American Citizen moving to Canada for a year

[spatulaprodigy]

You probably get a hundred of these questions a day (and yes I've googled) but I haven't found any that quite fit.

I've been dating my fiance for about 4 years now.. I'm a born Canadian Citizen and she's a born American Citizen. We've met about 4 times now, I've gone over to see her 3 times (a little longer than a week each time) and her once to visit me for about a month.
So now she's coming again, I bought her a one way ticket here and she was going to buy herself a ticket back.. but now we've decided why doesn't she stay for a year? I've read up on work permits that you need to be IN Canada while the application is processing. My question is:
1. How long would it take?
2. Is there anything we should know?
3. Would it be easier to for her just to gain permanent residence here?
4. Do I have to prove I can support her while she's here?
5. Can she leave when the process is done? I'm not trying to hold her hostage from her family.

 

[scylla]

You probably get a hundred of these questions a day (and yes I've googled) but I haven't found any that quite fit.

I've been dating my fiance for about 4 years now.. I'm a born Canadian Citizen and she's a born American Citizen. We've met about 4 times now, I've gone over to see her 3 times (a little longer than a week each time) and her once to visit me for about a month.
So now she's coming again, I bought her a one way ticket here and she was going to buy herself a ticket back.. but now we've decided why doesn't she stay for a year? I've read up on work permits that you need to be IN Canada while the application is processing. My question is:
1. How long would it take?
2. Is there anything we should know?
3. Would it be easier to for her just to gain permanent residence here?
4. Do I have to prove I can support her while she's here?
5. Can she leave when the process is done? I'm not trying to hold her hostage from her family.

Recommend you join the discussions in the Family Sponsorship section of the forum. You'll need to either be married or common law (have lived together for a year continuously) before you'll be able to sponsor her for PR. Until she is a PR, she can visit Canada but not live or move here. She should be careful when she visits to ensure it doesn't look like she's moving - that case cause problems at the border. She should be able to demonstrate ties to the US if asked - and should also make sure she doesn't pack like she's moving.

She will only qualify for a work permit if you sponsor her for PR using the inland process (again, you'll need to be either married or common law before you'll be able to sponsor her). The work permit will be approved approximately four months after the sponsorship application is submitted.

 

[spatulaprodigy]

Great! Thanks for the quick reply.

She owes the IRS 1 thousand which is ridiculous. Would she have a problem with staying for a month? or should we play it safe and just stay a week..