Please Help

[reihyou 0]

I have noticed a lot of the forums on here are regarding immigration to the US, so I don't know if this will help me at all, but I have questions (too many..) regarding immigrating to Canada.

I am a US citizen and my fiance and I met in Dec 2006 on the internet, and shortly met in real life in Apr 2007. I visited Canada for a total of 8 months (which had been approved at the time as I was waiting for a response on extension of stay, I believe.) In the end, however, they rejected my extension and I had to come back to the states.

My fiance had then decided that he would try to immigrate to the US through a work visa, so he started school, and after a grueling 2 years later of not seeing each other (different reasons unfortunately we were unable to visit until just recently) he has come to the decision that he does not want to relocate here after all, and now I am trying to figure out where I am supposed to begin on immigrating to Canada.

Some of my questions are probably basic, I am very new to all of this, as well as my fiance; we have been struggling with this for almost 4 years now, trying to figure out where to start. I'm not even sure if I am supposed to go to an embassy somewhere, or what.

We also want to get married, so I don't know what the best process for that is.. ideally I want to be able to live with him in Canada, as soon as possible (of course). I do not know if I have to enter Canada as a visitor, or get a green card and then get married, or if we are able to get married while I am visiting (I'm not sure if Canada also has the AoS option?)

Another thing I am curious about and I have read about... My grandfather was born in Canada, and he now lives in the US. Is it true that I may have dual citizenship through him? I know each case is different, but I did read somewhere that you can inherit dual citizenship from even grandparents. The only thing is my parents were born in the US because that is where my grandparents were living. So I don't know how that works.

I apologize if I seem all over the place.. I am very desperate to seek help as my fiance has been growing discouraged by the whole process and has even been considering parting ways, even though neither of us wants to. I would be truly heartbroken to lose the person I want to spend my life with all because we were both too intimidated by the immigration process.. please help! thanks

[Anh map 2,098]

Topic moved from K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures to Canada regional forum. OP is seeking information about Canadian immigration.

This forum should get you better information.

[reihyou 0]

Topic moved from K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures to Canada regional forum. OP is seeking information about Canadian immigration.

This forum should get you better information.

thank you

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Immigration can be discouraging and confusing, we can all empathize with how you're feeling!

The first thing to do would be to assess you citizenship. I did some goggling just now and read a few things, and in my uneducated opinion I don't think you are eligible to claim Canadian citizenship. From my understanding, only one generation born abroad can claim citizenship through descent, but that does not apply to any subsequent generations. I did however find this cool test you can take from the Government of Canada that is suposed to tell you if you are a Canadian citizen under the new citizenship law that came into effect last year. Check it out if you're interested: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules-citizenship.asp

I know very little about immigrating to Canada through marriage, but there are a few people here in the Canada forum that have first hand experience with this. I do know that Canada allows inbound immigration if you are married to a Canadian citizen. You could wait out the immigration process in Canada with your spouse, although it apparently takes longer then applying from the US. A lot of people have reported using this site for information: http://roadtocanada.com/ although it appears to be down at the moment.

Sorry I couldn't be more help!

[reihyou 0]

Immigration can be discouraging and confusing, we can all empathize with how you're feeling!

The first thing to do would be to assess you citizenship. I did some goggling just now and read a few things, and in my uneducated opinion I don't think you are eligible to claim Canadian citizenship. From my understanding, only one generation born abroad can claim citizenship through descent, but that does not apply to any subsequent generations. I did however find this cool test you can take from the Government of Canada that is suposed to tell you if you are a Canadian citizen under the new citizenship law that came into effect last year. Check it out if you're interested: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules-citizenship.asp

I know very little about immigrating to Canada through marriage, but there are a few people here in the Canada forum that have first hand experience with this. I do know that Canada allows inbound immigration if you are married to a Canadian citizen. You could wait out the immigration process in Canada with your spouse, although it apparently takes longer then applying from the US. A lot of people have reported using this site for information: http://roadtocanada.com/ although it appears to be down at the moment.

Sorry I couldn't be more help!

Thank you, I will be checking on that one site that is down.. unfortunately I just finished taking that assessment test, but it was unable to determine if I have eligibility. I'm sure it is something I would have to call about, but I think you are right.. considering my father would be the one that would inherit dual citizenship born abroad. I will still try looking into it, however, considering that would be a definite easier path to take.

[trailmix 77]

Actually the new laws regarding citizenship through descent will not apply to you, this only applies to people who are born after April 17th, 2009.

You may be able to claim Canadian citizenship and it is certainly worth looking in to.

As Huggles mentioned, in Canada there are two ways to apply as a permanent resident through your spouse, inbound applications and outside applications. So you may well be able to wait in Canada while your paperwork is processed. You will not be able to work immediately, you will need to wait for work authorization.

That's it, in a nutshell, but you really should give Citizenship and Immigration Canada a call and give them the facts regarding your Grandfather and your parent and it may all turn out to be very simple!

Actually, in looking at the info on their website, they only want to talk to you if you are in Canada - so you may have to give your fiance' all the dates and details and have him call, I don't think the number is accessible outside Canada:

Call Centre telephone number: 1-888-242‑2100

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Edited May 22, 2010 by trailmix

[rae_and_scott 1]

OP, Check out this thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/256864-going-to-canada/page__p__3947833entry3947833

I'd also like to point out that Canada does not have a fiance category of visas like the US K1. In order to do a spousal visa you will have to be just that -- a spouse (get married, then do the immigration paperwork).

[BlueBonnet 84]

Also get used to calling 1-800-OCanada ... This is a 24 hour helpline accessibly from anywhere in the world. They may not be able to answer your question, but they will give you phone numbers and website addresses that will be able to answer your questions.

Wishing you all the best.

[reihyou 0]

I just wanted to say thank you for the additional responses, I have had a busy schedule as of late, but at this point I am going to call on Tuesday (next day off) to inquire about citizenship through my Grandfather, so I will let you all know how that turns out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. =)

[reihyou 0]

I'm not eligible for Canadian citizenship through my grandfather, so my fiance and I have decided to go with the Family Sponsor route. We're saving up for now so that I can take another trip up there and get legally married, then we'll take the next steps on him sponsoring me. I shall keep you all updated, thank you very much for the useful links and phone numbers, it has been a help so far. =)

[Pauley 2]

I'm not eligible for Canadian citizenship through my grandfather, so my fiance and I have decided to go with the Family Sponsor route. We're saving up for now so that I can take another trip up there and get legally married, then we'll take the next steps on him sponsoring me. I shall keep you all updated, thank you very much for the useful links and phone numbers, it has been a help so far. =)

If you're looking to just get legally married, and potentially have another family ceremony later on, you don't necessarily need to go to Canada to get married; they should recognize a civil ceremony performed in the US, if that'll save you a trip back north...