Visiting Before Marrying

[ryanmacd]

Hello everyone

My fiancee is essentially going to be moving in with me come May of this year. We're going to be driving up from Virginia into Ontario and she'll be living with me for about three months and then we're going to be driving back down to the states and getting a few more things and flying back up after that. We plan to tell customs at the border crossing when we drive there that she is just visiting for three months and we plan to drive back but what I wanted advice on is when we return to Canada the second time.

We intend to get married at the end of this year and send in her PR application outland through Buffalo after we get the marriage certificate. Would it fly savvy with customs at the airport if we told them that? I've already prepared to support both of us since she won't be able to work only being on a visitors VISA. I'm just worried that they'll think I'm trying to sneak her into the country or it won't sit with them well. We've both looked into this thoroughly and know the proper way to go about this and the legal way to go about this.

I just really want her with me in Canada for the process and to also start getting her settled into a new country. I guess I'm looking for any reassurance/advice you guys have.

thanks in advance
Ryan

 

[Corofino]

Hi Ryan,

I don't think you will have any problems.

From my experience it is always easier for the foreign person to get in when the Canadian partner is with them. At least it was like that in my case.

My husband and I got married in Canada and he was with me at the border when I came in. He told them that he had just spent some time with me in Germany and now we are coming to Canada to spend some time and to get married. We had absolutely no problem.
After the wedding we left again for our honeymoon and came back together. Again we had no difficulties.
I have been here ever since. They have just extended my visitor status without any problems.

Just be open and honest and you'll be fine.

Good luck.

K.

 

[ryanmacd]

Hi Ryan,

I don't think you will have any problems.

From my experience it is always easier for the foreign person to get in when the Canadian partner is with them. At least it was like that in my case.

My husband and I got married in Canada and he was with me at the border when I came in. He told them that he had just spent some time with me in Germany and now we are coming to Canada to spend some time and to get married. We had absolutely no problem.
After the wedding we left again for our honeymoon and came back together. Again we had no difficulties.
I have been here ever since. They have just extended my visitor status without any problems.

Just be open and honest and you'll be fine.

Good luck.

K.

I couldn't agree more on the fact that me being there will definitely help. I'm going with her to be there with her but I think it will also help that customs actually sees me, they see that I am a tangible person involved with my fiancee.

This was the kind of reply I was hoping to get. Someone who has done something similar to what we plan to do, it really lifts my spirits about this and has made me alot less nervous about crossing the border with her.

and yes I agree, honesty is the best policy. I know we're not doing anything wrong and hopefully customs sees that

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it. I also noticed that your PR app is being processed really quickly. Is this a recent trend? I've seen peoples signatures with processing times of only 2 months! I hope ours is that fast when we go to apply for PR.

 

[Corofino]

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it. I also noticed that your PR app is being processed really quickly. Is this a recent trend? I've seen peoples signatures with processing times of only 2 months! I hope ours is that fast when we go to apply for PR.

yes, it is really going fast, I can't believe it myself. I guess we have a pretty straightforward case (no kids, Germany is not a third-world-country, etc) and they seem to process really fast. But we are not done yet, anything can happen....

 

[ryanmacd]

My case will be just as straightforward as yours.

no kids
married
coming form the states too so there won't be any complicated VISA's to be had, etc.

Good luck to you!

anyone else have any advice to offer for me and my fiancee?

 

[ryanmacd]

So i had a follow up question. When we're flying back to Canada would it be just easier and safer to buy her a return ticket for a couple of weeks later and simply not use it? Does she still get a full 6 month admittance?

It seems a little underhanded, but from reading the forums, it appears that being honest with customs may get her denied to stay with me while we plan to get married and send in her PR app.

 

[Corofino]

as far as I know she always needs a return ticket.

I have always had one and I have always had to present it. What I did was I booked one that I could change again. So after I filed for the extension I just changed the return flight to a date 6 months later.

 

[ryanmacd]

as far as I know she always needs a return ticket.

I have always had one and I have always had to present it. What I did was I booked one that I could change again. So after I filed for the extension I just changed the return flight to a date 6 months later.

That makes sense from both perspectives. Thank you for being the only person willing to reply to my threads. they always seem to get ignored -____-

 

[Corofino]

you are very welcome.

If you need more details just send me a PM

 

[bonacker]

I visited my then-boyfriend (now-husband) at his home in Canada a ton before we got married. Like you, we spent months together, then I'd go home for a few months. I found it worked best to be 100 percent honest.

In fact, the only trouble we ran into was about three years into our relationship, when we were STILL traveling back and forth, and I was STILL spending weeks in Canada, then going home, then back, etc etc etc: We were 100 precent frank about what we were doing, but it seemed they wanted us to -- how to put this -- to "s$%^ or get off the pot," if you'll pardon the vulgar language. Eventually, CIC started to wonder basically why we weren't getting married or applying for my permanent residency. For the last six months before we got married, I was questioned for an hour or two, twice at the border. It was if they were thinking, "Okay, what's up here? Why haven't they taken the next step? What aren't they telling us?" (As it happened, we were being 100 percent honest before we made marriage plans, but it apparently sets off red flags if you speak to a customs agent 3 or 4 times in such a case but your relationship doesn't appear to move forward, and/or you don't take steps to get P.R.)

Well, he proposed and we got married and when we got back to the border in December, the CIC agent was nice as pie and super-helpful, i think because we once again "made sense" and were back into the groove of the behavior they expect. We arrived with the application paperwork mostly filled out already, and they did indeed briefly scan thru it. i got a big "welcome to Canada" welcome once I arrived in the capacity of the wife with paperwork in hand. So.

Anyway, since I drove myself or took the ferry to Nova Scotia to/from the States the last year and a half, I didn't have any return ticket most of the time. This didn't seem to present a problem, as far as I know.

GOOD LUCK!