Visitor Visa for fiance (not married yet)

[blackwood96]

I am a Canadian citizen and currently engaged to a foreign national and understand that I will only be able to apply for a spousal sponsorship once we get married and sign the contract. However, since the spousal sponsorship takes 1 year to process from the date of marriage (which is also likely to take some time) and I would hate for us to live separated for one whole year post-marriage, I am planning to take a proactive approach and advise my fiance to apply for a visitor visa starting now.

My question is which of the following options makes a stronger visa application and is more likely to be granted a visa?

1. Me being the host and writing a letter of invitation for my fiance to submit along with her application for the purposes of visiting me.

Downside: I am thinking the visa application might be rejected since they will presume we will want to spend more time together and may risk exceeding the 6 months lawful stay. However, in reality this visa application is a workaround to allow my (to-be) spouse to live with me until the spousal sponsorship paperwork gets processed.

OR

2. Cousin inviting her to reunite after a long period of separation due to covid and to go together on a summer tour in Canada

Downside: applying for a spousal sponsorship right after being granted a visitor visa (for reunion with cousin purposes) may seem quite fishy; i.e. it can't be a coincidence that the visitor met the man of her dreams during her visit to Canada and soon after gets married. Meaning the real reason of applying for a visitor visa will surface and we might be perceived as liars when applying for the visitor visa application. Or am I overthinking this?

 

[koolpaari]

Hey. Did you find a way for it? I am also in the same boat..

 

[akshayar640]

Hey there, not OP but similar use-case. Below is the thread which should have the details on what I've been trying. Spoiler alert - It isn't exactly going as planned becasue my then fiance applied for visitor visa with invitation letter from her cousin who's here in Canada and because of inconsistent timelines, I had to withdraw the application and apply again.

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/chance-of-visitor-visa-approval-for-spouse.760808/

 

[andrews17]

I have some friends that want to apply for visitor visa to come visit me in Canada. They are engaged and are planning to come after their wedding, but they will apply for the visa before getting married. Can they apply as a couple or do they have to submit their applications independently? They don't have any document that ties them as a couple but they do have pictures and passports stamps of previous trips together.

 

[canuck78]

I have some friends that want to apply for visitor visa to come visit me in Canada. They are engaged and are planning to come after their wedding, but they will apply for the visa before getting married. Can they apply as a couple or do they have to submit their applications independently? They don't have any document that ties them as a couple but they do have pictures and passports stamps of previous trips together.

They need to apply separately unless they are common law and have lived together for a continuous year.