I am a US citizen, age 34. I do not have a degree, and the majority of my work has been in various minimum wage food service positions. I live in Alabama. I am the beneficiary of a decently sized trust fund that earns around 30k a year. I do lots of creative work as a freelance photographer and graphic designer.
I met my Canadian girlfriend while on vacation three years ago. We have been dating for two years. She lives in Ontario. I have been visiting her regularly over the past two years for 4-6 weeks at a time. She works full time and has a house in Canada, so it is much easier for me to visit her. Also, I like Canada more than Alabama.
Last October I began looking into the idea of getting a study visa. I was intending to finally complete a college level program. After spending twelve years or so working on my own, I now have a much clearer sense of my skills and desires than I did when I was 18 and first considering college. My intention was to complete a 3 year program in Graphic Design.
I applied through the CIC website in early October, and received a refusal roughly 3 weeks later. The form letter said the reason was that I had not adequately proven that I would leave Canada at the end of my studies.
I met with an Immigration lawyer in Canada who advised me to reapply, and to do it by mail this time. I would have unlimited space to explain myself more clearly. The website application insists on a small file size for all the information, which was highly limiting. I assumed "less is more".
The second application I sent in was huge. I wrote essays about my personal history and my intentions for the future. I included character reference letters from upstanding individuals with whom I have worked in the past. I included photos of my studio space in Alabama to demonstrate my ties to the States.
Today, I received a second refusal letter. The reasons stated were identical to the first refusal. They acknowledged that I had previously applied for a study visa, and informed me that my situation has not changed. I am now out of time, and I will not be able to start school in September as I had hoped.
So now I am at a loss, and I am ready to entertain all options. I love my girlfriend and we want to live together in Canada. It was my hope that I could finish school and apply for permanent residence after living in Canada for the required year.
We are both open to the idea of getting married, but that is not ideal. We are committed to each other, and we intend to get married someday, but it seems stupid to do it just to appease the government.
It seems to me that I will have to live in Canada for a whole year while not being permitted to work or attend school. I suppose I should live here for the maximum visitor allowance of six months and then apply for an extension to my visit. Once we have lived together for 12 months, then we can start the process of sponsoring?
So I guess my question is - how does this 6 month visitor limit thing work? I have already spent close to 12 weeks in Canada since January this year. Does that count against my 6 month limit? Am I just limited to 6 months at a time? Do I have to spend a significant amount of time in the US to reset my visitor limit?
Should we just get married? Sorry for the wall of text, but today has been very distressing. I thought I had the next 3 years of my life planned out, but now all those plans have been ruined.
I met my Canadian girlfriend while on vacation three years ago. We have been dating for two years. She lives in Ontario. I have been visiting her regularly over the past two years for 4-6 weeks at a time. She works full time and has a house in Canada, so it is much easier for me to visit her. Also, I like Canada more than Alabama.
Last October I began looking into the idea of getting a study visa. I was intending to finally complete a college level program. After spending twelve years or so working on my own, I now have a much clearer sense of my skills and desires than I did when I was 18 and first considering college. My intention was to complete a 3 year program in Graphic Design.
I applied through the CIC website in early October, and received a refusal roughly 3 weeks later. The form letter said the reason was that I had not adequately proven that I would leave Canada at the end of my studies.
I met with an Immigration lawyer in Canada who advised me to reapply, and to do it by mail this time. I would have unlimited space to explain myself more clearly. The website application insists on a small file size for all the information, which was highly limiting. I assumed "less is more".
The second application I sent in was huge. I wrote essays about my personal history and my intentions for the future. I included character reference letters from upstanding individuals with whom I have worked in the past. I included photos of my studio space in Alabama to demonstrate my ties to the States.
Today, I received a second refusal letter. The reasons stated were identical to the first refusal. They acknowledged that I had previously applied for a study visa, and informed me that my situation has not changed. I am now out of time, and I will not be able to start school in September as I had hoped.
So now I am at a loss, and I am ready to entertain all options. I love my girlfriend and we want to live together in Canada. It was my hope that I could finish school and apply for permanent residence after living in Canada for the required year.
We are both open to the idea of getting married, but that is not ideal. We are committed to each other, and we intend to get married someday, but it seems stupid to do it just to appease the government.
It seems to me that I will have to live in Canada for a whole year while not being permitted to work or attend school. I suppose I should live here for the maximum visitor allowance of six months and then apply for an extension to my visit. Once we have lived together for 12 months, then we can start the process of sponsoring?
So I guess my question is - how does this 6 month visitor limit thing work? I have already spent close to 12 weeks in Canada since January this year. Does that count against my 6 month limit? Am I just limited to 6 months at a time? Do I have to spend a significant amount of time in the US to reset my visitor limit?
Should we just get married? Sorry for the wall of text, but today has been very distressing. I thought I had the next 3 years of my life planned out, but now all those plans have been ruined.
