Teenager needs info on studying in Canada

[anhedonia]

I'm 19 and I live in the US, and in a couple of years I'm planning on going to university in Canada. By that time, I'll have been living in Canada for about a year but I know I will not qualify in my work experience or arrangements or in my education to be able to become a permanent resident in the 'skilled workers and professionals' category. But the thing is, I need to be a permanent resident before I can go to the university I want to. I don't need to to be able to get accepted, but the tuition for the school is significantly higher for international students than it would be for a citizen or a permanent resident and I just can't afford that higher tuition fee. Is there anything I can do? I'm not sure I've done enough research and I'm not the most thorough of people...Would I end up having to marry my Canadian girlfriend and have her sponsor me? At this point, we're planning on marrying at some point, we were just planning on waiting for several years. So I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing, I just don't want to force the marriage to be closer than we were planning just so that I can go to school there

 

[scylla]

You have pretty much summarized your options. If you attend school as a non-Canadian, then you will have to pay the higher fees. If you want to pay the Canadian/domestic student fees, then you would have to become a permanent resident first. Based on the information you've provided, it sounds like the only way you can become a PR now is through marrying your girlfriend and having her sponsor you as her spouse.

 

[anhedonia]

Thank you for replying

I have more to ask now...Would she be able to sponsor me as a conjugal partner just since we are in a same sex relationship? I'm only asking because I want to be sure before I put my eggs in some basket. We're definitely in a serious relationship where we intend on staying with each other for life and we have been together for over a year.

 

[scylla]

Common law is an option for you (common law = have lived together for a minimum of one full year). Conjugal is not. Conjugal is only an option if there are significant barriers to becoming common law or getting married. Since you are from the US, you face zero barriers to common law or marriage.

 

[anhedonia]

What factors would have to be in this situation for it to be able to qualify as a conjugal relationship? Would be enough that I'm young and I'm just now trying to raise money to be able to move to be with her and there's no way we would be able to get married in the state I live in?

 

[anhedonia]

We live over 2000 miles apart, my family is poor and qualifies for food stamps so I've been trying to work out how I'll be able to live in Canada and what I will do. Would that go? If not, I'll just give up and I'll resolve to either living with her for a year and trying to qualify for common-law, or maybe we'll decide to marry

 

[scylla]

No - unfortunately that won't be enough. Money and youth isn't regarded as a barrier. And you could easily visit Canada and get married here. Or you could both visit another (third) country where same sex marriage is allowed and get married there. To become common law, you could come here as a visitor for six months and then extend your visit for another six months to get the year of living together.

Conjugal is appropriate for situations such as the following: Canadian wants to sponsor someone from the Philippines. The person in the Philippines was previously married but is no longer with their former spouse. Divorces are not granted in the Philippines and it's next to impossible to obtain an annulment (this is a well known and documented fact). So it's literally impossible for them to get married. The person from the Philippines has applied for a visit visa to Canada twice and been refused both time - so they cannot come to Canada to live and fulfill the common law clause. At the same time, the Canadian is not allowed to visit the Philippines for more than a few months. So it's literally impossible for them to become common law. Conjugal ends up being the only option.

A handful of people on this forum have managed to be approved as conjugal without having significant barriers. However these cases are very rare. And in these instances, they've had a great deal of evidence to prove they are a couple (e.g. relationship of many years, jointly owned properties, wills and insurance policies listing each other, numerous trips to see each other, joint bank accounts, etc.).

Hope this helps.

 

[scylla]

We live over 2000 miles apart, my family is poor and qualifies for food stamps so I've been trying to work out how I'll be able to live in Canada and what I will do. Would that go?

No - sorry. Lacking finances isn't seen as a barrier that would qualify you for conjugal.

 

[anhedonia]

Ok, thank you