K Visa Canadian Marrying American in Canada, American then moving to Canada

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amandamaria

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I'm in a long distance with my fiance who I have been with since February of last year(2004). He lives in California and I live in Toronto. We are now engaged, and have a wedding date set for Sept. 22 of this year (2005).

He is an American citizen, I am a Canadian citizen.

What do we need to do? Can we just get married and that alone will allow him to live and work here?

I need to start from the very basics, because we haven't been able to find anything on any of the gov't websites about this. Please reply if you have any suggestions, advice or knowlege on the subject.

Thank you!
Amanda
:D
 
i need advice on this as well.. my bf wants to come here.. we want to get married.. we already have a daughter between us but it seems like there is no hope for us.. i'm on gov't assisstance so i cannot sponsor him and no jobs here are hiring americans over canadians. i also need to know what needs to be done before hand when we get married?? any special paperwork?? and if we get married on say on saturday wold he be able to start living here legally or is there a waiting period. same as with work permits.. please help i need to know
 
Hope we can help each other out

Hi-

This is almost exactly my situation. I am an American, I've been in a relationship with a Canadian woman for about 1 year now. We are engaged, although a wedding date has not been set. She is moving to Victoria (from Kamloops), I live in Washington Sate.

We both have good jobs, but obviously one of us must yield, and it appears that I will be moving to Canada where we will eventually marry.

From what I have researched on my own so far, it appears that the best option for this is to go to Canada, get married, then apply for a Family Class sponsorship for a spouse, in which case my then wife would agree to financially support me for at least 3 years. This, of course, would only work for my situation given the fact that my fiancee has a good job and could prove financial responsiblity.

From what I understand, the process can take anywhere from 6 to 24 months to be approved, in which time I would have to live in Canada and probably not leave the country. If during the process I were to leave and try to return, I would probably not be allowed in since my spouse and I have already shown intention to live together and I would be a high risk for not returning to the states should my application be refused.

This isn't the only option, as I understand, just what seems best for my situation. There also appears to be a Permanent Work Visa that one could apply for, however, unless you have a job lined up, you would have to get a Skilled Worker visa, which would again take 6 months or more to process, you would have to qualify as a skilled worker, and you would have to show that you have at least 6 months living expenses saved up. These aren't the only qualifications, just the major ones.

At any rate, it does not appear that just marrying a Canadian citizen in Canada automatically makes you a Canadian permanent resident. However, it seems that once you get a visa as a permanent resident, 3 years of living in Canada qualifies you to apply for citizenship.

This is what I have read about so far, and I would be glad if someone can tell me about other options. I am especially keenly interested in the couple marrying in September, and I would love to hear any updates you have to aid my own situation.

Here's to a long and happy marriage!
 
Ditto, Hope We Can Help Each Other Out Also :D

I don't have the time right now, but I have found quite a few resources about this on a Goverment of Canada/Ontario website...the same concept would work for all provinces, you'd be able to look up the same info, just with diff. web addresses, but it'll help.

At the moment, from what I've read, there are Fiance Visas as well, so a marriage isn't really necessary.

Unfortunately for my fiance and I, we've had a lot of issues lately due to his family and their stance that because we are of different races/faiths, we should not be married. So, we've now postponed the wedding until next year because we both want to be married once in our lives, and be as sure as we can be about that commitment, and right now...there's been doubts.

We're in a financial position thought o be able to put a large downpayment on a home, so aparently...from what my realtor has told me, it won't matter if we're married or not, as long as we have that downpayment, he can live here with only a fiance visa.

We've both been terribly stressed and busy sorting out these relationship issues which are just resolving themselves int he past few days, so I haven't yet read through everything, but will definitely sift through and give a summary and post all the links here tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies to this post, I was worried I'd be forever neglected lol Hopefully we can really assist each other here. Best luck to everyone, and totally wishing happy and successful marriages to us all :D
 
same situation

I'm in the same situation. My boyfriend lives in the U.S and I live in Canada. We plan for him to move here and down the road, get married. Everything online is so overwhelming. I have tons of questions. It would be nice to talk to someone that has actually done this. Feel free to email me. Thanks

~Brianne
 
kklicker said:
Hi-

This is almost exactly my situation. I am an American, I've been in a relationship with a Canadian woman for about 1 year now. We are engaged, although a wedding date has not been set. She is moving to Victoria (from Kamloops), I live in Washington Sate.

We both have good jobs, but obviously one of us must yield, and it appears that I will be moving to Canada where we will eventually marry.

From what I have researched on my own so far, it appears that the best option for this is to go to Canada, get married, then apply for a Family Class sponsorship for a spouse, in which case my then wife would agree to financially support me for at least 3 years. This, of course, would only work for my situation given the fact that my fiancee has a good job and could prove financial responsiblity.

From what I understand, the process can take anywhere from 6 to 24 months to be approved, in which time I would have to live in Canada and probably not leave the country. If during the process I were to leave and try to return, I would probably not be allowed in since my spouse and I have already shown intention to live together and I would be a high risk for not returning to the states should my application be refused.

This isn't the only option, as I understand, just what seems best for my situation. There also appears to be a Permanent Work Visa that one could apply for, however, unless you have a job lined up, you would have to get a Skilled Worker visa, which would again take 6 months or more to process, you would have to qualify as a skilled worker, and you would have to show that you have at least 6 months living expenses saved up. These aren't the only qualifications, just the major ones.

At any rate, it does not appear that just marrying a Canadian citizen in Canada automatically makes you a Canadian permanent resident. However, it seems that once you get a visa as a permanent resident, 3 years of living in Canada qualifies you to apply for citizenship.

This is what I have read about so far, and I would be glad if someone can tell me about other options. I am especially keenly interested in the couple marrying in September, and I would love to hear any updates you have to aid my own situation.

Here's to a long and happy marriage!


You may want to try to enter the country under a work or school visa instead of a marriage
A friend of mine had the same situation and due to complications she had to return to the US after they were married and they retry to establish the new residence in Canada
 
American wanting to Marry Canadian

Hi!
I've been dating my boyfriend for 6 years now. We are finally ready to live together/get married and are both lost in what we need to do to make this happen. Can anyone help me????
I'd like to work up there.....but am not sure if I can get a job as a nurses aide. We don't have a lot of money saved up (I'm going through school to get my RN but had to take time off to make money) and do not have enough credit built up to get any school loans.
He works full time and is renting a house.
Is there paper work that needs to be filled out?
If anyone has even alittle info I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!!!!
 
Gosh.. i guess i lost my reply post.

Anyway... here's what i mentioned.. and if'll appear later.. sorry.

I'm an american citizen and i married a canadian citizen last year. I moved here to Winnipeg not knowing what to do or how to go about immigration, i learned everything the hard way. Hehehehe..

A month after we got married, which as July of 2004, i send my application for an in canada Permanent Resident. It cost about a good $1500 cdn for everything, plus your spouse have to meet the criteria of being to sponsor you. You can get the application at www.cic.gc.ca. Only catch is, you have to be in canada when you apply for it. Anyway, 3 months later, my application was send back to me because I was missing a form. So when you send yours, make sure everything is in there. I was in LA at the time and i wasn't able to mail it back till mid December.

They started processing my application last around March.. and by June, they made a decision, which they send me the "Approval In Principle" letter. Once you get this letter, you can apply for an open work permit which allows you to work anywere you want. They also requested a police clearance from the FBI and the State of California. I did my figerprints at the local police station, in which i requested to do it an FBI fingerprint card. Mailed those suckers and 10 weeks later, i got it back from the FBI. I mailed the results back to immigration last week.. and so far... i'm waiting.

My advice to you is that, first, when you moved to Canada or travel out of Canada while your application is in progress, Don't canadian immigration that you are here to visit your wife unless you enough proof that you can legally stays here. Tell them you are visiting a friend... (NOT a boyfriend/girlfriend) or better yet... a relative. Make up a return date... or buy a round trip ticket.. you can always moved up the return date for a small amount of fee for a year. I travelled out of canada a couple of times, last time was last summer, when i went to London with my wife. The person who's maning the game for Air Canada gave me more of a hassle about my status than the immigration office in Toronto.

Once you summited your application... make sure it's complete. Do the Medical a month or two after you mailed your application... and start doing the background check 3 months later. FBI takes a while... so be patient. Make sure you write a nice letter to include be included with your fingerprints (2 sets) explaining it's for Canadian Immigration. California takes about a week. Funny thing is that they mailed the result to my old California address.. thank god my mom was there. FBI will mail the result back to your Canadian address. Once you get your Client Number from immigration... send them the result of the background ASAP(you need a client number or it'll be send back to you). Don't worry about the Medical since the doctor will take care of it.

As for your status in canada, last Feb, Immigration announced that it is okay for an applicant of an IN Canada application to stay in Canada over 6 months as long as they have a valid passport. You don't have to worry about renewing your visitors visa anymore.

There's plenty of website to help you out... and there's a really helpful group in Yahoo Groups that deals with Canadian Immigration. Just search for it. Good Luck.
 
Wow,Im in the same situation. My bf is from So Cal too and Im right outside Toronto. Weird.

We have to figure out something soon too. The gvnt sites are useless. What a waste of tax dollars.
 
Hello kklicker,

As for Work Permits, my fiance recieved his yes/no on his application within 2 weeks and it was denied. For some reason, the HRSDC (Human Resources in Canada) dont want to hire ANY americans!!! I know the frustration you feel. Unless you're wealthy and can support yourself without a job, or unless the person you are marrying can support you for 3 years, there are NO answers for us International Couples.

If you are of a profession which does NOT require a work permit (see CIC, Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for list) you can just simply start working upon getting a permit. Good luck.
 
HELP! wanting to marry and american and live there

helllo! sooo as most of you i am sooo stuck on how to figure out how to live in the usa and then how my fiance who i have been with for 3 years can live here. He is the american and i am canadian, he is in the air force academy there going to school and im here working, we both don't make a ton of money( although he will after we are married ) and since we both love our own countries we want to spend time in each. After we get married in 2010 he wants me to live and work there (usa) while he serves for the air force, but i can't figure out how to legally live and work there after marriage! HELP.. and to make things even more complicated, after he is finished with the airforce he is moving here to canada!!! and we also have no idea how to go about that. it all seems so impossible. I've been looking into all this for what seems like forever and can't find a thing!

please please help we are both getting so stressed trying to figure this all out, anyyyy reply would be sooo appreciated! thank you
 
I am in a similar situation only we got married in the states and I am here under the Jay Treaty(Treaty for Native American born Canadians). I am wanting my husband to move to Canada with me as he is American and I know there are better opportunites there for us to live then here in the U.S..It would enable me to get a better job as well as him, and to make situations more complicated I am also carrying our first born..does my being Canadian and the babys father being American mean that our child is able to obtain his/her dual-citizanship?
 
How does American Enter Canada to Marry??

My fiance is American. I am Canadian. We've known each other for 2 years and are engaged.

He was wanting me to move to USA but because of my ex-spouse who was abusive and controlling, we figure he would make life hell to be able to move my 3 kids ages 15, 14 and 10 to USA. So my fiance and I decided that he (my fiance) would come up to Canada to get married and live. I know eventually we would go to USA to live down the road.

From my research there is no such thing as a fiance visa for Canada, but there is one for the USA.

And from research I found that after marriage he can remain in Canada and an application put in for him.

[My question is this........... after my fiance gets his passport, what does he need to do or say when he gets to the border? That he's visiting me? That he's getting married? Does he answer the usual business or pleasure question? Would he need to show a wedding invite showing his name etc?? - This is the biggie question I am stuck on.]

He does not have a criminal record.

We have not set a date, that's up in the air till he gets here. Then we can plan a date.


If anyone been through this? How was this solved/handled ?
 
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