Conjugal Partner or Visitor Visa

[RaviSapra]

Hi Seniors,

I came to Canada on PR in 2021 and was in relationship with a girl before I moved here. I want to marry her and want to bring her here in Canada with me. Can you please suggest what should be the best and easiest way to do so?

Shall I apply for Conjugal partner visa - if so, would be grateful if you can give me the pre-requisite and types of proofs that I need for this type of visa.
Or Should I send her visitor/tourist visa invite and then we both can get married here and then apply for her PR from here, if that's possible?

Really confused here so need your expert advise on this. We both are working and intend to stay and work in Canada indefinitely.

 

[scylla]

Hi Seniors,

I came to Canada on PR in 2021 and was in relationship with a girl before I moved here. I want to marry her and want to bring her here in Canada with me. Can you please suggest what should be the best and easiest way to do so?

Shall I apply for Conjugal partner visa - if so, would be grateful if you can give me the pre-requisite and types of proofs that I need for this type of visa.
Or Should I send her visitor/tourist visa invite and then we both can get married here and then apply for her PR from here, if that's possible?

Really confused here so need your expert advise on this. We both are working and intend to stay and work in Canada indefinitely.

It sounds like there is nothing stopping you from marrying her. If that's the case, conjugal sponsorship will not be successful. You should get married and then sponsor her for PR.

If you cannot get married in your home country (e.g. because this is a same sex relationship) then you definitely want to apply for a TRV first to see if she can come to Canada and get married here. Conjugal is only the right path if it's impossible for you to get married or become common law.

 

[RaviSapra]

It sounds like there is nothing stopping you from marrying her. If that's the case, conjugal sponsorship will not be successful. You should get married and then sponsor her for PR.

If you cannot get married in your home country (e.g. because this is a same sex relationship) then you definitely want to apply for a TRV first to see if she can come to Canada and get married here. Conjugal is only the right path if it's impossible for you to get married or become common law.

Thank you for reply.
It's not same sex marriage but I can't go back to my country for atleast 3 years due to my job and few other reasons. And I don't want to wait that long to marry her.

So you're suggesting tourist visa to bring her here?
Just out of curiosity, common law will not be applicable here as we both need to be living together in Canada to apply for that.. Right?

 

[scylla]

Thank you for reply.
It's not same sez marriage but I can't go back to my country for atleast 3 years due to my job and few other reasons. And I don't want to wait that long to marry her.

So you're suggesting tourist visa to bring her here?
Just out of curiosity, common law will not be applicable here as we both need to be living together in Canada to apply for that.. Right?

So based on that, conjugal is not an option for you.

Common law is only possible if you have lived together continuously for at least one full year and have evidence to prove this. This can be anywhere. It doesn't need to be in Canada. Have you lived together continuously for at least one year? If so, when was this?

Otherwise you need to get married. She should apply for a TRV and if it's approved, you can get married in Canada. If the TRV is refused, then you'll need to travel to your home country and get married there in order to be able to sponsor her.

 

[RaviSapra]

So based on that, conjugal is not an option for you.

Common law is only possible if you have lived together continuously for at least one full year and have evidence to prove this. This can be anywhere. It doesn't need to be in Canada. Have you lived together continuously for at least one year? If so, when was this?

Otherwise you need to get married. She should apply for a TRV and if it's approved, you can get married in Canada. If the TRV is refused, then you'll need to travel to your home country and get married there in order to be able to sponsor her.

Thank you so much again for the detailed reply.

Yes we have been living together for 2 years but in my home country. Would be nice if you can put some light on what exact proofs CIC looks for in such cases.

And for TRV, will it help if my invitation letter explains my reason of inviting her here and my intention to marry her and live together afterwards?

 

[scylla]

Thank you so much again for the detailed reply.

Yes we have been living together for 2 years but in my home country. Would be nice if you can put some light on what exact proofs CIC looks for in such cases.

And for TRV, will it help if my invitation letter explains my reason of inviting her here and my intention to marry her and live together afterwards?

Did the living together happen before you became a PR or after? This is important. The evidence you need to provide are things like joint leases / joint property ownership, joint bank accounts, joint utility statements, etc.

If the TRV indicates she has plans to remain long term, this will increase the chances of refusal. To have a decent chance of the TRV being approved, she wants to show strong ties to her home country, sufficient funds to pay for her travel to Canada, and it helps if she has previously traveled to countries requiring visas such as the US and UK.

 

[RaviSapra]

Did the living together happen before you became a PR or after? This is important. The evidence you need to provide are things like joint leases / joint property ownership, joint bank accounts, joint utility statements, etc.

If the TRV indicates she has plans to remain long term, this will increase the chances of refusal. To have a decent chance of the TRV being approved, she wants to show strong ties to her home country, sufficient funds to pay for her travel to Canada, and it helps if she has previously traveled to countries requiring visas such as the US and UK.

We have been living together before I got PR but proofs like joint account or joint lease is not there. This is not how living together usually works in India. I was taking care of all the expenses and we never thought of this otherwise would have planned something on those lines.

She also doesn't have any travel history so TRV may result into rejection.

Why conjugal visa ia not suitable for our case? What if I invite her and wait for couple of years before officially getting married to her, perhaps after she gets citizenship? Is it possible in that case?

 

[scylla]

We have been living together before I got PR but proofs like joint account or joint lease is not there. This is not how living together usually works in India. I was taking care of all the expenses and we never thought of this otherwise would have planned something on those lines.

She also doesn't have any travel history so TRV may result into rejection.

Why conjugal visa ia not suitable for our case? What if I invite her and wait for couple of years before officially getting married to her, perhaps after she gets citizenship? Is it possible in that case?

Conjugal is not possible because there are no immigration barriers preventing you from getting married or living together for a year to become common law. It's very possible for you to get married so a conjugal application will be refused. There is no point in trying.

I don't understand what you mean by this question: "What if I invite her and wait for couple of years before officially getting married to her, perhaps after she gets citizenship? Is it possible in that case?"

For her to get citizenship, she must become a PR first. To become a PR, you must either sponsor her after getting married or after becoming common law (again, conjugal is not possible) or she must qualify for PR on her own through an economic immigration stream like Express entry.

You need to forget about conjugal. This is not a possible path for you.

It also complicates the situation that you lived together for more than a year after you became a PR. If you did this, then you were supposed to declare her as your common law partner in your PR application or add her before landing and becoming a PR. This could potentially create issues when you try to sponsor her since she wasn't declared in your original PR application.

 

[RaviSapra]

Conjugal is not possible because there are no immigration barriers preventing you from getting married or living together for a year to become common law. It's very possible for you to get married so a conjugal application will be refused. There is no point in trying.

I don't understand what you mean by this question: "What if I invite her and wait for couple of years before officially getting married to her, perhaps after she gets citizenship? Is it possible in that case?"

For her to get citizenship, she must become a PR first. To become a PR, you must either sponsor her after getting married or after becoming common law (again, conjugal is not possible) or she must qualify for PR on her own through an economic immigration stream like Express entry.

You need to forget about conjugal. This is not a possible path for you.

It also complicates the situation that you lived together for more than a year after you became a PR. If you did this, then you were supposed to declare her as your common law partner in your PR application or add her before landing and becoming a PR. This could potentially create issues when you try to sponsor her since she wasn't declared in your original PR application.

Ohh..! Very valid points. I didn't think about it. Thank you so much for bringing this up. You're right. This can cause problem as I hadn't disclosed that in my original PR application.

It was my bad when I mentioned getting married to her after she became citizen. I hadn't thought of how she will get citizen at the first place. Apologies for that.

It seems like TRV is the only option left. Can you pls suggest how can we make her TRV application strong enough that it is not rejected?

 

[scylla]

Ohh..! Very valid points. I didn't think about it. Thank you so much for bringing this up. You're right. This can cause problem as I hadn't disclosed that in my original PR application.

It was my bad when I mentioned getting married to her after she became citizen. I hadn't thought of how she will get citizen at the first place. Apologies for that.

It seems like TRV is the only option left. Can you pls suggest how can we make her TRV application strong enough that it is not rejected?

I would suggest you spend some time reading through the posts in the TRV section of the forum to understand how to put together a strong application.

 

[RaviSapra]

I would suggest you spend some time reading through the posts in the TRV section of the forum to understand how to put together a strong application.

Thank you. Will do so.

 

[canuck78]

Even if she gets a TRV there is still the issue that you were common law before you got PR so your spousal sponsorship should/could be denied. She should be looking at ways to qualify for PR on her own.

 

[RaviSapra]

What if I don't show any such thing and simply invite her for TRV and then get married here? There aren't any paper trail for our being into common law anyways.

Even if she gets a TRV there is still the issue that you were common law before you got PR so your spousal sponsorship should/could be denied. She should be looking at ways to qualify for PR on her own.

 

[canuck78]

What if I don't show any such thing and simply invite her for TRV and then get married here? There aren't any paper trail for our being into common law anyways.

She can try to apply for a TRV. Her best chance will be longterm good employment, good savings, property ownership and previous travel to other international destinations like the US, UK, Australia, etc. If you have lived somewhere and with someone for 2 years you usually have quite the paper trail from addresses on your mail, government registration, address records from your employer, previous visa submissions etc. If caught lying she would be looking at a 5 year ban so that is also a huge risk. If she doesn’t have any other way to apply for PR then she doesn’t have another option but not having declared that you were common law will be an issue if it is discovered.