Immigrating from Germany (as a Canadian w/a German-American spouse)

[morganwindie]

Hi All,
Sort of complex situation! My spouse and I are researchers currently based in Germany, but are hoping to move to Canada late 2026 (specifcally BC where my family is based). We both have PhDs in social sciences/humanities and work in universities.

Background info:

- I am a Canadian citizen
- My husband is dual citizen, German and American
- We will have been married for 9 years by the time we plan to move, and have 1 child
- There is a strong chance neither of us will not have a Canada-based job when we move (lecture and professorships are few and far between), but (remoted-based) postdoctoral fellowships so we will have income when we move
- We will be bringing two senior dogs home with us, and have to travel via ship because the dogs are so old they legally cannot fly, but this is more to just say at least one entry around fall 2026 into Canada will be by vehicle in the East (the ship arrived in NYC).

My questions are:
- Can my husband come to Canada as a tourist and apply for work/family visas once he is here?
- Or should we apply for visas prior to leaving Germany?
- Does anyone have any experience relocating to Canada with a foreign spouse?

Any information is super helpful! We plan to engage an immigration attorney but want some entry points for information.

Cheers,
Morgan

 

[thatstupiddeer]

Since he is an dual citizen, I believe he would still need an eTA to enter Canada, which can be applied for online pretty easily. I'm not sure how it works with dual citizen ship, though, since he is also an American. If he has a valid US passport, he could likely use that to enter Canada at the ground border and be able to stay in Canada for 6 months.

If he does need an eTA then yes, you would need to apply for that ahead of time. HOWEVER, since you are a Canadian citizen, you can sponsor your husband while outside of Canada. Though if you're not planning to move until late 2026, I wouldn't start the process until you're about a year away from moving to Canada, since the CoPR is only valid for so long.

You could also just start the process once you move to Canada, and your husband can apply for an spouse open work permit (SOWP) once you have your AOR from the spousal sponsorship.

 

[armoured]

My questions are:
- Can my husband come to Canada as a tourist and apply for work/family visas once he is here?
- Or should we apply for visas prior to leaving Germany?
- Does anyone have any experience relocating to Canada with a foreign spouse?

Any information is super helpful! We plan to engage an immigration attorney but want some entry points for information.

1) Yes, can arrive as tourist but there will be a delay in getting work permits etc., and may be a bit inconvenient in terms of receiving shipments etc.
2) If planning to move in 2026, yes, I would recommend applying in advance. That way PR status (including right to work, etc) would be 'activated' upon the time of final arrival or even before. Timing: you will have to decide.
-As a citizen, you can sponsor while living abroad, you will need to show some evidence of 'intent to return' (eg a bit of job search, some evidence of where you might live - family could be acceptable for temporary, some capacity to support - work experience with advanced degrees probably enough esp with remote postdocs).
-If you were to apply now or this year, it would likely take 6-12 months, which might be earlier than you want, but advantageous. You and your spouse would just come early for a trip (what tends to get referred to here as 'soft landing'), get his SIN# and PR card (mailed to your family for the latter), and return to finish your stuff in Germany. Then you could move whenever you like, have your shipments of stuff, deal with your dogs, whatever.
-Small wrinkle here that your spouse will need to comply with resdiency obligation (730 days in Canada for any five year period), and could lead to some complications if, for example, you delayed the move to Canada by a couple years. (These would likely be manageable complications but could be inconvenient).

-Simple suggestion from my POV: download the application packages, start to fill them out / get acquainted with, ask questions here while you proceed, and target submitting the application towards the latter part of this year/early 2025. Yes, you'll likely get the PR status (with deadline to do the soft landing) in advance of your target move date, but that will be normal trip. Your spouse will be able to job-shop as a PR in advance. Etc. If dates of intended move or whatever other changes come up, you can adjust in either direction.

3) Yes, lots of people have done this. Frankly in your situation you do not need a lawyer, spousal sponsorship is not complicated. It would cost a fair amount of money for what is mostly filling out forms, as spousal sponsorship, not a lot of professional advice needed (zero really), just patience and diligence.

 

[YVR123]

My questions are:
- Can my husband come to Canada as a tourist and apply for work/family visas once he is here?
- Or should we apply for visas prior to leaving Germany?
- Does anyone have any experience relocating to Canada with a foreign spouse?

- Yes he can
- It's up to you if you want to apply to sponsor him to become PR ahead of time.
- Many members have done it.

For the second question, he doesn't need to apply for a visa to enter to Canada as a tourist. But it's optional and likely a good option to apply as "outland family class sponsorship" may be a year or 6 months before your planned relocation timeline. Depending on what stage is the application at the time when you move, he could:
- enter as a tourist and showing the CBSA at the border that he already has a spousal sponsorship application in progress. Then once he's in Canada apply for an open work permit (OWP).
- if the sponsorship application has been approved, then he can entered to land as a PR into Canada. And he will get his COPR signed during the landing.

Read other posts on this section of the forum and as suggested start to look at the application guide and look at the forms to see what kind of information and documents that you will need to apply.