Immigration and Engagement

[Pliskin]

Hello everybody,

I have a question about immigration and engagement. To start, I live in Western Canada while my girlfriend of three years lives in Southeast Asia. It’s a serious relationship and I’ve decided to propose to her when I visit her next month. We’ve also been talking about moving in together before marriage, but that would mean that she’d need to move to Canada (I can’t move to Asia because of work). She isn’t interested in furthering her education, so she’s decided that her best option would be to apply for a work permit.

Now, we're waiting another few years to marry because it isn't possible right now, so we'd only be engaged at the time of her immigration. I won't be able to sponsor her as my wife, and I know that I can’t sponsor a fiancé, but I want to know if our engagement would help her application process. If she can’t find work then she’d be staying as a temporary resident for six months (or longer if we can extend), and if being engaged would help her case then I’d like to propose sooner rather than later. If it wouldn’t help then I’d probably postpone the proposal until better time arrives.

Will being engaged improve her chances of being accepted during the application process?

Thanks in advance!

 

[scylla]

No - being engaged won't help. If she hasn't applied for a TRV (tourist visa) yet - then being engaged will actually harm rather than help since it will be much more obvious to CIC that she has plans on remaining in Canada long term rather than being a genuine tourist. To be approved for a TRV, she will need to demonstrate that she has strong ties to her home country (e.g. job, property, assets). Has she already secured a TRV or is this something you have yet to apply for?

FYI - to obtain a work permit, she will need to secure a full time job offer in Canada and her employer will need to obtain an approved LMIA. This tends to be quite difficult to do.