Conjugal Sponsorship Eligibility - Story and Questions

[LongDistance]

Hello everybody,

I guess you never know who you fall in love with and where ! The best way for me to ask my question, is to share the story. Ill try to make it as brief as possible.

Cast :
I = Iranian guy
My girl = Belarusian girl

SO...I was studying in Dubai, when i received my PR in 2010. I still had two years to finish school, so i figured by the time I finish school, I will still have three years on my PR to stay in Canada to fulfill my citizenship time requirement. Everything was fine, till I met my girl in 2011. Our encounter which wasn't supposed to be anything serious, turned to a full out romantic relationship. I guess subconsciously I didn't want to believe that I will have to move to Canada and leave her some day. In the hindsight, I probably should have taken things slow in the romance category. anyways whats done is done.

In summer of 2012, after I graduated from University, I had to move to Canada, of course with promises of keeping in touch with several visits (I thought Getting a job in Canada isn't that hard and I could afford to see her multiple times a year....God, I was naive). You might ask, why didn't I stay with her and forget about Canadian PR and citizenship if I loved her that much!

Well, 1)Dubai doesn't grant citizenship to foreigners
2)foreigners' work visa might be revoked due to many unknown reasons
3)Iranian passports with visas in other countries are not very secure

So, I could have stayed but I wouldn't have been able to provide us a secure long term life. I figured we'll power through the long distance and with a powerful Canadian passport, her and I could start a solid foundation for life together. If the long distance aspect wasn't hard enough, it seems like it might take a year longer due to the new immigration bill that was proposed in February.

Back to the story, I have visited her 6 months after I moved to Canada, and I'm going for another visit TOMORROW which is 1 year since my first visit. I have consulted with a few lawyers and explored different available paths, which seems like there's only two; sponsorship via marriage, or conjugal. common law doesn't apply to us, because we never lived together beside the occasional weekends.

The problem that I see via Marriage, is that the relationship is forced to take the final step(marriage) rather than its natural path, which I have come to peace with and I don't mind anymore, but the main issue is that; lets say if I marry her and come back to Canada to apply for her outland sponsorship. First of all it would suck to be apart from my newly wedded wife! BUT WHAT IF IT GETS REJECTED?! lol

So I decided to explore the conjugal sponsorship. When it comes down to proving the eligibility of our relationship, we have overwhelming evidence; 1.all the facebook, whatsapp, text and skype records 2. All the long distance phone cards that I've bought since I moved (more than 400 of them) 3.Money that Ive sent her via westernUnion on different occasions 4. Our friends and families' testimonies 5. All my co-workers here in Canada know my story 6. last but not least I have her name tattooed on my body (don't judge lol)


Questions: Are we considered conjugal? if so, what are our chances of success? how long would it take? Does anyone have succeeded in conjugal sponsorship in this forum or knows of a couple who went through something similar?

(P.S. I'm sorry if the story is too long with irrelevant information, I guess I also wanted to get it off my chest!)

 

[tink23]

You won't qualify as conjugal. You don't have a barrier to marriage besides the fact that you just don't want to get married right now. That isn't a good enough reason. You must have serious barrier to marriage and not be able to legally fulfill common law to qualify as conjugal, which, as u said, u don't have a barrier to marriage. This is a risk that everyone here who has sponsored a spouse has risked. There isn't a 100% guarantee that your pr request will go through. But if u have a strong relationship and proof, you shouldn't have any trouble. But u must marry first. Your conjugal application will most certainly be rejected.

 

[mikeymyke]

About your overwhelming evidence, what about pictures of you guys together?

You cannot do conjugal because you don't want to get married, not because you are unable to by forces out of your control.

The problem that I see via Marriage, is that the relationship is forced to take the final step(marriage) rather than its natural path, which I have come to peace with and I don't mind anymore, but the main issue is that; lets say if I marry her and come back to Canada to apply for her outland sponsorship. First of all it would suck to be apart from my newly wedded wife! BUT WHAT IF IT GETS REJECTED?! lol

Well if it does get rejected, what would you do? This is a critical question because you guys need to explore Plan B, should she be refused. If you or her absolutely cannot live in Dubai together, or some other country together besides Canada, then you should re-evaluate your relationship again and ask what you both want from each other.

 

[LongDistance]

Hey,

thank you both for replying. Of course we have pictures of us together as well.

The reason why I thought this might be considered conjugal is that a belarusian girl will most likely be denied of a visitor visa and the fact that I have to be physically stay in Canada to fulfill my citizenship requirements. I thought considering this, we might fall in the category of immigration barrier.

 

[tink23]

Hey,

thank you both for replying. Of course we have pictures of us together as well.

The reason why I thought this might be considered conjugal is that a belarusian girl will most likely be denied of a visitor visa and the fact that I have to be physically stay in Canada to fulfill my citizenship requirements. I thought considering this, we might fall in the category of immigration barrier.

You don't need to be a citizen to sponsor a spouse. Because you only have a barrier to common law but not marriage, you won't qualify as conjugal.

 

[LongDistance]

I see your point.

If you dont mind, I'll ask another question.This just came to me.

I will finish two years of physical presence in Canada shortly and will be able to secure my Permanent residency for another 5 years if im not mistaken. If, after finishing this two years, I move to Dubai and live with her for a year for us to be legally common laws, could I then sponsor her from Dubai?

Basically what im asking is do I (the sponsor) have to be in Canada to submit the application? or could I be with her, and move here together once shes granted permanent residency?

 

[tink23]

I see your point.

If you dont mind, I'll ask another question.This just came to me.

I will finish two years of physical presence in Canada shortly and will be able to secure my Permanent residency for another 5 years if im not mistaken. If, after finishing this two years, I move to Dubai and live with her for a year for us to be legally common laws, could I then sponsor her from Dubai?

Basically what im asking is do I (the sponsor) have to be in Canada to submit the application? or could I be with her, and move here together once shes granted permanent residency?

You can move to Dubai to qualify as common law. This is no problem. However, since you are a PR and not a citizen, when u submit the pr sponsorship for your wife, you must be living in Canada. PRs are not allowed to live outside of Canada when sponsoring a spouse. You may visit her at this time for up to about 3 weeks, but u must live in Canada at this time. But it won't be a problem to live with her in Dubai so that u can apply as common law if u wish.

 

[LongDistance]

That was definitely a surprising answer. It seems like there's no path where we can be physically together while sponsorship is being processed.

 

[tink23]

That was definitely a surprising answer. It seems like there's no path where we can be physically together while sponsorship is being processed.

Unless she gets a visitor visa, then no, except for short visits on your part. This is what thousands of people have gone through. If it is love, then you will make it work. You're lucky that Canada allows residents to sponsor, as there are many countries that only allow citizens.

 

[LongDistance]

Of course, im not being disgraceful.

So to wrap this up, I could go to Dubai to be with her as common laws. afterwards I move back and submit our application.and then HOPEFULLY get her a visitor visa so she can stay with me until our sponsorship application is processed.

Would they grant her a visitor visa while our sponsorship application is in the process? and if so, would it be a short term visitor visa? would we be able to extend her stay?

 

[Twelfty12]

If she can prove she has stronger ties back home than she does to Canada, they might do that.
Hard to be completely sure what they will do with visitor visas, but money in the bank and strong ties to home (family, house, car, job etc) help a lot.

 

[tink23]

It is difficult to get a visitor visa, especially when a pr application is being processed, but it has been don, and hopefully your wife can show strong ties to Dubai and be granted one. She can apply to extend her visa and if this is done, she may be able to stay for the duration of the waiting time. It is a difficult thing to get though.

 

[Alurra71]

... just to throw my 2 cents in here ...

If you are only now coming up on your 2 year mark to secure your PR renewal you will not be able to move to Dubai for a year to become common law. Once you pass your initial 5 years as a PR you must be able to look back at your residency in Canada at any point in time on ANY date and know you have your 730 days inside Canada else you risk your own PR.

Now, lets just say you DO manage to stay in Dubai for a year, and meet common law. Before you can sponsor her as a common law spouse you would need to return to Canada to do this. Once you come back into Canada you risk being reported for not meeting your RO. If you are reported on entry you will have to 'fight' to keep your PR and if the only reason you have for not being in Canada is because of the girl then you will more than likely loose your PR.

Now, let's assume you don't get reported at the border for not meeting your RO. The problem you then face is when you fill out all the sponsorship paperwork and fill in all your address' and such you are now reporting yourself directly to CIC for your breach of RO and they will being proceedings to have your PR removed and you will again have to try to fight to keep it, but again, will likely loose due to your reasons for the breach.

The only option you have at that point is waiting your year inside Canada and then once meeting your RO you could file your common law application, HOWEVER you will have to prove a LOT more because you have now been apart from your common law spouse for at least a year and not living together. Those kinds of relationships are very difficult to prove.

If you are not ready yet to get married to this woman because you wish the relationship to take it's own course, then you are more than likely not ready to sponsor someone to come live in another country with you. You are not ready to take them on as a full time resident and dependent for the next 3 years or more just to see what course this romance takes are you?

 

[SenoritaBella]

You may also want to check if it is "legal" in Dubai to live with your girlfriend without being married. As I understand, under Sharia law, it is not permitted and the punishment is jail time and deportation. See this: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/living-together-in-the-uae-think-twice-1.819369
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/living-together-in-dubai.php