Ahoy, I need some advice/suggestions... I just don't even know where to start. I met a girl on an online game in 2005 and we've been talking since then as friends, and we recently decided we love each other and want to be together. I live in Canada and she lives in the US. We plan to at least meet up sometime this year, and we're willing to marry since we're serious about each other, though we aren't quite prepared to be together yet. We want to be together as soon as possible, so I'm trying to find more information to avoid a situation where we'd have to wait longer to be together due to poor planning...
She dropped out of high school and she hasn't had a job at all (she's over 18, don't worry 'bout that). I applied at a trade school and will be doing a course later on this year and into next year, and then I'll have to continue on as an apprentice for years, which is one reason I don't want to move to the US... I want to stay here and go through with it so I can afford to support her. Our plan is for her to move to Canada and live with me with me sponsoring her or whatever. I read about that common law thing where being together for a year would make our relationship count, but visits could only be 6 months at a time and there'd be no guarantees about extensions or whatever, so we're willing to get married if that would make the process easier or whatever... but I also read about the processing times and it seemed rather lengthy. So like... according to cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp, it'd just take over a month for them to confirm me or whatever if she lives in the States, but then the next step would take around a year? Would she be able to live with me during that time, or would she have to wait in the States? Would she be able to stay with me forever or just with that 6 month limit? If it was only 6 months at a time, would she be able to stay for another 6 months pretty much immediately afterwards, or is there some waiting period inbetween? Would she be able to live in Canada with me even if she wasn't a permanent resident yet if we went for that longer processing time? It'd be okay if she couldn't work or whatever, we just want to be together...
Can we get some recommendations on how to live together sooner, or is the only way to start handling all the paperwork so we can get that wait time rolling along sooner? Sorry for all the questions and general cluelessness. Any help would be appreciated.