Hi all,
My girlfriend of 2 years and 4 months (1 year cohabiting) and I want to apply together for permanent residence as common law partners in Ontario. We were hoping for some clarification from people who have experience with going through this process.
My girlfriend has a Post Grad Work Permit valid until 2017 and has worked for over a year in a skilled position. I currently have a Temp Resident Permit, previously I've had unskilled work with my expired 3 year PGWP and some study permits from attending university and college here in Canada. She will be eligible to apply for PR and she wants to list me as her common law partner so I can also get PR with her.
Here are the things we're hoping to get clarified:
Are we able to apply for PR together as Common Law Partners?
We've read that in Ontario, you're only Common Law if you've lived together for at least 3 years, but on the CIC website it's only for 1 year. What gives? Is common law different when it concerns immigration?
How do we show CIC that we are in a common law relationship?
We're confused if we should just put me as her spouse on the application and provide our evidence from shared expenses, photos, testimony from family and friends, etc. or if we need an official document from Service Ontario or City Hall. Do we need to obtain an official document from City Hall or Service Ontario (like a marriage license but for common law) before we apply to CIC for PR?
Can she extend her Work Permit to me so I can work while we wait for our PR papers to process?
Since I only have a TRP at the moment, we were hoping that since we've lived together for 1 year we can apply to CIC as common law partners and she could extend her work permit to me as her common law spouse. We know that PR takes awhile to process so we were hoping this would be possible so I can start working again while our papers are processed.
Thanks in advance for any help and clarification you all can provide!
My girlfriend of 2 years and 4 months (1 year cohabiting) and I want to apply together for permanent residence as common law partners in Ontario. We were hoping for some clarification from people who have experience with going through this process.
My girlfriend has a Post Grad Work Permit valid until 2017 and has worked for over a year in a skilled position. I currently have a Temp Resident Permit, previously I've had unskilled work with my expired 3 year PGWP and some study permits from attending university and college here in Canada. She will be eligible to apply for PR and she wants to list me as her common law partner so I can also get PR with her.
Here are the things we're hoping to get clarified:
Are we able to apply for PR together as Common Law Partners?
We've read that in Ontario, you're only Common Law if you've lived together for at least 3 years, but on the CIC website it's only for 1 year. What gives? Is common law different when it concerns immigration?
How do we show CIC that we are in a common law relationship?
We're confused if we should just put me as her spouse on the application and provide our evidence from shared expenses, photos, testimony from family and friends, etc. or if we need an official document from Service Ontario or City Hall. Do we need to obtain an official document from City Hall or Service Ontario (like a marriage license but for common law) before we apply to CIC for PR?
Can she extend her Work Permit to me so I can work while we wait for our PR papers to process?
Since I only have a TRP at the moment, we were hoping that since we've lived together for 1 year we can apply to CIC as common law partners and she could extend her work permit to me as her common law spouse. We know that PR takes awhile to process so we were hoping this would be possible so I can start working again while our papers are processed.
Thanks in advance for any help and clarification you all can provide!
