advice for sponsoring long term partner who is a cousin??

[Cross Border Couple]

Hello everyone,
I was just wondering if anyone had any advise regarding my issue.

I have recently been given a 1 year ban for overstaying my visa in canada.
Me and my partner have been together for 10 years however now we have to sort out my permanent residence before i can return to canada.
My partner who is also my cousin will be sponsoring me under family sponsorship.
However, I have read that the sponsor must not be too closely related to the sponsored person.....so does anybody have any clue what I can do?
We lived together at some points and visited eachother whenever the opportunity to visit the other on a visitor visa.
Also Are we Common law or conjugal?
Any help would be very much appreciated

 

[Becki567]

1st cousin? 2nd? 3rd?

 

[chakrab]

have you or your partner filed taxes with the CRA as common law all these years?

 

[Cross Border Couple]

Hello there, thank you for replying

we are 1st cousins (although we never shared any childhood together)

 

[Cross Border Couple]

Also. in response to your question Chakrab, no we do not have joint resources and joined bank accounts....this is one issue that we might have problems with proving how we lived together.....however, all other documents such as photos,email chats, evidence of plane tickets of holidays we took together, hotel reciepts from him visiting me in london, love letters and all things related.....the only thing is that we didnt have joined bank accounts. And of course, i never worked in canada because i always applied for a tourist visa...

 

[Becki567]

Well it appears you can marry your first cousin in Canada, so I am assuming you would also be able to have a common law relationship with them.

However, without filing any taxes I think you may have an uphill battle to prove a common law relationship and not a relationship of convenience given you are related AND you are overstayed and were banned. Those will be some serious red flags IMO

 

[chakrab]

Also. in response to your question Chakrab, no we have not filed any taxes with the CRA all these years.

that could be a red flag. if you claim to be common-law for 10 years and haven't notified CRA about it, then your partner can be audited for the tax returns. one can't claim to be common-law for a certain period while claiming to be single to the govt. that's misrepresentation. coupled by the fact that you two are cousins, it could be tricky to prove to the CIC that you aren't bluffing.

 

[chakrab]

btw, if your partner stays in MB by any chance, look into their family sponsorship program. i believe they can sponsor first cousins.

 

[Cross Border Couple]

Thank you Becki,

you can also marry your first cousin in UK aswell, We have been in love since we were teenagers but being that we were quite young when we thought it would be better to wait before getting married. If we had got married sooner I dont think we would be having this issue right now.
My partner always supported me even as I attended secondary school in canada. I graduated there in 2006.
Then I moved back to the UK and started working in customer sales/banking/among other customer related jobs.
Duirng this time, he fineshed his degree.
During my work holidays, i would travel on a tourist visa to come visit him and he would come visit me in london.
He moved to london for a year and did his masters at Imperial . We also lived together in London. He paid the rent ect. So, i was not contributing financially where I would be able file common law taxes for the both of us. We were just a couple in love, not worried about facts and figures

 

[chakrab]

i would suggest just getting married to avoid any issues with common-law legitimacy.

 

[Cross Border Couple]

Chakrab, my cousin has always filed his tax returns promptly every year ... just not as a common law couple because we would have breaks in living together where I would have to return to the uk as a visitor visa only permits you to stay 6 months out of the year...so I would return to the uk and go back to work to pass the time before I could apply for another visitor visa

Also, what do you mean by : if your partner stays in MB by any chance, look into their sponsorship program - what is MB?

 

[chakrab]

Chakrab, my cousin has always filed his tax returns promptly every year ... just not as a common law couple because we would have breaks in living together where I would have to return to the uk as a visitor visa only permits you to stay 6 months out of the year...so I would return to the uk and go back to work to pass the time before I could apply for another visitor visa

Also, what do you mean by : if your partner stays in MB by any chance, look into their sponsorship program - what is MB?

it's the province of manitoba

 

[Cross Border Couple]

Oh I see, Manitoba...well his buisiness and home are in British columbia

Getting married is what we are planning now, it has been 10 years we are together and now we are ready.
I think we will be getting married in the UK, because I cannot return to canada untill next year (when my 1 year ban fineshes)
Thank you very much for your advice Chekrab, it is greatly appreciated

 

[Cross Border Couple]

regarding taxes

I have never worked in canada , the only income was his income. He supported me financially. He works for himself and has never claimed any kind of social assistence

 

[chakrab]

Re: regarding taxes

I have never worked in canada , the only income was his income. He supported me financially. He works for himself and has never claimed any kind of social assistence

based on your details i personally don't think you have a strong case for common-law. also because of your 1 year ban, i suggest you look into ARC. you can't apply for PR before the 1 year period.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/inadmissibility/arc.asp