Questions regarding bringing my girlfriend to Canada

[zebatov]

So, I came here a while ago and posted a massive novel about my situation. My girlfriend is from Japan and we are having difficulty bringing her back. I met her in October 2014 while she was on the working holiday visa. This is only good for one year for Japanese. It's unreasonable to expect us to have lived together for the required one year to apply for common-law since I would have had to meet her and move in with her day one. I was told the only way now is to either marry and go that route or sponsor her on a visitor visa for one year. She doesn't like the idea of being stuck at home unable to work...

I've been looking into an open-work permit. Everything on the CIC website has lead me to believe that there's no reason why she couldn't apply for this. It's got the best of everything. To apply, if you pass your medical with flying colours (which I checked up on and the site - CIC - also said that Japan nor New Zealand - where she is currently residing require a medical to come here) then you will be granted an open/unrestricted work permit. Which means she can work anywhere for anybody, basically. Also, as I've read, you don't need an LMIA or letter of offer of employment from an employer. Perfect, right? Is this too good to be true? I filled out that "Are you eligible?" questionnaire page for her quite a few times. It kept denying me, saying (she) was not eligible at this time. Well, I changed some of the answers around (still truthful) and it passed me on to a page where it said she "may be able to apply for an open-work permit". It allowed me access to a PDF application which I opened in Adobe, gave me a reference number for her to use on the application on her MyCIC, which gives her the list of documents she needs...

The only stipulations surrounding the open-work permit were if she's worked here in the last four years (as I mentioned she did one year on the working-holiday visa) that they would add that time against what they will give her if the open-work permit application passes. Meaning, the open-work permits are good for four years, so if the application passes, they will grant her a three year open-work permit since she will have spent one of the years already.

What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Can you please provide citations to any of your responses? I've been looking into this for about five months now and finally got something going here. I refused to accept the other answers I was given in my last post (marriage/common-law after living with me on a visitor visa + extension) being the only way to get her back here. She is really against not working or having something to do with her days. Thanks in advance!

I should mention that she has post-secondary education. She is a nurse. I am somewhat sure that this was the difference when I was filling out the eligibility questions. For some reason, the first few times I tried it didn't ask me if she had any post-secondary education, or the Canadian grade twelve equivalent either. The time it did, and I answered yes to both, is when it said she could be eligible for an open-work permit. Also, it asked if she had any care-giver experience. Well, I figured a nursing degree plus four years of work experience would cover that and then some.

If there is an issue with any of what I have said or thought, is it possible for her to get a work visa if I apply to sponsor her?

 

[scylla]

Nothing in your post indicates why she would qualify for an open work permit. Open work permits are only granted in very specific situations (e.g. your spouse is a foreign worker in Canada on a closed work permit, your spouse is an international student in Canada on a study permit, etc.).

Here's the full list:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=177&top=17

Which of these criteria do you think your girlfriend meets?

 

[zebatov]

I answered the eligibility questions, and I guess it felt like she met some of them because it put me through to a page I hadn't seen before with nine-step instructions on how to apply. Forms and everything. To answer your question, maybe the caregiver one... but what doesn't make sense to me is that it's an unrestricted open-work permit. So that means she wouldn't have to work in a caregiver position. She could work anywhere. I don't understand why there are stipulations around it. It's open, so it shouldn't apply to specific fields of work.

I mean, what would be the easiest way to bring her here and have her be allowed to work? (If you think the CIC eligibility page made a mistake - in which case I would be kind of upset since it did tell me that she was eligible).

 

[scylla]

She doesn't qualify for an OWP as a caregiver. To qualify for an OWP as a caregiver you need to first work in Canada for two years as a caregiver under a closed work permit supported by an LMIA and apply for PR. She doesn't meet this criteria.

Don't blame the eligibility test. You yourself said that the first few results were negative. That's the correct answer. She doesn't qualify for an OWP. The issue isn't the eligibility test - it's that you played around with the answers until you got the result you wanted.

Fastest way for her to qualify for an OWP is for the two of you to get married, for her to come to Canada as a visitor and then for you to sponsor her for PR as your spouse using the inland application (including an OWP in the application package). She will get the OWP around 4 months after the application is received. If you're not ready to get married but she wants to live and work in Canada - then she needs to find an employer here (who can obtain an approved LMIA) and then apply for a closed work permit.

 

[zebatov]

Like I said, I didn't lie on the questions. I only changed things like her length of stay, and what she wanted to do in Canada (work, visit, study, move). It started giving me other questions/options until it brought me there. All of the answers I gave it were truthful.

She's Japanese. She won't marry me until I meet her parents.

So if I can find an employer here (she's been working at Subway for two years now and has experience enough to make supervisor) who will fill out an LMIA for her, it would be easier to get her a work permit? Is that usually 100%? There are three Subways in my area. One is a three minute walk. The other two are about ten each. They are franchised and apparently that makes it easier than if they are corporate to get them to do an LMIA. That's what her old manager of the corporate store downtown told me. Any truth to that? I actually went in to two of them and the manager said she would get the owner to call me about it. I waited a week, went back in to another store (the same guy actually owns six of them) and she was at this other store managing it as well. She said he was on vacation and this was a month and a half ago. I have a sneaking suspicion that this manager just doesn't want to do it because she wants to keep openings for her friends. They're literally all new-Canadians (Philippines) working there and everything I asked her she had a negative response for. I'm gonna go into the third store closest to me and see. My girlfriend said she would even work off the LMIA payment if it made him more likely to want to do it for her.

 

[Bs65]

Sorry but not sure working in a subway would qualify for an LMIA given one of the conditions is to advertise for a Canadian or PR of which expect there are plenty with experience in same or similar . Plus technically think could be illegal for someone to pay the fee back to sponsor. Maybe i missed it but thought somewhere you said your GF had a nursing degree is that not an avenue to pursue if not just in caregiver area .This is a personal view by the way and accept you are desparate to find a way

 

[Ponga]

She's Japanese. She won't marry me until I meet her parents.

So...when are you going to japan?

Getting married and submitting an Inland application and OWP might be your best option (if she manages to enter Canada as a visitor), if the primary object is to be together and for her to work in Canada ASAP.

 

[purplesnow]

If she can get an LMIA backed job offer yes it would help. However the likelihood of that happening is slim.

I don't think you understand what an LMIA entails... an employer has to prove that there is no one in Canada who can fill the position. A job at subway, supervisor or not, won't be good enough. They need to advertise the position for a month, submit documentation outlining who applied and why they weren't suitable, why the foreigner is the only person with the required skills to fill this job, transition plans for how they will help the foreigner fit into Canadian life, meet wage requirements and possibly be audited. Its an extremely lengthy and in-depth process and has a rejection rate of approx. 80% anyway. Employers only do it if they absolutely cannot find someone in the country to do it, which is why a job at subway will most likely not work.

Legally, the foreigner cannot pay the costs involved. It must be paid by the employer.

Honestly, your best shot is getting married and doing spousal sponsorship.

Or.. could you get a work visa for Japan, live with her there for a year and then apply to come back to Canada as common-law?

http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/canada_e/Visa/working_holiday.html

 

[zebatov]

Sorry but not sure working in a subway would qualify for an LMIA given one of the conditions is to advertise for a Canadian or PR of which expect there are plenty with experience in same or similar . Plus technically think could be illegal for someone to pay the fee back to sponsor. Maybe i missed it but thought somewhere you said your GF had a nursing degree is that not an avenue to pursue if not just in caregiver area .This is a personal view by the way and accept you are desparate to find a way

When it asked if she had caregiver experience I used her years of nursing as experience and I think this was a factor in it passing me through on the open work permit... I can't be sure though.

So...when are you going to japan?

Getting married and submitting an Inland application and OWP might be your best option (if she manages to enter Canada as a visitor), if the primary object is to be together and for her to work in Canada ASAP.

When I can afford it. Alberta is slow for work right now. Someone in her family just fell ill this past week so she might be going back soon anyways. Which is better in the long run. She can make far more money (Japanese Yen is still quite high - one of only two that didn't depreciate last year) which I told her before she went to NZ, and save until I get money next year from an accident I was in to go over there (to answer your question).

If she can get an LMIA backed job offer yes it would help. However the likelihood of that happening is slim.

I don't think you understand what an LMIA entails... an employer has to prove that there is no one in Canada who can fill the position. A job at subway, supervisor or not, won't be good enough. They need to advertise the position for a month, submit documentation outlining who applied and why they weren't suitable, why the foreigner is the only person with the required skills to fill this job, transition plans for how they will help the foreigner fit into Canadian life, meet wage requirements and possibly be audited. Its an extremely lengthy and in-depth process and has a rejection rate of approx. 80% anyway. Employers only do it if they absolutely cannot find someone in the country to do it, which is why a job at subway will most likely not work.

Legally, the foreigner cannot pay the costs involved. It must be paid by the employer.

Honestly, your best shot is getting married and doing spousal sponsorship.

Or.. could you get a work visa for Japan, live with her there for a year and then apply to come back to Canada as common-law?

You're not from a very big city, are you? The only people I see working at Subway are immigrants (Filipino) and half the time I can barely understand them. There's absolutely no way the statistics you posted are accurate. I mean, in a big city there are more job opportunities elsewhere so born-citzens are less-likely to apply to places that aren't as ideal, such as Subway and McDonald's. I can work at a warehouse starting at $20/hr so why would I apply to Subway and make $11.35? That, on top of the fact that the manager I spoke with who works at two franchised locations said that her owner just hired an LMIA recently.

I can't speak Japanese well enough and I don't have any degree from college (I didn't go). Therefore, from what my roommate who spent four years in Korea tells me, I won't be able to go to teach English, which would be my best bet. I would need any four year degree, plus TESL and TEFL. It'd take about six years before I got all that done. However, I do have a friend who said his younger brother is there teaching English right now. I assume under the table. The option of staying on a visitor visa is there, but they only allow three month visas and I would have to have money saved to fly elsewhere and come back, and repeat two more times for the full year. The other thing holding me back is that I just had my thiry-first birthday on the ninth of this month. I should have applied before just so I had it but I also don't just have $2500 laying around.

Can anyone explain to me the reasoning behind places like Australia being given two two-year visas plus the option of applying for citizenship afterwards when other countries, such as Japan, are only given a one-time one-year work visa? What are the factors behind it?

 

[purplesnow]

You're not from a very big city, are you? The only people I see working at Subway are immigrants (Filipino) and half the time I can barely understand them. There's absolutely no way the statistics you posted are accurate. I mean, in a big city there are more job opportunities elsewhere so born-citzens are less-likely to apply to places that aren't as ideal, such as Subway and McDonald's. I can work at a warehouse starting at $20/hr so why would I apply to Subway and make $11.35? That, on top of the fact that the manager I spoke with who works at two franchised locations said that her owner just hired an LMIA recently.

I can't speak Japanese well enough and I don't have any degree from college (I didn't go). Therefore, from what my roommate who spent four years in Korea tells me, I won't be able to go to teach English, which would be my best bet. I would need any four year degree, plus TESL and TEFL. It'd take about six years before I got all that done. However, I do have a friend who said his younger brother is there teaching English right now. I assume under the table. The option of staying on a visitor visa is there, but they only allow three month visas and I would have to have money saved to fly elsewhere and come back, and repeat two more times for the full year. The other thing holding me back is that I just had my thiry-first birthday on the ninth of this month. I should have applied before just so I had it but I also don't just have $2500 laying around.

Can anyone explain to me the reasoning behind places like Australia being given two two-year visas plus the option of applying for citizenship afterwards when other countries, such as Japan, are only given a one-time one-year work visa? What are the factors behind it?

guess that depends on your definition of a big city. Toronto.

here's the gov info on conditions surrounding an LMIA.
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/foreign_workers/employers/employer_compliance.page
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/employers/lmo-basics.asp

I don't know the statistics for wherever you are, have a look for yourself.
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/foreign_workers/2015/lmia_quarterly_statistics/index.page
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/foreign_workers/2014/positive_lmia/alberta.page

the visas are reciprocal. If Japan offers Canadian citizens 2 year visas, then Canada would offer Japanese citizens 2 year visas. simple as that really.

 

[Leon]

As others have said, she doesn't have the caregiver option because "caregiver" is an immigration program in itself and she's not in it. In order to be a caregiver, she'd have to get an LMIA to work as a live-in caretaker of children, a disabled person or senior citizen and she'd have to do that for 2 years before she can apply for an open work permit and PR.

If she is a nurse, there is also a chance getting an LMIA as a nurse. There is supposed to be a shortage of nurses in Canada.

Other than that, she can apply to extend her stay as a visitor when her work permit expires in order for you to be able to qualify as common law by living together for 12 months.

Otherwise, if you can't support her and she leaves for Japan, you'd have to go with her in order to qualify with the 12 months or in order to meet her parents so you can get married.

 

[scylla]

Can anyone explain to me the reasoning behind places like Australia being given two two-year visas plus the option of applying for citizenship afterwards when other countries, such as Japan, are only given a one-time one-year work visa? What are the factors behind it?

Not sure how you came up with these assumptions - but they're quite wrong. Australians certain do not qualify to apply for Canadian citizenship after a two-year visa (no one qualifies to apply for citizenship directly from a work visa). A person has to become a permanent resident and then live in Canada for a number of years before qualifying to apply for citizenship. Australians who come here on a two year work permit do not automatically qualify for permanent residence either - they have to meet the same requirements as everyone else to apply for PR. There's no magic process for Australians.

As for why those from Japan only get one year - as purplesnow explained, it's reciprocal.

 

[zebatov]

Not sure how you came up with these assumptions - but they're quite wrong. Australians certain do not qualify to apply for Canadian citizenship after a two-year visa (no one qualifies to apply for citizenship directly from a work visa). A person has to become a permanent resident and then live in Canada for a number of years before qualifying to apply for citizenship. Australians who come here on a two year work permit do not automatically qualify for permanent residence either - they have to meet the same requirements as everyone else to apply for PR. There's no magic process for Australians.

As for why those from Japan only get one year - as purplesnow explained, it's reciprocal.

I said two two-year visas. Not one. I was told by an Australian a while back that he was on a two-year visa, and that he could apply for another two-year visa, and then could apply for PR either within those periods or after they end. Which would then lead to a citizenship application. She did already answer my question. I also dated a girl from Australia and I seem to remember (after looking into it) it being harder to stay there for us than it seems to be for them to stay here is all.

Anyways, yeah, there might be a lot involved in the LMIA program... but it sure seems like a lot of employers go to a lot of trouble to hire these people in these bigger cities then...

 

[Leon]

I said two two-year visas. Not one. I was told by an Australian a while back that he was on a two-year visa, and that he could apply for another two-year visa, and then could apply for PR either within those periods or after they end. Which would then lead to a citizenship application. She did already answer my question. I also dated a girl from Australia and I seem to remember (after looking into it) it being harder to stay there for us than it seems to be for them to stay here is all.

Anyways, yeah, there might be a lot involved in the LMIA program... but it sure seems like a lot of employers go to a lot of trouble to hire these people in these bigger cities then...

They still have to qualify to apply for PR somehow. Being on a two year visa doesn't qualify you to apply. They really have to play their cards right. Getting a skilled job and developing a good working relationship with your employer so they want to keep you can really help.