sponsoring my indonesian girlfriend with kidney failure

[patchmcq]

I am a 24 year old Canadian citizen and have lived here my entire life.

My Indonesian girlfriend is currently in Canada on a multiple entry 6 month visitors visa.

While inside Canada, she was diagnosed with kidney failure. She was hospitalized in emergency and ICU for 1 week. Now she is an outpatient where she must have hemodialysis (A 4 hour procedure to remove waste fluids from the blood) 3 times a week in order to survive.

Unfortunately, we do not have ANY travel/medical insurance and don't have the money to pay for her treatment.

I want to apply for her to stay in Canada where she can get the treatment she needs to survive, and where we can be together. Does her current health condition make her inadmissible?

Is she eligible to stay in Canada under Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds, or Refugee Status?

 

[scylla]

You should sponsor her using the normal spousal sponsorship process. Her medical condition does not make her inadmissible (spouses cannot be refused for this reason).

Which province are you living in?

 

[patchmcq]

Wow! Thank you for your quick response! I live in B.C.
This is good news..very much appreciated

 

[scylla]

Wow! Thank you for your quick response! I live in B.C.
This is good news..very much appreciated

But note that you cannot sponsor her as a fiancee. You must either be married or common law. Common law means you have lived together for a minimum of one full year continuously.

Also, it may be quite some time before she has health care coverage. So you will have to continue to fund her health expenses during that time.

 

[mikeymyke]

Best thing long term would be to marry her and sponsor her or apply as common law. As scylla said, medical inadmissibility doesn't apply to spouses. However, in the short term, you guys really should've bought travel insurance. It's extremely cheap and would've saved you a lot in medical expenses. You'll have to try to manage her medical bills somehow until she's well enough to get married. Or depending on how long you guys have lived together until this point, you can even apply for common law.

 

[patchmcq]

Is it possible to sponsor my girlfriend while she is currently in Canada on a visitor visa? My worry is that her 6 month visit will be over before her application is done and she will have to fly back to Indonesia, where she is not currently set up to get Hemodialysis treatments. Flying back could be very dangerous for her with her health condition.

 

[mikeymyke]

Sure, however you should evaluate your relationship profile first before sponsoring. If your relationship is still very early, the government might view your sponsorship as one of convenience or just to get her the free health care for her condition. Also cannot sponsor until married or common law, can't sponsor a girlfriend or fiancee.

 

[Aquakitty]

Is it possible to sponsor my girlfriend while she is currently in Canada on a visitor visa? My worry is that her 6 month visit will be over before her application is done and she will have to fly back to Indonesia, where she is not currently set up to get Hemodialysis treatments. Flying back could be very dangerous for her with her health condition.

Does she have a multiple entry visa? I think she can just apply to extend her status in that case.

 

[Rob_TO]

Is it possible to sponsor my girlfriend while she is currently in Canada on a visitor visa? My worry is that her 6 month visit will be over before her application is done and she will have to fly back to Indonesia, where she is not currently set up to get Hemodialysis treatments. Flying back could be very dangerous for her with her health condition.

There is no way to sponsor her unless you are married or you are officially common-law (having lived together at least 12 consecutive months). If neither applies to you, there is absolutely no way to sponsor her as you can't sponsor girlfriends/fiancees.

Also keep in mind what was stated about CIC viewing a marriage as one of convenience just to get her PR status. This will really depend on how long you have been in a relationship up to now. Also there is no quick path to getting BC healthcare even if you do get married and apply for her PR inland. Others can advise more on the process here for BC, but I've heard it can be very difficult to get after submitting the PR app. Unfortunately if you aren't already common-law it's probably many months away before she can possibly have healthcare here.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Unfortunately, we do not have ANY travel/medical insurance and don't have the money to pay for her treatment.

I want to apply for her to stay in Canada where she can get the treatment she needs to survive, and where we can be together. Does her current health condition make her inadmissible?

She will have to pay for any treatment she receives. She is a verylong time away from getting health coverage. It is extremely difficult to get BC MSP coverage until after becoming a PR.

As the others have said, it may look to CIC as a Marriage of Convenience so that she can access our healthcare. You need to really establish the relationship.

 

[patchmcq]

Does she have a multiple entry visa? I think she can just apply to extend her status in that case.

Yes she has a multiple entry visitor visa. The immigration officer told us it is valid until her passport expires, but she must leave Canada 6 months after her date of entry. How does one go about applying for visitor visa extension?

thanks for everyone's input, we are in a very tough situation!

 

[scylla]

Yes she has a multiple entry visitor visa. The immigration officer told us it is valid until her passport expires, but she must leave Canada 6 months after her date of entry. How does one go about applying for visitor visa extension?

thanks for everyone's input, we are in a very tough situation!

Information on extending her stay in Canada (without leaving Canada): http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp

 

[Buletruck]

Is it possible for her to apply as a refugee (protected person)? Curious if the "a risk to their life" would cover medical issues as well?

Person in need of protection

A person in need of protection is a person in Canada whose removal to their home country or country where they normally live would subject them personally to:
•a danger of torture;
•a risk to their life; or
•a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

 

[Rob_TO]

Is it possible for her to apply as a refugee (protected person)? Curious if the "a risk to their life" would cover medical issues as well?

No, the "risk to life" does not cover medical conditions. It basically means someone will kill you if you stay in your home country.

 

[patchmcq]

Maybe she doesn't qualify as a refugee, but would they consider it a humanitarian case? Her flying home would mean risking dying, as she is not currently enrolled in or promised dialysis treatment back in Indonesia. In Canada the hospital has promised as long as she is here she can get her treatments, even if we cannot make any payments.

I am currently looking over the forum to extend her visitor visa, and there is a section to list any health conditions. I am afraid her health condition is too costly and they will decline our application.