Work Visa and Sponsorship Eligibility

[throwbot]

(Sorry, I was advised to post this in the Foreign Workers section)

Hi Everyone!

I only found about this forum tonight and it looks like there's a lot of cool helpful people out there! Hopefully someone out there might be able to provide me with some guidance. Smiley

I'm a US citizen that recently accepted an offer for a position in Canada. I was hoping that my girlfriend (who is a Korean citizen w/ a Green card) might be able to join me. She's currently a college student and was hoping to apply to a school and a study permit, but was discouraged by the international student tuition she would have to pay.

At this time, one option we're hoping to consider is whether I'd be able to sponsor her through Canada's common-law sponsorship policy. We have not lived together, yet, but if we were to live together in Canada for 12+months, would it be possible for me to sponsor her with the work visa my future employer provides me with? Also, if she were able to eventually obtain sponsorship, would she be able to avoid international student tuition if she were to continue her education in Canada?

Thanks in advance for any help I might be able to get!

 

[PMM]

Hi

(Sorry, I was advised to post this in the Foreign Workers section)

Hi Everyone!

I only found about this forum tonight and it looks like there's a lot of cool helpful people out there! Hopefully someone out there might be able to provide me with some guidance. Smiley

I'm a US citizen that recently accepted an offer for a position in Canada. I was hoping that my girlfriend (who is a Korean citizen w/ a Green card) might be able to join me. She's currently a college student and was hoping to apply to a school and a study permit, but was discouraged by the international student tuition she would have to pay.

At this time, one option we're hoping to consider is whether I'd be able to sponsor her through Canada's common-law sponsorship policy. We have not lived together, yet, but if we were to live together in Canada for 12+months, would it be possible for me to sponsor her with the work visa my future employer provides me with? Also, if she were able to eventually obtain sponsorship, would she be able to avoid international student tuition if she were to continue her education in Canada?

Thanks in advance for any help I might be able to get!

1. Assuming your employer has obtained the Labour Market Opinion and you get the work permit.
2. She can't be included in your work permit as you are not common/law. So until you become C/law she could only enter as a visitor, no work no school.
3. Nope, she still would have to pay international fees.

 

[lellen]

You can only sponsor someone if you are a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident. You wouldn't be able to sponsor her as a US citizen.

She needs to apply for a work permit or a study permit separately to come with you to Canada. It's better if she comes as a student, then gets a permit to work out of campus... if you ever become a permanent resident, you will be able to sponsor her after at least a year of living together... but even then you would have to wait until she can apply for an open work permit.

Also, she will have to pay international fees unless she becomes a Permanent Resident. If you were a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident and you were to sponsor her, she would have to wait a few years to become a PR. Then she would waive the fees.

 

[throwbot]

Thanks for the answers, everyone! This is such a great community.

At this point we're trying out different options. But one additional question I had:

If she was to join me in Canada by visiting (flying to Canada like anyone else..with no business or studies to take care of) and stayed for 6 months and renewed or extended her stay up to the point where she stayed for another 6 months, would she become eligible to be considered my common law partner. Of course we would provide all the paperwork and proof that help prove we're in a legitimate relationship and that we've been living together for the past 12 months.

I heard that that time spent in Canada won't work towards obtaining common law partner status unless she was working or studying in Canada.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

If she was to join me in Canada by visiting (flying to Canada like anyone else..with no business or studies to take care of) and stayed for 6 months and renewed or extended her stay up to the point where she stayed for another 6 months, would she become eligible to be considered my common law partner.

If she lives with you continuously for a year, you guys will become common-law, regardless of her status.

 

[throwbot]

Thanks for the response canuck_in_uk!

A bit of an update...we were told that if we were to get married (an option we're somewhat considering), after obtaining a work permit from my employer, my girlfriend would be able to receive an open work permit as well. And after a 9 month period (I'm not sure if this is 9 months of being married to me or if it's a 9 month wait for another thing she'd have to be approved of), she'll be able to apply for permanent residence. Is this all correct? And if so, is there an average estimate as to how long it'd take for her to receive permanent residence after applying? The goal is that she might be able to continue studying without having to deal with the international tuition.

tldr; how would a foreign married couple coming into canada (via a work visa) get PR status?

 

[fkl]

Some aspects of this make sense, some don't.

There is no hard and fast 9 months period for any thing i know of. There are several programs for PR each of which has a difference eligibility criteria.

For e.g. among the most common and presumably faster one used by people who have been here on a work permit is CEC. It requires at least one year exact experience in Canada to be eligible to apply for PR. Note, that you can APPLY after one year. Even if it proceeds real fast, still it takes at least 8 months or so to conclude, generally more (average processing time is around 12-13 months after application)

Other Programs such as PNPs usually involve two stages. First one in which you live in the province for a while and apply for Provincial Government's approval (such as CSQ in Quebec) and then you apply to Federal Government for PR. It might be true that you could apply and get Provincial Nomination after 6-9 months (i have just heard that, don't know exact details), still you would apply formally after that and processing times are at best equal to CEC or worst as far as i know.

FSWs are the other stream of PR which mostly applies to people who apply outland (without canadian experience) and undergo points based system with processing times in general in years.

Bottom line, if you come on a work permit today, it is going to take at least a little less than 2 years to become a PR. And this is close to ideal case, any thing less does not exist. Even if some PNP programs might be very fast, i doubt that they could cut down any time on this.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

after obtaining a work permit from my employer, my girlfriend would be able to receive an open work permit as well.

As your wife, she could apply for an OWP if your job is skill level NOC A, B or 0.

And after a 9 month period (I'm not sure if this is 9 months of being married to me or if it's a 9 month wait for another thing she'd have to be approved of), she'll be able to apply for permanent residence.

I have no idea where you got that idea. Being married to an American for 50 years wouldn't give her any right to apply for PR in Canada, and I don't know any other "thing" she'd have to be approved of to qualify to apply for PR.

tldr; how would a foreign married couple coming into canada (via a work visa) get PR status?

You would have to qualify through an immigration program such as CEC, PNP or FSW. Start here http://onlineservices-servicesenligne.cic.gc.ca/eapp/eapp.do

 

[throwbot]

Thanks for the quick responses. Sorry if some of the information I shared was inaccurate. It was based on some research and a friend's "experience".

But I did some research on PNP.

Are nominations given out all that often? For some reason it just sounds really prestigious. Assuming my line of work is something PNP supports (I'm an artist in the video game industry), it sounds like we would both be fast-tracked into becoming PR's, correct?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

A good rule when it come to immigration: don't listen to friends that claim to know the process. Such "friendly" advice has ruined many an application. Read the CIC website and come to this forum with your questions.


PNP nominations are given quite often, to those that qualify. Every province has it's own program, so you would need to look at the PNP program for your intended province to confirm whether or not your work would qualify.

There is no "fast-track" to becoming a PR. Depending on how long you first need to work in a province in order to qualify for a provincial nomination, the entire process could take around 2 years, possibly longer.