal part of processing doesnt look for whether both of you got nominated, so why wait to apply for nomination until you get married ? - sorry i may be repeating what others said... but those are my two cents !!

Thank you, SaiSivaRam. I think that's what I am going to do. Get nomination myself first and then apply for PR with my spouse or add her later during PR review. Thank you for your input!