Apply for PR together with common-law union?

[MWVC]

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right section but here goes:

So my girlfriend and I will be applying for a common law union after we've been living together for a year (we're 5 months in). Currently she is a Post Grad Work Permit holder working full time (6 months) in a skilled position and I'm on a visit visa but will have a study permit by the time we apply.

My question is: After we have notarized our common-law union, and after she is eligible to apply for PR, will we be able to apply for PR together with her as a principal applicant and myself as her common-law partner?

We met in college and started dating for almost 2 years now. She was able to get a PGWP and find work, but I was not because I had a PGWP before. So I extended my stay as a visitor and will be going back to school to do a 1 year program.

Our plan is that we:

1) Move in together and become common-law after we are cohabiting for over a year
This should allow me to piggy back on her PGWP right? By the time I finish my program it'll be a couple months after we get our common-law union notarized so I should be able to apply and get her PGWP extended to me, therefore allowing me to work full-time after the study permit expires.

2) She goes through the PNP with her company and receives an invitation to apply for PR
At this point she'll be working for more than a year and I will be employed full-time but not working for a full year yet. So only she would be eligible for PR but as her common-law partner I should be able to apply with her right? Or does she have to become PR first and I'm stuck in limbo again until she can sponsor me?

 

[Ponga]

What do you mean by saying:

We plan to 1)move in together and become common-law after cohabiting for over a year? That's contradictory because you MUST be living together for 1 year to even be considered as a common-law couple.

If she is sponsored by her employer, and you are indeed common-law when that happens, she MUST include you as her common-law partner, or at the very least declare you as her partner in her application (not shown as being Single) because if she does NOT...she can NEVER sponsor you...ever!

 

[MWVC]

My apologies, I meant to say that we will move in together and after a year has passed that we are cohabiting then we will declare our common-law union.

Okay so then we need to make sure that we are in the notarized common-law union BEFORE she even applies or gets sponsorship from her company.

If that's the case, then I will be able to become PR at the same time as her right? Because if she applies then I would be essentially applying alongside her as her partner. Or does she need to be PR first before she can sponsor me?

 

[Rob_TO]

You can do either way.
1. She gets PR as single. In this case when she is approved and lands as PR, you must not be married and must not have cohabited for 12 months. After she gets PR and then after you finish the 12 months to become common-law, she can sponsor you for PR under family class.
2. She gets PR with you as her spouse/common-law partner. In this case it doesn't make any difference if she's single or common-law at the time she submits the application. At anytime during the processing when you reach 12 months of cohabitation and become common-law, she would at that point inform the visa office to add you to her application. You would then do medical, police checks etc, and CIC would then give you both PR together. If there was any reason you would be rejected for PR (due to medical or criminality reasons), then neither of you would get PR.

 

[MWVC]

Awesome, thanks!

I think we'll be okay, which is a great relief.