Hi. I think I was in the same situation so maybe my personal experience can help.
I live in Mexico but i also have Spanish citizenship so i use my Spanish passport to enter canada.
I came to visit my boyfriend first time, (on purpose of trip i said vacations and visiting some friends) i had a return ticket after 15 days and I got 6 months stamp no questions asked. I still didnt had plans to stay, i was just visiting, so i went back to mexico.
Next visit i did exactly the same, this time i didnt had a return ticket and they let me in for 6 months. Again i always said i was coming on vacations and visiting friends. I stayed for a month and a half.
We decided we wanted to live together so i came to canada and did exactly the same thing, they again let me in with a 6 month stamp and no question asked.
After 4 months, we decided to go on vacations, we did a roadtrip, crossed the border to US and drove all way to Mexico. On the way back (we only went for 15 days) I never thought it could be a problem to re enter canada. Be careful if you leave country like this! Officers stopped us, took me to an office, started asking questions, told me i have been in canada too many times and im in a relationship with a canadian, that i had to fix my status and that they were only going to grant me a 2 months visitor record. This was a warning and i was very lucky, immigration officers at border seem to be worst than at airports and i was with my partner so i couldnt say i was just visiting friends. Officer did said "we are not here to break up couples but if you enter as tourist again and you have intentions to live with your partner you will be denied and wont be able to come into Canada ever again". At that time we didnt had intentions to apply for PR so i guess i answered questions right, but still, they were very aggressive and i had a lucky warning. I dont know what would have happened if i did had intentions to be common law because im sure i would have answer questions differently. So is just something to consider, i dont think you will face this on your first trip but in case it helps someone, i had no idea it was going to happen to me.
Of course after that i started researching options and i only had a month window so i applied for a visitor extension for 6 months, on purpose i put "explore more our relationship". I showed proof of income with savings accounts and i put i had 20,000 dls for my expenses for those months. ( I dont know exactly how much, maybe some other members can help but on our financial proof i added a letter from my partner saying that even though i had funds for my stay he was inviting me as his guest without having to pay any accommodation fees). I also know your partner can say they will support you and just proof that they are employed or any proof of their income.
I got the visitor record for 6 months no problem. Now is when i started looking for common law PR applications (seems you are already at this step so should be easier, you are planning ahead!) I had a lot of trouble understanding how to apply for common law having to prove that you live with your partner for a year and at the same time apply for a visitor extended stay having to prove that you have no intentions to live here. At the end i understood, you are allowed to apply for extended stay saying that you want to achieve common law, you dont have to hide that, is a valid reason. (however is a valid reason to EXTEND STAY not to ENTER CANADA, maybe other members can confirm or say it differently, but this is the way i understood and worked for me)
My first extended stay didnt gave me the 12 months to prove common law so i had to apply for another one, this time since i was missing one month to be able to be common law my reason was "to qualify for Common law and stay together during the PR application process"
I guess you could use this on your first extension since you are only going to need one.
I sent the same proof of income and I asked for a year since the PR takes that long or longer. I also sent the receipt of payment for the PR application. I just got my extension today
it was approved and they granted me 7 months because my passport will expire in 8. So thats another thing to consider, but it was approved so Im happy. My common law application is almost ready and im planing to send it this month!
Anyway, long story but hope it helps. I learned a few things along the way:
- This forum will be the most helpful tool you could ever find. At least from my experience..i spend so many hours in the immigration call center getting different answers every time, i spend on consultations with immigration officers and it only made things worst. It will take you some time to understand a few things but its amazing how this forum will help.
- Making a common law application is HARD, and very time consuming, you are just starting the year so PLAN AHEAD. Save your boarding pass of the ticket when you get to canada, sign a lease of the place you are going to live under both your names the day you arrive! (this one is the most important proof of common law), on that week get a share bank account, ask for an extra credit card under your name on your partners account, change all utilities bills under both of your names, do this as soon as you can and then start saving everything! I wish i knew this a year ago, they want proof of your relationship and the year together so save all important letters sent to same address, get your family to send you letters so you can show you have your name and address on those papers, take photos with friends on different occasions so you can prove time has passed, then get proof of everything you do together, if you go on vacations save the hotel receipts, the ferry tickets, get proof of any activities you do, we had a lot of trouble with some of this things because we didnt planned them on time or didnt saved the evidence. If you are just starting read all the common law evidence and start getting it! Also you can start your relationship timeline, i would have loved to do this every month instead of trying to remember all now. Write everything you do together so you have it at the moment of filling your application.
- Dont know what is your plan but dont get confused with the inland and outland application. It took me forever to get that you can (and probably should) apply outland and still be able to be in canada with your partner. You can apply for extended stay saying that you want to achieve common law, and that you want to be with your partner during the application, seems to be totally valid.
- However be careful what you say when you enter the country. Seems you can extend stay for wanting to be common law once you are inside canada. I would never mention that in airport or border, at least if i would have i wouldnt be here...maybe others can comment on that, but i will be very careful. Also, be very careful on planing to leave canada while you have your extended stay, i see some have been able to leave and re enter, I honestly plan to not cross the border or go anywhere until I get my PR, hopefully i can keep extending stay until that happens.
- Theres a lot of details to consider that you might be able to do now.. For example, when you passport expires? I had no idea this was going to be one of my problems. If you are still in your country make sure you have a valid passport for at least 2 years before you enter canada.
Check your country checklist and see if theres anything you can get before you get to canada, if i knew i needed my birth certificate with official translation it would have saved me a lot of trouble to get it myself back in mexico. Some papers are only valid for 12 months so just check...in my situation it would have helped a lot to know that checklist.
Im not an expert member,Im just sharing what happened to me so I hope it helps but make sure you keep asking if you have questions.
Good luck!!
