Visitor Business Visa -> Marry in Canada -> Daughter in Vietnam

[travel_guy]

Hey there,

My fiance is in Vietnam currently. We've been together over a year now with me visiting there 3 times and her visiting Canada twice. She was fortunate to acquire a 5 year multi entry business visa due to her work. During these work trips we have also spent a lot of time together and last Christmas we got engaged. She has a 7 year old daughter in Vietnam.

Our plan is to have her come to Canada in a couple months, for us to marry asap, then apply for her permanent residency. It's my understanding that the wait time for this is quite long, but we're not in a rush. She wants to do some schooling while here to make her English more fluent and get a masters degree in her field.

My question is this: How can I get her daughter here? Do I just need to apply for a visa for her to come once we marry? Or do we try to bring her here on a different visa type (i.e. visitor tourist) at the same time I bring my fiance?

Thank you very much for your input.

Kind Regards,
Rob

 

[travel_guy]

To clarify, she will come here on her visitor business visa (as we are doing some business between Canada and Vietnam also), but we will marry here.

It's my understanding also that during the application for PR, if you marry here in Canada, you can stay here during the time it takes for the PR application.

 

[travel_guy]

Is my plan off from the norm here? I could use some feedback.

 

[bigredmoose]

It's my understanding also that during the application for PR, if you marry here in Canada, you can stay here during the time it takes for the PR application.

That is not correct. You need to be here on some kind of visa, you don't get to stay beyond that visa just because you got married.

 

[Rob_TO]

It's my understanding also that during the application for PR, if you marry here in Canada, you can stay here during the time it takes for the PR application.

It doesn't matter where you get married. The rule is, if she is in Canada with legal status and submits an INLAND PR application along with an Open Work Permit application, she will have "implied" status to stay in Canada legally during the entire time the PR takes to process.

However for her daughter, she will need to apply for her own TRV visa to come to Canada. And there is no guarantee this will be granted. So basically you have 2 options that I can see:
1. Apply for TRV for daughter, and if it's approved both mom and daughter can come to Canada, you can get married here, apply for their PRs INLAND, and everyone can stay in Canada during the processing time. Just note since the daughter is not yet a PR, you may need to pay out-of-pocket to send her to school in Canada for a couple years which can be very expensive. You need to call around to your local schools and check their policies.

2. If the daughter's TRV is rejected, then you may want to consider an OUTLAND PR application. With the inland app your partner would need to stay in Canada for entire duration of PR processing so over 2 years, during which she should not travel outside the country. That may not be ideal to not see her daughter for that long. But with an OUTLAND app she can come and go from Canada as she pleases on her business visa while PR is processing.

There may be a better chance for her daughter's TRV to be approved, if she applies for it BEFORE you get married.

 

[travel_guy]

It doesn't matter where you get married. The rule is, if she is in Canada with legal status and submits an INLAND PR application along with an Open Work Permit application, she will have "implied" status to stay in Canada legally during the entire time the PR takes to process.

Ahh yes, you are correct. I miss-typed my meaning there. Thank you for confirming that.

However for her daughter, she will need to apply for her own TRV visa to come to Canada. And there is no guarantee this will be granted. So basically you have 2 options that I can see:
1. Apply for TRV for daughter, and if it's approved both mom and daughter can come to Canada, you can get married here, apply for their PRs INLAND, and everyone can stay in Canada during the processing time. Just note since the daughter is not yet a PR, you may need to pay out-of-pocket to send her to school in Canada for a couple years which can be very expensive. You need to call around to your local schools and check their policies.

2. If the daughter's TRV is rejected, then you may want to consider an OUTLAND PR application. With the inland app your partner would need to stay in Canada for entire duration of PR processing so over 2 years, during which she should not travel outside the country. That may not be ideal to not see her daughter for that long. But with an OUTLAND app she can come and go from Canada as she pleases on her business visa while PR is processing.

There may be a better chance for her daughter's TRV to be approved, if she applies for it BEFORE you get married.

Thanks again as you are confirming my research. I saw it in the same light I think ... either I get her daughter here first, marry, and then start the PR application process ... or we marry in her country and we apply for the PR from there. It's my understanding that that an OUTLAND PR usually takes much longer than the advertised wait times though... For my father it took two years.

Now to find a way to get her daughter a visitors visa...

 

[Rob_TO]

It's my understanding that that an OUTLAND PR usually takes much longer than the advertised wait times though...

Actually usually it's the opposite. Outland processing times are usually much shorter than the times posted on CIC website. Those times are the 80% times, which basically mean up to 79% of apps were finished quicker, and only 20% actually saw those times or greater.

 

[travel_guy]

Actually usually it's the opposite. Outland processing times are usually much shorter than the times posted on CIC website. Those times are the 80% times, which basically mean up to 79% of apps were finished quicker, and only 20% actually saw those times or greater.

Yea, the reported times are shorter for sure. I'm just recalling my fathers experience with bringing his wife in from Zimbabwe. It took him over two years. Having said that, I must temper that observation with the likelihood that he messed up the process too.

I'll read more into INLAND and OUTLAND applications and get a better sense of things.

Thanks a lot for your help Rob_To.

Rob_AB