Canadian sponsor american/please help

[cannuckgirl]

Hey everyone, I am new on this forum and have a few questions.

I am a Canadian citizen and am dating an American. We met in 2005 while working on a cruise ship and have currently been together for 26 months. We are now wanting to move in together her in Ontario but don't know our best choice. Due to our jobs and countries we have not been able to live together on land,  I am wanting to know what are best choices are. He is allowed to stay in Canada for 6 months at a time, but he cannot do this without working (wouldn't be able to support his self). He does want to immigrate to Canada with me, but we are hoping marriage is not the only choice . I would appreciate any help you can give. I've been to many sites, but find all the info helpful,  too much and too confusing.

Thank-you!

[RobsLuv]

Marriage is the only choice - unless you can prove that you qualify as common-law partners, which means that you have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least one continuous year - at least if he's going to try to immigrate as a Family class applicant.  Immigration Canada is not interested in facilitating couples being together if they're not ready to make a commitment that's equivalent to marriage . . . there is no "fiance visa" anymore.  I guess too many people were using that to immigrate to Canada, and then they parted ways.  There's still enough of that happening with marriages that it complicates the process and EVERY couple has to be able to demonstrate that their relationship is not about facilitating the entry of the foreign national to Canada.

[rgvinson777]

If you are not married, and you havent lived together for at least one year, I don't see any basis whereby you may qualify as a sponsor for immigration

[cannuckgirl]

thanks for the input. I have gone on cic and read lots of stuff, and realize that in order to sponser we would have to be common law. SO do you think it would be better for him to try for a working visa and go from there?

[RobsLuv]

You could try that . . . he'd need an employer to sponsor him for a temporary work permit, and that employer would have to get HSRDC approval to offer him a job.  That means that the employer must demonstrate that there are no qualified Canadian applicants.  It's not an easy process - and it's not a quick one either.  There's also the BUNAC working holiday visa that he could apply for if he meets certain criteria.  You're really up against it, though.  Canada does not make it easy for potential sponsors to bring a partner to Canada without benefit of marriage or an already established common-law partnership.