didnt declare partner as common law will affect sponsorship?

[leslieteh09]

please advise what is our best option.
at the time of my skilled worker immigration, i lived with my bf for more than a year but due to lack of knowledge of the common law partner concept, i didnt declare him as a common law partner. i am a PR now. my bf (living overseas) and i are planning to get married soon. would this (me not declaring my partner as a common law partner before) be a problem in my spouse sponsorship application? appreciate if someone has the same experience or what we should do so we can be together fastest. thank you.

 

[canadianwoman]

It is a big problem. According to CIC, you should have declared your boyfriend as soon as you had lived together a year, and definitely when you landed. Because you didn't, you will not be allowed to sponsor him. My advice is get married, but when you document your relationship do not under any circumstances admit you lived with him for a year before you landed. Claim he, or you, were living with your parents at the time, if possible. If you broke up, and have gotten back together, it might work, but the visa officer will question the break up and probably still refuse. Saying you didn't know about common law, or that the concept doesn't exist in your country, won't help.
There are lots of cases on appeal where the applicant was not declared when the sponsor landed, and these appeals are always refused.

 

[chelley]

does the CIC assume you are in a common law relationship if you have lived together for over a year? i'm not sure... in some areas of govt common law is assumed/implied... in some it is not enforced on you... they state that you must prove that your commonlaw relationship is a committed, genuine one ect ect... i think this one wouldn't be too bad... they are not applying in common law and using that time together as their basis, they are applying as spouse... they could say their relationship was not a committed one, but one of corresidence and convienence, but when separated they realized that the relationship was stronger and decided to marry...

IF they were applying under commonlaw, all above would be true as you'd prove during your application that you lied on the first application... if applying under spouse, i'd just say it's a different situation as long as you can speak to the fact that your partner wasn't included on the first application because the relationship wasn't expected to continue... it was after the separation that your commitment developed/grew stronger...

i'm not 100% tho... i don't get the same feeling it's hopeless...

 

[sbwv09]

I tend to agree with chelley. Just be careful of what you say in the application. You can say you were in a relationship, just don't say it was common law or even that you lived together. You are getting married anyway, right? Therefore you don't have to claim to have lived together during any period of time. Just say you were dating then, or even that you lived together for a short time but not a year.

 

[iarblue]

Ok well in Canada if you lived together for one year you are common law.Now the best advice for you is i would not let them know you lived together for a year before you landed tell them a shorter time.
So you are a PR in Canada where is you BF. And you need to build up something for immigration.Have you been back to see him since you became a PR.If so use that as your first meeting,then you need to build from there.
Get married apply,but under no circumstance tell them you were living common law before you applied or were when you landed.Just maybe tell them you met online,went to visit him,have proof of this ,then build your case proof,then apply as newly married do not say anything about living together for a year,you can say you lived with him for a couple months before you came here.DO NOT SAY A YEAR DO NOT SAY COMMON LAW AT ALL.

 

[Lois Lane]

honesty is (almost) always the best policy lol

the truth about everything except....1 year....but certainly admit you lived together (just shy of a year)

you will be fine!

 

[iarblue]

Yeah i hate to see people cheat the system or lie too but i hate more for two people in love get screwed because they thought that common law is not a big thing or they thought they should not sy anything cause they are bnto married.
People dont understand that canadian government considers you common law after 6 months of being together in the same household but immigration requires a year for sponsorship.
But if you didnt declare it before and you tell them this it would be just like someone not saying they were married or had children if you dont say you do then you never will.

 

[sbwv09]

It's a confusing concept for some people! That's the boat I'm in. Where I'm from and the culture I grew up in, if you are married you are married. If you aren't married, then you are single in the eyes of the law, even if you have lived with someone for 30 years. I'm not judging anyone or saying that it's wrong to have legal rights if you have lived together in a common law relationship, but if I was coming into this without doing a ton of research, I wouldn't know that you had to declare someone a partner if you were just living together!

 

[angelbrat]

Agrees with what most people have posted. Ignorance of Canadian immigration laws, unfortunately is not an excuse and at the time of your landing, you were in a common law relationship and thus should have declared it as such.

However, as much as I am against falsifying any application for immigration purposes, I can also see the reality of this kind of situation happening. Therefore, I advocate stating that you have been boyfriend/girlfriend for X number of years but do not elaborate on the living together for one year.

If you are asked this straight forward question by an Immigration Officer at an interview, then I suggest you tell the truth with an explanation, lying could cause you to lose your PR status in the future. Hopefully, this question will never arise.

Good luck

 

[canadianwoman]

If you tell the truth with an explanation, you will be refused, and you will lose any appeal. Think of a convincing lie ahead of time - like, we lived together for 8 months, and document that and don't stray from that.

 

[vonster]

if you plan to marry maybe submit the application after you get a certificate...
when answering the questionnaire, say the relationship started back when you lived together.

 

[leslieteh09]

Thanks all for your advise, its a confusing and sad situation to be in, indeed.

To Canadianwoman - I am planning to have my fiance/ husband apply for skilled immigration (instead of sponsorship, coz as u said it might be risky...i am scared cause i was never good at lying) after we get married (and he would be declaring me as his wife).. would he have a bigger chance (also this wont affect my status right? since its not sponsorship?) My worry is his form will state his addresses, would they go back to my application and match it with the addresses i put in my previous form?)

Also would you mind letting me know how and where you have based your opinions from? Thanks.

 

[iarblue]

Well others have not claimed a spouse or child on their app and came here to ask advice because if they are not included on the app with current situation they were dismissed and not allowed to be sponsored later.
So if you were in a common law relationship before the process and you did not claim this you cant claim it later it will disqualify you.And you coming.And being married is always better the the other but if he gets in for a skilled worker ,he has to put the same stuff where he is staying,who he is staying with so can he lie and say a girlfriend instead of his common law wife????

 

[leslieteh09]

other scenarios:
1. would it help if we say we lived with another person? so it was just not the 2 of us? would they ask for proofs?
2. can we say we lived together but we were not a couple until later (in less than a year living together)?
3. if we dont say we lived together, would they need proof that we didn't? what are good proofs that we can come up with?

 

[iarblue]

Well see its going to really difficult to prove to them that you are a PR and you lived with him before (friend or not) and he is now applyng for a work permit but will be staying with you cause they will ask where he is staying its going to be hard to prove your not together in an interview cause they can still request an interview.
And at the time you applied for your PR were you common law then.(how if you were here?like if you were only living together for a couple months before you applied but during the process your year came up then he was not your common law at the time but if you did live together for a year before you applied you were common law.
I dont know about the work permit because they will question him on the place he is going to stay and with whom.
And you are here he is there how long have you been a part now.