Visa-exempt girlfriend visiting me in Canada - seeking advice

[Alantris]

Hi everyone,

I am a Canadian citizen and my girlfriend is a Singaporean citizen. As such, she does not require a visa to visit to Canada but needs to get the ETA.

She is going to be visiting me in Canada and we would like to maximize our chances of her getting to stay 6 months in Canada. To this end, I would like to seek some advice please.

She has visited Canada in the past but for very short visits (1-2 days) when she crossed over by road from the USA (while she was studying in University there). This is the first time she will be visiting for longer.

Our long-term plan is for her to be able to live and work in Canada. For this, we have identified that we could:

1. Apply for her PR under Express Entry.
2. I could sponsor her as Common-law/Conjugal partner (we have lived together for a year in Europe in the past).
3. We could get married.

However, since she has never lived in Canada, the idea for this visit is for her to stay here for a few months and experience the country and culture first hand. If she decides to stay/live here permanently, at that point we will look into gaining permanent residency for her through one of the above listed avenues.

My questions are:

1. When she lands in Canada, what should she tell the CBSA officer the purpose of her visit is (we want to maximize the duration of her stay in Canada)?
2. Could you share any other advice/suggestions that would help ensure she gets to stay here for 6 months?
3. How would/could this visit affect her chances of gaining permanent residency later?

Currently, she does not have a job in Singapore (as our intent is for her to possibly move to Canada) but her family is in Singapore and she has enough bank balance to support her stay. Additionally, since she will be living with me, I'd be taking care of the expenses primarily.

I'd appreciate your responses.

Thanks!
A

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

I am a Canadian citizen and my girlfriend is a Singaporean citizen. As such, she does not require a visa to visit to Canada but needs to get the ETA.

She is going to be visiting me in Canada and we would like to maximize our chances of her getting to stay 6 months in Canada. To this end, I would like to seek some advice please.

She has visited Canada in the past but for very short visits (1-2 days) when she crossed over by road from the USA (while she was studying in University there). This is the first time she will be visiting for longer.

Our long-term plan is for her to be able to live and work in Canada. For this, we have identified that we could:

1. Apply for her PR under Express Entry.
2. I could sponsor her as Common-law/Conjugal partner (we have lived together for a year in Europe in the past).
3. We could get married.

However, since she has never lived in Canada, the idea for this visit is for her to stay here for a few months and experience the country and culture first hand. If she decides to stay/live here permanently, at that point we will look into gaining permanent residency for her through one of the above listed avenues.

My questions are:

1. When she lands in Canada, what should she tell the CBSA officer the purpose of her visit is (we want to maximize the duration of her stay in Canada)?
2. Could you share any other advice/suggestions that would help ensure she gets to stay here for 6 months?
3. How would/could this visit affect her chances of gaining permanent residency later?

Currently, she does not have a job in Singapore (as our intent is for her to possibly move to Canada) but her family is in Singapore and she has enough bank balance to support her stay. Additionally, since she will be living with me, I'd be taking care of the expenses primarily.

I'd appreciate your responses.

Thanks!
A

FYI - applying through conjugal is not an option. This is only available to those who cannot become common law or get married due to real immigration barriers. You face no such barriers. You would need to go the common law or marriage route. For Express Entry, she will need to have 440+ points to have a chance of being selected.

She should make sure she has a return ticket when she enters Canada and only bring luggage typically of a visitor (i.e. 1-2 suitcases). She should say that she is visiting Canada unless specifically asked more questions by the visa officer - in which case it's always best to answer truthfully. She should also make sure she has enough of her own funds to support herself while visiting Canada. She should be able to show a bank balance of at least $10K - ideally quite a bit more. If it looks like the officer is only going to grant her a short visit (not the full six months), she should not try to argue with the officer.

I'm not sure what you mean by how can this visit affect her PR chances later.

 

[Alantris]

She should make sure she has a return ticket when she enters Canada and only bring luggage typically of a visitor (i.e. 1-2 suitcases). She should say that she is visiting Canada unless specifically asked more questions by the visa officer - in which case it's always best to answer truthfully. She should also make sure she has enough of her own funds to support herself while visiting Canada. She should be able to show a bank balance of at least $10K - ideally quite a bit more. If it looks like the officer is only going to grant her a short visit (not the full six months), she should not try to argue with the officer.

I'm not sure what you mean by how can this visit affect her PR chances later.

Hi Scylla,

Thank you for your response and for apprising me that conjugal would probably not be an option for us.

She has a booked a return ticket 5 months from the day she lands. Additionally, she will have more than $10K in her bank and will bring a letter from the bank verifying that when she lands. She will also be bringing 2 suitcases and not more than that.

My followup question is, if she is questioned further by the CBSA officer, should she just state that she is here to visit her boyfriend? Would the officer question why her visit is 5+ months long for the same?

As for my third question, I am going to rephrase it. This is basically what I meant to ask:

If she applies for PR via Express Entry, would it somehow be seen as either a beneficial or detrimental aspect that she is already in Canada as a visitor/has visited Canada for a period of 5+ months?

Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.