Canadian Work Visa - Irish Passport

[Timmyjayl]

Hi,
I applied, received and activated the IEC visa back in 2017. I never actually used it, I only activated it by going to Toronto for a week on holiday, I ended up moving to the UK as I needed to be close to home for family reasons. I have now been going out with my Canadian girlfriend for 18 months and we have been living together for 7 months in London, UK. She may have to move back to Canada in April as her visa is up then. When I applied for the visa I believe it was up to 30 and now I believe it is up to 35 but not certain if it was always 35. Anyway as I applied for the IEC when I was under 30 and when it was up to 30, and now I am 32 and the visa is up to 35, is there a loophole there to obtain the visa again as in a way its a different situation. If not, does anyone have any advice on how I can get a working visa for canada in 2020? I will go to Canada on a tourist visa anyway in April but it just means I can't work and will have to leave after 6 months. Has anyone been in a similar situation and/or has information on it. I would really appreciate any information our situation. Thanks, Tim.

 

[scylla]

Hi,
I applied, received and activated the IEC visa back in 2017. I never actually used it, I only activated it by going to Toronto for a week on holiday, I ended up moving to the UK as I needed to be close to home for family reasons. I have now been going out with my Canadian girlfriend for 18 months and we have been living together for 7 months in London, UK. She may have to move back to Canada in April as her visa is up then. When I applied for the visa I believe it was up to 30 and now I believe it is up to 35 but not certain if it was always 35. Anyway as I applied for the IEC when I was under 30 and when it was up to 30, and now I am 32 and the visa is up to 35, is there a loophole there to obtain the visa again as in a way its a different situation. If not, does anyone have any advice on how I can get a working visa for canada in 2020? I will go to Canada on a tourist visa anyway in April but it just means I can't work and will have to leave after 6 months. Has anyone been in a similar situation and/or has information on it. I would really appreciate any information our situation. Thanks, Tim.

Since you were issued an IEC - this counts as a participation. You can participate a second time under your Irish passport, but only in the co-op stream.

If you hold a second passport and that country qualifies for an IEC, you can participate under that passport.

Otherwise if you want to qualify for a work permit, you need a job offer from an employer in Canada and an approved LMIA.

 

[Bs65]

Others can comment as well but one possible option which is a long shot maybe the common law sponsorship route. You say you have been living together for 7 months so if you live together for another 5 months you could be considered common law and your partner could sponsor you for PR.

So if we assume that you continue to live together through April 2020 then by that time you have been living together in the 10-11 month range when common law requires 12 months minimum.

So if your plan is to come as a visitor in April, assuming you get a default 6 month stay and you continue to live together then once you cross the 12 months your partner could submit an inland spouse sponsorship along with a work permit application. The latter would take approx 4 months to come through and the whole process to PR upto 12 months.

On arrival in April probably advisable to not state specific purpose of visit as living in Canada to obtain PR but simply visiting your partner.

For a common law application you need plenty of backup material to demonstrate a genuine relationship such as anything in joint names, photos and even supporting evidence from friends/family but checkout various others posts on the forum to get ideas.

Above is just my personal view of a possible option which others on here may comment on or correct.

Of course the easiest route would be to get married but that is not necessarily a step many would want to take if not at that stage in a relationship..

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/spouse-partner-children.html

 

[Timmyjayl]

Others can comment as well but one possible option which is a long shot maybe the common law sponsorship route. You say you have been living together for 7 months so if you live together for another 5 months you could be considered common law and your partner could sponsor you for PR.

So if we assume that you continue to live together through April 2020 then by that time you have been living together in the 10-11 month range when common law requires 12 months minimum.

So if your plan is to come as a visitor in April, assuming you get a default 6 month stay and you continue to live together then once you cross the 12 months your partner could submit an inland spouse sponsorship along with a work permit application. The latter would take approx 4 months to come through and the whole process to PR upto 12 months.

On arrival in April probably advisable to not state specific purpose of visit as living in Canada to obtain PR but simply visiting your partner.

For a common law application you need plenty of backup material to demonstrate a genuine relationship such as anything in joint names, photos and even supporting evidence from friends/family but checkout various others posts on the forum to get ideas.

Above is just my personal view of a possible option which others on here may comment on or correct.

Of course the easiest route would be to get married but that is not necessarily a step many would want to take if not at that stage in a relationship..

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/spouse-partner-children.html

Thanks for the reply, this is very helpful.