Conjugal Sponsorship or Common-Law Canada & US please help!

[SkinnyMarie]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone can help me in regards to some questions I have. I guess first I'll explain my situation...

I am an American citizen and am trying to become a permanent resident of Canada through my fiancé, a Canadian citizen. Our relationship started in 2007 when he was just finishing up school in the States and I still had 2 years to go. After he graduated he moved back to Canada and we continued our relationship long distance for two years visiting each other whenever we could and me spending my summers living with him in Canada. After I graduated I moved up to be with him on just a visitor's visa as a trial period and things between us continued to work out great so eventually we started my application process for permanent residence.
The process has been kind of a nightmare especially the medical testing as my first blood tests came back inconclusive and then I multiple re-tests were done incorrectly (not enough blood was taken for the secondary test which happened twice and another time they did not use the correct blood preservative or something in the vial they used which made that sample unusable) basically it was a nightmare and I spent months paranoid that I had something wrong with me, it didn't help that my Immigration Doctor's English wasn't the best so communication was a bit rough. Finally I was able to get the appropriate testing done and it turned out I was fine thank goodness but all this ended up taking months and months which then voided my FBI clearance so I had to get all of that re-done as well. (sorry for the rant I think I needed to just vent a little about that situation lol)
Finally...we applied as Conjugal Partners, and after waiting a few months our application was returned as the medical doctor did not send the information on my re-test that they were supposed to the immigration office. I spent the next few weeks trying to get that tracked down and have her send it and then re-sent all of my information back to be processed.
During this time I have been travelling back and forth from Canada and the US to maintain my visitors status but my partner and I have not been apart for more than 2 weeks and most times he would come with me back to the US so really we spend all of our time together. A couple of weeks ago we received an email from the immigration officer asking us to provide more proof of our relationship which I have compiled. Multiple itineraries from us travelling together/taking trips, joint bank account file, letter from my dentist here, lots of pictures, mail addressed to both of us at our address here in Canada, and a few notarized letters from a friend,a family member, and a co-worker of his.
I am hoping this will be sufficient information/proof for the immigration official but I am concerned about the fact that we applied as conjugal partners because I have heard that this is not a great way to apply. We have however now been living together for 3 years (but technically I really have only been here as a visitor). So I guess my question is should we be applying as common-law instead? Should I call immigration and tell them this or write a letter stating this when I send in my additional information or will I need to totally re-apply?
Also during this time we have become engaged but we do not plan on having our wedding for a while. I know there is no category for engaged couples so should I not say anything about the engagement or should we go to the court house and get married now just for the paperwork and have the ceremony latter?

Everything has been so crazy with this process that I really don't want to mess it up or delay me getting my residence. I am seriously stressing out about this and I have about 30 until I have to submit my additional information. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated and again sorry for the long post.

 

[amikety]

Just a piece of advice - ditch the Conjugal partners idea. There's no way you will qualify. You're able to live in Canada as a visitor to qualify as common-law. Conjugal is only for people who are unable to get married or live together for legal reasons.

You should definitely apply as common-law instead. Just make sure to get the required letters notarized.

You can also get married in a civil ceremony and file, then have your "proper" wedding later.

 

[scylla]

You don't face barriers to living together or getting married - so technically you don't qualify for conjugal. The conjugal class is meant for situation where is it impossible to get married or live together for a year to become common law.

I would personally withdraw your application and either apply as common law (if you do in fact meet the requirements) or get married and apply as a married couple.

If you don't withdraw your application and continue processing as conjugal I think there's a good chance you're in for a long wait followed by a refusal.

 

[Rob_TO]

You don't face barriers to living together or getting married - so technically you don't qualify for conjugal. The conjugal class is meant for situation where is it impossible to get married or living together for a year to become common law.

I would personally withdraw your application and either apply as common law (if you do in fact meet the requirements) or get married and apply as a married couple.

If you don't withdraw your application and continue processing as conjugal I think there's a good chance you're in for a long wait followed by a refusal.

Is there any way to simply change a conjugal app already in progress, to a common-law app? Seems to be a faster route vs scrapping the whole conjugal app and starting back at the beginning of the queue with a whole new common-law application.

 

[SkinnyMarie]

Thanks for the replies. This is what I was afraid of...

Does anyone know if the status can be changed once it has been submitted, or if I have to resubmit will I have to have all new blood tests and FBI clearance done? Could I maybe just call immigration or send a common-law app when I send my additional information?

 

[scylla]

To the best of my knowledge it's not possible to change the status of an application from conjugal to another class once it's been submitted. I think you would have to withdraw the application and submit a brand new one. However I don't know for certain.

 

[simb]

I have the same thought as scylla
you can withdraw the application but cannot change the status once submitted.
withdraw it and then submit a new application as common law

 

[Rob_TO]

I have the same thought as scylla
you can withdraw the application but cannot change the status once submitted.
withdraw it and then submit a new application as common law

Does anyone know this for certain?

To me, logically speaking there is not much difference in a conjugal or common-law app (though I know the government doesn't always follow logic). Basically in the common-law app you would just be adding in a few more proofs about living together for 12-months. Everything else in the application would be identical. So why couldn't a VO simply process an application as a common-law one, instead of conjugal?

I would send a case specific email to the VO, asking if this is possible. Perhaps they will insist you start over from the beginning with a new app, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[amikety]

I do know that you can change your application from Inland to Outland, although it can cause significant delay in the process. (Or that's what the Call Centre told me and we know they aren't the most accurate source.)

I would email the VO directly, tell them you made a mistake, and ask if you can change your application to Common-Law and mail in the necessary common-law proof along with new forms. If they say no - then you have your answer. If they say yes, get the new information together ASAP!

 

[SkinnyMarie]

AN UPDATE ON MY APPLICATION...


first off I would like to thank everyone that replied to my post.

As I said before I compiled lots of documents and photos to provide additional proof of our relationship as well as notarized letters from friends and a letter that I wrote. When I submitted all of this I just wrote that we are in a common-law relationship instead of a conjugal one. When I received my response back from Canadian immigration was:

"This is in reference to your application for permanent residence in Canada as a member of the family class. Based on the documents you submitted in response to my concerns letter, I am satisfied that you meet the requirements for immigration as a sponsored common-law partner."

So even though I originally applied as conjugal I think the immigration officer must have changed it on their end to common-law.

 

[scylla]

Yes - it looks like you got lucky and dodged a bullet. Normally CIC won't change the status like that and will just refuse the application.