Do border agents record what you tell them?

[Murphy25]

Hi everyone,

I'm an American, just recently arrived in Canada on a visitor visa, will be living with my Canadian girlfriend and eventually hope to find work and apply for temporary work visa and later Common Law Spouse. My question is, I might have fibbed a little bit when driving across the border, telling them I was living and working in a foreign country and just here for a month. I didn't want them to reject me if I told them that I was planning to stay but didn't have any job lined up yet. Just wondering if there is any chance this will come back to haunt me later on when we are applying for common law spouse visa. Since I might end up submitting emails of us communicating about living together before I arrived, which would conflict with what I told them at the border.

Sorry, I know this is a bit paranoid but I figure with all the closed circuit cameras everywhere these days and cheap digital storage, maybe they keep logs and can easily look them up or something. Just want a little peace of mind. Thanks!

 

[truesmile]

Plans can change . . . isn't that what you intended when you initially arrived in Canada at that time?

 

[Creampop]

What is put in your file is pretty much up to the IO... but if you weren't sent into immigration then there was prolly nothing added to your file. was your passport stamped? if you don't have a stamp in your passport then you should be able to stay for 6 months in month 5 apply for and extension for your visitors visa and then you will have the 12 months to apply common-law. There is however a problem with your plan... of course you know before filing common-law you must live together 12 continuous, unless you get a job offer/ find a company willing to put the time into getting you here, then you prolly won't be able to work, visitor's are not allowed to work or study. the skilled workers program takes longer then living together and filing for spousal PR all together (if they are accepting those again I'm not sure) open work permits are only issued after AIP is received 11 months after first stage (in-land process)or until you get a PR visa (out-land process). would you be applying in-land or out-land? there are advantages and disadvantages to both. anyways you could always get out of what you said by saying once you arrived you decided to stay alittle longer to explore your relationship.

 

[Murphy25]

thx creampop and truesmile. Yes, thats pretty much what I was thinking. I'll just tell them that plans changed if it ever comes up. Thanks for the reassurance.

I'm aware of the difficulty regarding not being able to work unless I find an employer to sponsor me. Just going to to hope for the best, that I can find a job in the next month or two. We aren't quite ready to get married, so the common-law spouse is our best option. That is, assuming I am able to get the 6-month extension when the time comes. I've heard of some people only getting extensions for 2 or 3 months after applying? That would be a big problem. really wish there wasn't so much "every situation is different" responses to all these immigration questions!