Pls Help - Pregnant + Visitor Extension + Marriage + Work in Canada

[probablyjake]

I am a 33 year old canadian woman in canada. I've never had kids, never been on any kind of financial assistance, never been a criminal, I am a home owner but I'm recently divorced ( separated 3 years ago, divorce finalized recently ). I was my ex-husbands assistant, he declared me as a dependent, so I show zero income. I started a business in March 2013 and have yet to do my taxes to show income.
I am pregnant with the child to my wonderful boyfriend who is an American (born in Mexico but carries a US passport, if that's relevant). He arrived in April as a visitor, to see what he thought of it here but my father became incredibly ill so he stayed to help me out... Then in June I found out I was pregnant, so at the end of August he applied for an extension (within the 30 days required to do so), we were super careful with the forms and he showed proof of $20K to support himself for an additional 6 months. We have yet to hear back on whether he was approved and he is still here.

I initially didn't want to get married just so he could stay but we've now been through a lot together and I just want to marry him My main question is will I be able to sponsor him as a spouse even though I don't show an income? AND after we get married how long and how difficult is the process for him to be allowed to go to work? The more pregnant I get the more I realize we could really use him in the job force.

Any answers, tips, ideas, suggestions and experiences all greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[Leon]

There is no specific income requirement to sponsor a spouse but immigration wants to know that you will not end up on welfare. You can say that he is the breadwinner as soon as he gets his PR. I assume he has a long working history to prove that.

You have two options to apply to sponsor him. You can sponsor inland which means he must stay in Canada throughout the processing and could apply for an open work permit which he will get at his first stage approval in something like 10 months if all goes well or you could sponsor him outland which would give him the opportunity to travel back and forth and processing time should be faster, maybe 10 months to get the PR itself in which case he can work but there is no open work permit available for outland that he would get fast so either way, you are looking at something like 10 months before he can work with spousal.

If he needs to work sooner than than, he'd have to look for a job offer. If his occupation falls under NAFTA, he needs a letter offering him a job and he needs to take it to the border and can get a work permit immediately. This is unrelated to marriage or sponsorship. If his occupation does not fall under NAFTA, he needs the employer to apply for an LMO (Labour market opinion) and he can use that to apply for a work permit but that process takes a couple of months at least. Last option, if you apply outland, he could of course go to the US and work if money gets tight because for outland, it is not important that he stays in Canada.