Help: Common-law outland sponsorship

[the_illest]

Hi everyone! I am new here but I have poured over these forums for the last week or so trying to track down an answer to my question but can’t quite get it.

Some background: I am a Canadian citizen and my fiancé is a US citizen. We are both currently living and working in NYC (I have a valid work visa here). We have lived together for close to two years in NYC only and are looking to apply for the common-law sponsorship through the outland process. I am currently looking for a job in Canada and hope to move once I get an offer.

Concern/question: we apply for the outland process while we are both in NYC and say, I get an offer in the next 4 months and need to move to Canada. I am happy to do that and since he is a US Citizen, he can visit for a few months at a time (he can work remotely for his US-based job as well so it shouldn’t be a problem for us). But, technically we will apart from each other during the PR processing. Will this void our common-law application since we won’t continue to officially live together once/if I move to Canada while the application is reviewed?
Second question: we couldn’t apply for inland unless he has a valid visa to live in Canada? So, visiting wouldn’t count I’m assuming? Also inland does seem a bit risky for us since we have a couple of vacations planned in the year – 10 days in Europe and 5 days in Maine – and sounds like him leaving would be a bad call. If you think otherwise, I would love to hear from you!

Thank you

 

[Rob_TO]

Concern/question: we apply for the outland process while we are both in NYC and say, I get an offer in the next 4 months and need to move to Canada. I am happy to do that and since he is a US Citizen, he can visit for a few months at a time (he can work remotely for his US-based job as well so it shouldn’t be a problem for us). But, technically we will apart from each other during the PR processing. Will this void our common-law application since we won’t continue to officially live together once/if I move to Canada while the application is reviewed?

This is fine. As long as you have good proofs of the 2 years cohabitation already (you only need to show 12 months continuous), then after submitting the app you can then live apart if needed.
See here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf
5.36. How can someone in Canada sponsor a common-law partner from outside Canada when
the definition says “is cohabiting”?

Second question: we couldn’t apply for inland unless he has a valid visa to live in Canada? So, visiting wouldn’t count I’m assuming? Also inland does seem a bit risky for us since we have a couple of vacations planned in the year – 10 days in Europe and 5 days in Maine – and sounds like him leaving would be a bad call. If you think otherwise, I would love to hear from you!

Visitor status is perfectly fine to apply inland. The only advantage of inland is he would get an OWP after approx 4 months of submitting the app.

The risk is as you said, if he leaves and is denied re-entry to Canada for any reason the inland app would be cancelled.

If he plans to travel and doesnt need the OWP since he can work remotely for a US company while a visitor in Canada, then definitely apply OUTLAND. US citizens usually get 6 months visitor status upon entry to Canada, and can easily extend that longer if needed.

 

[CDNPR2014]

FYI... US outland applicants are consistently being approved in 6 mo. or less. Currently Sept/Oct 2016 applicants are receiving approvals. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR A US CITIZEN TO APPLY INLAND SO THEY CAN GET AN OWP IN 4 MONTHS WHEN THEY CAN BE COMPLETELY LANDED AS A PR IN 6.

i'd recommend moving over to the family sponsorship board on this forum. this situation is not unique, there are many threads on that board dedicated to commonlaw application and us applications.

 

[the_illest]

Thank you Rob_TO for your answer, super helpful! I figured that was the case but it is always good to have a solid reference point.

CDNPR2014 - oh, that makes sense to move this on over there. I didn't realize, thanks!