My boyfriend and I are getting married next year, early spring approximately. I live in Canada and he is in the US. I met him when on a work visa there. So now he is planning to move up to Canada. We have started reading through posts but I am wondering if anyone may have hints about how to do it most effectively. Does anyone know about a fiance visa? Could he get that, move up here, get married and then not have to go back to the US to fill out paperwork? Thank you all for this resource for us. I think it will be so helpful as we journey through all of this:)
There is no such thing as a fiancé visa to Canada. In order to qualify for permanent residence in the "family class" in your situation, you will either need to be married, or common law (lived together continuously for more than one year) before you apply.
If you have already lived together for a year, you can start the process now, as common-law partners. If not, you will have to wait until next spring until after you are married.
Almost certainly the application package you want is this one. I'd suggest reading through all of that and the accompanying guide as a start:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information...ons/fc.asp
It is possible for him to stay with you in Canada while waiting for his PR to be finalized - but he won't be able to work. Please don't be enticed into applying via the inland PR process because of the promise of an open work permit. It will take at least six months via that process to even get to the point where he's eligible for a work permit and a straight-forward outland ap (even with him visiting in Canada) through Buffalo could be finalized in half that time. Once he has PR, he can work without a permit.
There's more info for US applicants at US2Canada.com