Conjugual or Common Law?

[arwen]

Hi everyone,

I realised that this subject has been mentioned quite a good few times already but I need a little reassurance so thought i'd mention my situation quickly.
I met my partner in Canada in 01/2010, we moved in together in 06/2010. I am French, he is from the UK. He applied for his PR in 01/2011 and he was granted it in 08/2012.
At the time of his application he didnt mention me. Then we moved back to Europe until sept 2014 when he decided to move back to Canada and sponsor me.

I have two questions:
1. The fact that he didnt mention me at the time of his PR application/approval, will it affect his eligibility to sponsor me?
2. We havent been able to live together for the past 5 months (he had a work contract at the other side of the UK and now in Canada), should I apply for common law or conjugual?

I am currently visiting him in Canada and we intend to do an outland application.
Thanks a lot for your help!
A.

 

[mikeymyke]

Yes I"m afraid the fact he didn't mention you at landing will be a huge problem. Have you guys lived together for 1 continuous year before he landed? If so, he can NEVER sponsor you again. Why didn't he declare you? He's also putting his own PR at risk by misrepresenting.

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately he can never sponsor you since he failed to declare you as a common law partner before he landed and officially became a PR back in 2012. You'll need to look into immigrating to Canada independently (e.g. as a skilled worker).

By failing to declare you he also committed misrepresentation. If he attempts to sponsor you then best case you should expect to be refused. Worst case CIC may chose to come after him for the misrepresentation and revoke his PR (unlikely - but possible).

Again, your best bet is to investigate how you can immigrate on your own.

 

[scylla]

I see you asked the same question back in August:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/canadian-resident-living-outside-of-canada-to-sponsor-common-law-partner-t234394.0.html;msg3395512#msg3395512

Same answers still apply.

 

[arwen]

Hi all,

Thank you for your responses. I am new to the forum and didnt realise I received any responses to my august question as I never received any alert emails telling me that people actually replied. It doesnt look like i got any alert email this time either.

Anyway, we lived together in 2010 for convenience really shortly after we met (we were both on a work holiday visa in Vancouver and financially it made sense to live together). By the the time he applied for his residency, my partner didnt see our relationship to be at the level of commitment where he was willing to support me financially should I not be able to find a job once in Canada. This is a huge commitment as you all know. To be fair, I myself wasnt sure I wanted to settle in canada back then.

Are we doomed?

Once againd thank you for your help.

A.

 

[truesmile]

You won't receive alerts for entries made in threads you create.

Here's how the CIC works. When you need it to be common-law, you must jump through hoops to prove it is. When you don't want to be common-law (always due to a non-declaration like yours), they will say that you are. Unless you can change your history, then yes it's true you can never be sponsored under the Family Class.

 

[Rob_TO]

Anyway, we lived together in 2010 for convenience really shortly after we met (we were both on a work holiday visa in Vancouver and financially it made sense to live together). By the the time he applied for his residency, my partner didnt see our relationship to be at the level of commitment where he was willing to support me financially should I not be able to find a job once in Canada. This is a huge commitment as you all know. To be fair, I myself wasnt sure I wanted to settle in canada back then.

It really doesn't matter how you felt about the relationship at the time. Common-law is a fact-based definition, and not up to personal choice. Once you have lived with a partner for 12 months, you are automatically common-law for both Canadian tax and immigration purposes whether you declare it or not.

So basically, if you now submit a PR app and show on your application that you had been living at the same address for at least 1 year before he landed as PR in 08/2012, then you would be rejected as you are officially banned forever under family class as his partner. Doesn't matter if you now applied as common-law, married or conjugal.

 

[arwen]

Thank you all for your help. I guess we ll have to settle somewhere else..

Have a good weekend.

A.