Hi Erina
My spouse and I were originally going to apply as conjugal. as far as our lawyer explained to us, it is the same as spousal as far as process. if sponsorship is not approved in Mississauga you would have to start over but if you are approved and the application is sent to Damascus and it is denied in Damascus then you have right of appeal. you would go to court and prove as much as u can (plane tickets to visit each other, phone bills ect) if the appeal is denied you would have to start over, as married if you could. our lawyer advised us that conjugal takes longer and is more difficult to prove. we get married before we applied. if you are able to get married it would probably help your case and i'm pretty sure you could just send the marriage certificate in with a letter to change your marital status and update your application. is your application in damascus already? Good luck Erina

Hope that helps