Hey all, my partner and I have decided to tie the knot, so I’m going to be on my way from the US to Canada.
I’ve been looking all around the .gov websites, but I am looking for other helpful sites, or maybe even ‘baby’s guide to Canadian stuff’. I’ve been up there a lot so I know how every day life feels, but have no realistic idea about taxes or insurance or voting, etc etc. So yeah, any help would be appreciated.
I’ve only given it a relatively cursory look in the past, but it seems like Canada doesn’t give a quick pathway to citizenship via marriage. I think you can get a residency status somewhat quickly and easily, but it seemed like you’d need to live in Canada for a decade before you could apply for citizenship, whereas for my wife we could apply for US citizenship after 3 years or after she’d had her green card for 3 years, I can’t remember which exactly.
If you have the money, a lawyer can make the process a lot easier for the US, so I’d guess the same might be true for Canada.
Also, double-check how Canada views things, but if there’s any chance you might want to get your spouse a green card in the future, the US government strongly prefers that you get married in the United States. They seem very suspicious that marriages conducted in another country might not be real and that it’s just a scam to try to get a green card. The longer you’re married the less of an issue it is, but if you decide to get a green card in the first few years it could be a problem. If Canada is not as strict about that then you may want to have the legal wedding ceremony in the United States, even if you’ll be living in Canada.
And overall, I feel like it’s most valuable to try to get both parties some sort of citizenship or permanent resident status in both countries. You never know when a family medical emergency might lead to you moving to another country, and that’s not when you want to try to establish residency permission. Canada seems to require you to actually live there for more than half the year to apply for residency, so we haven’t done that for me, but since you will be living there you should be able to. I think you can also apply for a green card without immediate plans to live in the US (but double check that) so you may want to start that process sooner than later.
Yeah I’ll have residency and access to most social programs until I become a citizen, but it’s 3 years of residency and then passing the test for citizenship. I figure there’s likely courses offered by universities or libraries or whatnot for the test. Or at least workbooks.
But we’re not entirely sure if my partner will get a green card. She’s rather uncomfortable with the US in general right now and doesn’t think her opinion will change unless something drastic happens and we swing vastly the other way politically. Fingers crossed, but I am running out of any glimmer of hope.