Common-law / Conjugal Sponsorship of my S.O. from the UK!

[Maddiewill196]

Hello everyone! As there is piles upon piles of information out there that I am gradually wading through, I thought I'd ask for help from all of you!!

My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for near 4 years, now. He lives in the UK and I am a Canadian citizen.

My first question is about Common-Law sponsorship/Conjugal Sponsorship.
In order for me to sponsor him for Common-Law, we must have lived together for 1 year. He has not been able to get a job offer in order to get a work visa to come and live here for that '1 year' that is needed. However, i have an opportunity to move to Spain with him for 1 year, myself being under a work visa for a year there.
Would that qualify me to sponsor him as a C/L? I will be living in a totally different country, however we will have a house and be together for that entire year!

My second question is regarding Conjugal Sponsorship. Would we qualify clearly for a Conjugal Sponsorship?

I have been in school for the past 2 years, and the 2 years prior to that had spinal surgery and was therefore unable to move or travel anywhere. He has just graduated school with a degree in Photography (which is hard to find job offers for in Canada, for a work visa), and income has been the biggest issue of us not being able to live together.
However, we have travelled together, spent months together, have all the pictures, family's proof of our relationships, emails, etc. available to prove our conjugal relationship!
How probable is it that we would be accepted as a Conjugal Sponsorship?

If accepted, does that allow him to move here for a few years? I'm just very confused on the entire process...the information out there is overwhelming, and there don't seem to be a lot of numbers to phone with questions, or people to make appointments to see if you have queries!

 

[scylla]

Yes - living together in Spain for a year or more would qualify you as common law.

No - you don't qualify as a conjugal couple since you face no barriers to getting married and/or becoming common law. If you want to sponsor him for permanent residency, you either need to live together for a year first or get married.

 

[Maddiewill196]

Thank you, Scylla! Is there some kind of link or info you can send me on how you know that living for a year or more would qualify us?
I'm just trying to back up all my information for future use

 

[Maddiewill196]

Or secondly, is there any office in Calgary or phone number where I can talk to a government official about all of these things?

The only numbers I found or appointments I could make in Calgary is if I have ALREADY filled out my sponsorship forms, and have already lived that year together....which I haven't. I just wished to be advised so that I don't make mistakes and have to redo everything!!

Does anyone have any idea of who to contact? I can't seem to find any numbers or emails or offices.

(thanks for listening to my incessant questioning!)

 

[taffy7]

I will jump in as i am sponsoring my husband from the U.K. If you decide to marry here in Canada you can. If you decide to get married in the U.K you need a marriage visa. Just found that out today. If your boyfriend decides to come here he can without a visa and stay for 6 months then apply for extension of his visa. He must have a return ticket to show customs that he is not going to over stay, but we can go into that a bit more later.

First things first, does he have a criminal background .. any thing that could make him inadmissible to Canada.
The processing fees are $1040 plus he will need a medical done by a panel Physician which is about $300.00 in the U.k and a police clearance for any country he has lived for 6 months or more. He will need birth certificates, a current passport and will have to fill out a lot of forms and you will need those photos for proof of relationship.

Now if he decides to come here and you don't get married you need a lot of proof and a full 365 days of living together and not a day less. After this you can apply outland even though he is here in Canada . It is estimated at about 6 to 11 months to get final PR.
Now if you both decide to live in Spain you can apply as common law and you can apply from Spain because you are a Canadian citizen so you don't have to be in the country to apply,however you have to have a plan and proof that you will return to Canada once he receives his PR = PERMANENT RESIDENCE. hope this helps a bit to get you started.

 

[taffy7]

Yes - living together in Spain for a year or more would qualify you as common law.

No - you don't qualify as a conjugal couple since you face no barriers to getting married and/or becoming common law. If you want to sponsor him for permanent residency, you either need to live together for a year first or get married.

scylla is one of the best ones to ask for any info .A senior member . You can go on the Cic website and it will go over every thing, including all the forms.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you, Scylla! Is there some kind of link or info you can send me on how you know that living for a year or more would qualify us?

I'm not saying I dont believe you or anything haha. I just mean that I'm trying to back up all my information for future use

Here is the outland application package. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

And the main outland sponsorship guide, which has all necessary definitions of C/L. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp

 

[taffy7]

Here is the outland application package. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

And the main outland sponsorship guide, which has all necessary definitions of C/L. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp

Thanks Rob_TO i'm not to good on the computer to try and find the link and post it .

 

[Maddiewill196]

WOW! You guys are really wonderful...thank you so much for the time.

So if I decide to go ahead and do the working visa in Spain (which hopefully will be okay along WITH living there for a year, to apply for C/L?), then do I have to notify anyone that I am PLANNING to do this? Or do i just keep track of all of our bills, joint bank accounts, etc.?

Thank you all....any extra links and info will be so very appreciated. I've been so confused by the huge amounts of info on the government sites, but you guys have narrowed down the important parts really concisely!! Words can't express how grateful I am

I hope it's alright if I post any further questions on this thread! All the best wishes.

 

[taffy7]

WOW! You guys are really wonderful...thank you so much for the time.

So if I decide to go ahead and do the working visa in Spain (which hopefully will be okay along WITH living there for a year, to apply for C/L?), then do I have to notify anyone that I am PLANNING to do this? Or do i just keep track of all of our bills, joint bank accounts, etc.?

Thank you all....any extra links and info will be so very appreciated. I've been so confused by the huge amounts of info on the government sites, but you guys have narrowed down the important parts really concisely!! Words can't express how grateful I am

I hope it's alright if I post any further questions on this thread! All the best wishes.

Absolutely we are yes here to help and give back what we have learned from senior members.No you don't have to inform anyone you are doing this . When you get to Spain try get a least or rental with both names on it. Any bills with both names and address on it showing you are both at the same place.If you can get joint bank accounts that will help.A cheap life insurance showing each of you being a beneficiary.

Keep cards any chat logs you have with family about your relationship ,plane tickets receiptsl for hotels ,phone bills etc

 

[canuck_in_uk]

So if I decide to go ahead and do the working visa in Spain (which hopefully will be okay along WITH living there for a year, to apply for C/L?)

It doesn't matter where you live together. My partner and I had never lived together in Canada when we applied as common-law.

Keep in mind that it must be a full 365 days and you must be able to prove it; even one day less than 365 and you aren't common-law.

 

[Maddiewill196]

Great!

So another little question:
We will be staying in a house that his family already owns in Spain, for the 365 days...how does that factor in, for proof of living together?
We would be paying bills and all of that, but the house does not have any connection at all to my name and we are essentially being allowed to live there because it has been offered to us. Does this pose a problem?

Should we instead rent an apartment in both of our names? (which unfortunately adds to the cost of everything...so I'd like to avoid this if possible.)
I'm just trying to wrap my head around obtaining ALL of the correct paperwork for proof of living together, so as not to mess anything up on my part!


Again, THANK YOU all for your replies!!!!

 

[taffy7]

If it was me i wouldn't go and find another place,but have his parents write a letter saying they own the home and this is the date you have both taken over responsibility for it.If it has a caretaker or a condo board get them to state the date you both started living together.After that (365) days i stress, file your taxes as common law. If you have you any emails of conversation saying when you will take over this home,apartment get that too. Every bit helps.

 

[Rob_TO]

So another little question:
We will be staying in a house that his family already owns in Spain, for the 365 days...how does that factor in, for proof of living together?
We would be paying bills and all of that, but the house does not have any connection at all to my name and we are essentially being allowed to live there because it has been offered to us. Does this pose a problem?

Get an official/notarized letter from his family member that owns the home, that will basically serve as a rental agreement or contract (doesn't matter if no actual rent will be paid). Make sure both your names are on it, and the dates you will be living there.

Also make sure that you immediately get bills or mail delivered to the home, that is addressed to both you and your partner, dated to as close as possible to when you moved in.

You also might want to see if you can open a joint bank account, cell phone contract or something similar... in both your names and showing common address, again as close as possible to when you move in.

 

[Maddiewill196]

Get an official/notarized letter from his family member that owns the home, that will basically serve as a rental agreement or contract (doesn't matter if no actual rent will be paid). Make sure both your names are on it, and the dates you will be living there.

Also make sure that you immediately get bills or mail delivered to the home, that is addressed to both you and your partner, dated to as close as possible to when you moved in.

You also might want to see if you can open a joint bank account, cell phone contract or something similar... in both your names and showing common address, again as close as possible to when you move in.

Thank you Rob_TO!! So in order to verify that we are living together for the FULL 365 days, we would obviously need documentation of us being together from day 1 through to the very last day.... Any idea what kind of documents could prove that?
Such as receipts for home furniture, plane ticket stub, or any other ideas?

Thanks!