Common Law visa - chances of success?

[j_scott]

Hi all.

So my situation is that I am a British citizen. I met a Canadian woman whilst we were both living and working in Australia. We lived together in Australia for two years and we have papers proving joint leases and joint accounts from this time. Then we quite suddenly decided on a move to Vancouver, not leaving enough time to go through the process of apply for the common law visa.

We arrived to Vancouver in December. I was planning on studying in Vancouver, however I had yet to be accepted onto the course. I therefore initially entered on a tourist visa and applied for my study permit within Canada. This was granted and I've since started at school. Throughout this time we have continued to live together.

However the issue is that when applying for my student visa I put down that I was single. I was fairly certain that my visa would likely be rejected if not, as it would give me reason to stay in the country upon completion of my course and this was my first priority at the time.

I would ideally like to apply for the common law visa at some stage and it would be good to get the ball rolling now. However presumably this would not be possible until at least a year after I made my student visa application (January)?
When I do apply would evidence of our relationship from any time prior to this be valid?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[j_scott]

Anyone have any pointers? Thanks.

 

[scylla]

This is a tricky situation and your best bet would be to consult with a good immigration lawyer.

You misrepresented yourself on your study permit application when you declared yourself as single (when you were in fact in a common law relationship with a Canadian). It certainly doesn't help that you did this knowingly to increase your chances of approval.

Misrepresentation is regarded as a crime and when discovered, is typically punished with a two year ban from Canada.

This misrepresentation could catch up with you when you apply for PR (or maybe not). Again, I would consult with a lawyer.

 

[baiyufeng]

j_scott:

(1) Your student visa should not bind you to any relationship status. (2) It does not matter where you live, as long as you lived together for at least one year and have evidence, then she can sponsor you as a common-law partner.

From what i understand, you are talking about two completely separate visa/immigration issues: One is your student visa (which you currently have) and the other is an application for a permanent resident visa based on a common law relationship (family class).

According to the common-law requirements - this is how I sponsored my partner to come to Canada - regardless of where you've lived together, as long as you have lived together for at least one year and have sufficient evidence of the relationship and living conditions, then you should qualify as a common-law couple. Therefore, she can sponsor you as a spouse/common-law partner.

Your student visa really has no bearing on the PR application, other than the fact that it allowed for you to live together in Vancouver.

The other consideration/question i would have is: when you came as a student and the paperwork asked whether you were single, was "common-law" even an option? I suspect the choices were either married or single, in which case you would be completely correct for entering single (you're not married, you're common-law).

Regardless, the fact that you noted yourself as single can be explained (a) in a letter within your application, and/or (b) during the interview process - if CIC wants to pursue that. However, if your evidence of a common-law relationship is sufficient, I would suspect that it wouldn't even get brought up.

The other comment i would have is that, since your partner has been living abroad for a number of years, there may be some tax/income issues regarding her ability to sponsor you.

Knowing how long this process can take, if i were you, i would get started right away. Definitely no need to spend thousands of dollars on a lawyer.

Hope this helps.