My brother is marrying a Canadian Citizen in November

[RealMickeysGirl]

HI all, I started a thread on the community board asking what he has to do to get a work permit in Canada once he is married. They are in British Columbia and that is where they will live after they marry - they are getting married here in Alabama in November.
I have looked on the immigration web site for him to try to find out what fees he needs to pay and what applications he needs to fill out but all that did was confuse me.
Can someone who knows about this please go to my thread on the community board and help me out - I explained about what I found and what some of my questions are in a long post there so I won't retype all that here.
Thanks in advance,
Sandy

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=929253

 

[maryliz]

Hi Sandy. Can't help you out, but just wanted to say CONGRATS to your brother ... he obviously has excellent taste if he's marrying a fellow Canadian!

 

[Figment's friends]

Ditto to that! And does he have any friends around thirty?

 

[RealMickeysGirl]

He is 34 so a lot of his friends are around 30.

I haven't met his girlfriend but I have talked to her on the phone and she seems really nice. I am just so happy for him. He really seems to be

I think what I need to look up on the internet is permanent residency instead of citizenship. He hasn't been there long enough to qualify for citizenship.

What I am trying to find out is what he has to do to be able to work in Canada. (now that he will have a wife to support - he needs to be able to work)
I know that here in the US when you are married to a citizen, the procedure for getting a green card (I don't know what the Canadian equivilent is) to be able to legally work is different than if you aren't married to a citizen.

Just trying to be sure little Bro crosses all the t's and dots all the i's so they won't have any problems.
(oh my gosh - my baby brother is getting married - sometimes it still doesn't seem real)
Thanks for the well wishes.
Sandy

 

[wee-haggis]

Perhaps this link might help him get started.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.html

 

[Princess4Eeyore]

Hi Sandy ... I married a Canadian citizen 5 years ago So hopefully I can be of some help. My dh sponsored me my residency. It was a fairly easy process and they will mail you the whole application kit and the steps that need to be followed. You can pm me, for any specific questions. It took me about 9 months to get my permanent residency. I was on a visitor visa during that time. The process goes under family immigration of a spouse. Here is the link :http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/sponsor/out.html
Hope this helps.

 

[Northstar]

Congratulations! Hope you all get to come up to visit?

About getting a work permit while you wait for the permanent residency to come through... a temporary work permit is what you need. There's no fast track for spouses, though. So once he's up here, he should start a job search, making sure that employers know he will need a few weeks to get the work permit before he can actually start work. The employer has to help him get the permit... I know, not exactly the best conditions to compete for a job! Start the permanent residency application immediately, not waiting for a work permit... apply for the work permit once he has a job offer. The work permit just tides him over till the permanent residency is granted, then he can let it lapse.Oh, and with the work permit, he can get a health card.. no small benefit.

If he's already established in a profession and intends to pursue it in Canada, he could try asking for a work permit under NAFTA at the border crossing. I know ONE American who was granted one, no problem, she just showed all her job-search docs (diploma, letters of recommendation from her previous employers, CV) and they gave her an open permit just like that! But I think it depends on what mood the border folks are in that day. They may just tell you to apply for the temporary permit from within Canada once you find a job.

I came to Canada in 1993, worked on a temporary permit from 94 to 95, and got permanent residency in 95.

Best wishes from an American-Canadian (now there's a hyphenation that makes everyone blink!)

 

[mom_rules]

Ours is also a UK-CDN thing.

You can get the application kit and all the forms off the internet at the site above.
First there is the sponsorship application, then the applicant (family class) forms and then the PR application.

The first two fees here in Ontario are $550 and then there is the doctor's report, police reports etc. Finally, the PR fee is $975.00.

We've been going through this for 11 months now and still waiting. He can live here but can't study or work without a permit/visa. Sure makes paying rent difficult.

Make sure you have your documentation and backup documents (proof) in order-the fees are non-refundable-even if the application is sent to appeal or refused altogether

(Can you tell we are just a little fed up with all of this nonsense?)