uk citizen looking to move to canada

[egelorie]

Hi,

I am a UK citizen residing in the UK and my partner is a Canadian citizen residing in Alberta,Canada. We have been in an online relationship for 1 year now, and i have just returned home from 5 weeks visiting him.

The plan is that me and my 7 yr old son move out there with him. He intends to fully support us. Obviously i cant apply for PR at this early stage due to lack of evidence of our relationship as the only way would be for him to sponsor me as common law under the family class category, and i undertand that i would have to be living with him for a year before i should apply for that.

So looking for other ways i can legally do this, i was told that i should go there for 6 months visit,then apply for an extension towards the end of my stay. But the question is, is it that straightforward a process to do that?? do i have to go to an interview? do i have to prove anything?? etc...what is the criteria linked to doing this??
Would it be easier going back to the UK at the end of the 6 months then coming back out, if so would that effect the common law status of this situation??
I dont have a job as i am on benefits so would that cause a problem?? if i were to go out there i would have to stop my benefits,so all i would have is some savings. But as i stated my partner is willing to fully support me and also have great help and support from his family there too...please please can any one help with these questions. thanks

 

[Leon]

You could apply earlier if you marry him but if you want to go for common law, you can do what you are saying, live with him on a 6 month visit visa and at the end of that, apply to extend the visit visa with the reason of "exploring relationship" and some such and showing that you have a letter from his stating the he is supporting you financially with a proof of his income or a proof of your savings.

The problem with being on visit status in Canada is that you will not have health care. You should take out an emergency insurance so you do not end up with thousands of $ in bills in case something bad happens.

If you are taking your son with you to live in Canada for a year, you also need to look into if he will be able to attend school. You should ask the school district where your boyfriend lives if this will be a problem. I have heard of children coming to stay with relatives in Canada being allowed to go to school without a problem and I have heard of a family where all of them were on a visit visa and they were denied enrolling their son in school. It is possible that you will need to apply for a study permit for minor for your son but you should first talk to the school district. Worst case, you can home school him. In order to get your immigration with your son, you need to have full custody of him or his fathers permission.

 

[egelorie]

with the health care, he has a policy linked with his work that he could put us both on,would that still apply? or my year policy for travel insurance has emergency medical

 

[Leon]

Since health care in Canada is covered for citizens, PR's, temporary workers and even students in most cases provincially, the policies supplied through employers are usually supplementary coverage for things that the health care does not cover such as physiotherapy, medication etc.

Having the supplementary insurance through his employer will definitely help and having emergency insurance is absolutely necessary in case you have a big problem but you will probably still face having to pay something if you need to see the doctor for some minor things.