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Temporary Work Permit for my Girlfriend

jmbb

Newbie
Aug 6, 2013
4
0
Hello all,

I have never posted in a forum before, but this one seems confidential and safe so here goes:

- 2.5 Months ago I completed an exchange in Finland (I am a Canadian Citizen)

- In Finland, I met my girlfriend, who resides in Greece.

- In total, we have been dating for 7 months. We didn't technically live together in Finland, but we stayed over at eachother's place every night, bought groceries for eachother, etc, so it was technically like we were living together.

- We have now been apart for just over 2 months because we had to go back to our respective countries until we could find a way to bring her over here with a work permit.

- Here is my first question: If she comes and lives with me in Canada for the next three months, would we be considered common law?

- For the past two months, we have been trying to understand how to help her immigrate/looking for job opportunities for her.

- She has her degree in Early Childhood Education and in order for her to have her credentials transferred over, she must first be legal to work in Canada.

- So we agreed, we will try and find her an opportunity in the industry, where teachers arent regulated, such as a Early Childhood Assistant, and then she can have her credentials transferred over.

- She has had interview offers but because she is in Greece, none of her potential employers seem to want to have an interview over skype, which is understandable.

- I'm not so much concerned about getting her a job offer, its obtaining the work permit that will enable her to work.

- So in response to this, as I stated in my first question, if she came to live with me into Canada for the next three months, we will have been dating for a year, can we be considered common law, even though 2.5 months had to be spent apart, but we have continued to stay in close contact?

- We are still waiting upon a working holiday permit under the IEC, but she received a message when she sent it in that the IEC number of applicants from Greece to Canada, currently exceeds the quota. It said that they would email her when they verified that there were still spots left. It has been a while now, and they redirect our emails/inquiries at the Canada consulate in Athens, Greece, and at International Experience Canada.

- We are operating under the assumption there will be no spots left under the working holiday category, what would people suggest that we do?

- I/we really appreciate everybody's help, it is something we have both been working hard at, and we are just looking for a light at the end of the tunnel.

Cheers
 

zardoz

VIP Member
Feb 2, 2013
13,298
2,167
Canada
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
16-02-2013
VISA ISSUED...
31-07-2013
LANDED..........
09-11-2013
I'm sorry but you need a continuous 12 months of cohabitation to qualify for common-law. From your description, the 7 months that you "spent together" wouldn't qualify anyway. Common-law is considered to be something equivalent to being married but without the legal contract. Your lives would need to be much more interlocking than you describe.
 

jmbb

Newbie
Aug 6, 2013
4
0
Thanks for your response. I thought if you lived together and then had up to 90 days off for whatever reason, and then picked up where you left off and continued to live together, that was allowed under the CIC website of the common law definition.
 

zardoz

VIP Member
Feb 2, 2013
13,298
2,167
Canada
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
16-02-2013
VISA ISSUED...
31-07-2013
LANDED..........
09-11-2013
See my updated comments. Also read http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf section 5.34 onwards.
 

jmbb

Newbie
Aug 6, 2013
4
0
Thanks for the info. Would you be able to offer any other options for us? Thanks for taking the time to consider this,
 

zardoz

VIP Member
Feb 2, 2013
13,298
2,167
Canada
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
16-02-2013
VISA ISSUED...
31-07-2013
LANDED..........
09-11-2013
Sorry, we are crossing in the mail. I have provided a link for your clarification in my last comment.
An obvious solution is to marry but that's a bit drastic.
 

PMM

VIP Member
Jun 30, 2005
25,494
1,950
Hi


jmbb said:
Thanks for the info. Would you be able to offer any other options for us? Thanks for taking the time to consider this,
Greek Citizen between the ages of 18 and 35 she can apply for an International Experience Canada open work permit. http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/greece-grece/experience_canada_experience/index.aspx
She can participate in the program twice. Better hurry though, there are only 11 visas left.