Please help!!!

[nomadanny]

My girlfriend has dual citizenship between the US and Canada. We plan on getting married in June and then hope to move to British Columbia in July. I would like to establish permanent residency in Canada and we plan to live there for at least 5 years. Neither of us have jobs lined up at the moment, but she has her Masters in Teaching (as well as a couple of years of teaching experience) and plans to get a job teaching elementary school.

Can someone please point me in the right direction as to which avenue I need to pursue? I spent the entire day researching yesterday and ended up even more confused than when I started!

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

My girlfriend has dual citizenship between the US and Canada. We plan on getting married in June and then hope to move to British Columbia in July. I would like to establish permanent residency in Canada and we plan to live there for at least 5 years. Neither of us have jobs lined up at the moment, but she has her Masters in Teaching (as well as a couple of years of teaching experience) and plans to get a job teaching elementary school.

Can someone please point me in the right direction as to which avenue I need to pursue? I spent the entire day researching yesterday and ended up even more confused than when I started!

Thanks in advance for the help!

She needs to sponsor you. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5289-sponsor-your-spouse-common-law-partner-conjugal-partner-dependent-child-complete-guide.html

 

[nomadanny]

She needs to sponsor you. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5289-sponsor-your-spouse-common-law-partner-conjugal-partner-dependent-child-complete-guide.html

Thanks for the link! Do you know about how long the application process takes? I'm guessing she would have to wait until we are officially married to apply? We have been in a relationship for over a year and have been living together for over a year, however I am not on the lease. So, I'm guessing we wouldn't qualify for common law?

Thanks again for the help! So glad this forum exists!!

 

[amarantine]

Thanks for the link! Do you know about how long the application process takes? I'm guessing she would have to wait until we are officially married to apply? We have been in a relationship for over a year and have been living together for over a year, however I am not on the lease. So, I'm guessing we wouldn't qualify for common law?

Thanks again for the help! So glad this forum exists!!

You don't have to be married but to show common law, you have to prove that you share joint accounts etc. There's a list somewhere on the website. Being married, definitely makes it easier.
If you plan to be in Canada, then you can apply for inland PR. It takes about 2 years. But at the same time, you can apply for a work permit. They issue a work permit in about 4 to 6 months.
If you plan to apply from the US, then it is outland. The process takes 12 months or less. You can keep visiting your partner during the process as long as you can convince the border officers that you have a residence outside Canada and are not engaging in anything illegal like work etc in Canada. We just completed this process and it took us 9 months. My husband is from Buffalo, NY and moved across the border.

 

[scylla]

You would be best off moving to the Family Sponsorship section of the forum. This is where you'll find the vast majority of posts for situations like yours.

 

[nomadanny]

You don't have to be married but to show common law, you have to prove that you share joint accounts etc. There's a list somewhere on the website. Being married, definitely makes it easier.
If you plan to be in Canada, then you can apply for inland PR. It takes about 2 years. But at the same time, you can apply for a work permit. They issue a work permit in about 4 to 6 months.
If you plan to apply from the US, then it is outland. The process takes 12 months or less. You can keep visiting your partner during the process as long as you can convince the border officers that you have a residence outside Canada and are not engaging in anything illegal like work etc in Canada. We just completed this process and it took us 9 months. My husband is from Buffalo, NY and moved across the border.

Thanks for your reply amarantine! We currently live in North Carolina and are wanting to move to British Columbia, so we definitely don't want to have to live that far apart for 12 months! I've heard that if I apply for PR while inside Canada that I can't leave the country for 2 years! Is that right!?

 

[canuck78]

If your gf didn't do her teaching training in Canada she should look into whether she will be able to teach in BC.