Same Sex Conjugal Partner application

[armoured]

We resided together for 5 years before i flew here as PR, our Lawyer suggested that it should be conjugal partner

2) We never applied for TRV as we are like the PR would come in time.

3) please see this too "For example, a foreign partner may be from a country where divorce is not possible or where same-sex marriage is not recognized. Such partners may not be able to obtain long-stay visas in order to live together and meet the cohabitation requirement for common-law partners. When the option of marriage is not available, such couples could be permanently separated. In all other respects, conjugal partner couples are similar to a common-law couple or a married couple."

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-conjugal.html

You should order your gcms notes - immediately.

Most importantly:
The issue you have is that when you applied to become a PR, you should have included your partner as your common-law partner. Because you met the test for common law at that point. (Your lawyer should know this).

Because you did not have any such issue about residing together before - and when you applied, you failed to disclose your common-law partner, a misrepresentation that could (and by rights should) make your partner ineligible for sponsorship by you, forever.

Order your GCMS notes - immediately. You need to know if this is being looked at by IRCC.

Secondary discussion: I would have suggested your partner apply for a TRV (because if your partner is granted one, you do not need a 'long-term' visa - your partner could simply arrive in Canada and marry you). You would apply/would have applied for sponsorship then and partner could extend his stay - something routinely done for married applicants. This is something they typically look for in conjugal partnerships, that there is both a legal and immigration barrier. But this is secondary to the issue above.

 

[Nerd13]

1) I come from a country where Same sex relationship are frowned upon and we both come from a community where being Queer can be life threatening as such I didn't put his name along with me, and our lawyer knows that and we have already mentioned it in our stated statements which were submitted during the application.

2) We did order GCMS notes last week.

 

[armoured]

1) I come from a country where Same sex relationship are frowned upon and we both come from a community where being Queer can be life threatening as such I didn't put his name along with me, and our lawyer knows that and we have already mentioned it in our stated statements which were submitted during the application.

2) We did order GCMS notes last week.

I don't know what will happen to your application. It's quite a serious matter (at least in how IRCC treats it). I fully understand where you are coming from, but the only correct approach was to include your partner in your original app. IRCC is traditionally extremely unforgiving about not disclosing spouses and common law partners; whether there are exceptions made given the circumstances - well, enough to say that it would be a significant exception. (And one they will not want to encourage)

You could also discuss with your lawyer whether it makes sense to apply for TRV. (I don't think it resolves the issue, but it also may not hurt)

 

[Nerd13]

Well I have declared to IRCC about which social background we come from and well I am sure IRCC will consider this, they did approve my sponsorship too, do they just randomly approve it or they do check right.


Well we have been committed couple for past 7 years and 5 years of cohabitation but deep in closet and well there are somethings I do feel it's easy to say it's serious or not, that's why we have the best lawyer to guide us.

I do get what you are saying but there somethings which are just not black and white.

 

[armoured]

Well I have declared to IRCC about which social background we come from and well I am sure IRCC will consider this, they did approve my sponsorship too, do they just randomly approve it or they do check right.

Sponsor approval means nothing in this regard. It basically only means you are a PR and technically eligible to sponsor.

I do get what you are saying but there somethings which are just not black and white.

Unfortunately IRCC has historically treated the disclosure of partners as entirely black and white, and exceptions as quite rare (arguably extremely rare - so rare I'm not sure I can say outright that I've seen any).

Also arguably excessively strict on this, having seen many cases where the misunderstanding was both clear and clearly unintentional.

Good luck.

 

[Nerd13]

Sponsor approval means nothing in this regard. It basically only means you are a PR and technically eligible to sponsor.



Unfortunately IRCC has historically treated the disclosure of partners as entirely black and white, and exceptions as quite rare (arguably extremely rare - so rare I'm not sure I can say outright that I've seen any).

Also arguably excessively strict on this, having seen many cases where the misunderstanding was both clear and clearly unintentional.

Good luck.

Hopefully we will get some clarity on this. What do you suggest we do, any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[armoured]

Hopefully we will get some clarity on this. What do you suggest we do, any guidance would be appreciated.

I've nothing further to suggest at this point: order the GCMS notes, discuss with your lawyer the TRV app, wait.

Once you get the gcms notes, will depend what's in it.

Or if any other correspondence / requests or other arrive from IRCC.

 

[canuck78]

Your lawyer seems to have provided you with a lot of incorrect information. I would suggest consulting another lawyer and considering changing lawyers if possible. The first step if considering a conjugal application is to apply for a TRV so you have proof that it is as denied. As others have said you needed to include your common law partner in your original PR application even if you were both in the closet. You were still living together in a relationship so would be considered common law for 4 years. Would start by ordering GCMS notes. Did you declare that you were single during your PR application? Did you not enquire what you should do since you weren’t single but also not married but were definitely not single. Did you ask you lawyer about whether you should be indicating that you are in a common law relationship? This is not a complex issue so your lawyer would have known that you had to select common law.

 

[Nerd13]

Your lawyer seems to have provided you with a lot of incorrect information. I would suggest consulting another lawyer and considering changing lawyers if possible. The first step if considering a conjugal application is to apply for a TRV so you have proof that it is as denied. As others have said you needed to include your common law partner in your original PR application even if you were both in the closet. You were still living together in a relationship so would be considered common law for 4 years. Would start by ordering GCMS notes. Did you declare that you were single during your PR application? Did you not enquire what you should do since you weren’t single but also not married but were definitely not single. Did you ask you lawyer about whether you should be indicating that you are in a common law relationship? This is not a complex issue so your lawyer would have known that you had to select common law.

I never had a lawyer for my pr and i did on my own.

Yes I did declare single, from where I come from being queer is not at all safe, there are somethings which I just can't explain as per logic.

My lawyer here knows A to Z and he has done a good job till now.

 

[Nerd13]

Your lawyer seems to have provided you with a lot of incorrect information. I would suggest consulting another lawyer and considering changing lawyers if possible. The first step if considering a conjugal application is to apply for a TRV so you have proof that it is as denied. As others have said you needed to include your common law partner in your original PR application even if you were both in the closet. You were still living together in a relationship so would be considered common law for 4 years. Would start by ordering GCMS notes. Did you declare that you were single during your PR application? Did you not enquire what you should do since you weren’t single but also not married but were definitely not single. Did you ask you lawyer about whether you should be indicating that you are in a common law relationship? This is not a complex issue so your lawyer would have known that you had to select common law.

Canada's inclusive policies toward LGBTQ+ families offer a supportive framework for reuniting with one's partner and also the fact that I had my safety concerns, I have explained this to IRCC via my lawyer given the unique scenario of my case when i filed the application.


I am hopeful of reuniting with my other half and yes I am under too much anxiety too.

 

[Nerd13]

@armoured if you are a lawyer then please do guide me more on this

 

[canuck78]

Canada's inclusive policies toward LGBTQ+ families offer a supportive framework for reuniting with one's partner and also the fact that I had my safety concerns, I have explained this to IRCC via my lawyer given the unique scenario of my case when i filed the application.


I am hopeful of reuniting with my other half and yes I am under too much anxiety too.

IRCC is not asking you to declare publicly you are in a same-sex relationship. I fail to see how declaring your common law status in IRCC documentation is more dangerous that actually living together for 5 years. How is it safer to apply as conjugal applicants versus common law? I can understand how many partners can’t live together in some countries but you have been living together for a long period of time and you were not being asked to declare your status publicly. You’ll have to wait and see what happens but in general not declaring your marital status is difficult to overcome.

 

[armoured]

Canada's inclusive policies toward LGBTQ+ families offer a supportive framework for reuniting with one's partner and also the fact that I had my safety concerns, I have explained this to IRCC via my lawyer given the unique scenario of my case when i filed the application.


I am hopeful of reuniting with my other half and yes I am under too much anxiety too.

I am not a lawyer and do not have much to add from my previous posts. I have considerable sympathy for your situation and I will hold out my personal hope that IRCC will choose to accept your explanation and, well, make an exception.

But the issue is as stated. As @canuck78 noted, while you had valid concerns, ultimately you did (now) share privately with IRCC your same sex relationship; and it is not crazy to ask why applying as conjugal is safer than adding your partner as common law when you became a PR.

Note, I'm not asking for an explanation - you don't have to convince me. At this point, I do not know if there is more that can be done (apart from what already suggested), and you have the benefit of counsel.

(A side note that I'm not sure that there is anythign different that your lawyer could have done. As noted, an undeclared marital status is hard to overcome)

 

[Nerd13]

@
armoured

Sir I have a query, the estimated processing time calculation when we applied was 16 months and now it is 12 months so what does count the processing time at the submission date or current processing time.

 

[armoured]

@
armoured

Sir I have a query, the estimated processing time calculation when we applied was 16 months and now it is 12 months so what does count the processing time at the submission date or current processing time.

Technically the way they count it is backward-looking - but as it's only a very general estimate that doesn't mean all that much.

But if you want to know which applies to 'your cohort' based on time you applied, yes, it's the time they are telling now.

Repeat though: all this tells you is that 80% of the applications in that group or cohort (by week/month of application) were complete as of [date]. They always expect that 20% will take longer (in a way that it is not meaningful to measure against the cohort). Or more simply, 80% of files are basically 'normal'.

(As an example if they said today that the timeline is 12 months, it means 80% of files submitted 12 months ago were complete - I think to PPR stage, but don't recall - as of the most recent time they measured, and they update once a month or more frequently.)

If your file is from before that date - well, you have a 'complex' file.