Obtained PGWP + Job Offer - How can I bring my girlfriend with me?
- Thread starter axel_b
- Start date
She can apply for an open work permit - however only if you are either married or common law. Common law means you have lived together continuously for at least one full year and can prove it through rental agreements, joint bills, etc.
Thank you for your answer.
We have been living together for more than one year, I have the rental agreement with both our names, however it is in Dutch.
Anyway, I remember that on the application form for the PGWP I didn’t specify a common law partner, is this going to be a problem?
If we choose to get married,can we do it in Canada with her entering the country on a turistic visa, and then she applys for the OWP from Canada?
If you declared yourself as single on your PGWP and study permit when you were in fact common law - yes, that could be a problem for declaring her as your common law partner now. You should have said you were common law.
Yes - you can get married on a tourist visa to Canada and apply for the OWP from here.
You are right. I actually didn’t investigate at that moment the definition of common law, I thought it was applicable only for couples living together in Canada, while I and my girlfriend currently live in another country.
Assuming we decide to get married, is it better to do it in Canada? Would the country we choose affect somehow the application process?
I accepted the offer and I'll move to Canada in a couple of weeks!
Ideally, I would like to marry my girlfriend within the first 3 months in Canada. In the meanwhile, I would wait to get at least 3 payslips and ask my employer to provide me a declaration that my job is included in those 'high skilled', then I can sponsor my girlfriend (wife) for an Open Work Permit.
However, how should we enter the country? She can stay up to 6 months with her tourist visa, but does she have to show a 'return ticket'?
Also, on the plane, we will be filling in the 'declaration card', and visitors have to specify how many days they are going to stay in the country. How many should she write - 6 months?
And finally, we live together, therefore we have the same address... does it make sense to fill in only one declaration card? Would they make her problems if she is entering the country with me (on a work permit) and she has only a tourist visa?
Thank you so much!
I'm not 100% sure about sponsorship - to be honest I didn't even know that was a thing for PGWP until now. Canadian citizens don't have to meet income requirements for spousal sponsorship though, they just need to be able to show that they can support themselves + spouse.
When she arrives in Canada, they will ask for her purpose of visit - and possibly ask where she's planning to go, whose she's traveling with etc. At this point it's not a good idea for her to mention that she's planning to get married + stay in Canada. She is not "accompanying" you so as far as Canada is concerned so you will be two separate cases - so that could lead to rejection. She should state she is visiting Canada for sightseeing purposes. That will probably satisfy the officer. Return ticket doesn't need to be shown; if you are really concerned, get a screenshot of your bank account, that she can show as proof that she can support herself and afford a return ticket. Generally, Dutch citizens are considered low-risk visitors and won't face much scrutiny here
I'm not 100% sure if this applies to every Canadian airport, but for my airport (YVR Vancouver) they got rid of the Declaration Form and instead there's electronic boards upon arrival.
Like @scylla said, you should've mentioned that you were in a common-law partnership - if you want to sponsor her, they will notice this discrepancy between your applications. But I don't think it's something unworkable - later on, explaining that you made a honest mistake about this + showing proof (which is required anyway) should be sufficient.
Last edited:
Why do you say the sponsorship for a spouse, on a PGWP with a job, is not possible?
About the status of partner in low doesn't matter anymore, we will get married anyway so I guess it's more straightforward to go for a spouse open work permit.
I just wonder whether we should get married in Canada (assuming she can stays for 6 months). Obviously we'd like to stay together during the application process, but also want to make the best moves for the long run.
If she enters as a tourist , she needs to declaed how many days she intends to stay - is it going to be a problem if instead she stays for 6 months and get married in the meanwhile? Otherwise we can get married in our country, even though I'd rather not because it would imply a lot of traveling back and forth from Canada to UE
I didn't say it's not possible, I said I was unaware of this option. I learnt something new
You can enter Canada as a tourist and get married. My girfriend's sister-in-law did the exact same time - she is from New Zealand and married my gf's brother - they immediately filed for spousal sponsorship afterwards.
Thank you for your answerI didn't say it's not possible, I said I was unaware of this option. I learnt something new
You can enter Canada as a tourist and get married. My girfriend's sister-in-law did the exact same time - she is from New Zealand and married my gf's brother - they immediately filed for spousal sponsorship afterwards.
One more question: I've found out that it takes up to 6 weeks to get an official marriage certificate after the wedding. How did they submit their application without it? Or they waited for the certificate?
I"m not 100% sure - perhaps they indeed waited 6 weeks for the certificate to arrive indeed. They went with a consultant that did everything fof them.Thank you for your answer
One more question: I've found out that it takes up to 6 weeks to get an official marriage certificate after the wedding. How did they submit their application without it? Or they waited for the certificate?
Thanks
When you say 'they went with a consultant, what do you mean? They submitted the application in person?