US citizen marrying and moving into Canada

[Hellkren]

Hello! My fiancé is trying to move here to Canada to be with me. We’re planning on getting married very soon and we’re a bit lost on the process. We don’t know if we can get married here, while she’s visiting, we don’t know if we do that if she can stay and become a resident.

We don’t know if we get married in Canada if she has to go back to the states first…

Essentially what we’re looking for is to get married here in Canada, have her move here, and have her work here with me as soon as possible.


It’s a simple question, I know, but we’ve gone through quite a bit of legal issues on other subjects and it’s worn us down.


Any help would be fantastic.

 

[iarblue]

Well she has to get here first,and while she is here she can not work until she has become a PR and has her SIN number.Depending on what the IO at the border issues her for a visit on her passport,if they even do, sometimes they dont stamp passports of Americans it all depends on the IO. You will have to extend it one month before it expires.
Understand that at anytime they can refuse her extension so it would be good to keep a place for her to go back to if need be.
Also you can get married in Canada if she gets in with out a problem.You may want to apply for your marriage cert as soon as she arrives incase they dont renew her status.And just because your married does not give her legal status in Canada.
She will need to prove to the IO at the border entry that she has ties in the US to go back to.She just cant come to Canada marry you and live here until she is a PR.Unless she has legal status.

 

[Kess]

We had our wedding here in Canada. My husband just told the customs officer that he was going to a wedding as his reason for visiting. He did fly home after (I haven't seen him since ) and we will be applying outland.

It would be possible for her to stay in Canada after the wedding as long as she gets a visitor record (and apply for an extension before the 6 months is up). The difficulty with doing it this way is she will not beable to work. I believe she can apply for a work visa at the same time as an Inland PR app and they would be able to work once first stage approval is complete (maybe 6-8 months?). If the two of you leave Canada and she is refused entry for any reason, her PR app would be cancelled and there is no right of appeal.

The other option is to file for PR as outland (and then move to Canada during this process). They would not lose their application if denied reentry to Canada but there is no work visa invloved.

 

[Leon]

The thing with outland through the US is that getting the actual PR only takes on average about 7 months which is almost the same time you'd have first stage approval and open work permit with inland. Inland on the other hand has the downsides that it's not really safe to travel because like you said, if she's denied entry to Canada getting back, the application is out the window and second is because if an inland goes bad, there can be a long wait to get an interview during which time she would be stuck in Canada without a work permit and without health care.

Probably it would be best that she come to Canada to get married, apply for sponsorship asap using the forms at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp and then either stay or leave as she wishes while waiting for the processing. Of course if she's about to reach her 6 month limit of visitation, she'll have to either apply to extend or go back to the US.

 

[SaugaBoss]

I would not recommend the inland application..


I went to Canada and got married in July 2009 and stayed in canada for 3 months, went to USA for one month, then back to canada for 3 months. now i am back in US and working. i finally sent out my application in May 2010. I guess you do have to be careful that u are not denied entry! I would recommend doing outland because it is faster and by the time u receive a work permit for the inland app u will be fully sponsored by then .

Just put a good application together with a lot of evidence and u should be fine!! I have read on this forum that a lot of people received there PR card in 4 months!!!! 8) GOOD LUCK