Sponsorship Rejection. Advice Needed

[MoietToi]

I submitted an Outland Application on August 14th, 2014 and today I received the following in the mail:

"We have reviewed your application and regret to inform you are not an eligible sponsor for the following reason(s):

You have submitted an application for a member of the family class. The person you have sponsored does not meet the definition of a common-law partner under immigration legislation as you have not continuously cohabited for a period of at least one year at the time of filing of your application. As such you do not meet regulation R133(1) (a) with respect to R130 (1) (c), R1 (1) and R117 (1) (a). Please refer to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations below for details.

You indicated on your sponsorship application that you wish to continue with its processing regardless of any ineligibility. As such the application for permanent residence for your relative (s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for consideration.

Your ineligibility to sponsor will be a significant factor in the assessment of the application for permanent residence for your relative . A final decision regarding that application shall be made by the visa officer and will be communicated to you and your relative. Instructions regarding the right to appeal will be issued as applicable by the visa office. Please note that the right to appeal may only be exercised after the visa officer has rendered a final decision."

A little background. My bf is a French National whom I met in 2012 whilst living in Australia. In our application we included details of co-habitation which included:

July2012-Dec 2012 :Lived together in apt in Alice Springs, Australia
Dec2012-Feb 2013: Lived together in apt in Melbourne, Australia
Mar2013-Aug2013: No fixed address. 6 month joint trip to NZ and South East Asia. Travel documents and photos sent in application.
Sept 2013-Nov 2013: Lived in together in apt in Melbourne, Australia.
Dec 2013-Feb 2014: Lived together in apt in Strasbourg, France.
March 2014 onwards: I moved back to Canada on my own while he remained in France.

For the most part, I thought we did meet the definition of common- law as we have had joint finances and lived together from July 2012-Feb 2014. I'm guessing the CIC does not count a 6 month backpacking trip as living together? Or was it due to moving around?

So now I'm at a lost on what to do?

Option 1: Go to France and get married. In our application we talked about waiting to get married as we both wanted to be settled in our careers first. We are both in our 20s. Does it look odd now if I fly to Paris and just to get married? Obviously not getting the Sponsorship Approval is the catalyst.

Also what is the window in which I would have to provide the marriage certificate to the Paris immigration office? Would it even matter if since the SA was not approved?

Option 2: Contact the Paris immigration office and ask them to withdraw the application and hope that we can get a refund for the PR application fee.

Option 3: Do nothing in the meantime and when the PR application is likely denied, try and appeal after the officer in Paris has made final decision.

Are there other options that I'm missing?

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance

 

[Mariac819]

I have no answers for you but I wanted to say I am really sorry and I hope you find a solution.

 

[mikeymyke]

You were rejected because you didn't live for 1 year continuously. They would've given you a break if you went on vacation for just a couple weeks, but you went for 6 months.

Best thing to do is to get married and file outland. You can't file common law now, because since you're in Canada without him, you'd have to start from scratch to get 1 year cohabitation.

 

[Christoph100]

With draw your current application completely ...get married and yes reapply outland .

 

[keesio]

You were rejected because you didn't live for 1 year continuously. They would've given you a break if you went on vacation for just a couple weeks, but you went for 6 months.

But they traveled together the whole time. They would be cohabiting during that period. Wouldn't that count?

 

[Christoph100]

But they traveled together the whole time. They would be cohabiting during that period. Wouldn't that count?

Logically yes to us it should count but they had no fixed address together. If they could have kept a fixed address while traveling it may have been a different outcome.

 

[kiwi123]

This seems quite unfortunate. I'm sure when the 1 year cohobiting rule came into place this wasnt the intention. It is to show a period of mutual dependence and commitment to each other. It is hard to deny that the OP seems to have shown that, probably to a level greater than many that get approved. But I guess rules are rules, and I do understand that they can't have grey areas(although they seem to have many in some situations).

I find it interesting that they have picked this up at sponsorship level. At least they can withdrawal application now rather than wasting additional time and $$ on stage 2.

 

[mikeymyke]

But they traveled together the whole time. They would be cohabiting during that period. Wouldn't that count?

Maybe she could submit proof that they had the same hotel rooms during the 6 month vacation that could help? I'm not sure. They wouldn't refuse her if they can prove cohabitation, I think during the 6 month vacation, she was unable to do so.

 

[Rob_TO]

Mar2013-Aug2013: No fixed address. 6 month joint trip to NZ and South East Asia. Travel documents and photos sent in application.

What exactly did you submit as cohabitation evidence for the backpacking trip? Technically if you were together the whole time, then this would qualify as cohabitation and should have qualified you for common-law.
Did you submit things like:
- airplane tickets or online receipts showing you shared all the same flights? Or train/bus/boat tickets during the trip?
- receipts from each hotel/hostel you stayed at?
- pictures of the 2 of you together during the trip?
- any friends you went with or met and keep in contact with, that could write a testimonial letter?
- credit card statements for each of you, showing charges in the same city during the trip?

The PR app in Paris should not be denied outright. If the Paris VO reaches the same conclusion as the Mississauga sponsor VO, they should first give you the opportunity to address their concerns about your common-law qualifying. So perhaps if you send in more additional proofs that you were together during that entire 6-months time, the PR app could still have a chance of success.
This is just my opinion though, nobody can say here what exactly the Paris VO will do.

 

[MoietToi]

What exactly did you submit as cohabitation evidence for the backpacking trip? Technically if you were together the whole time, then this would qualify as cohabitation and should have qualified you for common-law.
Did you submit things like:
- airplane tickets or online receipts showing you shared all the same flights? Or train/bus/boat tickets during the trip?
- receipts from each hotel/hostel you stayed at?
- pictures of the 2 of you together during the trip?
- any friends you went with or met and keep in contact with, that could write a testimonial letter?
- credit card statements for each of you, showing charges in the same city during the trip?

The PR app in Paris should not be denied outright. If the Paris VO reaches the same conclusion as the Mississauga sponsor VO, they should first give you the opportunity to address their concerns about your common-law qualifying. So perhaps if you send in more additional proofs that you were together during that entire 6-months time, the PR app could still have a chance of success.
This is just my opinion though, nobody can say here what exactly the Paris VO will do.

In regards to what we submitted for our backpacking trip:

-Travel timeline of which country we were in and when
-Flight tickets/receipts for the 8 flights we took. Both of our names are on each.
-4-6 photos of us together in 11 countries, mostly in front of notable landmarks
-1 letter from my sister, 1 letter from his parents, 1 letter from his friend who initially traveled to Australia with, which all mention our trip to Asia

Additional documents I could submit:

-A couple of hostel confirmations, for the most part we paid cash on arrival whenever we ended up in a new city. We didn't keep any of the cash receipts as we were on the road for a long time and didn't think we needed them
-We stayed with one friend in Korea and another in Taiwan, we could ask them to write testimonial letters for us.
-Our joint credit card was stolen in Indonesia, we had the information for it sent to a friend in Melbourne for safe keeping. We could also get him to write a letter for us.
-We could also include our matching stamped passport pages, which shows we entered each country on the same day as one another

Since our joint card was largely MIA for our trip, we mostly used my credit card to take out cash, as the fees where much higher on his French cards. We didn't charge a lot to the cards, as we were mostly eating from street vendors and using cash.
Our trip had large elements of off the beaten track, in NZ we lived out of a campervan which doesn't exactly provide us with an address, and in Sapa we stayed with Hmong villagers who didn't have running water, much less receipts.
We traveled mostly overland on buses, but again did not keep any of those receipts.

Realizing that this evidence is not as strong as it could be, would anyone still suggest going ahead with the application and providing the addition supporting evidence we do have?

His family is not supportive of us rushing to get married, and think we should wait like we had originally planned.
My only other option is getting a working holiday visa for France and relocating there for a year, although I am anglophone.

Oh and thank you for all the responses. I really appreciate it!

 

[MoietToi]

Also, does anyone know of any cases of being denied SA but then getting approved for PR?

Have there been exceptions in the past? Or do things always follow the general rule?

 

[canadianwoman]

Yes. One forum member was refused then sent the needed info right away to the visa officer and also got his MP involved. The program manager overturned the decision of the visa officer and his partner got his visa. There was also another couple who were traveling during the year it took to establish common law. They submitted proof from every place they stayed plus any travel proof plus the matching entry and exit stamps.

 

[Christoph100]

I am thinking your best option is to withdraw the application, If you are really wanting to wait to marry your options are limited you need the common law cohabitation of 1 year consistently. Even tho you have lived together there is not enough proof of the 12months minimum that CIC is looking for. You have come close a few times in AU but still short the months needed. Living off the beaten path as not helped your chances to prove common law as there was no physical address being shown that you were living together during this time. Both of you need to figure out what is best for you and what it is you want as a couple.

The other option is fight the system as stated above get your MP involved send as much proof of being together that you can

Good luck in what path you may choose.
Chris

 

[little_apple]

What exactly did you submit as cohabitation evidence for the backpacking trip? Technically if you were together the whole time, then this would qualify as cohabitation and should have qualified you for common-law.
Did you submit things like:
- airplane tickets or online receipts showing you shared all the same flights? Or train/bus/boat tickets during the trip?
- receipts from each hotel/hostel you stayed at?
- pictures of the 2 of you together during the trip?
- any friends you went with or met and keep in contact with, that could write a testimonial letter?
- credit card statements for each of you, showing charges in the same city during the trip?

The PR app in Paris should not be denied outright. If the Paris VO reaches the same conclusion as the Mississauga sponsor VO, they should first give you the opportunity to address their concerns about your common-law qualifying. So perhaps if you send in more additional proofs that you were together during that entire 6-months time, the PR app could still have a chance of success.
This is just my opinion though, nobody can say here what exactly the Paris VO will do.

Have you ever backpacked in Asia or other third world countries? There is no such thing as hotel receipts, bus tickets, boat tickets for most of the times. The only proof would have been plane tickets. Hard to prove living together when you travel through these countries

 

[Awesomeg]

I submitted an Outland Application on August 14th, 2014 and today I received the following in the mail:

"We have reviewed your application and regret to inform you are not an eligible sponsor for the following reason(s):

You have submitted an application for a member of the family class. The person you have sponsored does not meet the definition of a common-law partner under immigration legislation as you have not continuously cohabited for a period of at least one year at the time of filing of your application. As such you do not meet regulation R133(1) (a) with respect to R130 (1) (c), R1 (1) and R117 (1) (a). Please refer to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations below for details.

You indicated on your sponsorship application that you wish to continue with its processing regardless of any ineligibility. As such the application for permanent residence for your relative (s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for consideration.

Your ineligibility to sponsor will be a significant factor in the assessment of the application for permanent residence for your relative . A final decision regarding that application shall be made by the visa officer and will be communicated to you and your relative. Instructions regarding the right to appeal will be issued as applicable by the visa office. Please note that the right to appeal may only be exercised after the visa officer has rendered a final decision."

A little background. My bf is a French National whom I met in 2012 whilst living in Australia. In our application we included details of co-habitation which included:

July2012-Dec 2012 :Lived together in apt in Alice Springs, Australia
Dec2012-Feb 2013: Lived together in apt in Melbourne, Australia
Mar2013-Aug2013: No fixed address. 6 month joint trip to NZ and South East Asia. Travel documents and photos sent in application.
Sept 2013-Nov 2013: Lived in together in apt in Melbourne, Australia.
Dec 2013-Feb 2014: Lived together in apt in Strasbourg, France.
March 2014 onwards: I moved back to Canada on my own while he remained in France.

For the most part, I thought we did meet the definition of common- law as we have had joint finances and lived together from July 2012-Feb 2014. I'm guessing the CIC does not count a 6 month backpacking trip as living together? Or was it due to moving around?

So now I'm at a lost on what to do?

Option 1: Go to France and get married. In our application we talked about waiting to get married as we both wanted to be settled in our careers first. We are both in our 20s. Does it look odd now if I fly to Paris and just to get married? Obviously not getting the Sponsorship Approval is the catalyst.

Also what is the window in which I would have to provide the marriage certificate to the Paris immigration office? Would it even matter if since the SA was not approved?

Option 2: Contact the Paris immigration office and ask them to withdraw the application and hope that we can get a refund for the PR application fee.

Option 3: Do nothing in the meantime and when the PR application is likely denied, try and appeal after the officer in Paris has made final decision.

Are there other options that I'm missing?

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance

Your best option is withdraw, and if your plans are to live together then you can get married and apply again.
Other options would take too long, and the outcome is uncertain ....

Take the fast lane....
If you guys really want to be together