I'm 6 weeks pregnant and my partner is from Canada. We met because he was sent here for work in 2010. We're already engaged and planning to wed next year. He got laid off in October 2011 but he's been staying here with me and trying to look for a job because we knew from the very beginning that It would be hard for me to get a visa. He's not having any luck finding a job because he's not a citizen here. So my point is, now that I am pregnant we realized that it will be hard for him to stay here longer without a job even though he has savings. He owns a house in Canada and it will be so much easier for him to find a job where he is from. We don't have jobs, or even a house here. I need to be with him especially because I'm pregnant and he is the father of my child. In Canada we'll have a place to stay and it will be easier for him to find a job and for us to support the baby. Will it be easy for me to apply for a visa? How long would it take? Do I have any chance at all? Time is a luxury we don't have. I will give birth soon and although we are excited about it, we are also worried about our situation here. We just want the best for our baby's future.
I'm Pregnant with a Canadian father, how do I get a visa?
- Thread starter copacabana
- Start date
First of all where are you located?
I don't see a problem, you getting visa once you are married to a Canadian citizenship.
But you have to be more detailed in order to get response from forum members.
I don't see a problem, you getting visa once you are married to a Canadian citizenship.
But you have to be more detailed in order to get response from forum members.
If you have lived with your boyfriend for a year or more, he can sponsor you for permanent residency as a common law partner or if you haven't, you can marry and he can sponsor you as his wife. However, it is not an instant thing. Depending on where you live, the sponsorship process will probably take at least 6 months but could possibly take up to 2 years. He can start sponsorship of you now before he goes to Canada. He does not need to have a job to do it. You can try applying for a visa to come to Canada as a visitor while you are waiting for your sponsorship but in order to get a visit visa, you have to show that you are only planning on visiting and not staying. Spouses of Canadians often have a hard time getting a visa to visit but you should start the sponsorship process as soon as possible. The sooner you do it, the sooner you will be in Canada.
So, here are some options for you from my family's experience:
1) Travel to Canada as a temporary visitor.
You might not require a visitor visa for Canada if you are a citizen of one of the visa-exempt countries.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp#exemptions
If your country of citizenship is not included in the above list, then:
Try and apply for a temporary resident visa (TRV, visitor visa). It can be easy or it can be hard, depending on your citizenship and other circumstances. As a general rule, it might be difficult without strong ties to your home country, including a job. A visitor visa is valid for a minimum of 6 months and can be extended from within Canada. No guarantee the extension will be granted, unless you apply for Canadian permanent residency - PR, in which case it's always extended, but you'd still have to apply for the extension.
Visitor visas can be obtained fairly quickly, depending on which Cdn visa office you apply to:
TRV processing times:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp/visitors.asp
When you and your partner are in Canada, you can submit an inland or outland application for Canadian PR (as Leon mentioned, if you can provide solid proof of co-habitation for at least a year or if you two get married). Outland applications are generally processed much faster than those submitted inland, however, depending on what citizenship you hold, it might not be an option for you.
Here's more info about obtaining TRVs:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/apply-how.asp
A big downside of living with a temporary status in Canada: no provincial health coverage (except in Alberta as far as I know from my own experience). So, you'd have to purchase a travel medical insurance, costly, and then it doesn't cover anything pre-existing, including prenatal care (doctor's appointments, ultrasound exams, blood tests etc) and delivery. And as you can imagine the hospital bills can be very high, depending on what medical services would be required, any hospital stays, etc.. I don't know for sure, but I think you can get provincial health insurance in at least some provinces if you produce proof that you've submitted a PR application and passed the first stage of approval, which can take a long time and might not happen before your due date... Here's a recent story about that:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/24/bc-motelbaby.html
Also, getting a Canadian driver's licence could be a big problem for a visitor, depending on the province and your country of origin. For most countries, you can drive for 3 months with your national DL or 12 months with international DL... After that time, you have to obtain a Canadian DL.
2) Try and somehow get a work permit for Canada under federal or provincial programs, which is a temporary status too, but I don't know much about it as I have absolutely no personal experience with that. As far as I know, it's not easy at all, however for some professions not impossible. There are many people with work permits here in Canada, so I guess some people do manage to do it somehow. It's way better than living as a visitor as you can actually work legally, will be covered by provincial health insurance (I think) and enjoy other additional benefits. Then apply for your PR from Canada under spousal sponsorship.
3) Your partner can sponsor you for permanent residency in Canada as his common-law partner (again, if you guys lived together for 12 months or more) or as wife if you guys marry. The length of time it takes to process a sponsorship application varies greatly, depending on which Canadian visa office (embassy/hight commission) processes applications from your country of citizenship or legal residency. The sponsorship application consists of two stages: 1) sponsor approval 2) sponsored person's PR application. Or, in case of the Canadian sponsor from Quebec, there's an additional stage between 1 and 2, Quebec undertaking and Quebec selection certificate (1-2 months extra)...
This is the most sure way for you all in all. However, this conflicts with your desire to move to Canada in the near future as you won't be able to enter Canada until your PR application has been approved...
Processing times for an outland application can be anywhere between 6 months and up to 2.5 years or even longer, depending on which visa office and if there would be any delaying factors your case.
Here's the processing times for family sponsorship (spouse and children) applications processed outside Canada where you can view by country, and inside Canada (at the bottom of the page):
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp
***
I hope I haven't confused you with this information, please ask any questions I'll try and clarify or give additional information if I can. I and my pregnant wife chose option 1 and it worked for us...
Which country you're a citizen of and where do you and your partner live at the present time? Knowing this would help give more concrete suggestions to you.
Needless to mention, immigration application costs some money $$ - Canadian immigration fees, postage, translation and notary public services (if required), medical examination (PR or visitor visa with over 6 months validity) etc.
Anyways, the biggest question in your situation would be pregnancy and wishing to live together, and relocating to Canada... Not an easy equation to solve...
1) Travel to Canada as a temporary visitor.
You might not require a visitor visa for Canada if you are a citizen of one of the visa-exempt countries.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp#exemptions
If your country of citizenship is not included in the above list, then:
Try and apply for a temporary resident visa (TRV, visitor visa). It can be easy or it can be hard, depending on your citizenship and other circumstances. As a general rule, it might be difficult without strong ties to your home country, including a job. A visitor visa is valid for a minimum of 6 months and can be extended from within Canada. No guarantee the extension will be granted, unless you apply for Canadian permanent residency - PR, in which case it's always extended, but you'd still have to apply for the extension.
Visitor visas can be obtained fairly quickly, depending on which Cdn visa office you apply to:
TRV processing times:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp/visitors.asp
When you and your partner are in Canada, you can submit an inland or outland application for Canadian PR (as Leon mentioned, if you can provide solid proof of co-habitation for at least a year or if you two get married). Outland applications are generally processed much faster than those submitted inland, however, depending on what citizenship you hold, it might not be an option for you.
Here's more info about obtaining TRVs:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/apply-how.asp
A big downside of living with a temporary status in Canada: no provincial health coverage (except in Alberta as far as I know from my own experience). So, you'd have to purchase a travel medical insurance, costly, and then it doesn't cover anything pre-existing, including prenatal care (doctor's appointments, ultrasound exams, blood tests etc) and delivery. And as you can imagine the hospital bills can be very high, depending on what medical services would be required, any hospital stays, etc.. I don't know for sure, but I think you can get provincial health insurance in at least some provinces if you produce proof that you've submitted a PR application and passed the first stage of approval, which can take a long time and might not happen before your due date... Here's a recent story about that:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/24/bc-motelbaby.html
Also, getting a Canadian driver's licence could be a big problem for a visitor, depending on the province and your country of origin. For most countries, you can drive for 3 months with your national DL or 12 months with international DL... After that time, you have to obtain a Canadian DL.
2) Try and somehow get a work permit for Canada under federal or provincial programs, which is a temporary status too, but I don't know much about it as I have absolutely no personal experience with that. As far as I know, it's not easy at all, however for some professions not impossible. There are many people with work permits here in Canada, so I guess some people do manage to do it somehow. It's way better than living as a visitor as you can actually work legally, will be covered by provincial health insurance (I think) and enjoy other additional benefits. Then apply for your PR from Canada under spousal sponsorship.
3) Your partner can sponsor you for permanent residency in Canada as his common-law partner (again, if you guys lived together for 12 months or more) or as wife if you guys marry. The length of time it takes to process a sponsorship application varies greatly, depending on which Canadian visa office (embassy/hight commission) processes applications from your country of citizenship or legal residency. The sponsorship application consists of two stages: 1) sponsor approval 2) sponsored person's PR application. Or, in case of the Canadian sponsor from Quebec, there's an additional stage between 1 and 2, Quebec undertaking and Quebec selection certificate (1-2 months extra)...
This is the most sure way for you all in all. However, this conflicts with your desire to move to Canada in the near future as you won't be able to enter Canada until your PR application has been approved...
Processing times for an outland application can be anywhere between 6 months and up to 2.5 years or even longer, depending on which visa office and if there would be any delaying factors your case.
Here's the processing times for family sponsorship (spouse and children) applications processed outside Canada where you can view by country, and inside Canada (at the bottom of the page):
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp
***
I hope I haven't confused you with this information, please ask any questions I'll try and clarify or give additional information if I can. I and my pregnant wife chose option 1 and it worked for us...
Which country you're a citizen of and where do you and your partner live at the present time? Knowing this would help give more concrete suggestions to you. Needless to mention, immigration application costs some money $$ - Canadian immigration fees, postage, translation and notary public services (if required), medical examination (PR or visitor visa with over 6 months validity) etc.
Anyways, the biggest question in your situation would be pregnancy and wishing to live together, and relocating to Canada... Not an easy equation to solve...
BTW, you say you're 6 weeks pregnant (1st trimester) but then you're saying you're going to give birth soon... Did you make a mistake or do you consider 32 weeks give or take a short time in your situation? Just wanted to clarify this.
Hello, I am a Canadian citizen by birth and want to sponsor my husband to move back to Vancouver, Canada where I was born and raised. He is an American citizen and I am currently living in California so I would be applying form Outland. My question is that we are just about send in our application but had questions about pregnancy. While I am not pregnant right now and have indicated that in my application, what where to happen if I did fall pregnant while we are waiting for approval? Would I be able to give birth in Canada regardless if his application was approved yet?
As @sns204 said, your child would (as you were born in Canada) be Canadian, no matter where they're born.
If you did fall pregnant while you are waiting for approval you have another piece of proof that you are in a genuine relationship. There is no downside whatsoever when it comes to your sponsorship application.
From a legal perspective there is nothing stopping you, as a citizen, from traveling to Canada. Airlines may not let you fly if you're late term, so you would need to drive instead. To be eligible for provincial health care coverage you would need to register as having moved to the province in question; as a visitor you would not be eligible at all (so you would need to have private coverage or pay your own way for the health care you'd receive). Depending on which province you move to there are waiting times for health care coverage eligibility (in BC that's up to three months -- https://www.welcomebc.ca/Start-Your-Life-in-B-C/Daily-Life/Get-Health-Care -- during which you'd need to have private insurance. Some provinces have no wait times, but as you're planning on moving to Vancouver that's not likely to be of much help).
If you did come to Canada to give birth, your husband (assuming he had not yet received his confirmation of permanent residence) would need to come as a visitor. He, at that point, might be asked to show to CBSA that he has ties to the US (a job or a house that still needs selling/emptying) to show that he would not remain in Canada beyond the duration of his visitor status (and/or work without a work permit).
(The CBSA officers may not make a big deal of it, but it's good to be aware that sometimes they ask. When I came to marry my spouse I was asked if I knew I'd not be allowed to stay until I had received my confirmation of permanent residence. Acknowledging that and telling the officer I had a return ticket was good enough. Others have had to do some more work to convince the officers there's nothing to worry about.)