Sponsoring as conjugal or spouse

[dimasok]

I started a topic here before but i'm reopening it since some things have changed. Basically, my girlfriend came to me in the middle of December and left in the end of January to resolve things with her parents and dodge the Israeli military (she has health issues and the doctors will give her notes and what not so that she could not serve based on health concerns) and come back before her draft date (basicaly in the end of March or beginning of April).

She is going to live with me and my parents for as long as it would take us to settle into a place of our own (regardless how long it takes). She thinks getting married is not THAT urgent yet and we could always get married with no rushing. I happen to disagree because the more we push the time of our marriage, the more problems will crop up. Firstly because it's a much easier process as I understand it filing for the sponsorship of a spouse because you don't have to prove your relationship to anyone and the applications gets processed faster. Secondly because she can only stay in here for 6 months before she has to go back for another six months. It would be amazing if she could just enter U.S. and then come back and that would be like exiting and entering but unfortunately making a Visa there from Israel would certainly take more time that she has before she comes back here soon.

Basically my plan was for her to get a relieve from the army, come to me for six months during which we get married (say after a month), then we file for spousal sponsorship to get the PR and while the application is processed we file for extension and after it's all greelit, the rest is history...

My questions are:
- Do I have to file my income or my parents income as sponsors in the case of a spouse? Are the costs incurred only in terms of supporting her for as long as necessary as another member of the family in general (basically living expenses for her living with us for the duration of her soon-to-be-permanent stay) and the actual demonstration of income and that's it?
- If I go to a paralegal dealing with these problems how much would the whole process cost?
- How fast would the application be processed after we get married and when could she start working and going to school? If it takes longer than six month, would we have to file for extension? Are extensions for spouses always granted?

Again, a place to live is not a problem as she is going to live with us, but I'm interested in knowing how much money would I have to earn to cover the process and should I hire a paralegal at all? I also thought about filing documents from where she's at now (Israel) but it's always better to do it when we're both inland and we're not married yet and when we get married here the process would be much faster and easier for her.

I have too many questions, but i'm starting somewhere...

 

[RobsLuv]

1) there are no minimum income requirements to sponsor a spouse so co-signers (like your parents) are not applicable.
2) a "paralegal" would probably not be able to help you with immigration paperwork, but not sure that's what you're asking. It's very possible to do the immigration paperwork without assistance, but can't say concerning the other "problems" you mention because I'm not really clear what they are. They might not exist now that you know you don't have to prove income to be eligible to sponsor
3) "How fast" is really hard to say - you're basing this on the assumption that she'll be admitted to Canada in the first place and that's not guaranteed. If she's from Isreal, she's not visa-exempt to Canada or the US - so getting her here after you marry (or to get married) will be a VERY hard sell. If she does get in and you apply inland, you're going to submit an application to extend the status she gets on entry WITH the inland PR ap - BEFORE that status expires - and you'll want to elect the work permit option and pay the $150 fee for it so she can work after first stage approval. That will be at least 6-7 months after you submit the ap. The rest of the inland process takes 6-12 months to finalize.

If she can't get into Canada, you'll have to apply outland and how long depends on which visa office processes her file. Here's a list of countries and visa offices (hers will go to the visa office that represents her country of birth) and processing timelines.

 

[canadianwoman]

She thinks getting married is not THAT urgent yet and we could always get married with no rushing.

You won't be able to get her in on a conjugal basis - that's basically for people who CAN'T get married, not those who don't want to yet. You can't sponsor her on a common law basis, because you need to have lived together for a year first. That leaves marriage. Even if you get married, you still have to prove you have a genuine marriage. The visa officer might say, for example, that's she is just renting a room in your parents' house and is not actually living with you.