What's the fastest way for my girlfriend to come to Canada???

[dluhut]

Hello Immigration Experts,

I have been doing research through talking to friends and even reading on this forum. I guess I'm currently information overload as I really do not know what's the best way for my girlfriend to come to Canada. I hope my situation do not bored you.

I am a PR of Canada (will apply for citizenship this Dec 2013) and I get to know my girlfriend through online dating website on late January 2013. After months of email, skype and phone chatting, I went to China for a week to see her face-to-face. 2 weeks ago, we're officially together. Her background was, she has a Bachelor of Business Administration major in Tourism management. She graduated in 2007, and since then, she went to Shanghai to work. She used to be HR Associate (Expatriate Management), Customer Service and currently as a Buyer/Trade. After talking to friends and reading on forums, it seems to me that, there's a few ways for her to come to Canada.

1. She come to Canada to study English (6 months or less) and then try to obtain a job offer, which then allows her to apply for a work permit.
2. Directly apply for a study permit from China to go to college or university.
3. Directly apply for a work permit from China, provided that she got a job offer from Canada before she comes to Canada.
4. Marry her in China and then sponsor her to come to Canada.
5. Marry her in Canada while she's on her tourist visa.

These are the questions that I had for the above 5 options.

option 1
- If my girlfriend was to go with option 1, does she need to have a return itenary?
- If she was to extend her stay in Canada and were to study more weeks in English, did she need a study permit?
- Is it legal for her to apply for work while she's still in her visa (not even study permit)?
- Is there a requirement for her to apply for work permit (assuming that she did get a job offer) from her employer? i.e She has to earn a full time salary instead of commission. Or her salary needs to be $x amount of dollars in order for her to be eligible to apply for a work permit.

option 2
I believe this is the most direct way for her to come to Canada, but she does not want to be a burden to her brother and myself, since international student tuition fees are expensive.

option 3
This is the most ideal (for us) option. But what are the chances that she'd be able to land a job offer before she comes to Canada?
- Is there a website or agent that allows her to look/land a job in an office environment (not a cook, dishwasher, busgirl etc)?

option 4
- Would Government of Canada be suspicious if I were to marry her which our relationship has not even over 1 year yet (assuming if in the eyes of GOC that our relationship starts 2 weeks ago on Sept)?
- Can my girlfriend (wife in this option) apply for super-visa?
- Assuming if she can come to Canada under super-visa, can she apply for a work permit?
- Is my Permanent Resident benefit able to "transfer" to her, in a way that she has the benefit like a PR. i.e. Goes to school and pays like a Canadian. Able to work etc.

option 5
- Again...Would Government of Canada be suspicious if I were to marry her which our relationship has not even over 1 year yet (assuming if in the eyes of GOC that our relationship starts 2 weeks ago on Sept)?
- Can she still stay in Canada (without going back) while I sponsor her?
- Will she be able to have the benefit of a PR?

These are the 5 options that I can think of. Of course, if there's other ways, would appreciate if you could share. Also, thank you in advanced for your time and help.

 

[scylla]

Option 1:
- Yes, she would definitely need a return ticket.
- No student visa required.
- Sure, she can look for work. To qualify to apply for a work permit, she will need to find an employer who is willing to hire her and that employer will have to obtain an approved Labour Market Opinion. As part of this process, the employer will have to prove that no Canadian could be found for the job. Expect it to be very difficult to find an employer willing to go through the process. If you find an employer, expect the LMO process to take several months.
- Yes, she must apply for a work permit before she can start working (but she needs a job offer and LMO first).

Option 3:
- She should avoid agents (too many scams) and look for jobs on reputable job web sites such as monster.ca, the Canadian job bank and workopolis.

Option 4:
- You'll need to provide evidence to show that your relationship is genuine to make sure your relationship doesn't look suspicious.
- No, she can't apply for a super visa (super visas are for parents and grandparents only)
- No, your PR status is not transferable. You will need to sponsor her for PR as your spouse if you want her to have the benefits of being a PR.

 

[dluhut]

Scylla,

Thank you for your reply!

With regards to option 1, where you answered that she'd need a return ticket. What happens if she decides to extend her stay? Or during her stay, we got married (which is similar to option 5), can she still stay in Canada while I apply for sponsorship for her?

You mentioned of avoiding agents since there's too many scams. But how about canadavisa itself? Would you recommend going with lawyers who could try and help in getting the job?

 

[scylla]

If she decides to extend her stay, then she can either pay to change the departure date on her airline ticket or just not use the other half. Without a return ticket, it's unlikely the airline will let her get on the plane to Canada. And even if the airline somehow lets her on, she will then run into problems with Canadian immigration.

Sure - you can hire canadavisa to assist you. However a lawyer won't find a job for you. You still have to do that on your own. The lawyer will simply help you with the paper work AFTER you have found a job and employer.

 

[dluhut]

Once again, thank you Scylla for your reply.

I talked to one of the lawyer in canadavisa, and he was mentioning that the fastest would be her coming as a tourist and then marry her. After she had stayed for 6 months, I could sponsor her. Do you know anything with regards to this step? I'd like to ask more, but it seems that he's busy with something else that I don't have the chance to have my question asked.

If what the lawyer said is true, under which category could I actually apply her under? Did she need to leave Canada while I apply/sponsor her?

 

[Leon]

Once again, thank you Scylla for your reply.

I talked to one of the lawyer in canadavisa, and he was mentioning that the fastest would be her coming as a tourist and then marry her. After she had stayed for 6 months, I could sponsor her. Do you know anything with regards to this step? I'd like to ask more, but it seems that he's busy with something else that I don't have the chance to have my question asked.

If what the lawyer said is true, under which category could I actually apply her under? Did she need to leave Canada while I apply/sponsor her?

If you want to do that and you don't want her to have to leave, you should preferably marry her and apply to sponsor her before her 6 months visit visa is up. You could apply inland and you would apply for her open work permit at the same time. That way, she gets implied status and does not have to leave or apply to extend her visit visa. If all goes well, she might have the open work permit in about 10-11 months and PR about 8 months later.

If you prefer to apply outland, China is actually a fast place to get PR, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp#asia so what you could do is get her to Canada on a visit visa, marry her and apply to sponsor before her visit visa expires but apply outland instead of inland. She will likely have her PR that way before she would have the open work permit for an inland application. However, in that case you would have to apply to extend her visitor status separately in order for her to continue her stay in Canada but when you have applied for sponsorship and she is in Canada already, an extension would in most cases be approved without a problem.

 

[manavgupta]

URGENT PLEASE REPLY..

Hello friends, I visted and lived in Canada on valid 27 months student visa in year 2009 for time period of 10 months, I passed 1 semester but left next semester inbetween withdrawn from university have to retun back due to family problems, but I did not inform Canada embassy about anything nor I thought I need to tell CIC in my country India or Canada because I was in Canada on valid 27 months stamped multientry visa, Now I am preparing for license exams and planning to write Clinical exam in Canada, I have booked CPE exam have reciepts of fee paid along with me test date, and now my question is Does previous study visa has any negative empact on future vistor visa application, Friends What are my chances of getting visa (this time vistor visa) second time ? Please reply.

 

[dluhut]

If you want to do that and you don't want her to have to leave, you should preferably marry her and apply to sponsor her before her 6 months visit visa is up. You could apply inland and you would apply for her open work permit at the same time. That way, she gets implied status and does not have to leave or apply to extend her visit visa. If all goes well, she might have the open work permit in about 10-11 months and PR about 8 months later.

If you prefer to apply outland, China is actually a fast place to get PR, see link above so what you could do is get her to Canada on a visit visa, marry her and apply to sponsor before her visit visa expires but apply outland instead of inland. She will likely have her PR that way before she would have the open work permit for an inland application. However, in that case you would have to apply to extend her visitor status separately in order for her to continue her stay in Canada but when you have applied for sponsorship and she is in Canada already, an extension would in most cases be approved without a problem.

Thanks for the reply Leon!

So to make sure that I understand you correctly (on the part where I apply for ouland), while she's in Canada, I marry her, and then apply to sponsor her before her visa expires and apply it outland. She on the other hand, has to apply on herself as well to immigrate to Canada. (May I know which category will that be? i.e. skilled worker? Or is it on a different form but under sponsorship) I'm assuming 30 days before her visa expires, she would need to apply for extension. Would it be the regular extension of her stay?

 

[Leon]

So to make sure that I understand you correctly (on the part where I apply for ouland), while she's in Canada, I marry her, and then apply to sponsor her before her visa expires and apply it outland. She on the other hand, has to apply on herself as well to immigrate to Canada. (May I know which category will that be? i.e. skilled worker? Or is it on a different form but under sponsorship) I'm assuming 30 days before her visa expires, she would need to apply for extension. Would it be the regular extension of her stay?

I mean you can apply to sponsor her as your spouse outland. You would pick the forms for sponsorship but go to the form where it says my spouse lives outside Canada. You would fill out the forms and send them to Mississauga and when they have approved you as a sponsor, they send to China to process her PR there. If an interview is required, she would have to go to China but otherwise she can stay in Canada. She would have to apply to extend her visitor status before it expires and she would apply normally, give as a reason that she is being sponsored for PR and wants to hang around and wait and shows that she has funds to stay.

 

[Lydnon W]

My Philippino Girlfriend has a 12 year old son. Does he have to wait or can he stay here in Canada and do the same process except he would be going to school.

 

[Rob_TO]

My Philippino Girlfriend has a 12 year old son. Does he have to wait or can he stay here in Canada and do the same process except he would be going to school.

Your girlfriend and her son would need to both apply for and get TRVs to visit Canada.

The son would need to apply for a study permit also in order to go to school. Until he gets PR status (so after you marry or become common-law with your gf, sponsor them, and get approved), you will most likely need to pay out-of-pocket for all his school fees which can be very expensive.