hi all. allow me to apologize in advance if this, or something similar to this has been asked before. and also, thanks for any help or advice. my situation is as follows.
i am currently a US citizen, with a primary residence in the US, and i would like to move up to b.c. on a permanent basis. my partner is a canadian citizen and we are due to have a child in late 2009. we are not currently married, but will be (and can be at any time if it aides this process). it will not be a fake marriage, so i am not worried about that. if we were married i am assuming my spouse could sponsor me for immigration as well. also, i am fairly certain i can immigrate via the skilled migration route (ie my profession is in need and i have enough points according to the self test). to add to the situation, i am currently working for a company based in the US, and they have agreed to allow me to continue working for them remotely (ie over the internet) from b.c. so i will not need a job in canada. my work will require i travel on a fairly regular basis back to the states (1x a month or so).
my basic question is, how can i legally move to canada permanently, as quickly as possible? further more, what is a permanent residence card, and is that something i could get more quickly than immigrating? money is also a concern as i start a family, so which immigration method would be cheapest? which would be fastest? being outside of canada during the application process is not really realistic considering my partner is pregnant and i plan to be there to support her, but does my presence in canada slow or hurt my application?
before you answer, note that i have seen the www.cic.gc.ca site and browsed around quite a bit. i'm just unclear as to what path would be best for my situation...
thanks again for your help.
i am currently a US citizen, with a primary residence in the US, and i would like to move up to b.c. on a permanent basis. my partner is a canadian citizen and we are due to have a child in late 2009. we are not currently married, but will be (and can be at any time if it aides this process). it will not be a fake marriage, so i am not worried about that. if we were married i am assuming my spouse could sponsor me for immigration as well. also, i am fairly certain i can immigrate via the skilled migration route (ie my profession is in need and i have enough points according to the self test). to add to the situation, i am currently working for a company based in the US, and they have agreed to allow me to continue working for them remotely (ie over the internet) from b.c. so i will not need a job in canada. my work will require i travel on a fairly regular basis back to the states (1x a month or so).
my basic question is, how can i legally move to canada permanently, as quickly as possible? further more, what is a permanent residence card, and is that something i could get more quickly than immigrating? money is also a concern as i start a family, so which immigration method would be cheapest? which would be fastest? being outside of canada during the application process is not really realistic considering my partner is pregnant and i plan to be there to support her, but does my presence in canada slow or hurt my application?
before you answer, note that i have seen the www.cic.gc.ca site and browsed around quite a bit. i'm just unclear as to what path would be best for my situation...
thanks again for your help.