Spousal Sponsorship - Sponsor is a Citizen Outside of Canada

[EpyonE11]

Hello,

I am being a little proactive in my situation. Before I met my girlfriend overseas in the Philippines (where she is now). I was planning to do a PhD in the US. We both agreed that I should continue with my studies. We plan on getting married by 30 years old. At that time, I would be half-way into my PhD. Application processing times being as long as they are now, would it be advisble to apply for our sponsorship application at that point in time so that when my PhD is completed, we are able to reunite in Canada. What sort of requirements do I need to show that I intend to return to Canada?

Thank you!

 

[canuck78]

Hello,

I am being a little proactive in my situation. Before I met my girlfriend overseas in the Philippines (where she is now). I was planning to do a PhD in the US. We both agreed that I should continue with my studies. We plan on getting married by 30 years old. At that time, I would be half-way into my PhD. Application processing times being as long as they are now, would it be advisble to apply for our sponsorship application at that point in time so that when my PhD is completed, we are able to reunite in Canada. What sort of requirements do I need to show that I intend to return to Canada?

Thank you!

When do you plan on getting married? Before PhD? Partway through? Will your spouse live with you in the US? Just to clarify you are Canadian and she is from the Philippines? You must show intent to return to Canada when you get PR so you only really qualify to apply in the year before you finish your PhD if you can show that you will be returning to live in the US after your PhD. If you are doing a program that usually leads to working in the US it will be tough to qualify. IRCC has become more strict about concrete proof that you will be permanently relocating to Canada because many were just landing so the spouse got PR and left

 

[EpyonE11]

The program is a five year PhD. After 2 years, I can qualify for an MA. We plan to get married by then.

Closing the gap has just been so hard. I thought thar this may be one possible way for us to do so.

She will not be in the US at all.

Would this be a viable option to do to close the gap?

 

[canuck78]

The program is a five year PhD. After 2 years, I can qualify for an MA. We plan to get married by then.

Closing the gap has just been so hard. I thought thar this may be one possible way for us to do so.

She will not be in the US at all.

Would this be a viable option to do to close the gap?

What do you mean by close the gap? If you apply after receiving your masters you will still be studying abroad completing the PhD so you still couldn’t show that you have concrete proof that you’ll be relocating back to Canada when your wife receives PR. At the earliest you would be moving back after your completed the PhD in 3 years. What kind of PhD are you doing and based on the degree and school do graduates usually return to work in Canada? Most doing PhDs in the US don’t have plans on returning to Canada after graduation. Certainly some do but many don’t. Your wife could apply to join you as a dependent in the US.

 

[MJSPARV]

We applied when my husband was finishing his PhD (in the US, my home country, where we were living together). Based on the timing you're stating I think you'll run into issues with showing intent to return to Canada. We had some pretty solid evidence: he was actively applying to MANY jobs in Canada when we applied and only had six months left in his PhD and on his F-1.

Have you looked into adding your fiancee as a dependent on your US visa? (I think that would be an F-2 for her.) That is probably your better bet for a solution on being together asap. The international student office at your university should be able to help you figure that out. That would also help for when you want to apply for her Canadian PR because you'd have a bunch of time living together which would help a lot with showing the genuineness of the relationship.

P.S. I'm assuming you're on an F-1 because that's what my husband was on. I think the other possible visa is a J-1 and those also have a spouse/dependent category (J-2). I'm not an expert in US visas so can't offer more advice than look into it because I know it's possible to have spouses come with international students.