Questions about moving to Toronto, Canada

[erik76]

Hi all,

I am a Dutch citizen and engaged to a Canadian woman, and we are living together for two years now in the Netherlands.
She has taken the step to try to live together in the Netherlands.
This is going very well, despite the differences between Netherlands and Canada.

I am thinking of the idea to see if it is still possible to immigrate to Canada (Toronto), because I see how happy she is when we go on holidays to Toronto to see her family / friends.
I myself find it a beautiful country, and it feels a bit like a second home to me.

I've read quite a lot, but do not know exactly what the best option is now.
We are also going to attend a immigration fair on September 10, to see what information we can gather there.

My fiancée can return to Canada anytime (she has a Canadian passport), but what about me:
- Do I need a visa (express entry) or can I choose Family sponsorship?
- Is the IELTS test mandatory ?, or do I have to do this before the application?, or can I do it also during the application?
- Can I arrange everything myself ?, or do I need a company to do it?
- Will the process be more difficult, because we both live in The Netherlands ?

There's a lot of information to find, which makes it quite difficult to find the right way to move.
I hope you can help me with the necessary information I need to move to Canada.


Sincerly,

Erik

 

[COPRQuestion]

Hi all,

I am a Dutch citizen and engaged to a Canadian woman, and we are living together for two years now in the Netherlands.
She has taken the step to try to live together in the Netherlands.
This is going very well, despite the differences between Netherlands and Canada.

I am thinking of the idea to see if it is still possible to immigrate to Canada (Toronto), because I see how happy she is when we go on holidays to Toronto to see her family / friends.
I myself find it a beautiful country, and it feels a bit like a second home to me.

I've read quite a lot, but do not know exactly what the best option is now.
We are also going to attend a immigration fair on September 10, to see what information we can gather there.

My fiancée can return to Canada anytime (she has a Canadian passport), but what about me:
- Do I need a visa (express entry) or can I choose Family sponsorship?
- Is the IELTS test mandatory ?, or do I have to do this before the application?, or can I do it also during the application?
- Can I arrange everything myself ?, or do I need a company to do it?
- Will the process be more difficult, because we both live in The Netherlands ?

There's a lot of information to find, which makes it quite difficult to find the right way to move.
I hope you can help me with the necessary information I need to move to Canada.


Sincerly,

Erik

Hi Erik,

I can't help with all your questions but can help with some as I was in a similar situation (although married).

- Do I need a visa (express entry) or can I choose Family sponsorship?
I think your best bet is to apply for Family Sponsorship - if you've been living together you can apply under the common law partnership - just make sure you've got loads of proof you're in a genuine relationship - we supplied holiday photos, day trips, our wedding photos, bills etc etc

- Is the IELTS test mandatory ?, or do I have to do this before the application?, or can I do it also during the application?
I'm not sure about this one, I'm a British Citizen so was exempt from taking the tests. If you go to the CIC website it explains more about when you have to take the tests or someone here may be able to answer

- Can I arrange everything myself ?, or do I need a company to do it?
I did everything myself, it takes a bit of time to complete all the applications for you and your partner and put together all the evidence but it costs you nothing (except medicals, police reports etc) if you're a straight forward case then it just costs lots of money and there's no evidence it's quicker. My advice is to take your time and make sure it's all done properly upfront to save you time later on running around trying to gather information. NB you and your partner apply at the same time, her to be a sponsor and you for your PR. they assess her first and then your profile will be transferred. I did speak to an agent and they really made out it was very complicated and having an expert do it is far better. I decided to do it myself.

- Will the process be more difficult, because we both live in The Netherlands ?
Nope, me and my wife are both in HK and we applied from him, I understand now that the process can be shorter if you're outside canada. if you check out the CIC it will give you a guideline for how long it can take. From HK it said 18 months but I was approved in under 5.

I hope that helps

 

[canuck_in_uk]

- Do I need a visa (express entry) or can I choose Family sponsorship?
- Is the IELTS test mandatory ?, or do I have to do this before the application?, or can I do it also during the application?
- Can I arrange everything myself ?, or do I need a company to do it?
- Will the process be more difficult, because we both live in The Netherlands ?

There's a lot of information to find, which makes it quite difficult to find the right way to move.
I hope you can help me with the necessary information I need to move to Canada.

Hi
You can look at Express Entry and see if you have enough points but spousal sponsorship is generally easier.

IELTS is mandatory for economic applications but not for spousal sponsorship. If applying through an economic stream, IELTS must be done before applying.

You can do everything yourself.

You will need to include proof in the app that the sponsor will be returning to live in Canada after approval.