Sponsorship- Can we move to Canada?- Dual Intent?

[cr9322]

Hi,

I was wondering if you would be able to give me a little advice regarding immigration to Canada. My partner and I are getting married in August 2016, in the UK. He is a Canadian citizen, who was living in the UK for 2 years until his visa expired. He is now visiting the UK on a marriage visa.

Our plan is to move to Canada after the wedding, and apply for the spouse sponsored permanent residency, from within Canada. However, I am unsure if I would be able to enter Canada as a visitor with the intention to then apply for permanent residency once I was in the country. Is this allowed? I read somewhere about Dual Intent? If not, what other options are available to us? Ideally, we don’t want to be apart while we wait for applications to be processed.

I have tried to read as much as possible online to seek clarification but I have not found out the best way to go through this process!

Thank you for any help you can provide

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.

It is difficult for us to provide a definitive response regarding whether or not it will be possible for you to enter Canada in this situation.

However, if you have not already read this, you can find some additional and detailed information regarding Dual Intent on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website.

Here is an excerpt,

Assessing dual intent

A person’s desire to apply for permanent resident status in Canada may be legitimate. An officer should distinguish between an applicant whose intentions are bona fide and an applicant who has no intention of leaving Canada at the end of their authorized stay if the application for permanent residence is refused.

In assessing bona fide, the individual circumstances of the temporary resident applicant must be examined; refusals of non-bona fide temporary residents may only withstand legal challenge when the refusal is based on the information related to the specific case before an officer.

In assessing an application for temporary residence an officer may also consider factors such as:

-the length of time that the client will be spending in Canada;
-the means of support;
-obligations and ties in the home country; and
-compliance with requirements of the IRPA and Regulations applicable to temporary residents (visitors, students and workers).

If an officer has concerns/doubts about the applicant’s bona fide, the applicant must be made aware of these concerns and given an opportunity to respond to them. If an application for temporary residence is not approved, the CIC visa officer will provide the client with a letter explaining why an application has been refused.

Temporary residence status might be refused for several reasons, including:

-history of having contravened the conditions of admission on a previous stay in Canada;
-lack of or insufficient proof of adequate funds to support oneself while in Canada, and to affect one’s departure from Canada;
-medical inadmissibility;
-not satisfying the visa officer that the individual will leave Canada at the end of their period of authorized stay.

We hope that others can provide some suggestions regarding what they have done and what worked for them.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.

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Anna
Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRS
Settlement.Org