Canadian citizen wishing to extend stay

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right board but was looking for some help. My Canadian girlfriend is here on a 2 year visiting visa but has to leave in December. She unfortunately doesn't earn much in her job and is unable to get sponsorship through work. What options are available for us so that she can stay in the country.

Thanks for your help.

No options at all while she is here as a visitor. It's not permitted to switch from a visitor visa to any other category from within the UK. If she doesn't qualify for a Tier 2 visa and doesn't have the funds for a student visa, her only other option would be for you to marry. That's assuming this is your intention in the future and that you meet all the conditions, including the minimum incomes level of £18,600 p.a as her sponsor.
I've moved this for you to a more appropriate forum.

How long has she been in the UK on her 2 year visitor visa?

Where exactly is she working that you refer to, UK or her job in Canada?

Does she have an UK born grandparents?

If she is 30 years old or under, what about a Tier 5 youth mobility visa?

My mistake she is already on a Tier 5 youth mobility visa. Her grandparents were originally from Poland before they moved to Canada. I don't know if that would make any difference.

What are the requirements in order for us to get married, would she be able to continue working in the uk if we were to marry?

MLC-UK wrote:My Canadian girlfriend is here on a 2 year visiting visa

I think the OP meant that his girlfriend is here on the Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa.

To the OP
Ancestry visa is probably your GF's best bet, if she has at least one grandparent born in the UK.

Alternatively, if you have lived with her in a relationship akin to marriage (cohabitation, joint bank accounts and bills, etc) for atleast two years, you could apply for FLR(M).

In a worse case situation, if you are in a "durable relationship" and desperate for her to stay, you may have to look into the Surinder Singh route, which will involve you moving out (and moving the "center of your life" out) of the UK to another EEA state and exercising treaty rights in the other EEA state before returning under EU laws.

EDIT: If your girlfriend's grandparents were from Poland, she may be eligible for Polish citizenship. If she qualifies as a Polish citizen, she can stay in the UK as an EEA citizen.

As an aside, Polish citizenship is one of the hardest to lose, no matter how many generations one has been out of Poland (assuming that one has documented proof of descent and marriages, of course). So, there is a good chance that your girlfriend is also a Polish citizen.

Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law
https://mswia.gov.pl/en/document/ways-o ... nship.html

Thank you so much for all this information it's been very helpful. The polish legacy route might be our best chance. Would you know if she has to be able to speak polish to qualify? She will contact their embassy and hopefully this will be our solution.

She probably (it is guesswork based on the links I posted earlier) does not have to speak Polish if she is claiming Polish citizenship by descent. But she will need documented proof that her grandparents were Polish and proof of descent (relevant birth and marriage certificates).

secret.simon wrote:

MLC-UK wrote:My Canadian girlfriend is here on a 2 year visiting visa

I think the OP meant that his girlfriend is here on the Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa.

To the OP
Ancestry visa is probably your GF's best bet, if she has at least one grandparent born in the UK.

Alternatively, if you have lived with her in a relationship akin to marriage (cohabitation, joint bank accounts and bills, etc) for atleast two years, you could apply for FLR(M).

In a worse case situation, if you are in a "durable relationship" and desperate for her to stay, you may have to look into the Surinder Singh route, which will involve you moving out (and moving the "center of your life" out) of the UK to another EEA state and exercising treaty rights in the other EEA state before returning under EU laws.

EDIT: If your girlfriend's grandparents were from Poland, she may be eligible for Polish citizenship. If she qualifies as a Polish citizen, she can stay in the UK as an EEA citizen.

As an aside, Polish citizenship is one of the hardest to lose, no matter how many generations one has been out of Poland (assuming that one has documented proof of descent and marriages, of course). So, there is a good chance that your girlfriend is also a Polish citizen.

Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law
https://mswia.gov.pl/en/document/ways-o ... nship.html

SS - all the links seem to suggest Polish citizenship by decent is from parents only, not grandparents? Have I missed something?

Wanderer wrote:SS - all the links seem to suggest Polish citizenship by decent is from parents only, not grandparents? Have I missed something?

The parents would have got it from their parents, the grandparents.

Unlike British and Canadian citizenship, there is no limit on the number of generations that citizenship can be passed on outside Poland.