Fellow Lovely Human Beings - Need Advice on Conjugal Application

[Zzeeshan86]

First of all, thank you to everyone on this forum for trying to help others in whichever way. You guys are doing such awesome work . Now let me briefly introduce myself:

I am a 29 year old proud Canadian citizen and immigrated here 20 years back along with family. LOVE Canada and it truly is one of the best countries on this planet. After finishing my basic education, I travelled to Pakistan to study Medicine in 2010. Over there, I met my partner and we've been in a relationship for 5 years. He has moved to Dubai in 2015 but we are still in touch and travel back and forth. Now that I'm done with my Medical education and back in Canada, I want to sponsor him. I met a lawyer here and he has advised me an option which I will list below. I have read a lot of information online and now wishing if someone can advise me which will be best options for us.

Option 1

I am looking to apply for conjugal sponsorship. Basically, the plan was to find work here in Canada, become a sponsor, and then apply for conjugal proving our relationship through various means (letters, emails, cards). The fact that we can't get married legally in our respective countries and can't stay together is the reason why we are applying for conjugal sponsorship. His family found out about us in 2014 and he had to leave the country because he was under constant pressure to get married to a girl. The downside of this option is we don't want to wait for more than 1.5 years just to live together because if I apply in November, he would come in 2018 . Also, how long do I have to work in Canada before I could apply for sponsorship?

Option 2

My partner could apply for visitor visa showing he will return to his home country. Once in Canada, we could apply for extension of the visa and then do an outland application (as suggested by some people on this forum to do an outland instead of inland). However, we are afraid that he might not get a visitor visa (although he's eligible as per Canadian immigration website) and then it'll be hard to prove that we are in a genuine relationship and that we are faking it just to get citizenship. This option makes sense because we would be together much quicker but how much funds does he need to show to get a visitor visa?

Option 3 (Lawyer)

Again, my partner could apply for visitor visa but once in the country, he could apply for refugee status stating that LGBT folks are persecuted in the country of origin. This one will be much hard to prove in my opinion. And this will be full of hassles I think.


So, if anyone could shed a light on this, it'd be greatly appreciated. It's already tough to live life in disguise all the time and then going through this visa process is all the more harder. Please any help would be appreciated. I sincerely hope everyone's application is accepted and they get to be in Canada. Thanks in advance.

 

[scylla]

Option 3 is a bad idea if your partner does not have a strong case.

With Option 2 - you won't be able to apply under conjugal. Once he's in Canada, you'll need to either get married or live together a year to become common law before you can apply to sponsor him.

You need to apply for a TRV no matter what you do. If it's refused, this is evidence for Option 1 (Option 1 will fail if you never bother to apply for a TRV). If the TRV is approved, then he comes to Canada for a visit and you either get married or live together for a year - and then you sponsor him.

 

[acfajardo]

Another option you can look into if the TRV application is denied is to get married in another country.

 

[Aquakitty]

Another option you can look into if the TRV application is denied is to get married in another country.

I think this is the best option for LGBT people if you can find any way to do it, as you will save yourself a ton of hassle and time. Conjugal is also hard to prove and you can likely be assured of a long process.

I suggest he try for a few travel visas to LGBT-friendly countries, and also do some reading on here on what it takes to get a visitor visa. Best-case scenario he is approved and you can get married here in Canada.

 

[acfajardo]

I think this is the best option for LGBT people if you can find any way to do it, as you will save yourself a ton of hassle and time. Conjugal is also hard to prove and you can likely be assured of a long process.

I suggest he try for a few travel visas to LGBT-friendly countries, and also do some reading on here on what it takes to get a visitor visa. Best-case scenario he is approved and you can get married here in Canada.

I totally agree with you Aquakitty. This is what my same sex partner and I did. We initially considered doing conjugal but our lawyer advised against it.

OP, save yourself the trouble and the heartache and just get married in another country if your partner can't get a visa to Canada. Cost will be quite hefty but I assure you this is the easiest way to go. A country you may consider is New Zealand. It is LGBT-friendly and getting a visa there is quite easy. I got mine in just 4 days. I also processed all our paperwork for the wedding from my home country and it was a piece of cake.

 

[Zzeeshan86]

Option 3 is a bad idea if your partner does not have a strong case.

With Option 2 - you won't be able to apply under conjugal. Once he's in Canada, you'll need to either get married or live together a year to become common law before you can apply to sponsor him.

You need to apply for a TRV no matter what you do. If it's refused, this is evidence for Option 1 (Option 1 will fail if you never bother to apply for a TRV). If the TRV is approved, then he comes to Canada for a visit and you either get married or live together for a year - and then you sponsor him.

Hello scylla,

Thanks for your reply. You're right, option 3 is not ideal; even though the lawyer was telling me about it, I knew this would be very hard to prove because in our case, my partner's life is not in danger as some of his other clients.

Is TRV the same as Visitor visa? Also how much do you think we would have to show in our bank statement to get a visitor visa? Thanks.

 

[Zzeeshan86]

I think this is the best option for LGBT people if you can find any way to do it, as you will save yourself a ton of hassle and time. Conjugal is also hard to prove and you can likely be assured of a long process.

I suggest he try for a few travel visas to LGBT-friendly countries, and also do some reading on here on what it takes to get a visitor visa. Best-case scenario he is approved and you can get married here in Canada.

Hello acfajardo and Aquakitty,

Thanks for your replies. So if we get married in another country and we have the paperwork, so we would apply under the 'Married' class? But again that will take a lot of time in sponsoring him and waiting until 1-2 years for all the processing of paperwork, no?

 

[acfajardo]

Hello acfajardo and Aquakitty,

Thanks for your replies. So if we get married in another country and we have the paperwork, so we would apply under the 'Married' class? But again that will take a lot of time in sponsoring him and waiting until 1-2 years for all the processing of paperwork, no?

Yes. Sponsoring him as your spouse can get him there sooner than if you sponsor him as a conjugal partner. By what I've seen on here, most conjugal partner sponsorships have longer processing times. Most reach the maximum processing time. I don't know what VO processes applications from Dubai, but in MVO, the processing of a spousal sponsorship takes anywhere between 6-10 months while the conjugal sponsorship applications takes at least 17 months. Many conjugal partnership applications go through a rigorous interview process as well. It also has higher rejection rates in many countries.

If your partner can apply for a TRV in Canada and he's granted a visa, then you can sponsor him from there. You can do it inland or outland. Outland is always a faster option though. If not, then you can heed our suggestion or follow your initial plan.

 

[fol]

Hi guys! Do you have idea how many months is the processing of conjugal partner? Coz I just sent my docs to
my immigration lawyer for owp and pr application and I added my GF as conjugal
partner. I ask our immigration lawyer about the processing but she said Its longer than the spousal spnsorship. Do you guys have timelines about it? coz Im so excited to get my GF.

 

[mikeymyke]

Hi guys! Do you have idea how many months is the processing of conjugal partner? Coz I just sent my docs to
my immigration lawyer for owp and pr application and I added my GF as conjugal
partner. I ask our immigration lawyer about the processing but she said Its longer than the spousal spnsorship. Do you guys have timelines about it? coz Im so excited to get my GF.

Hi, are you 100% sure you guys meet the definition of conjugal?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi guys! Do you have idea how many months is the processing of conjugal partner? Coz I just sent my docs to
my immigration lawyer for owp and pr application and I added my GF as conjugal
partner. I ask our immigration lawyer about the processing but she said Its longer than the spousal spnsorship. Do you guys have timelines about it? coz Im so excited to get my GF.

From your previous posts, it looks like you are not yet a PR but are applying through an economic stream. If so, you cannot add a conjugal partner to an economic app. If your lawyer said you can, she's an idiot. Only spouses or common-law partners can be included in economic apps.

 

[fol]

From your previous posts, it looks like you are not yet a PR but are applying through an economic stream. If so, you cannot add a conjugal partner to an economic app. If your lawyer said you can, she's an idiot. Only spouses or common-law partners can be included in economic apps.

Oh yeah? Yes coz in Phil. we cant be married. We have lots of proofs like joint bank acct, travel
together, she is my beneficiaries on my life insurance and my bank account here. I sent her money every month since 2014 when i arrived here in Canada. that cant be a conjugal
partner?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Oh yeah? Yes coz in Phil. we cant be married. We have lots of proofs like joint bank acct, travel
together, she is my beneficiaries on my life insurance and my bank account here. I sent her money every month since 2014 when i arrived here in Canada. that cant be a conjugal partner?

I'm not saying she isn't your conjugal partner. I'm saying that economic apps don't allow for conjugal partners to be included. You will need to become a PR and then sponsor her.

 

[fol]

I'm not saying she isn't your conjugal partner. I'm saying that economic apps don't allow for conjugal partners to be included. You will need to become a PR and then sponsor her.

I already gave my docs to my immigration lawyer, I'll just wait if It will materialize. Coz she said all our proofs were before my Pr application thats why I should include her on my PR application or later on they will refused my sponsorship with her coz I didnt include her on my PR application.

 

[scylla]

From your previous posts, it looks like you are not yet a PR but are applying through an economic stream. If so, you cannot add a conjugal partner to an economic app. If your lawyer said you can, she's an idiot. Only spouses or common-law partners can be included in economic apps.

Agreed. Conjugal partners cannot be included as dependents in economic applications.