Tourist visa and then sponsorship?

[sophienielsen]

Hi everyone!
So I am Canadian, living in São Paulo Brazil right now. My boyfriend is Brazilian, and we want to return to Canada pretty much as soon as possible. Our plan right now is for him to come back with me on a Tourist Visa (which is good for 6 months) and then, while we are in Canada (I suppose as soon as we get there) apply for me to be a sponsor to sponsor him to have permanent residence as my common law partner. The only reason we aren't applying for the common law visa first is because I haven't had any documented income for the past 9 months (have been teaching English here in Brazil) so I doubt I would be accepted as a sponsor. I also read that this application would take avg 12 months, and i dont want to wait that long to go back to Canada. He has had a good job as a web designer for over 5 years and has some university (didn't graduate, but completed 2 years). I have a university degree and have several years work experience, and neither of us have a criminal record. Anyways, I just wanted to see if anyone has any advice on this, or if it seems like a realistic option? If our application for sponsorship isn't approved in time (probably wont be, as his tourist visa will only be 6 months) does anyone know if we can extend the tourist visa? We don't really want to waste money on him flying back to Brazil. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.

 

[Sweden]

Hey,

you could start the application right now if you qualify ( as common law already). There is no income requirement for sponsorship, the only condition is that you are not on welfare, and you have a plan.
So - if you know how you will support yourself and your partner when moving to Canada, you can apply already now. My partner was approved as a sponsor, despite living outside of Canada for the last 4 years, and being a full time student, he only worked during summer holidays ( 5 months out of the last 3 years). BUt he was approved. So if you will be hosted by your family (for example) then get a letter from them saying that they are willing to support you. Explain what you plan to do, and how you will support yourself and your partner, and explain when you will be going back to Canada, and you could be approved. It would "save" you some time if you start the process outside of Canada. You will need to prove that you do intend to move back, but that's not too difficult to show... if you have been discussing with your family and friends that you're moving that, print the emails/chat about it, if you have started looking for work in Canada, show that, etc...

if you have a straight forward case, it might be approved in less than 12 months. It's the time that it takes to process 80% of the applications, but you could be done before!

As Brazil is visa-exempt, he could come and "visit" you for 6 months. You just need to be prepared at the border, as there is always a risk of being denied if the immigration officer thinks that he might over stay his visa. In that sense, applying from outside of Canada, and coming back with the proofs that you have applied for PR might be easier (or not, it also depends on the visa officer).

Once in Canada, he can extend his visa online - it costs 75$. The process needs to be done BEFORE his visa expires, and if you add the fact that you have applied for PR, it will likely be granted. It would allow him to wait for the visa to be issued.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[zenn]

Hi everyone!
So I am Canadian, living in São Paulo Brazil right now. My boyfriend is Brazilian, and we want to return to Canada pretty much as soon as possible. Our plan right now is for him to come back with me on a Tourist Visa (which is good for 6 months) and then, while we are in Canada (I suppose as soon as we get there) apply for me to be a sponsor to sponsor him to have permanent residence as my common law partner. The only reason we aren't applying for the common law visa first is because I haven't had any documented income for the past 9 months (have been teaching English here in Brazil) so I doubt I would be accepted as a sponsor. I also read that this application would take avg 12 months, and i dont want to wait that long to go back to Canada. He has had a good job as a web designer for over 5 years and has some university (didn't graduate, but completed 2 years). I have a university degree and have several years work experience, and neither of us have a criminal record. Anyways, I just wanted to see if anyone has any advice on this, or if it seems like a realistic option? If our application for sponsorship isn't approved in time (probably wont be, as his tourist visa will only be 6 months) does anyone know if we can extend the tourist visa? We don't really want to waste money on him flying back to Brazil. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.

Hi... Well I did something similar.. I applied for a tourist visa before the wedding and then flew back to Canada from India after my hubby and I got married.. We applied for PR from Canada but my application was an Outland application (they get done faster)
When I was done wiz my 6 months there I returned to India and submitted my passport to the visa office (I had already received the PPR)
So you could do the same but then your partner would have to return to brazil for the second half of the application process - though it might not necessarily take 12 months if you're lucky.. Once he gets his PR he could then return to Canada as a resident..

 

[Sweden]

Hi... Well I did something similar.. I applied for a tourist visa before the wedding and then flew back to Canada from India after my hubby and I got married.. We applied for PR from Canada but my application was an Outland application (they get done faster)
When I was done wiz my 6 months there I returned to India and submitted my passport to the visa office (I had already received the PPR)
So you could do the same but then your partner would have to return to brazil for the second half of the application process - though it might not necessarily take 12 months if you're lucky.. Once he gets his PR he could then return to Canada as a resident..

As brazil is visa-exempt, the applicant will not have (most likely) to submit his passport to the embassy, as they can issue the COPR directly and send it to Canada. Once they have the COPR, they only need to flagpole ( go to the US border and back) to land as a PR. No need to go back to Brazil, unless there is an interview request.

 

[PMM]

Hi

As brazil is visa-exempt, the applicant will not have (most likely) to submit his passport to the embassy, as they can issue the COPR directly and send it to Canada. Once they have the COPR, they only need to flagpole ( go to the US border and back) to land as a PR. No need to go back to Brazil, unless there is an interview request.

Brazil is not visa exempt http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

 

[sophienielsen]

Hey again, thanks for all the info. Well, Brazil is actually not visa exempt from Canada. Brazillians do need to apply for a visa before they can travel to Canada. I think we will probably get him over to Canada on a tourist visa first and then apply for PR from there. I would like to apply sooner for the sponsorship/CR but am just nervous then, if we apply for his tourist visa after it would get denied. My cousins girlfriend is Brazillian and her tourist visa was declined a little while ago, basically for no reason

 

[Sweden]

Hi


Brazil is not visa exempt http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

Indeed - was coming back to post here! sorry, my mistake.

Hi everyone!
So I am Canadian, living in São Paulo Brazil right now. My boyfriend is Brazilian, and we want to return to Canada pretty much as soon as possible. Our plan right now is for him to come back with me on a Tourist Visa (which is good for 6 months) and then, while we are in Canada (I suppose as soon as we get there) apply for me to be a sponsor to sponsor him to have permanent residence as my common law partner. The only reason we aren't applying for the common law visa first is because I haven't had any documented income for the past 9 months (have been teaching English here in Brazil) so I doubt I would be accepted as a sponsor. I also read that this application would take avg 12 months, and i dont want to wait that long to go back to Canada. He has had a good job as a web designer for over 5 years and has some university (didn't graduate, but completed 2 years). I have a university degree and have several years work experience, and neither of us have a criminal record. Anyways, I just wanted to see if anyone has any advice on this, or if it seems like a realistic option? If our application for sponsorship isn't approved in time (probably wont be, as his tourist visa will only be 6 months) does anyone know if we can extend the tourist visa? We don't really want to waste money on him flying back to Brazil. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.

What I said earlier about applying in advance is still valid, but it might be difficult to apply for a tourist visa, as CIC might not believe that your bf will leave the country at the expiry date, as you are in a relationship. Always worth a try, but be aware that it's not uncommon to be refused tourist visa for partners of Canadians.
Good luck,
Sweden

 

[Sweden]

Hey again, thanks for all the info. Well, Brazil is actually not visa exempt from Canada. Brazillians do need to apply for a visa before they can travel to Canada. I think we will probably get him over to Canada on a tourist visa first and then apply for PR from there. I would like to apply sooner for the sponsorship/CR but am just nervous then, if we apply for his tourist visa after it would get denied. My cousins girlfriend is Brazillian and her tourist visa was declined a little while ago, basically for no reason

well on the tourist visa he will have to disclose that he is in a CL relationship with a canadian, so that will most likely get him denied, unless he can prove that he has strong ties to Brazil...
If you don't disclose the relation on the visa, once you apply for PR it will be difficult to prove that you had been in a relationship for long, and still not have it declared before...

 

[sophienielsen]

I suppose we will not say we're in a relationship when he applies for the tourist visa. We're not common law yet, so I don't think it's mandatory to include the info. But ya, when we apply for the PR they will obviously see that we omitted some info, yeesh, so confusing this process. Thanks again for the help.

 

[canadianwoman]

I suppose we will not say we're in a relationship when he applies for the tourist visa. We're not common law yet, so I don't think it's mandatory to include the info. But ya, when we apply for the PR they will obviously see that we omitted some info, yeesh, so confusing this process. Thanks again for the help.

The visa officer doesn't usually care if someone applied for a TRV while referring to their boyfriend or girlfriend as a friend, and then later applying for a PR visa now married to this person.
But TRV applications are often denied - the visa officer knows what 'friend' means. He will have to show strong ties to Brazil.

 

[steerpike]

To get the visitor visa your bf will have to lie and say he is going back to brazil. I think it would be very unlikely he would be granted the visitor visa if he says he is planning to stay and apply for PR.

So you may end up getting questioned about that at a later date because they definiately will ask him "do youm plan to get married? do you plan to stay in Canada?" and he will say no and they will have a record of that.

So, i dont know if that will cause problems later on. When you apply for PR you need to prove a 12 month relationship (unless you get married) so make sure you have lots of evidence to prove your case.

Also, for him, get a canadian bank acount (or joint bank account between you two is even better) while his visa is valid, and always try to keep the visa valid during the process, even when you get "implied" status. The whole process wuill take longer than 6 months.

I dont know for sure, but my feeling is, getting actually married will help your case so thats something to consider as well.

 

[sophienielsen]

We were thinking that when he applies for the tourist visa he will not even mention me as a "friend" or girlfriend. Rather, he'll just say he's going there to travel around. He has some friends who have recently been to Canada for travel, and were fine getting their visas. I guess ya we will have to say he's planning to come back to Brazil, and if its a problem when we apply for PR just say our plans changed? Does anyone know if a tourist visa is always granted for 6 months? Thanks!