common law application - need opinions

[mirkopal]

Hi guys

I would like to share my story with you, and having some feedback

I am an italian PR in Canada....and I have been in a relationship for 3 years (in one week) with my boyfriend.
He is Italian but works and live in France since 2005.
I left Canada in September 2008 to go and live with him in Paris. in his apartment (he s the owner). I started working there just two months after.
In December 2009 we decided to move to Canada. So 14 months after our life together. We want to have a better life there and also, giving me the possibility to pursue the activities and career that I was planning.

so we sent everything from Canada on December 1st.
we sent A LOT OF PICTURES OF TRIPS and everything (more than 100) signed with date

in his bank account he put me as a co signer.
after a moment I was living there, we started receiving the bills to pay to the same address (hydro, electricity etc)
we sent all the emails and letters we sent to each other BEFORE and DURING our life together

we sent all the passport stamps we had to travel together to see each other (before and trips done together)
letters from friends who testify the genuine way of our relationship

we also wrote a letter with all our intentions in Canada: i.e. staying in Montreal at my best friends' house during the time he s going to receive the visa (they also wrote a letter about that), and the plans about the apt in Paris once he s going to move to Canada, what he wanted to do etc etc

we had a lot of doubts if sending the application as common law or conjugal partner, but we opted for the first option because we have no actual barriers to live together (as an Italian citizen I could live and work in France with no visa, and that is what I actually did).

we sent everything in december and we passed the first two steps pretty fast (mississauga and quebec) in less than two months.
in March I was visiting my family in italy and I passed by the Consulate in ROME and they told me that yes your application is there but we did not opened yet...
it was mid february....

but ONLY IN MARCH 25th my partner received a letter from the consulate where they wrote that THEY STARTED PROCESSING THE APPLICATION. I mean, our application stayed there for 1 month in Rome and no one opened it!!!

anyway we are still waiting...in the mean time We are travelling Canada and France to keep our relationship genuine. I mean, I travelled a lot of time in France for 4-5 days to see him and he did the same thing. Right now he s in Canada with me, and he's going to stay for 1 month, before leaving again.
i have two friends who sent the application (same status - common law) respectively one month and one month and half before me. same immigration office, Rome.
the only difference was that the sponsor were Canadian citizens and not PR.
they received a positive answer in 4 months more or less.
they actually sent a less amount of proofs that we sent....

my questions are

1) does the applications are usually faster when the sponsor are Canadians?

2) do you think that this longer time of waiting means that there are some mistakes in our application? would they communicate that before if there were some mistakes?

the problem is that all thing flying canada and europe is becoming so stressing right now...both economically than psychologically..

thanks for sharing all your opinions in this case
thanks a lot

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hi guys

I would like to share my story with you, and having some feedback

I am an italian PR in Canada....and I have been in a relationship for 3 years (in one week) with my boyfriend.
He is Italian but works and live in France since 2005.
I left Canada in September 2008 to go and live with him in Paris. in his apartment (he s the owner). I started working there just two months after.
In December 2009 we decided to move to Canada. So 14 months after our life together. We want to have a better life there and also, giving me the possibility to pursue the activities and career that I was planning.

so we sent everything from Canada on December 1st.
we sent A LOT OF PICTURES OF TRIPS and everything (more than 100) signed with date

in his bank account he put me as a co signer.
after a moment I was living there, we started receiving the bills to pay to the same address (hydro, electricity etc)
we sent all the emails and letters we sent to each other BEFORE and DURING our life together

we sent all the passport stamps we had to travel together to see each other (before and trips done together)
letters from friends who testify the genuine way of our relationship

we also wrote a letter with all our intentions in Canada: i.e. staying in Montreal at my best friends' house during the time he s going to receive the visa (they also wrote a letter about that), and the plans about the apt in Paris once he s going to move to Canada, what he wanted to do etc etc

we had a lot of doubts if sending the application as common law or conjugal partner, but we opted for the first option because we have no actual barriers to live together (as an Italian citizen I could live and work in France with no visa, and that is what I actually did).

we sent everything in december and we passed the first two steps pretty fast (mississauga and quebec) in less than two months.
in March I was visiting my family in italy and I passed by the Consulate in ROME and they told me that yes your application is there but we did not opened yet...
it was mid february....

but ONLY IN MARCH 25th my partner received a letter from the consulate where they wrote that THEY STARTED PROCESSING THE APPLICATION. I mean, our application stayed there for 1 month in Rome and no one opened it!!!

anyway we are still waiting...in the mean time We are travelling Canada and France to keep our relationship genuine. I mean, I travelled a lot of time in France for 4-5 days to see him and he did the same thing. Right now he s in Canada with me, and he's going to stay for 1 month, before leaving again.
i have two friends who sent the application (same status - common law) respectively one month and one month and half before me. same immigration office, Rome.
the only difference was that the sponsor were Canadian citizens and not PR.
they received a positive answer in 4 months more or less.
they actually sent a less amount of proofs that we sent....

my questions are

1) does the applications are usually faster when the sponsor are Canadians?

2) do you think that this longer time of waiting means that there are some mistakes in our application? would they communicate that before if there were some mistakes?

the problem is that all thing flying canada and europe is becoming so stressing right now...both economically than psychologically..

thanks for sharing all your opinions in this case
thanks a lot

1. You have created a problem for yourself, since a PR you have to remain in Canada during the processing of the application. It is obvious that you haven't as
you have been traveling outside Canada.
2. Your friends are Canadians and can sponsor while residing outside Canada.
3. You may expect a refusal as per R 130 of the Regulations

Sponsors

Sponsor
130. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a sponsor, for the purpose of sponsoring a foreign national who makes an application for a permanent resident visa as a member of the family class or an application to remain in Canada as a member of the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class under subsection 13(1) of the Act, must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who
(a) is at least 18 years of age;
(b) resides in Canada; and
(c) has filed a sponsorship application in respect of a member of the family class or the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class in accordance with section 10.

Sponsor not residing in Canada
(2) A sponsor who is a Canadian citizen and does not reside in Canada may sponsor an application referred to in subsection (1) by their spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent child who has no dependent children if the sponsor will reside in Canada when the applicant becomes a permanent resident.

 

[mirkopal]

I completely agree what you said in regards of the status.....and I knew that I needed to stay in Canada by the time of the application process.
but I went out of the country few times, like 3 since I sent my application....and I was sent to France for work.
once I went to Italy for family reasons ....

before applying I went to the Canadian visa office and they told me that I could do some travels to keep the relation alive...so I resided in Canada but I actually spent some short time abroad...mostly for professional reasons

 

[mirkopal]

Moreover, I knew that I need to reside in Canada and I AM ACTUALLY RESIDING in canada since I sent the application in December...I sent it from there and I started working the dissertation of my Phd thesis.
you can tell that I am in canada, just check my phone bill since december.
as I told you, I left Canada for professional reasons (conferences where I was invited), in particular, I left Canada 4 times: 4, 4, 5, 4 days respectively.
these conferences were in France (2), Germany (1) and Italy (1). in all these occasions, I met with my boyfriend. When I went to the VIsa office in Rome the woman that spoke with me, a woman from the immigration, told me that there was nothing wrong in going for short time to visit your partner or out of the country for work reasons.

WHat could I do, saying something like 'I can t come to a conference because I am under the immigration process'?

if someone follow your case, you can t be out of Canada for the whole process...that means that if you need to go to the States for work ( a lot of people do that in Canada, I imagine) you can't....

anyway mississauga accepted me as a sponsor and also quebec.

if you can give me more opinions about that I would appreciate

 

[Harju]

The processing times for Rome are 30% of applications finalized within 5 months to 80% within 12 months. Your application is not outside of normal processing periods so it is best just to be patient instead of comparing yourself to others and speculating the worst. I know that is easier to say than to do.