Definition common-law partner

[Zeinab20]

Dear readers!

I was wondering about the exact definition of a common-law partner. This is what the website is saying:
You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or same sex—if:

you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in a continuous 12-month period that was not interrupted. (You are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons, however.)

I am thinking of requesting a working holiday visa for 2012, I am planning on exploring Vancouver by working but my main purpose is getting to know my boyfriend better. My question is: would immigration accept us as common partners if I would live with my boyfriend for approximately 12months during my time for the WHP?

 

[AllisonVSC]

If you live like a married couple (conjugal) and not just as roommates for AT LEAST 1 year, then yes.

 

[Leon]

If you lived together for 12 months+, they would accept you. Not approximately 12 months. The way you can do this is that you do your 1 year working holiday, then before it expires, you mail in a request to change your status to visitor based on you being in a common law relationship and about to apply for sponsorship. It takes a couple of months to process your request during which time you would be under implied visitor status until you hear from them. That should be enough time to qualify as common law and apply for sponsorship. You also have pretty good odds of being approved for your change to visit status so you can stay in Canada with your boyfriend although you would not be able to work.

 

[chelley]

if this is your intention, do make sure you arrange to gather the proof to back up the arrangements tho (your name on the lease or some other agreement, joint bills/banking statements or the like and so on)... it's supposed to be a marriage like relationship, not you sleeping over for the year

 

[Zeinab20]

AllisonVSC.. what is the difference in common-law partners and conjugal partners? Yes, the WHP is valid for 1year and my intention is indeed to know and build up a relationship with my boyfriend even better! Of course I will have to work too..
Leon, thank you for your clear answer, I understand now that the criteria ''12months'' is very important!
you mail in a request to change your status to visitor based on you being in a common law relationship and about to apply for sponsorship. Wouldn't that be too much details to give away for explaining my reason why I want to change my status to a visitor status? You also have pretty good odds What do you mean with this, could you explain please?
Chelley, thank you for your answer and I won't only sleep over for the year lol.

 

[PMM]

Hi

AllisonVSC.. what is the difference in common-law partners and conjugal partners? Yes, the WHP is valid for 1year and my intention is indeed to know and build up a relationship with my boyfriend even better! Of course I will have to work too..
Leon, thank you for your clear answer, I understand now that the criteria ''12months'' is very important!
you mail in a request to change your status to visitor based on you being in a common law relationship and about to apply for sponsorship. Wouldn't that be too much details to give away for explaining my reason why I want to change my status to a visitor status? You also have pretty good odds What do you mean with this, could you explain please?
Chelley, thank you for your answer and I won't only sleep over for the year lol.

Look at the OP 2 Manual to see how CIC sees a common/law relationship http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf Start at 5.34

 

[Harju]

"Conjugal" means you are in a committed and mutually interdependent relationship of some permanence where you have combined your affairs to the extent possible (a marriage-like relationship). A common-law relationship is a conjugal relationship where the persons are living together. The Conjungal stream is for people in a conjugal relationship who are prevented from living together by reasons not of their own doing or choice.

 

[canadianwoman]

if this is your intention, do make sure you arrange to gather the proof to back up the arrangements tho (your name on the lease or some other agreement, joint bills/banking statements or the like and so on)... it's supposed to be a marriage like relationship, not you sleeping over for the year

This is very important. You will have to prove that you and your boyfriend have lived together for one year, so both your names should be on the lease, both your names should be on the utility bills, you should get a joint bank account.

 

[Leon]

you mail in a request to change your status to visitor based on you being in a common law relationship and about to apply for sponsorship. Wouldn't that be too much details to give away for explaining my reason why I want to change my status to a visitor status? You also have pretty good odds What do you mean with this, could you explain please?

You are aware that they are under no obligations to approve your request to change to visitor status. They can also tell you "No, go home." The reason you should tell them why you want to change to visitor status is that it is a good reason why they should approve you and good odds means that they usually approve people in your situation. If however, you were to drag your feet for 6 months after you request a change to visit status and at that point have not applied for sponsorship yet but request for your visit status to be extended, still based on your intentions to apply for sponsorship, they might tell you, "Hello, you said that last time, now go home already."

Also, do not even think about applying as conjugal partners. That is an immigration class reserved for people who can't live together or get married through no fault of their own. It is very hard to get accepted. Some people have had luck with it but it is often denied for people who are visa exempt to visit each other and could have a chance to live together for a year to qualify as common law.

 

[Zeinab20]

You are aware that they are under no obligations to approve your request to change to visitor status. They can also tell you "No, go home." The reason you should tell them why you want to change to visitor status is that it is a good reason why they should approve you and good odds means that they usually approve people in your situation. If however, you were to drag your feet for 6 months after you request a change to visit status and at that point have not applied for sponsorship yet but request for your visit status to be extended, still based on your intentions to apply for sponsorship, they might tell you, "Hello, you said that last time, now go home already."

Also, do not even think about applying as conjugal partners. That is an immigration class reserved for people who can't live together or get married through no fault of their own. It is very hard to get accepted. Some people have had luck with it but it is often denied for people who are visa exempt to visit each other and could have a chance to live together for a year to qualify as common law.

Thank you Leon!

Do you know how I could change my status to a visitors once my WHP will expire? And when would be the best time for my boyfriend to start the sponsorship once I am with him for my WHP, knowing I would stay several months longer(if immigration would accept my request of course) as I would change my status to a visitors one? I wouldn't ever classify my situation under conjugal partners, I could visit my boyfriend anytime as I am from a visa-exempt country. I just wanted some clarification about what the exact difference was between conjugal and common-law partners. I now understand, thank you!
The website tells me this: If your spouse, partner or accompanying dependent child lives with you in Canada, use the Application for Permanent Residence in Canada—Spouse or Common-law Partner.
If your spouse, partner or dependent child lives abroad, use the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class. I am confused with which option we will have to choose, I will only stay 1year for my WHP and perhaps some extra months added. ???
And I have another question too: what does immigration see as 'married partners'? Do they mean married as in legally? Or also married for family traditions, religious purposes etc? Please help me with an urgent answer on my burning question!

Thank you in advance!

 

[Leon]

When your WHV is about to expire (30 days before), you should send in a form to change your status, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/extend-worker.asp

They give you the option of filing electronically or mailing it in. Looking at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp.asp you can see that if you mail it in, it will take 122 days to process and if you file online, 47 days. The trick here is that if you mail it in 30 days before your WHV expires, you will have 3 months that you can stay as a visitor under implied status before you even hear from them. If they were to say no, this will buy you time to work on your sponsorship application. If you file online, you have much less time before you hear back from them but hopefully they will allow you to change status and that will not be a problem.

You can file for sponsorship only AFTER you have lived together for 12 months+. You can not file after 11 months and say that when they start to process it, it will surely be 12. Doesn't work that way.

Marriage is when you are legally married in some country which I believe is usually accepted in Canada. If you decide during your WHV that you want to get married in Canada and apply for sponsorship right away, of course you can do that.

As for which application to use, they are two different types of processing. When you pick the forms stating that you live in Canada, it is called an inland application. You would send your sponsorship and a request for open work permit to be granted upon your first stage approval together. You could expect to get this work permit in around 9 months if all goes well and PR in another 9, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp The downside to this type of application is that you have to be living in Canada so if you leave and for any reason are denied entry to come back, your application and all the time you have waited are gone out the window.

When you pick the forms stating that you don't live in Canada, it is called an outland application. You can use it even though you are in Canada but you are free to come and go while it is being processed. There is no work permit available for that type of application. The processing time is also in 2 stages. Mississauga takes 43 days to approve the sponsor and after that it goes to your homeland or visa office responsible for your homeland and you can see the processing times here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp These times are when 80% of applications have been processed so the average time would be shorter.

 

[Zeinab20]

When your WHV is about to expire (30 days before), you should send in a form to change your status, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/extend-worker.asp

They give you the option of filing electronically or mailing it in. Looking at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp.asp you can see that if you mail it in, it will take 122 days to process and if you file online, 47 days. The trick here is that if you mail it in 30 days before your WHV expires, you will have 3 months that you can stay as a visitor under implied status before you even hear from them. If they were to say no, this will buy you time to work on your sponsorship application. If you file online, you have much less time before you hear back from them but hopefully they will allow you to change status and that will not be a problem.

You can file for sponsorship only AFTER you have lived together for 12 months+. You can not file after 11 months and say that when they start to process it, it will surely be 12. Doesn't work that way.

Marriage is when you are legally married in some country which I believe is usually accepted in Canada. If you decide during your WHV that you want to get married in Canada and apply for sponsorship right away, of course you can do that.

As for which application to use, they are two different types of processing. When you pick the forms stating that you live in Canada, it is called an inland application. You would send your sponsorship and a request for open work permit to be granted upon your first stage approval together. You could expect to get this work permit in around 9 months if all goes well and PR in another 9, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp The downside to this type of application is that you have to be living in Canada so if you leave and for any reason are denied entry to come back, your application and all the time you have waited are gone out the window.

When you pick the forms stating that you don't live in Canada, it is called an outland application. You can use it even though you are in Canada but you are free to come and go while it is being processed. There is no work permit available for that type of application. The processing time is also in 2 stages. Mississauga takes 43 days to approve the sponsor and after that it goes to your homeland or visa office responsible for your homeland and you can see the processing times here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp These times are when 80% of applications have been processed so the average time would be shorter.

Leon thank you so much for your time!

I had difficulties to understand these few sentences though: If they were to say no, this will buy you time to work on your sponsorship application. If you file online, you have much less time before you hear back from them but hopefully they will allow you to change status and that will not be a problem.
You are recommending me to mail my request?
I understand that it is a condition to have lived minimal 12months with my boyfriend. During my WHP I surely I would move in with my boyfriend.
If you decide during your WHV that you want to get married in Canada and apply for sponsorship right away, of course you can do that. Leon, I have been told by a lot of members here that marrying too fast is not good, I am just afraid that immigration will think our relation is a marriage of convenience.. I think being married and then applying for a sponsorship is more faster with the process? Please correct me if I am wrong.
I think applying for an ''outland application'' would be the best for us.

 

[Leon]

I am recommending you to mail your application, yes and that is because while you wait for your status change to be processed, you are under implied status and may stay in Canada until you hear from them. If it so happened that they were to refuse your status change and send you home, a 122 day processing time would have given you 75 more days in Canada than a 47 day processing time would. Those 75 days will be after you have qualified to apply for sponsorship so you can use them to work on your application.

I don't think there is a difference in processing time between common law and marriage but with common law, you have the added obligation to prove that you have indeed lived together for 12 months or more.

 

[Zeinab20]

Thank you!