I just want to stay

[BaCo]

Dear All,

I came to canada in June 2010 on a temporary work visa, valid for a year.

My time is starting to run out and I love you guys so much I dont want to go; all kidding aside I have a canadian gf and we love each other very much, we have been together for 4 years already and all I want is to get a PR card so I can buy a home later on and pay my taxes.
I dont need to get a job in Canada per say as im a Marine Engineering Officer ( NOC 2274 ), I would like to work overseas and live in Canada when Im on my leave period. Needless to say it's quite complicated explaining that in a form or to someone over the phone and just want to talk to an immigration officer and explain my story and see what I can do/what my options are. I'm currently full-time employed and I do not wish to stay with this company any longer than I need to or to extend my work visa with them. Could I send in a copy of my current contract with the application for Federal Skilled Worker and would that suffice?

If I can get a job offer from someone in Canada with the correct Labour Markert Opinion, would I HAVE to take it?

I have 3 months left, what do you guys suggest?

Kind Regards.

[rjessome]

Dear All,

I came to canada in June 2010 on a temporary work visa, valid for a year.

My time is starting to run out and I love you guys so much I dont want to go; all kidding aside I have a canadian gf and we love each other very much, we have been together for 4 years already and all I want is to get a PR card so I can buy a home later on and pay my taxes.
I dont need to get a job in Canada per say as im a Marine Engineering Officer ( NOC 2274 ), I would like to work overseas and live in Canada when Im on my leave period. Needless to say it's quite complicated explaining that in a form or to someone over the phone and just want to talk to an immigration officer and explain my story and see what I can do/what my options are. I'm currently full-time employed and I do not wish to stay with this company any longer than I need to or to extend my work visa with them. Could I send in a copy of my current contract with the application for Federal Skilled Worker and would that suffice?

If I can get a job offer from someone in Canada with the correct Labour Markert Opinion, would I HAVE to take it?

I have 3 months left, what do you guys suggest?

Kind Regards.

Are you and your gf living together?  If so, for how long?  Since you don't want to settle and work IN Canada, the economic classes of immigration may be out for you.  OR, you could either try to get your work permit extended (through an LMO) and work for one more year and then you would qualify under the Canada Experience Class assuming you have a total of 3900 hours of skilled work in Canada.  Which part of Canada are you living in?

[BaCo]

Rjessome,

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes I am living together and we have been since the second week that I came to Canada, I have read that we need to live together for 12 consecutive months to qualify for the common-low sponsorship, but if I need to leave the country at the end of my year would we have to start over again? I am from the EU and Im wondering if you could tell me if my status changes inside canada from resident ( non-landed ) to visitor if the days still count that we live together?

As for the other option, it would bring me to a crossroad; I would end up losing my license for my marine engineering as I won't build up enough sea-days to maintain it. ( Also I think that my current position wasn't researched by HR Canada or LMO. So itll probably wont count)

Im living in Ontario.

[rjessome]

Rjessome,

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes I am living together and we have been since the second week that I came to Canada, I have read that we need to live together for 12 consecutive months to qualify for the common-low sponsorship, but if I need to leave the country at the end of my year would we have to start over again? I am from the EU and Im wondering if you could tell me if my status changes inside canada from resident ( non-landed ) to visitor if the days still count that we live together?

As for the other option, it would bring me to a crossroad; I would end up losing my license for my marine engineering as I won't build up enough sea-days to maintain it. ( Also I think that my current position wasn't researched by HR Canada or LMO. So itll probably wont count)

Im living in Ontario.

You then need to discuss with your girlfriend whether she is willing to sponsor you as a common-law partner (or you get married and she sponsors you as a spouse).  You could apply for a change of conditions to your status to go from being a worker to being a visitor to gain the extra couple of weeks required of living together to have the 12 consecutive months of living together to be eligible as a common-law couple.  However, you need to understand that the intention of becoming a PR is to actually BE a permanent "resident" of Canada.  If PR was granted to you, you may have difficulty maintaining it as your stated intentions are to come here "on leave" from your work.  I don't know enough about what that would look like for you to know if you would be able to meet the eligibility requirements of spending 2 years out of every 5 in Canada to maintain PR status.  Now if you were employed by a Canadian company and working abroad, that would not be an issue.  So you have a few things to think about and discuss with your girlfriend.

[BaCo]

We discussed it and she is willing to sponsor me. I understand your concern regarding being a "resident" and I have done the math, out of 5 years I will have my leave days calculate up to 2,5 years so maintaining this PR won't be the problem. Thank you so much for your help and wise words, I just want to double check and verify that if I do the change of conditions the days will count when we live together to accumulate days for the common-law application. I'll be honest, when I hear the word " eligible" I get the creeps because on what terms could you be denied etc. People told me before that immigration is a stressful process and were they right .

Once I have my PR , I could change employers; to a canadian one which will be smarter anyway due to taxes however, according to Transport Canada I'm not allowed work on a canadian flagged vessel without a PR. I could work on a barbados flagged vessel that is owned by the canadian company.

If I were to get a permanent job offer from the Canadian company, I can apply for the PR through the FSW but I heard it takes like 6 months before the LMO is finished by HR Canada and then the FSW application takes another 3 till X amount of months, I wont be able to work for that position in the meantime?

You dont understand how much your words mean to me right now.

[rjessome]

We discussed it and she is willing to sponsor me. I understand your concern regarding being a "resident" and I have done the math, out of 5 years I will have my leave days calculate up to 2,5 years so maintaining this PR won't be the problem. Thank you so much for your help and wise words, I just want to double check and verify that if I do the change of conditions the days will count when we live together to accumulate days for the common-law application. I'll be honest, when I hear the word " eligible" I get the creeps because on what terms could you be denied etc. People told me before that immigration is a stressful process and were they right .

Once I have my PR , I could change employers; to a canadian one which will be smarter anyway due to taxes however, according to Transport Canada I'm not allowed work on a canadian flagged vessel without a PR. I could work on a barbados flagged vessel that is owned by the canadian company.

If I were to get a permanent job offer from the Canadian company, I can apply for the PR through the FSW but I heard it takes like 6 months before the LMO is finished by HR Canada and then the FSW application takes another 3 till X amount of months, I wont be able to work for that position in the meantime?

You dont understand how much your words mean to me right now.

Believe me, I know immigration is stressful.  Everyone on this board knows it so you are not alone. 

The requirement to be eligible to apply as a common-law couple is that you must be living together in a conjugal relationship (marriage like - sharing life, bills, known as a couple to others, etc.) for 12 consecutive months.  It has nothing to do with what your status is at the time your a living together.  So as long as you meet the 12 consecutive months requirement, you would be eligible.  I just recommend staying in legal status so you apply for a change of conditions from worker to visitor before your work permit expires.  It takes about 3 months just to get an answer on that from CIC so you should meet the requirement without issue, whether they approve your change application or not.

If you got a permanent job offer, it would depend on what route you took to apply for PR.  Confirmation of an Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO) takes 6 months.  Getting a decision on a Labour Market Opinion takes about 6 weeks.  And an LMO is so you can get a work permit, not PR, however, can be used towards applying for PR in some circumstances.  You also must remember that the AEO and/or LMO needs to be in a skilled position (category 0, A or B) in order to be used towards applying for PR.  If your employer applied for an LMO and they were successful, you could apply for a work permit and continue working.

You are considering two different classes of immigration so this is a little complicated to discuss both.  Just understand that the requirements for each are very different.  You can always send me a private message and I will try to explain in more detail but you need to decide which route is best for you.