What kind of residency permit for *none* immigrant visa?

[Champlain]

Hello World,

I am a skilled IT professional (German citizen), but too old to apply for any kind of Canadian immigration visa w/o a sponsor. Please don't bother arguing about this, as I had numerous consultations about it with immigration attorneys already.
But I heard about the option of staying in Canada as a visitor long term, for as long as you can take care of yourself financially.

Unfortunately the Internet isn't clear on how long one can stay in the country on such a none-resident visa *continuously*. I am looking for a way to stay in Canada for 12 months min., but preferably for 2-3 years. I would then rent myself a house, buy a car and leave the country only on occasion, for a week or so. I work remotely on projects over the Internet and would continue doing so for non-Canadian business. I would even be willing to pay taxes in Canada, but I am uncertain if such a setup is possible in the first place.

Any advice here?

 

[Naturgrl]

Not possible to live in Canada on a visitor visa. You can stay up to 6 months, not years.

 

[Champlain]

No option to extend that stay once I am there?

 

[scylla]

No option to extend that stay once I am there?

You can try to extend your stay as a visitor. However sooner or later extensions will be refused and you'll be told to leave. Once you leave, you'll want to remain outside of Canada for at least as long as you were inside of Canada before attempting to return. It's not realistic to expect a 2-3 year stay will be possible.

The purpose of an eTA / TRV is to visit Canada - it does not allow you to live here. If it looks like you're trying to live here, that starts creating problems and IRCC sees this as an abuse of the eTA / TRV.

Overall, I would say that your plan is unfortunately not realistic. If you really want to live here for 2-3 years, you need a visa that allows you to do that. This would be either a work permit (which requires you to have an employer in Canada) or a study permit (which requires you to be studying full time in Canada).

 

[canuck78]

Hello World,

I am a skilled IT professional (German citizen), but too old to apply for any kind of Canadian immigration visa w/o a sponsor. Please don't bother arguing about this, as I had numerous consultations about it with immigration attorneys already.
But I heard about the option of staying in Canada as a visitor long term, for as long as you can take care of yourself financially.

Unfortunately the Internet isn't clear on how long one can stay in the country on such a none-resident visa *continuously*. I am looking for a way to stay in Canada for 12 months min., but preferably for 2-3 years. I would then rent myself a house, buy a car and leave the country only on occasion, for a week or so. I work remotely on projects over the Internet and would continue doing so for non-Canadian business. I would even be willing to pay taxes in Canada, but I am uncertain if such a setup is possible in the first place.

Any advice here?

Would add that as a visitor you can only work remotely if your employer doesn’t have Canadian offices and no Canadian clients or customers.

 

[Champlain]

Well, thanks for your input but that means that the lawyer I had consulted about this gave me bad advice. For he said that I could come to Canada on a visitor's visa and then extend that for up to 2-3 years, before having to leave.

 

[scylla]

Well, thanks for your input but that means that the lawyer I had consulted about this gave me bad advice. For he said that I could come to Canada on a visitor's visa and then extend that for up to 2-3 years, before having to leave.

Yeah, unfortunately that's really not realistic.

If you're looking to move here and live here, then you really need to be looking into a work permit based on having an employer in Canada, a study permit or look into qualifying to immigrate and become a PR.

 

[scylla]

Well, thanks for your input but that means that the lawyer I had consulted about this gave me bad advice. For he said that I could come to Canada on a visitor's visa and then extend that for up to 2-3 years, before having to leave.

One last thought. You haven't said how old you are. If you are in the right age range and are on the younger side, then a working holiday visa / IEC could be an option to explore for getting an open work permit.