Getting married after Copr but have same address history since 1 and half year

[Soni51]

Hi eveyone, need urgent guidance please.
My future husband-to-be and I decided to get married a month ago. However, he received his Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) just 1 week ago, and he is currently awaiting his PR card. We have been living at the same address for the past year and a half, sharing accommodation with friends. Will this affect my PR application?

Additionally, I am currently on a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) valid until March 2026. I created my Express Entry profile in February 2024 (CRS SCORE 505) with a single status because we were not in a relationship or had any plan to marry at that time.

Now that he has received his PR and if we plan to marry in the next month or two, I am unsure about what steps we should take. Should we update my Express Entry profile to reflect our marital status? Or should I wait to get an ITA & do my PR application as single and then got married once I also received my PR ? (Because we have same address history that's why I am more confused about what to do ? )

YOUR ASSISTANCE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANK YOU!

 

[armoured]

Now that he has received his PR and if we plan to marry in the next month or two, I am unsure about what steps we should take. Should we update my Express Entry profile to reflect our marital status? Or should I wait to get an ITA & do my PR application as single and then got married once I also received my PR ? (Because we have same address history that's why I am more confused about what to do ? )

Whatever you do leave your express entry profile in process, since you've been living together more than a year you'd likely be considered common law and he'll never be able to sponsor you.

I'll have to let others respond on whether/how to add him to your profile. I'm pretty sure that once you get married there's no harm to add a PR to your profile as spouse, just need to make it clear that he is already a PR and you've no need to sponsor him (indeed can't because ... already a PR).

 

[Soni51]

Whatever you do leave your express entry profile in process, since you've been living together more than a year you'd likely be considered common law and he'll never be able to sponsor you.

I'll have to let others respond on whether/how to add him to your profile. I'm pretty sure that once you get married there's no harm to add a PR to your profile as spouse, just need to make it clear that he is already a PR and you've no need to sponsor him (indeed can't because ... already a PR).

Got it but what if I'll do my PR application separate based on my current score & on single status ?? Also if I want to withdraw my EE profile, I'll need to give them a reason. Thank you for your reply.

 

[armoured]

Got it but what if I'll do my PR application separate based on my current score & on single status ?? Also if I want to withdraw my EE profile, I'll need to give them a reason. Thank you for your reply.

I do not think there is an issue with applying married, as long as your partner is not trying to sponsor you (because should have declared you as common law spouse). Nothing in this should interfere with your own independent app.

I believe I said DON'T withdraw any ongoing application you have. (Why would you want to do that?)

As I said: I believe you will be able to add him as a spouse who is a PR with no impact on your app. As a PR he would not need to have separate medical or any of that; you do not include dependents who are already citizens or PRs, except as general family information.

You can pose this question in the express entry forum though, i.e. how do I add Canadian citizen/PR spouse to existing EE profile/app.

 

[Soni51]

I do not think there is an issue with applying married, as long as your partner is not trying to sponsor you (because should have declared you as common law spouse). Nothing in this should interfere with your own independent app.

I believe I said DON'T withdraw any ongoing application you have. (Why would you want to do that?)

As I said: I believe you will be able to add him as a spouse who is a PR with no impact on your app. As a PR he would not need to have separate medical or any of that; you do not include dependents who are already citizens or PRs, except as general family information.

You can pose this question in the express entry forum though, i.e. how do I add Canadian citizen/PR spouse to existing EE profile/app.

Understood your point and I will post that question to express entry forum for sure. But still I want to make sure 100% that our same address history will not create any issue in my PR application if I am adding him as a spouse who just received Canada PR (I mean to say not going to sponsor him just update marital status and add his name). And just for reference, he did not mention anything about me in his PR application because at that time we were not in relationship. Also wanna know, does it help increasing my current CRS score ?

 

[armoured]

Understood your point and I will post that question to express entry forum for sure. But still I want to make sure 100% that our same address history will not create any issue in my PR application if I am adding him as a spouse who just received Canada PR (I mean to say not going to sponsor him just update marital status and add his name). And just for reference, he did not mention anything about me in his PR application because at that time we were not in relationship. Also wanna know, does it help increasing my current CRS score ?

I do not think it will but not 100% sure.

The rest are really questions for those who know more about express entry, but I believe you should get benefit for having a PR spouse.

I can understand that you and your partner may not have been in a relationship at that time, i.e not common law. It might conceivably even work with specifics (if you were to apply under spousal sponsorship).

BUT: he got his PR a week ago, you plan to get married in a couple of months, and you've been living together for 18+ months. It's not credible that your relationship began a few weeks ago, i.e. it was sometime in the last 18 months.

And the relevant date is when your partner BECAME a PR. They were obliged to report a change in family composition (i.e. having a spouse).

While you can argue that the relationship began less than a year before he became a PR, the burden would be on you both to demonstrate it began later. (That is, if IRCC decides it thinks that it was the case, which they seem to do quite often)

That might be possible. But it might not. And this is why it would be less risky for you to get express entry/PR status on your own.

[To be clear these points about whether the common law should have been declared by your partner before he became PR, in the hypothetical case you had to apply as a sponsored spouse.]