Seeking for advice

[juozas]

Hello,

My name is Juozas, I am from Lithuania. I want to share my short story and ask for advice.
So I have Canadian girlfriend, she's from Winnipeg, Manitoba, we spent 4months living together in Germany and then she needed to go back to Canada. We are together for almost a year, I have visited her in Canada was there for almost 3months and now I am back in europe, she will come to visit me during Christmas, but she have to go back in a month, I really don't like that long distance relationship, I would be really thankful if someone have any good ideas or have faced same thing and would like to share it. Thank you!

 

[Leon]

If you are ready to get married, you can do that and then she can sponsor you for permanent residency as her spouse. If you are not ready to get married, she could only sponsor you as a common law partner if you had lived together for 12 months or longer.

 

[juozas]

Than you for your reply,

Yes we were talking about marriage, I think that would be really good for both of us, because I know myself that's the right person and she is on the same page. But then should I do that in Canada? How long it would take to do that? Do you know like some necessary information which could help me. Thank you

 

[Leon]

You can marry her in Canada or somewhere else. From what I've heard about Germany, marrying there for foreigners is a bureaucratic nightmare so better off going to Denmark if you want to get married in Europe.

If you marry in Canada and if you want to stay in Canada during the processing time, you can apply inland. If you apply for a work permit at the same time, you are looking at 10-11 months to get it. That means 10-11 months stuck in Canada without working. If you leave, you risk losing your application because a requirement of inland is being in Canada.

Even if you marry in Canada or if you marry somewhere else, you may apply outland. First you would send the application to Mississauga where it takes a month to approve the sponsor. The file will then be processed in the visa office responsible for your home country which would be Warsaw. If you are resident in Germany, you may also request processing in Vienna. Looking at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp#europe Warsaw should be faster. You could have your PR in 8 months or so.