IEC and Common Law Partner Sponsorship

[V_]

Hi, I'm new here.

I've been living in Chile for a while now with my partner.

I plan on moving back to Canada and my partner would like to apply to the IEC (Work Holiday) to come for a year. If all goes well and he likes it there, we plan on staying and apply for his Permanent Residence while being in Canada (but Outland process).

My questions is: during the IEC application process, I think he will have to fill out a Family Information Form that asks if he has a common-law partner. If he mentions "yes" I'm afraid that his application might be denied since the purpose of the IEC is to stay for a year and then leave.

However, if he says "no" and we apply for the Permanent Residence under the Common Law Partner Sponsorship later, this might lead to incoherent/false information.

Anyone could help? Thanks very much.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

He MUST state yes to having a common-law partner. Stating no would be misrepresentation; this is fraud and could get him banned from Canada. Given you want to apply for PR, this would be a huge complication.

It will not effect his IEC app.

 

[V_]

Hey canuck_in_uk,

thanks for your fast advice. That's what I thought.

It's just that I want the whole thing to go as smooth as possible. I was just afraid that he could be denied his IEC visa or entry because having a common law partner could create doubts about his intentions of leaving or staying in Canada since the first purpose of IEC is to stay for just one year.

I will still be in Chile when he applies for his IEC visa and we won't be traveling to Canada at the same time.

Our plan is to apply for PR 2-3 months after he arrives and wait for the PR decision while he works on his IEC visa (we know he has to stop working when the IEC expires).

Thanks again!

 

[Jamarns]

I just saw you say that you won't be travelling to Canada together and wanted to be sure that you're aware of the rules on co-habitation. Just be aware that as a common law couple you must not break co-habitation, if you were to leave for Canada and he wasn't able to come for another month, that would be enough of a break in co-habitation for you to be ineligible to apply for a common law sponsorship for another 12 months. Generally being apart for longer than two weeks is considered long enough to break co-habitation and have to start again on the 12 months of living together.

 

[V_]

Jamarns, thanks for the information. On the Government website, the definition of Common-Law partner is:

"Common-law partner

You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or the same sex—if:

you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in an ongoing 12-month period (you are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons).
You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together"

I have proofs that I have been living with my partner during an ongoing 12-month period (even more) in Chile. The definition of the Common-law partner doesn't specify that this has to be right before applying to the PR...

I've read about Outland processes where the sponsor is in Canada waiting for his/her partner to land...so these people cannot be Common law partners because they are separated several months during the process?

Please help!! I just got confused. Thanks!

 

[Jamarns]

The only time you can have one person living in Canada and the other living outside Canada would be if you were married or if you were prevented from being married because of discrimination (e.g a gay couple living in a country that doesn't support gay marriage). For common law you most certainly have to co-habitate with each other. There are a few more exceptions, but they are only allowed in extenuating circumstances.

I am in Canada on an IEC visa that is about to expire, and I will have to wait on visitor status until I'm granted a work visa in order to maintain co-habitation, if I were to leave and go back home where I could work it would render my application void. It's unfortunate and some may say unfair as a common law union has many of the same rights as a marriage, but that is how CIC views it.

 

[Rob_TO]

The only time you can have one person living in Canada and the other living outside Canada would be if you were married or if you were prevented from being married because of discrimination (e.g a gay couple living in a country that doesn't support gay marriage). For common law you most certainly have to co-habitate with each other. There are a few more exceptions, but they are only allowed in extenuating circumstances.

You are completely wrong. Once you have cohabited for 12 months to establish common-law, you can then live apart for long periods of time but still be considered common-law. You just need to be able to prove the relationship is still continuing if asked. This is very common with outland applicants where one common-law partner is in Canada, and the other is in their home country waiting for PR to be approved.

Read here for more: 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”?
According to case law, the definition of common-law partner should be read as “an individual who is (ordinarily) cohabiting”. After the one year period of cohabitation has been established, the partners may live apart for periods of time without legally breaking the cohabitation... Despite the break in cohabitation, a commonlaw relationship exists if the couple has cohabited continuously in a conjugal relationship in the past for at least one year

 

[Jamarns]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood the rules. I had seen it written elsewhere that breaking co-habitation would make you ineligible for immigration using common law. So many rules, can be confusing.

 

[V_]

Thanks Rob_TO for the information, it really helped.

 

[Rob_TO]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood the rules. I had seen it written elsewhere that breaking co-habitation would make you ineligible for immigration using common law. So many rules, can be confusing.

The rules you are referring to, only apply to the initial 12 months of cohabitation to qualify for common-law. During these first 12 months, it's essential that there are no long breaks of cohabitation during the process (most people say keep any trips apart to under 3 weeks to be safe), else the clock may reset back to zero and have to start the 12 months again from scratch.