Common Law 3 years -> Break up (i get PR)-> Back together again

[John Cohen]

Hi all

Please share your opinion about our case. I am a Canadian PR and trying to sponsor my fiancee for Inland Common Law PR + Open work permit. We are currently both living in Canada- I am working but we want her to also start working soon. We were common law for 3 years but at the time of my PR application we were not together so I only mentioned her name as my "former common law partner". After i received my PR and moved to Canada, we decided to get back together again but we have only lived together for 7 months. Do you think we are eligible for inland Common Law sponsorship if we have not lived together for 1 year yet since we got back together? Or the fact that we were already common law for 3 years in the past, should make us eligible? Thanks.

 

[armoured]

I think you are ineligible to sponsor based on the previous common law relationship if you declared it as a former common law relationship. And your 'new' common law relationship is insufficient to sponsor.

How long a period was there between the end of the previous relationship and beginning of the new one? What was the time frame of the PR application consideration (submission of PR app to your landing)?

You can consider of course marriage.

 

[scylla]

Hi all

Please share your opinion about our case. I am a Canadian PR and trying to sponsor my fiancee for Inland Common Law PR + Open work permit. We are currently both living in Canada- I am working but we want her to also start working soon. We were common law for 3 years but at the time of my PR application we were not together so I only mentioned her name as my "former common law partner". After i received my PR and moved to Canada, we decided to get back together again but we have only lived together for 7 months. Do you think we are eligible for inland Common Law sponsorship if we have not lived together for 1 year yet since we got back together? Or the fact that we were already common law for 3 years in the past, should make us eligible? Thanks.

No, you are not eligible to sponsor her at this time.

If you want to sponsor her as your common law partner, you need to live together continuously for a full year to qualify. The 3 years in the past do not count since you severed the relationship. You need to reestablish your common law status.

Refusal is guaranteed if you apply now. You need to wait another 5 months.

 

[John Cohen]

oh man, we are already half way through preparing the documents.
We were separate for 15 months. The whole reason for separation was because when i decided to apply for PR, she did not want to move to Canada, and we broke up. But after i received my PR, I have convinced her to travel to Canada with me for soft landing (at the time we were just friends) and she changed her mind and we decided to get back together again.

Just to sum up here are the timelines:
3 years together-> 15 months break (this is the whole period of my PR process from Express entry to landing) ->back together for 19 months after i am officially a PR but with breaks (I was in Europe living with her for 8 months then I got a job in Canada and moved to Toronto for 5 months while she was getting ready to join me in Europe but due to Covid could not come) and finally we are together again in Toronto living in the same address....

Not sure if anyone will understand what i wrote above

 

[John Cohen]

No, you are not eligible to sponsor her at this time.

If you want to sponsor her as your common law partner, you need to live together continuously for a full year to qualify. The 3 years in the past do not count since you severed the relationship. You need to reestablish your common law status.

Refusal is guaranteed if you apply now. You need to wait another 5 months.

Thanks Scylla. In that case as Armoured mentioned, we can then just get married since we were planning to do it anyway.

 

[scylla]

oh man, we are already half way through preparing the documents.
We were separate for 15 months. The whole reason for separation was because when i decided to apply for PR, she did not want to move to Canada, and we broke up. But after i received my PR, I have convinced her to travel to Canada with me for soft landing (at the time we were just friends) and she changed her mind and we decided to get back together again.

Just to sum up here are the timelines:
3 years together-> 15 months break (this is the whole period of my PR process from Express entry to landing) ->back together for 19 months after i am officially a PR but with breaks (I was in Europe living with her for 8 months then I got a job in Canada and moved to Toronto for 5 months while she was getting ready to join me in Europe but due to Covid could not come) and finally we are together again in Toronto living in the same address....

Not sure if anyone will understand what i wrote above

It's super clear - no issues there.

You severed the relationship so you absolutely cannot count the previous 3 years and have to re-establish common law status.

If you want to submit your application sooner (i.e. not wait 5 months), then the other option would be to get married. Once you are married, you can apply right away. If you want to go the common law route, you absolutely must wait another 5 months.

 

[scylla]

Thanks Scylla. In that case as Armoured mentioned, we can then just get married since we were planning to do it anyway.

Yes - absolutely.

 

[kingfintan]

Please I need advise, am an international student, been in Canada since 2018 studying. I first met my wife on 15th of November 2019, and we officially started dating on the 29th of November . She was in Regina at the time and I was in Manitoba. But she was always visiting almost every week in Manitoba by driving in December 2019. She decided to relocate to Manitoba so we can be together. We started cohabiting since January 2020 till now. We both have a child together which was born in October and we got married in November 2020, exactly one year after we met. We have most bills in our names, joint bank account from March 2020 till now, lease agreement together. But they are not up to a year yet, the bills is somewhere around 10 months. Because when she moved to Manitoba, I was living with roommates, she lived there with me from January to April before we moved to our own apartment which has both our names on the lease and bills like hydro and wifi and stuff.
I wanna know if it is advisable for her to sponsor me now. Or we should wait? All the bills we have in our names are currently for 10 months long. Any suggestion @scylla @armoured

 

[armoured]

I wanna know if it is advisable for her to sponsor me now. Or we should wait? All the bills we have in our names are currently for 10 months long. Any suggestion @scylla @armoured

You should be fine - you are married, so you do not need a specific number of months residing together; the 12 months minimum applies as the minimum for common law applicants. Read the instructions carefully and apply, you do not need to wait.

Look at the application app and read carefully at the checklist: you will need your marriage certificate and some additional proof of the relationship - the things like lease agreement, joint bank accounts, etc.

It sounds like you will have all of what you need. Just read carefully, ask questions about things that aren't clear, and check multiple times your application package before sending it in.

(Almost everyone asks: your child does not get included as an applicant on the main form if a citizen already.)

 

[canuck78]

Thanks Scylla. In that case as Armoured mentioned, we can then just get married since we were planning to do it anyway.

Would be prepared that there may be concerns that you never broke up. The fact that she came to Canada to do your soft landing with you didn't help. I would be anticipating that you may need to prove your separate lives for 15 months.

 

[kingfintan]

Thank you very much armoured, yes I am aware my child is not not applicant as he is already a Canadian citizen. Thank you very much. I will go ahead and apply.