Canadian/Irish Couple - Immigration Options?

ExParrot42 · 07-08-2014 5:50pm #1

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to read this and advise. I'm hoping that someone has had any experience with sponsoring a partner/spouse, applying for residency through a spouse, or something similar.

My partner and I (he's Irish, I'm Canadian) are nearing the time to figure out "what to do now." We want to stay together and are willing to do whatever we can within our means to do so. Our options seem to be very limited - they involve year+ long waiting lists where we'd have to live apart or involve us saving up thousands, which isn't easy for either of us.

Facts:
-I am currently on a working holiday visa. This expires in 9 months.
-We have been together a year. By visa expiry, it will be about a year and 3/4
-We moved in together in April. By the time my visa expires, we will have been sharing our address/bills for one full year.
-Sadly, neither of us are highly skilled workers. We both work for minimum or a bit more, and only have undergrad arts degrees. (Thus far a big investment for nothing of material value.)

Our problems:
-He does qualify for a working holiday visa for Canada, but we can't really rely on it. The last batch was sold out in 20 minutes. We had friends who applied but didn't get one.
-If he sponsors me as a dependent partner/spouse, we wouldn't be able to afford to live since I wouldn't be able to work.
-Unless I'm misreading something, neither of us make enough money to sponsor our spouses (if we were to get married) to live and work in Canada OR Ireland.
-I have also heard that immigration officers are generally suspicious of couples who are together for short periods of time before getting married, as they're concerned that we just want to remain in the state. We don't have loads of letters, emails, or pictures (we're both horrifically un-photogenic) and since they want proof of a genuine relationship we would be relying on a tenancy agreement, two pictures of us with our dogs, and maybe some testimony from friends and family if they would accept that.
-I am also not sure whether my current visa status will cause problems - my visa conditions say that I HAVE to leave the state, and that it's meant to be short stay only, not to be changed to a student visa/other type of long stay visa. I didn't come here with an intent to stay, life just happened.

I'm so afraid that even if we try everything we can, they will still say no either because we don't earn enough or because we haven't been together long enough to convince them that we're in a genuine relationship. If anyone has been in this position or has any advice, I would appreciate it so much.

Thank you.

jaymcg91 · 07-08-2014 10:41pm

It'd be easier for him to be in Canada I think, you don't even have to be married do you, you just have to be together for a period of time (I think it's a year). Over here it'd be difficult without getting married.

Would he even be able to get someone to employ him on a Young Professionals Visa. Once you were both over there for 12 months you could convert it to PR? This definitely isn't insurmountable!

RunninReba · 25-09-2014 2:54pm

I am currently having the same issue. The evidence you have will nto suffice, you need to prove that you have lived together for over 2+ years with a tenancy agreement.

If anyone has any other information on options that can be pursued in these cases, we would greatly appreciate it. If you have in the meantime ExParrot42, heard of anything that can be done - please let me know I am at the moment in the exact same boat and I'm from Canada as well but it didn't even dawn on me that my partner would need to apply for a visa for Canada to stay with me. This poses an issue now.. crap.

Mrs OBumble · 25-09-2014 4:01pm

Get married, and move to Ireland? No sponsorship needed, AFAIK, if one person is an Irish citizen.

Cushie Butterfield · 25-09-2014 5:24pm

If coming to Ireland as a spouse/civil partner you can sometimes get around the finance barrier by getting a letter of invitation from the Irish person's parents/close family members stating that they will support the incoming spouse until the couple are able to find work.

ExParrot42 · 29-09-2014 5:28pm

Young Professionals is a no-go, he had a look and he isn't experienced or qualified in any field he could get a job offer in. Working Holiday is what he's going for.

Canada isn't quite that easy to get into either - it's not as simple as us being together for a year. We do count as a "common law" couple in Canada, and as such I can sponsor him for a visa. Thing is, it's a year long process where we'd have to be apart, and there are income guidelines that I might not make if I don't get a great job when I go home. I'd rather avoid this.

Currently, we're going for the Working Holiday Visa for Canada option. He's applied for it and is on the wait list. I believe the next round for these visas in in December. If he gets that visa, all will be well and I'll be able to come back here in as little as a year and be able to work and eventually apply for permanent residency/citizenship.

If he doesn't get the visa, we are going to get married. By the looks of it, if I am still in Ireland when I apply to remain as a spouse, he will not be asked for financial information - only a marriage certificate and tenancy agreement. It seems that they ask for all of this only when the spouse is coming from abroad. Perhaps they will be less concerned about our financial situation since I already have steady work.

If we're married and they *still* don't let me stay, we are going to go to the UK for a year. Hopefully we're able to save up the money needed for that. In that case I'd be able to come live in Ireland as a de facto partner, similarly to if we're able to go to Canada.

I will keep you updated, RunninReba - I should know by Dec/Jan if we're going to get married, since you have to give 3 months minimum notice of intention to marry and my visa is up in April. If your partner meets the requirements, I recommend you have them apply ASAP for the working holiday/young professionals visa.

munchkin_utd · 30-09-2014 1:04pm

there seems to be a fair few options in UK for Canadian citizens (which youve already identified it seems) especially if you have some Irish / British ancestery, which BTW also includes Northern Ireland so you could be working/ living a 1 hour drive from Dublin.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100527231447AAk9OZn

ExParrot42 · 31-03-2015 4:02pm

Update: Solved...we got married and I got a stamp 4. The trick was to apply for stamp 4 while on my current visa. We by-passed the "financial means test." Hooray!

Cushie Butterfield · 08-04-2015 2:13pm

ExParrot42 wrote: »

Update: Solved...we got married and I got a stamp 4. The trick was to apply for stamp 4 while on my current visa. We by-passed the "financial means test." Hooray!

Congratulations!

Kdk86 · 16-01-2017 3:45pm

Exparrot42

Please help!

how long after you were married did it take to get granted a stamp 4? I'm currently on a holiday working visa that expires in September and really hope I don't have to stop working....thanks any info would be great

ExParrot42 · 31-01-2017 6:10pm

Kdk86 wrote: »

Exparrot42

Please help! how long after you were married did it take to get granted a stamp 4? I'm currently on a holiday working visa that expires in September and really hope I don't have to stop working....thanks any info would be great

Hi! You can go into the immigration office the moment you have your marriage certificate in hand, which I think was mailed to us a couple days after the wedding. Both of you go into immigration together with that, proof of joint address, your gnib card, and your passports. (Possibly long form birth certs as well, can't remember). You should walk away with a stamp 4 and a new gnib card. I do believe you book appointments online now instead of queueing for eternity. Try to get it done while you're still on your current visa

Canadian/Irish Couple - Immigration Options?

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