Help! How can I get my fiancée to Canada?

[rainsong]

Hello everyone,

My fiancée lives in England, and I am a Canadian citizen, and we are trying to work out ways to get him to work and eventually live here in Canada. We met on a chat site many years ago and have been together for over 2 years, march 2012. Since then he has made a few trips here to visit me, and in June 2014 we got engaged. We have been trying to figure out how to get him out here, but it has proved to be a little difficult, as I am in college and have to focus on that as well. We have gone over the information provided by the Canadian government, but it all makes it sound impossible. We need some help in finding out the best way to go from here. Is there anyone out there with some suggestions or have done this before?

 

[scylla]

You can sponsor him for permanent residency once you are either married or common law (common law means you have lived together for a minimum of one full year). You do not need to have any income to sponsor him.

Canada also has other immigration programs that are listed here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply.asp

If he is the right age and a citizen of the UK, another option would be to apply for a working holiday visa (IEC) which would allow him to come to Canada and work and live for a year. Note that only a limited number of IECs are issued each year and they are snapped up extremely quickly (i.e. within 15 minutes of the program opening). We don't know when the program is going to re-open this year. But if you're going to go this route, you should be ready to move very quickly and apply once the program opens. There is no guarantee he will be able to get this visa given the number of people who apply and the limited number of visas issued.

He could also come to Canada on a study permit (once he is accepted into a program in Canada). The downside of this option is that it's very expensive to attend school in Canada as a foreign student.

Another option would be for him to find an employer in Canada who is willing to offer him a full time job. This employer would also have to obtain an approved LMIA (approval to hire a foreign worker). Once your fiance has an approved LMIA and job offer, he would qualify for a work permit. Note that it tends to be difficult to find employers wiling to go through the LMIA process.