I am a PR and want to get my girlfriend into Canada to sponsor her for PR inland. She has applied for a tourist visa with status as Single (unmarried). Is the safest route for her to enter Canada on the tourist visa and we get married in Canada? Or is getting married before she comes a better idea?
Safest way to get Future Spouse into Canada?
- Thread starter Airbus320neo
- Start date
Thanks for your feedback. Just to clarify, there wouldn't be problems with the border officer if her tourist visa was approved under the premise that she was a unmarried tourist, while she is now married and entering to be sponsored?
There is no "safe way" you can do it either way. If you're planning to get married in Canada just make sure you have a return ticket and she has strong ties to her country (Job, properties etc.,) when you cross the border. You don't have to tell the border officer your life story, just simply tell them you're visiting each other and want to be together, if they ask more questions then you can provide more information with proof of strong ties. It's not illegal to get married as a visitor, this is what I did at my spouses home country.
Now you can definitely have her come in and say that she's going to get married that they're obviously going to need proof she's NOT going to stay in Canada indefinitely. Best way to tackle this, would be just simply stating she's visiting, if they ask give them proof that she's not going to stay in Canada forever.... that's all they want, for visitors to not overstay. Once you cross the border, it it will be easier, you can apply for inland and request for visitor extension or ETA depends on where she's from.
Now you can definitely have her come in and say that she's going to get married that they're obviously going to need proof she's NOT going to stay in Canada indefinitely. Best way to tackle this, would be just simply stating she's visiting, if they ask give them proof that she's not going to stay in Canada forever.... that's all they want, for visitors to not overstay. Once you cross the border, it it will be easier, you can apply for inland and request for visitor extension or ETA depends on where she's from.
Inland is *much* faster these days - some people are completing the entire process in 3-4 months. In addition to that, if you get married in Canada then you'll have all your documents (ie marriage registration) already in English so that will also make the process easier once you apply.
Accordingly, the easiest way forward is for her to enter on a visitor visa, and when asked, she can just say she is coming to visit you (she doesn't need to explicitly mention anything about planning to get married). Once she's here, get married in Canada right away, and start the inland spousal sponsorship process. In an ideal case you'll have it done before her tourist visa even expires.
Accordingly, the easiest way forward is for her to enter on a visitor visa, and when asked, she can just say she is coming to visit you (she doesn't need to explicitly mention anything about planning to get married). Once she's here, get married in Canada right away, and start the inland spousal sponsorship process. In an ideal case you'll have it done before her tourist visa even expires.
Yes take a look at the other threads. People who applied inland back in November 2022 have already received their eCOPR.