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Can only stay in Canada 6 months total in a year? Is this true?

Buletruck

VIP Member
May 18, 2015
6,667
2,521
I have a valid visitor visa for 8 years.
"Sigh"... you have a TRV that allows you to travel to Canada and be assessed by CBSA for entry into the county that is valid for 8 years. This doesn't mean you get to stay for 8 years straight. Your visa is actually the stamp they put in your passport at immigration. If it has no date, you can remain 6 months. If it has a date, you have to leave by then. You can apply for an extension 30 days before it expires.
 

Bs65

VIP Member
Mar 22, 2016
13,190
2,419
Sing0370 said:
Hi,
I am navjot kaur,21 years of age. I arrived Canada on 1st September 2016 To visit my husband,who is a student here. I have multiple visa as a visitor for 8 years. Now i am at 25th week of pregnancy. I heard that i have to leave canada before six months,it doesn't matter if i have 8years visa or what.. it is necessary for everyone to leave Canada before 6 months. Is it true? Or just a rumour by people?
I don't want to leave canada during my pregnancy. I have a valid visitor visa for 8 years. I want to give birth to my first child in canada. Do i not allowed to stay here for more than 6 months and give my child birth here? I want to stay with my husband during my pregnancy. I am so worried about if i can give birth to my baby in canada or not,if i have a valid visitor visa though? Please help me out of this tension.
what I find confusing about your story is why your husband and you did not apply formally for you to accompany him off back of his study permit then you would not be in this position which by sound of it you just have a standard visitor visa . For example :
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/work-spouse.asp

If your husband had followed the process for a student with an accompanying spouse you could have stayed for the same time with no issues but on a standard visitor visa 6 months at a time tends to be the maximum per visit and without sounding too dramatic if you do not apply formally for an extension you could technically be considered staying illegally after end this month, February.

As with any country overstaying can have implications later if applying to stay permanently whether or not you give birth to what will be a Canadian citizen if born in Canada which by the way grants a mother or father no special priviledge for a PR application.

At 25 weeks you still have time to either apply for a visitor extension, apply for status off back of husbands study permit or leave the country whilst you can still fly. For sure would not use the pregnancy as a reason to extend your visitor stay if thats your choice as likely an extension would be rejected.

If you manage to stay through the pregnancy as a visitor who is going to pay the not insignificant costs for the birth and even more so if any complications given as a visitor you will be responsible for those costs, travel insurance will not cover you.

Ultimately you need to discuss and resolve your options with your husband keeping in mind with any decision you need to consider any effect on your long term prospects in Canada
 

Griffin2571

Newbie
Jun 25, 2021
5
0
Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I (Canadian) would like to eventually sponsor my American partner as common-law. We have been together for a year and she is coming on a tourist visa next month but my question is, how can we obtain common law status (12 month cohabitation) if she is only allowed here for 6 months? Of course we will apply for the extension but still. Am I missing something? Thank you!
 

YVR123

VIP Member
Jul 27, 2017
6,431
2,460
Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I (Canadian) would like to eventually sponsor my American partner as common-law. We have been together for a year and she is coming on a tourist visa next month but my question is, how can we obtain common law status (12 month cohabitation) if she is only allowed here for 6 months? Of course we will apply for the extension but still. Am I missing something? Thank you!
apply for extension of her visitor status before her initial entry 6 month tourist visit expires.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I (Canadian) would like to eventually sponsor my American partner as common-law. We have been together for a year and she is coming on a tourist visa next month but my question is, how can we obtain common law status (12 month cohabitation) if she is only allowed here for 6 months? Of course we will apply for the extension but still. Am I missing something? Thank you!
When you apply for the extension specify that you are trying to live together for a year in order to apply for common law. That should help getting approved. You should then apply for sponsorship because we see others keep renewing and never applying for common law and eventually people get denied. Make sure you keep detailed records of your 1 year living together. Things like having both your names on a lease. Having documents with both your name or one of your names on different documents (bills, banks statements, etc) with the date and your common address. You should have proof from throughout the 1 year but especially from the start of the 1 year and the end of the 1 year or anytime after the 1 year is finished. Many aren’t thinking of proof when they originally start living together and don’t have proof of when they started living together so may lose out on a few months.
 

Griffin2571

Newbie
Jun 25, 2021
5
0
Great! Thanks so much! I guess at that point though she’d be applying for PR as common law and because she’d already have been in Canada for 12 months would then have to return to the US while it’s being processed?