HELP figure out move from America to Canada! Pregnant!

[kkappo24]

Hello, I am a 20 year old college student from Wisconsin. I am in desperate need of guidance and suggestions about my current situation and what are the next steps I should be taking. My fiance and I have been in a long distance relationship since fall 2011, he lives/works and was born and raised in Alberta. We have made trips back and forth to each other since February of last year. Ever since we made our relationship official back in 2011 we were planning on finding a way to move me to Alberta AFTER my graduation, but this past Christmas we have become pregnant , so we'd definitely like to make the move a little sooner now. What I would like to know is the process I would need to go through with our situation to be able to move in together. My biggest fear is staying here in the states throughout my pregnancy alone (I am 6.5 weeks at the moment). We are not married yet (as we were originally waiting for me to finish school) and we have not lived together continuously for any amount of time (also because I have been in school). Ideally we would LOVE for me to move in with him as soon as my spring semester is over (May 1), but I'm very concerned about not being able to have any type of health insurance for prenatal care in Alberta, I won't be able to work once I move there, and I don't want to have to worry about traveling back to the U.S. alone later in my pregnancy because I am not allowed to stay. He can not in anyway move to the U.S. or stay here for a long period of time with me due to the fact that he has shared custody of his 4 year old daughter. Is marriage something we should be considering within the next few months so my fiance can sponsor me? I know it will be stressful to plan a wedding on top of the pregnancy and figuring out online schooling options for next fall and work but we're willing to do whatever it takes so that we can share the rest of this pregnancy together . Please, any suggestions of what we should do would help. I have never been so overwhelmed and stressed and can't seem to find any answers that we need online because no one has been in our situation. Should we be trying to plan a wedding on top of all of this (pregnancy stress, searching for a new school for next fall, figuring out finances)? Or should we just apply as conjugal partners and see what happens? Because from what I’ve read on other forums, as well as the application itself, it’s likely we’ll be turned away because we have had no “legitimate” barrier keeping us from marrying (like visas and such)….the only “legitimate” reason I have is that I was originally planning on waiting until AFTER I had my degree to get married…that’s just the traditional way it’s supposed to be done in my family…But now that I’m pregnant circumstances are a little different. But seeing as our app just may be turned down because of what I had valued and tried to prioritize… I’m not sure if “Conjugal” sponsorship will even get us anywhere now… Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[scylla]

You are correct in your assessment of the conjugal sponsorship class. You have no chance of being approved through this category since you face no real barriers to marriage or common law. Get married now and apply as a married couple.

 

[Alurra71]

You have a LOT to contend with. Not only is this a stressful situation, but being pregnant on top of it will really kick your emotions into high gear.

So, let me see if I can help you out, just a little bit here.

First things first. Take a deep breath. This can all be dealt with, however it is going to take time no matter how much you want it right now. OK? OK. Let's get started then.

You have a couple options open to you. You can go an 'visit' your fiance in Canada. They will give you the standard 6 months, because you are of US origins. You can stay with him for a visit for that amount of time, and then you can apply to extend your visitor status which should net you another 6 months easily. In this time, you can accumulate 12 months of continuous cohabitation with your fiance which will by Canadian law make you common law partners and he can now apply to sponsor you for PR. The other option would be to marry and he can sponsor you immediately with no waiting involved.

As far as schooling goes. This is where it is going to get difficult for you. You will not be able to attend school in Canada unless you get a study permit ahead of time. The tuition, I fear, will be too far out of reach for a young couple such as yourselves, so your only option would be to attend a US school with online classes, again, how the tuition thing would work, I'm not sure. That is something you would likely need to take up with the financial adviser of your school of choice.

Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky as each province is different. Health coverage. From what I read here http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/temporary-residents.htmlbasically states that if you have an ongoing PR application and have received AIP (approval in principle) that you will qualify for Albert Health Coverage. Otherwise, it's a matter of having a work or study permit or a COPR (you wont have this until the end of the Sponsorship process) or a PR card (This is even a longer step away for you).

Some things to consider here, because you are pregnant.

You could marry your fiance and then put together all the necessary documentations and such to send in a completed application for your PR status. You can do this from Canada, if you wish, but no matter where you choose to do it from (the US or Canada) it is going to take a few months (likely 3 maybe longer depending) and nothing is going to change that. You are not going to have health coverage in Canada if you are here. You would have to pay for your maternal visits out of pocket. Once you have filed your application and receive your first stage approval you should qualify for Alberta health. How/Where you decide to send your application is going to make a big difference in reciept of this first stage approval.

You have two choices. File an Inland application or an Outland application. Because you are a US citizen, everyone here, I think, would agree that an Outland application would be your best route. You can get stage 1 approval within 30 days and I didn't read anything to the contrary that it said your stage one must be from an Inland application to qualify for health coverage. This is the biggest asset to you right now that I can see. You can indeed be with your fiance/spouse 'visiting' in Canada while this application is in process and you await a decision. Do not let the name 'Outland' confuse you on that point. A down side to this process is that you can not apply for an OWP (open work permit) to help maintain your 'implied visitor status' so you would have to file roughly 1 month before your current status expires in order to maintain your status while your application is in process.

The flip side of the applications is Inland. This one you can also file while you stay here with your fiance/spouse however there are good and bad points to this one as well. If you file this type, you can file for the OWP which will give you implied status so you won't have to manually reapply for your status to be updated. It will also grant you a work permit after first stage approval which will allow you to work anywhere of your choosing, HOWEVER this stage is currently taking roughly 11 months to process. I feel this is a bad idea since you are pregnant and also would not qualify for Alberta health until this point.

There is so much information on this board. You are not alone and your situation is not quite as unique as you might feel it is. This CAN be all done. All of your answers can be found here, you just need to find them or ask the questions.

Remember though, if you two need to be together for this pregnancy you WILL have to get married sooner than you planned in order to file for your paperwork so it can work as outlined above. If you wish to wait for common law status instead to continue with your original life plan, you are going to have to figure out what needs to be done for baby care. No matter which side of the border the baby is born on, he/she will be eligible for dual citizenship because he/she has a parent from both countries. Just remember to file for certificate of citizenship from the embassy. If born in Canada, the us embassy. If born in US the Canadian embassy.

 

[on-hold]

And remember, if you go through this process, you need to figure out what is necessary and what is not necessary. Your worry about 'planning a wedding' suggests (at least to me) that you haven't quite done that yet . . .

And honestly, if you argued that you should receive 'conjugal' status because of your values regarding finishing school first, they would wonder why this didn't extend to using birth control (which to be fair has a failure rate, but I suspect CIC gets a lot of people who argue that they fall into unusual exceptions).

Have you considered transferring to the University of Alberta or the University of Calgary? You would have to see if the insurance students receive covers pregnancy (I think it does, Alberta is pretty generous this way), but it might be another option. Look at this link if you're interested: http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/temporary-residents.html

I don't know if pregnancy would interfere with the granting of a student visa or not, or whether you would have to misrepresent yourself in the application process.

 

[SenoritaBella]

If she will be studying for more than 6 months, an immigration medical exam is part of the process. They collect a urine sample, but I'm not sure if a pregnancy test is done or not.

 

[Rob_TO]

Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky as each province is different. Health coverage. From what I read here http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/temporary-residents.htmlbasically states that if you have an ongoing PR application and have received AIP (approval in principle) that you will qualify for Albert Health Coverage. Otherwise, it's a matter of having a work or study permit or a COPR (you wont have this until the end of the Sponsorship process) or a PR card (This is even a longer step away for you).

Alberta is one of the easiest provinces to get provincial health coverage. I've read from many posters, that in Alberta they were able to get provincial coverage for their spouses simply because they are a spouse, and even while they are just here on visitor status with no PR application.
I would ask this question specifically in the health care section of this forum. http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/health-b40.0/

 

[kkappo24]

Thanks guys, you're information and suggestions are helping me out TONS.

To On-Hold: As far as my whole "planning a wedding" thing goes, I was just more concerned about how to put together a wedding QUICKLY so we can file our app sooner, but at the same time I want it to be a nice special wedding lol not just some thrown together ceremony. I don't just have a wedding dress on hand at the moment and invitations made and a lovely reception planned- remember this all wasn't really supposed to take place for another year and a half! Haha and I'm a procrastinator, so I haven't had it all planned out since he popped the question...I figured we'd figure it all out when the time got a little closer.

The go plan for right now is to start getting invitations made for his family and friends to be at our ceremony since his mom originally said she wanted to help us put together the wedding (his entire family is native, with a few special traditions that we'd like to incorporate). Since we will be marrying in Canada, and plan to do it soon (within the next few months), and my family already refused to spend tons of money on flights and passports, we plan to have a second ceremony here in the states with my family come summer

Yes, I am stressing about not wanting to travel back and forth between prenatal visits but our little jellybean is off to a healthy start and I'm a pretty healthy person in general so my OBGYN said we probably won't need too many visits...the ones we'll have are pretty spread out I've also been looking into maternal visit costs estimates in Alberta just to get a general idea of what we'd have to pay out of pocket if we just chose to do the check ups there

Good vibes. An online school I can transfer to is being looked into but is honestly the least of my worries right now. I won't completely disregard it but it can go on the back burner for a while.

The only thing that bites is that "because we plan to get married, but haven't lived with each other, we'll probably have an interview with an immigration officer"....? I don't know what that has to do with anything but I was told by someone on another forum that that is what could happen in our case. Now it's not the interview I'm worried about, our relationship has been and always will be super solid, I don't feel like we have to prove anything when the proof is already there I just don't want to have to fly here and there super pregnant or with a newborn But it is what it is. Whatever it takes to be with my hubby in the long run <3

Wish us luck!

 

[Alurra71]

Thanks guys, you're information and suggestions are helping me out TONS.

To On-Hold: As far as my whole "planning a wedding" thing goes, I was just more concerned about how to put together a wedding QUICKLY so we can file our app sooner, but at the same time I want it to be a nice special wedding lol not just some thrown together ceremony. I don't just have a wedding dress on hand at the moment and invitations made and a lovely reception planned- remember this all wasn't really supposed to take place for another year and a half! Haha and I'm a procrastinator, so I haven't had it all planned out since he popped the question...I figured we'd figure it all out when the time got a little closer.

The go plan for right now is to start getting invitations made for his family and friends to be at our ceremony since his mom originally said she wanted to help us put together the wedding (his entire family is native, with a few special traditions that we'd like to incorporate). Since we will be marrying in Canada, and plan to do it soon (within the next few months), and my family already refused to spend tons of money on flights and passports, we plan to have a second ceremony here in the states with my family come summer

Yes, I am stressing about not wanting to travel back and forth between prenatal visits but our little jellybean is off to a healthy start and I'm a pretty healthy person in general so my OBGYN said we probably won't need too many visits...the ones we'll have are pretty spread out I've also been looking into maternal visit costs estimates in Alberta just to get a general idea of what we'd have to pay out of pocket if we just chose to do the check ups there

Good vibes. An online school I can transfer to is being looked into but is honestly the least of my worries right now. I won't completely disregard it but it can go on the back burner for a while.

The only thing that bites is that "because we plan to get married, but haven't lived with each other, we'll probably have an interview with an immigration officer"....? I don't know what that has to do with anything but I was told by someone on another forum that that is what could happen in our case. Now it's not the interview I'm worried about, our relationship has been and always will be super solid, I don't feel like we have to prove anything when the proof is already there I just don't want to have to fly here and there super pregnant or with a newborn But it is what it is. Whatever it takes to be with my hubby in the long run <3

Wish us luck!

I bolded that statement in your quote because I have no idea who told you that, or what they even meant by it. But please be clear. You can NOT file an application for sponsorship until you either have gotten legally married, or you have completed a full 12 months of cohabitation. Intentions aren't really brought into the mix here. You should also realize, that you can do a 'civil' ceremony to make it 'official' and then once you have gotten the ball rolling on your sponsorship you can 'plan' for a bigger ceremony for friends/family and such.

 

[kkappo24]

The reason I'd like to avoid a plain old civil marriage just to be able to apply and then have our formal ceremony later is because I don't want our relationship to be overlooked like we just had a "marriage of convenience." They aren't going to want to see pictures from our actual religious ceremony come July....we want to be able to have that as added proof that our relationship is genuine, and prefer to have our ACTUAL wedding the first time around.

You understand, right?

I guess I could just explain that the only reason we would be having a civil marriage say...next month and then be planning a regular ceremony come summer is that we just wanted to apply early for sponsorship so I could be able to have our baby in Canada with my hubby and his daughter at the hospital with me come September.

Sorry guys, I'm so intimidated by the CIC. It feels like I'm going to be just a little nobody to them once they receive our application. I just really want to be with my little family. That's all I want *Raging pregnancy hormones kicking in*

 

[Rob_TO]

I guess I could just explain that the only reason we would be having a civil marriage say...next month and then be planning a regular ceremony come summer is that we just wanted to apply early for sponsorship so I could be able to have our baby in Canada with my hubby and his daughter at the hospital with me come September.

Do NOT tell CIC that you are having a small civil wedding solely for the purpose of applying for PR as early as possible. That is the very definition of a "marriage of convenience" and your app will have a high chance to be rejected. CIC wants to see any marriage was done due to a real relationship first, and applying for PR is secondary.

If you wanted to do the small civil marriage then you should say it's to save money, because you wanted to elope, etc etc.

 

[kkappo24]

^ True. Well whatever, I'm done worrying about the app. I can't be bothered about it anymore, I just want to focus on having a wonderful wedding with my hubby and whatever happens afterwards just happens. I'm really not in the mental state to think about immigration anymore...tooooooooo stressful....maybe later haha. One thing at a time. In the end, I just want our special day to be the best and happiest day for us....not revolving around some immigration officer. It may be a small intimate wedding with just his family there with us but it sure as hell won't be a "marriage of convenience".

Off to begin the hunt for the perfect wedding dress tomorrow <3 Now just to figure out how I'm gonna get the darn thing on the plane! haha!

 

[Tilikun]

The reason I'd like to avoid a plain old civil marriage just to be able to apply and then have our formal ceremony later is because I don't want our relationship to be overlooked like we just had a "marriage of convenience." They aren't going to want to see pictures from our actual religious ceremony come July....we want to be able to have that as added proof that our relationship is genuine, and prefer to have our ACTUAL wedding the first time around.

You understand, right?

I guess I could just explain that the only reason we would be having a civil marriage say...next month and then be planning a regular ceremony come summer is that we just wanted to apply early for sponsorship so I could be able to have our baby in Canada with my hubby and his daughter at the hospital with me come September.

Sorry guys, I'm so intimidated by the CIC. It feels like I'm going to be just a little nobody to them once they receive our application. I just really want to be with my little family. That's all I want *Raging pregnancy hormones kicking in*

Big wedding ...small wedding ... "Convenience", all that will be put aside once CIC knows that you're pregnant ,and after when they receive copy of his/her birth certificate ! Congratulations !

 

[kkappo24]

Thanks Tilikun <3

Also, does anyone know if we'll get all of our relationship documents back? (photos, phone bills, screenshots, flight tickets) or should I just get copies and send those? I don't want to lose tons of precious memorabilia lol....and how many photos should I send? We've got hundreds haha

 

[screech339]

Thanks Tilikun <3

Also, does anyone know if we'll get all of our relationship documents back? (photos, phone bills, screenshots, flight tickets) or should I just get copies and send those? I don't want to lose tons of precious memorabilia lol....and how many photos should I send? We've got hundreds haha

If you applied inland, you won't get your documents back. It is one of the reasons they ask for photocopies of everything except option C and police reports.

 

[kkappo24]

So how many photos should we include, everyone? As many as I can fit in the package?