Spousal sponsorship questions, inland vs. outland

[Pop1156]

Hi there, I'm posting this on my partner's account. I'm in Canada, she is in the USA. Sorry if these are dumb questions, we're still trying to figure out our options especially inland vs. outland.

Outland questions:

I am on disability assistance, so I cannot travel to see my partner in the US for more than 1 month or I will have to reapply. She is hesitant to risk her job with multiple visits here unless its to move here permanently. I know in the USA it can be considered visa fraud if I marry her within the first 30 days of me being there, is it okay if I fly down, marry her, and come back to Canada within 30 days? Is that considered visa fraud? We have lots of evidence of our relationship online in chat and phone logs but haven't been able to spend time together in person up until now, so we have very little in the way of pictures together or other evidence. If we spend time together on short trips to the US, get engaged and married down there, is that going to be enough to convince anyone if we go with outland? Is it going to be considered a red flag if it has been me spending time down there vs. her visiting me here?

Inland questions:

If we go with inland I'm assuming we need to be married/have our documents and application ready to go ASAP in order to hope to process the application in time? Are we better off to have her come for a short trip first to get married/spend time together and then have her go back to the USA for a short time before we start? Does Canada have any similar rules to the USA regarding visa fraud if we get married too quickly after her being here on a tourist visa? If we do inland what happens if her visa extension runs out before the application is approved? We would prefer to just get legally married for now and have a bigger ceremony in a few years when we have the time and money to make that happen, would a legal wedding or very small ceremony be enough or would that be considered a red flag? We will be getting engaged before being married if that helps our case at all.

Money is tight for both of us and will be until we are able to live together and my partner is able to work here, so we can't afford to fly back and forth too much before we start the application process. Any help or opinions on what our best options are would be very appreciated!

 

[canuck78]

You have so many red flags I would really encourage you to both visit eaxh other in person at least one time but preferably multiple times. Although being on disability doesn't rule out sponsorship you do have to show how you can support yoursleves without government help. It doesn't sound like either of tou have much savings so you can be denied or be asked to provide guarantors like family members who can show that they have enough savings to support you. To apply inland it could take up to a few months to receive your marriage certificate and then approximately 4 months to get a work permit if eveything works out well. That could mean minimum 6 months of not being able to work for your wife from arrival in Canada.

 

[Pop1156]

we are absolutely planning to visit multiple times if we possibly can, just marriage and her eventually moving here is our long term goal and we want to work towards that and have a plan for making it happen. We've had to wait for me to have multiple surgeries/successfully get on disability before I could travel, and now learning about the 1 month limit is going to seriously limit our ability to see each other. So with that in mind we want to start figuring out a more permanent solution if we can.

 

[canuck78]

we are absolutely planning to visit multiple times if we possibly can, just marriage and her eventually moving here is our long term goal and we want to work towards that and have a plan for making it happen. We've had to wait for me to have multiple surgeries/successfully get on disability before I could travel, and now learning about the 1 month limit is going to seriously limit our ability to see each other. So with that in mind we want to start figuring out a more permanent solution if we can.

Would make sure you document all your visits with pictures. You will also have to determine what marriage will due to effect your disability payments and any benefits you receive because you will be filing your taxes as married. Your gf should try to build her savings as much as possible and work to gain experience that will allow her to easily find employment in Canada.