Advice?

[LilliumDream]

Hello. I am a Canadian citizen, born and raised. I met a girl from the United States, and we have been pursuing our relationship online. After some talk, she has agreed to move to Canada. We have been looking into the immigration process and finding a lot of confusing information. Need some clarity.

Would my girlfriend be able to apply for a visitor visa, get an extension, and then after 12 months of cohabitation I can apply to sponsor her as a common-law partner? Is this theoretically possible?

We want as much info as possible before we initiate the process, we want to make sure we have everything we need for a successful application.

 

[Rob_TO]

She can enter as a visitor (there is no visa required) and will usually get status for 6 months to start. She should make sure she looks and acts like a visitor so have ties to US, a return ticket if flying, luggage typical of visitor, etc etc.

When 6 months is almost up she can apply to extend her status.

As a visitor she will be unable to work the entire time here.

 

[LilliumDream]

Thanks for the reply Rob_TO,

Ok, no visa required. She doesn't need to fly lives close to border, would be driving. No work, that's fine. So she can share assets? Lease? If I want to sponsor her as common-law down the line we should have joint assets correct? Bank account, lease, etc. What sort of ties to US?

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for the reply Rob_TO,

Ok, no visa required. She doesn't need to fly lives close to border, would be driving. No work, that's fine. So she can share assets? Lease? If I want to sponsor her as common-law down the line we should have joint assets correct? Bank account, lease, etc. What sort of ties to US?

When crossing the border, CBSA will want to make sure she is actually a visitor and not attempting to move/live in Canada. So she should have at least a residential address in the US, and any other ties she can think of that would convince them she'll return. As long as she doesn't raise any suspicions (so don't show up with a car full of personal belongings) and tells them she's just visiting, then odds are she will just be waived in with no problems. But better to be prepared.

And yes once in Canada, you should work immediately to start gathering proofs of your cohabitation. So get her name on a lease, joint bank account, supplemental credit card user, any other joint accounts, have mail to her delivered to your address, etc etc. There are lots of things you can do, even if she's just on visitor status.