Seeking for help....

[Miller]

Hi, everyone,

I just found out this thrend and here is my story:

I am currently an international student in BC and my girl friend is a Canadian who just graduated from university and is currently working. Due to family issues, my family cannot support me financially anymore. As a result, I will be unable to finish the rest of the courses in my program.  Then my girlfriend suggested us to get married (which we were planning to do after my graduation with a 2 year work permit) earlier so we can be together in Canada. Although our relationship is steady and we have lots of plans after, I am quite confused right now...

Should I take her sugguestion?
Are we eligible for the family class sponsorship?
If so, I would prefer to be working so I can support both my girlfriend and my family.
Am I eligible to apply for a work permit while I am waiting here? Or should I just go back first?

Hope someone can please provide me some answers, thank you


  

[Iamrobot85]

No one can tell you whether or not you should get married.  But if you and your girlfriend have been living together for a year or more (and can prove it) you can apply for common-law sponsorship and won't need to get married.

[scylla]

As for working...

If you and your girlfriend submit an inland sponsorship application, you will be able to work once the first stage of processing has been completed. First stage processing is currently taking 9-10 months.

If you apply outland, you will be able to work once you have been approved as a permanent resident. This will take about a month and a half of processing in Mississauga - plus approximately the amount of time listed here for your home country:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

If you would like to work sooner, you will have to first find an employer who is willing to hire you. That employer will then have to prove then cannot hire a Canadian to do the job and be approved for a labour market opinion (LMO) before you can apply for a work permit. So this is not an easy path.

What country are you originally from? How old are you? Depending on the answer, you might qualify for a working abroad for youth program. (This won't get you residency but may allow you to stay and work temporarily.)

[Miller]

Thanks for all replies

Seems like we have fulfilled the requirments for common-law sponsorship

To Scylla, we are from Hong Kong and she is a Canadian citizen. In order to speed up the processing time(18 months vs 10 months before I can apply for an open work permit), should we apply inland first? But the thing is, we might have to move back to Hong Kong during the processing time for the first stage so I can do some more savings before moving back here.  I wonder if this is possible. Your advices are greatly appeciated.

P.S: Visa is not required for my re-entry

[scylla]

If there's any chance you're going to be moving back to Hong Kong, then inland isn't going to work. The good news is that since your wife is a Canadian citizen (rather than a permanent resident) she can sponsor you via the outland process while living outside of the country.

So based on the fact that you may have plans to move back to Hong Kong, I think your only option is outland.