Angst

Hi there,

I need a little bit of help from anyone who has some experience.

I'm the Canadian and my fiance is Australian. I originally came here on a WHV, and I got engaged here. My visa expires in June. That's when I'm booked to depart, and we'll both be in Canada together for a month. I'm afraid though that considering our situation, we'll have to be separated. If there's any way we can do this without that, if there's anything I haven't thought of..I would be grateful if someone would mention it to me.

We are not eligible for the partner visa under the 12-month relationship requirement. While we have been together for quite some time, we have not *lived* together that long. That is the distinction.

Even if we did marry here within the next couple months, getting the police check will take 4 months from here. Obviously, that's not enough time. So, we'd still be in that exact same situation.

I've thought about applying for a prospective marriage visa while I'm over there, but assuming I get all my documents in order in a timely fashion, I don't expect to be able to get that in time (esp. since getting a police check in Canada will take a week, at best). That means there would be a separation and we'd have to just suck it up. It's not something I'm keen on at all, but I don't know what other choice we have. He has a job he has to come back to here. He can't stay in Canada longer.

Is there any other option that doesn't entail separation?

If there is separation, given the information I've presented, how long would you estimate the separation would last?

This bothers me a lot. I've been looking on the internet all day, doing a lot of reading, sending emails, and we got partner visa application and looked it over (I practiced filling it out) and I read the partner migration booklet. I just - maybe I'm vainly grasping here..is there something else we can do? I'm at a loss.

I'm hoping that I'm just being a complete idiot.

Thank you.

You can get the police check done while you're in Canada. It takes a week from within Canada because it's done electronically.

You should be able to put everything together quickly enough to make the separation minimal (if at all). It really doesn't take that long if you start preparing now.

If you get married in Australia, now, then get the police check done in Canada, send off the application from there, you should be able to go back with him as a visitor while you wait for the app to be processed. You just have to leave the country at the time it's going to be granted (quick trip over to NZ?)