Sponsoring my girlfriend

[Riley Haas]

Hi Mike,
Sorry I can't really answer your marriage question. I have never been married myself and don't know. As far as I know, you just need to apply for a marriage license. If you're willing to do a civil ceremony, it's probalby fairly straightforward (I assume). If not, then I would think the availability would depend on your faith.

In addition to your marriage certificate you will need stuff like: photos, records of communication (emails, texts, phone call logs), any joint property or accounts (which doesn't apply to you, I believe), and letters from family and friends about your relationship.

Riley

 

[mmarkovs]

Hi Riley,

Thats fine, thanks for the help.

My main concern is that we have enough time to do everything before her visitor visa expires. Am I correct in saying that we should probably get married fairly quickly once she comes? Because then we will need to fill out the application and submit it, which could take some time.

Also, Im a little confused, and please bare with me if you already answered this. But, once we are married, and we submit the sponsorship application along with the application for an open work/study permit, she will probably be approved within 2 months for the open work/study permit? And if she is approved, she can now stay in Canada legally under the open permit visa, even if she doesn't necessarily have a job or is going to school? Essentially, like i said, I want to make sure she wont have to leave the country after she comes the next time. Thanks again,

Mike

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi again,
You are absolutely correct. The application will take some time to assemble and you will want to go through it once or twice to make sure you have dotted your i's and crossed your t's, so to speak. So, yes, I would marry ASAP after she gets here.

You apply for the work permit at the exact same time. The application form is different from the usual work permit application (I believe it's the application to "change conditions") but you are correct: if she is approved she will likely be approved within about 2 months (it depends on the time of year, but it's usually 2 months more or less) and the permit is usually issued for about the length of time sponsorship applications take to process (though this is not always the case). As to whether or not she is obligated to work (or study, should she choose to apply for the study permit instead), I do not believe she is, but I am not 100% sure. I don't see how they could enforce that, but let me ask one of our consultants.

Riley

 

[Riley Haas]

As far as we know, there is no obligation for her to work or study.

 

[mmarkovs]

Thanks once again for the help. I figured it would probably take some time so it would be best to get rolling ASAP.

Do you know if she can apply for both an open study and an open work permit? She would like to go to school but would also like to work at the same time. Do you know if this is possible, or does she have to pick either work or study when submitting the application to "change conditions?" This really is my last question. For now ;D

 

[Riley Haas]

To the best of my knowledge it's either/or. However study permits let you work (part time) as one of the conditions. So it sounds like she wants to apply for a study permit.

Riley

 

[mmarkovs]

Yes, if its either/or and she can work part time with the study permit than that's definitely the right option. Thank you for clarifying that.

I have come across some other questions as well after speaking with my girlfriend. My first one is in regards to the police certificate document which is required for the sponsorship application. The CIC website states that

"The certificate must have been issued no more than three (3) months prior to submitting your application. If the original certificate is not in English or French, then you will need to submit both the certificate and the original copy of the translation prepared by an accredited translator."

Im a little confused to the part about the three months. By my understading, this means that once she gets the police certificate, we must sub,mit the sponsorship application no later than three months after it hbas been issued or it will be deemed invalid. Is this correct? This seems to short and is worrying us. Also, she already needed this document when she applied for her visitor visa. At that point, it said 6 months not 3. Moreover, my GF has told me that those police documents dont even have a date on them for when they were issued. So im just a little confused about the 3 months mentioned on the website. Is this very strict in your opinion? Also, im assuming g they will need to be translated and certified. thanks for your help,

Mike

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi again,
Could you send me the link? If it says 3 months, it's 3 months. (It may be different from temporary to foreign workers).

If there's no date at all on the report, you could conceivably get away with it, but know that the visa office responsible for your girlfriend's country of origin will be checking into this.

Yes, these reports need to be translated and that translation needs to be notarized.

Hope this helps.

Riley

 

[mmarkovs]

Hi Riley,

Here is the link:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/information/applications/guides/5289ETOC.asp#police_cert

Yes, according to her, the last report she received for the visitor visa had no date issued at all. We odnt want to take any chances and Im not sure what to do. Thanks

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the link. So 3 months it is.

I spoke to one of our consultants and he was shocked that she has a police check without a date on it. Is it possible that the police certificate somehow doesn't meet CIC's requirements? (The consultant's reasoning: they always need dates because otherwise the certificate could be from two years ago and the applicant could have been convicted of a crime in the interim.)

Riley

 

[mmarkovs]

Hi Riley,

From what she told me, her past police report which she submitted when applying for the visitor visa didn't have a date, and she was still given the visitor visa, so I'm not sure what to think. I will try to find out if there is a way she could get the date on it.

I'm a little confused as to which documents need to be certified/translated. The CIC website says that photocopies do not need to be certified, and from the list given, the only documents that need to be submitted in "original" form are the police check and medical exam. Therefore that would mean that they are the only two documents that need to be translated, and then certified. But how about the other documents that you only need to submit in "photocopy" form? Would those need to be translated, and then also certified? In specific, the following documents only require photocopies:
1) Passport
2) Immigration document confirming your status in Canada
3) Birth certificate

Would you be able to verify if these documents need to be translated and then certified? Thank you,

Mike

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi Mike,
Everything that is in Macedonian (or another language other than English or French) needs to be translated and certified. The certification attests to the legitimacy of the translation which is why it is necessary in cases where regular copies of English or French documents would suffice. Does that make sense?

Riley

 

[mmarkovs]

Thanks Riley.

I am in the process of buying a plane ticket for her to come here. Since we are planning on going the sponsorship route, I obviously dont plan on her returning back to Macedonia. however, I was told to buy a round trip ticket anyways, as the border officer doesn't know our plans and it is more safe to buy a round trip ticket so the officer can see that she plans on leaving and allows her to enter. Is this true? if thats the case, should I just pick an arbitrary return date, lets say a few months down the road? Thanks

 

[Riley Haas]

Mike, I sent you a private message.

 

[mmarkovs]

Hi Riley,

My girlfriend has arrived ;D ;D ;D. I have a question. Once we get married and send in the application with the work/study application as well, will she be able to leave the country for a wedding back in Macedonia? Thanks,

 

[Riley Haas]

If she has a multiple entry visa, she should be fine to do that.

My understanding is that the CBSA is not allowed to deny her entry (provided she has a visa) if she is undergoing sponsorship, but I don't know that for sure. Make copies of the sponsorship application. She should bring one with her to show when she re-enters Canada.

Otherwise, not entirely sure what else she should do, sorry to say.

 

[mmarkovs]

thanks riley. if you are not entriely sure, is there a specific place or someone who can give me defintivie answers. there must be rules stated somewhere. it seems to me that a lot of these things are unclear. once again you have been great but i do not want to take any chances. thansk again

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi again,
You have a couple of options. You can try another forum (Canada Visa has the best one, there might be someone there who has been in your situation). You can go through the operations manuals on cic.gc.ca (which is a lot of work, but which should lead you to your answer), or you can get a consultation with a consultant or lawyer (ours are $84.75).

Good luck! And sorry I couldn't be more helpful about this.

 

[mmarkovs]

Hi Riley,

Thanks for the help. I am back yet again lol . My girlfriend has been here for about 6 weeks now on her visitors visa, which by what we discussed allows her to stay for 6 months at a time (so she has roughly 4.5 months left). We have finally settled in and are planning on getting married shortly (getting the license early next week and getting married by an officiant at some point shortly thereafter). My understanding is that once you are married, it will still take about 6-8 weeks to actually receive your marriage certificate. Since you must include a photocopy of this certificate as part of the inland spousal application, i am wondering if we are in jeopardy in regards to the time we have. What I mean is, by the time we actually get the marriage certificate so we can include it in the application, it will probably be the middle of October (being generous). At that point, we will make sure to have the sponsorship application along with the study/work permit ready to submit, but will this give us enough time? Her visitor visa will be expiring in mid December. If she doesnt get approved and receive the study/work permit before her visitor visa expires, will she have to go back and will the application be in jeopardy of being nullified, or how does this work? Thank you,

Michael

 

[Riley Haas]

Hi Michael,
Just to be clear, it should say on the entry stamp how long she has. It could be six months, it could be less.
I'm pretty sure you'll have enough time to submit. But if you don't and, say, you cannot even submit the application before the visa expires, she can do a couple of things:

• apply for an extension
• leave Canada for a day or two and re-enter, provided it's a multiple entry visa.

If you submit the application before her visa expires, I don't think there's anything to worry about, provided you submit the open work permit / open study permit application at the same time. But let me double check with one of our consultants.