URGENT! Please help my fiance stay in canada!

[heru]

Hi everyone!

I am currently in a bit of a pickle. My fiance and I met online a number of months ago, and I went down to the US to meet her, and we fell madly in love. She sold off most of her stuff, and we rented a car to drive up across the border, all rather naively. We drove 13 hours only to be turned away at the border. They were really nice about it, we just didn't bring any documentation that she would be returning. The border officer was stretching himself to find something to let us through.

So we returned back, devastated, and ended up returning to Memphis to visit her family while we recuperated. We decided to try again, this time flying. We got a return ticket, invoices form contract work, her lease, letters from friends and employers- everything we could think of. We then got on our flight. We reached Toronto, and she got sent into immigration. After a lot of questioning, the Immigration Officer let her through, but with a deadine of September 30th, three weeks from now.

We really want her to stay for longer, and are looking into options to extend this time. Our original goal was to get her here on the automatic 6 month stay, then apply to extend that period, during which time we would move forward with a permanent residency application. We are also planning to get married, but are waiting to find out if it would help or hinder us in this process. I don't want to do anything at this point to make things worse.

There is also a little more to the situation. I am beginning a training program in october that leads into an entry level web dev position in january. I am unemployed currently, but will have a full time paying job in the new year. We had been hoping to put off the permanent resident application until then so I would be able to show that I can financially support her. Is this necessary for us?

I was thinking we could put through an application to extend her stay, and enter at least into implied status for a time, but I am not sure.

If anyone can offer any help to us, we would be SO appreciative. The thought of being separated at this point for any length of time seems unbearable, especially because she doesn't have a lot to go back to.

Thank you for reading our story.

 

[zardoz]

Okay, some brutally honest answers for you.

As she was given a very limited Visitor Record, the chances of an extension are slim. You have currently no possibility of sponsoring her under the Family Class Sponsorship unless you get married. You need to do a lot more research on this whole subject before you make any decisions. Read the family sponsorship section of the forum, especially the first thread. http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html

 

[Leon]

If you apply to extend her visitor status before it expires, she will be on implied status until you hear back so if you just want to buy time, you would apply to extend by mail before her status expires and that should buy you a couple of months to get married. As for the reason you would want to extend, you can write that you are planning to get married (give them a date if you have one) and that you are planning to sponsor her.

If you really do not want her to have to return home, you should apply inland and she should not leave Canada. You can apply for an open work permit with the application package and that would give her implied status to stay on in Canada while she waits for first stage approval. First stage approval can easily take several months though, from 6 to 10 or so and until then she can not work. Be aware that it can be stressful for your brand new relationship for you to be supporting her financially and for her to sit around and do nothing for months while you work and she is in a new country without friends.

Another pitfall is that you have had a very short courtship and because of that, immigration may suspect that your relationship is not genuine. Most couples applying for sponsorship send loads of evidence of how their relationships developed over time, emails, photos of their visits to each other etc. You only met online a couple of months ago and this was your first visit. Because of that, if you apply inland, your application may not get a first stage approval but may be sent to local office for an interview. If that happens, that can easily add another year to the waiting time or possibly more.

Personally, I think it would be better if she returned home and you continue to visit each other for a few more months before you get married and apply for sponsorship.

 

[Optymystyc]

If you apply to extend her visitor status before it expires, she will be on implied status until you hear back so if you just want to buy time, you would apply to extend by mail before her status expires and that should buy you a couple of months to get married. As for the reason you would want to extend, you can write that you are planning to get married (give them a date if you have one) and that you are planning to sponsor her.

Another pitfall is that you have had a very short courtship and because of that, immigration may suspect that your relationship is not genuine.

Personally, I think it would be better if she returned home and you continue to visit each other for a few more months before you get married and apply for sponsorship.

Well said, Leon.