IEC Visa affecting PR common law

[miccanada]

Hi there. I am a canadian citizen and I would like to sponsor my australian girlfriend through common law application.

We have been living together for a few years, but it was in a friend's basement... No lease, no proof. When my girlfriend renewed her IEC Visa she did so as single because we have no proof of living together, in fact my mail still went to my dad's house.

Does the single status on her IEC visa mean we misrepresented ourselves? we bought a house in may this year with both names on mortgage. So scared now as her IEC visa expires in May 2015.

please help!

 

[Catou]

It is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to make a false declaration or to misrepresent a material fact. If your girlfriend had been living with you for several years in a common law relationship, regardless of whether she had hard evidence of this or not, she had to give a truthful answer in her IEC application. Committing misrepresentation can have some pretty serious consequences. Immigration records are permanent. Also, since August, IEC visas are handled through CIC in a centralised system. This means that CIC will tie the PR application to her IEC visas and saying she was single when she clearly was not could come back to haunt you.

If you don't want this to affect your sponsorship she is probably going to have to explain herself to CIC but then she risks having her IEC canceled. I think you need some good legal advice on this one.

 

[Avadava]

Yes I think this can be seen as misrepresentation. Have you filled the sponsorship application yet? If not, you can wait till May 2014 when you will qualify as common law because that is when you bought the house together.

This won't work though if she applied for IEC visa after you bought the house and she failed to mention that. But if it happened before, you could see as if you were just dating and getting together in a friend's basement. It's true that you guys were living together, but for a sponsorship application you will need strong proof of that, which you don't have since your mail was going to a different address and you had no contract showing that you were living there legally.

If I were you, I would apply in May (after 12 months of when you bought the house together) and specify that before May 2013 you were dating and occasionally spending time together at a friend's place.

If you do an inland application, there is a way your girlfriend can stay legally in Canada through the whole process. The other members might know more about this so called "implied status", so even if her IEC expires in 2015, she won't have to leave the country. But you must file it all together with the sponsorship.

 

[Catou]

It's true that you guys were living together, but for a sponsorship application you will need strong proof of that, which you don't have since your mail was going to a different address and you had no contract showing that you were living there legally.

If I were you, I would apply in May (after 12 months of when you bought the house together) and specify that before May 2013 you were dating and occasionally spending time together at a friend's place.

If you do an inland application, there is a way your girlfriend can stay legally in Canada through the whole process. The other members might know more about this so called "implied status", so even if her IEC expires in 2015, she won't have to leave the country. But you must file it all together with the sponsorship.

You are recommending that he lie for immigration and add more misrepresentation? This is so wrong :-(
Proof of a relationship includes many things, not just mail addresses and leases. The friend that owns the basement could provide evidence, family could, other friends could - there's loads of ways of proving a relationship and CIC understands that not everyone has a lease. Using lack of evidence as an excuse for not being truthful in a visa application is, IMO, just an excuse. The OP says they have been living together for a few years. Even in Australia that is considered a common law relationship.

Because she is Australian there shouldn't be any problem with her staying in Canada during the processing of an inland application but she wouldn't be able to work for some time. There isn't any implied status with an IEC visa. She could apply for an open work permit at the same time as the PR application is submitted but this takes the best part of a year to come through. I assume she needs her income to service the mortgage on the house.

Sure, further misrepresentation might work to secure PR but then they would have to live with the risk that if it came to light PR can be revoked. My advice is to try to get it sorted out on the IEC visa before submitting a PR application. CIC might see a "mistake" on an IEC visa as less serious than misrepresentation on a PR application - maybe. It shouldn't take much to get some good legal advice on this.

 

[miccanada]

How could I be so stupid? :'( We stayed up all night physically sick and crying about this mistake.

We thought if anyone asked we wouldn't be able to prove anything. Also, we thought common law meant 3 years together (as it in in Alberta) only to find out after that it's 12 months.

I don't want to lose my house, and most importantly I don't want to lose my girl because of a mistake I made. I know that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but I don't think I could feel any worse right now.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi there. I am a canadian citizen and I would like to sponsor my australian girlfriend through common law application.

We have been living together for a few years, but it was in a friend's basement... No lease, no proof. When my girlfriend renewed her IEC Visa she did so as single because we have no proof of living together, in fact my mail still went to my dad's house.

Does the single status on her IEC visa mean we misrepresented ourselves? we bought a house in may this year with both names on mortgage. So scared now as her IEC visa expires in May 2015.

I assume that both of you also did your CRA income taxes as single last year. Technically if you have lived together 12-months with someone and are common-law, legally you need to file taxes as common-law in the year you became officially common-law. Doing so as single and the CRA finding out later you were really common-law, would cause an immediate audit on your taxes and cause to repay any benefits you received as single that wouldn't have been entitled to as a couple. I'm not sure how good communication is between the CIC and CRA, but there is more at risk than just the IEC.

If it was my situation, I would do what Avadava recommended. However this is assuming while you were together in your brother's home, ALL your mail, bills, etc was being delivered to your dad's house, AND when you did taxes you used your dad's house as main residence, AND there were no other ties to your brother's house. If this is all true then for CIC purposes you could just say you were living at your dad's house.

For proof of common-law for PR application, a joint mortgage is the best proof you could have. So if you got this May 2013, then you could apply for PR in May 2014. Before May 2013, you were living at your dad's house and visiting your brothers house often. Since there was no proof of you being in your brothers home, even if you applied as common-law under your brothers home there is a chance CIC would reject that claim since you had no mail going there and no proof of living there.

Yours sounds like an honest mistake and even if she declared common-law on her IEC app it probably wouldn't have changed anything. Some will state that you should not misrepresent to CIC for any reason whatsoever, but again if i was personally in your situation, considering all the options I would most likely do this. At the end of the day you're a genuine couple and will be in a genuine common-law relationship, so that is the biggest factor to me. I'm sure many will disagree and please remember this is my opinion only, so you will need to do what you think is right.

 

[miccanada]

Hi Rob,

We actually did file income taxes as single but have since realized our mistake and contacted CRA to correct the error - we are repaying GST cheques that we received because that's the honest thing to do. We don't want to lie on the PR application, we made a mistake on our IEC visa and it's our fault for not knowing that common law meant 1 year and not 3. We're very honest people and the fact that we made a mistake on our IEC application is torturous to us.

I can't imagine living without her and I truly hope that one mistake on her last form will not affect that.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi Rob,

We actually did file income taxes as single but have since realized our mistake and contacted CRA to correct the error - we are repaying GST cheques that we received because that's the honest thing to do. We don't want to lie on the PR application, we made a mistake on our IEC visa and it's our fault for not knowing that common law meant 1 year and not 3. We're very honest people and the fact that we made a mistake on our IEC application is torturous to us.

I can't imagine living without her and I truly hope that one mistake on her last form will not affect that.

In that case, you should also inform the IEC department IMMEDIATELY that you mistakenly applied for the IEC as single instead of common-law.

Hopefully they will not care about this and will just let the IEC continue as normal, however there is also no guarantee they allow the IEC to continue. Once you state there was a mistake in the application form, they may cancel the IEC outright. You should perhaps post this question in the IEC visa section of this forum, to ask of others experiences here.
And if the IEC dept finds out some other way (like they talk to CRA or something), then they may not be so forgiving.

Keep in mind the fact you are back-tracking all this now, will make it incredibly hard to prove common-law status under your brothers home. Even if you clear up all the CRA and IEC issues... it may still be worthwhile to wait until May 2014 before filling the PR application because that will give you actual undeniable proof of being common-law.

 

[miccanada]

We did contact the IEC office to advise of the mistake as well but so far we haven't heard back. Hopefully they'll understand that the mistake was made honestly. It can be confusing when the province states common law as 3 years then we find out federally it's only 12 months.

 

[Rob_TO]

It can be confusing when the province states common law as 3 years then we find out federally it's only 12 months.

Ya it's confusing. The federal definition is 1-year, so that is what needs to be followed for ALL immigration and tax related issues.

However the provincial rules vary. In Alberta the 3-year rule is for what the province calls as "Adult Interdependent Relationship". This actually applies to people living together in a non-sexual way like with friends or relatives... and not just to "couples". Basically the provincial definitions of common-law dictate the rights of the people, such as in the event of a separation or if someone passes away with no will (would be treated similar to a married couple).

 

[miccanada]

I feel as though the explanation is, in the very least, understandable. That being said, I know ignorance doesn't justify the mistake but we didn't do it to try and scam the system. It happened because of a genuine misunderstanding on our parts. We have no reason to lie, if we had known it should have been common law, that's how we would have done it. Hopefully they won't take away her current IEC visa because of it. If they do, in the very least she can apply as a visitor to stay here. Money will be tight, but I would sell everything I own if it meant we could be together.

 

[Catou]

It sounds like you are trying to put all this right miccanada. Try not to stress too much - what'd done is done and the important thing is to get it cleared up asap so you can proceed to a PR application without having this hanging over your heads.

I presume her IEC visa went through Australia. Have you contacted the Australian VO to explain the error? They might revoke the IEC immediately but then again they may have more sympathy in understanding how an Aussie can get confused between provincial and federal definitions of common law couples. I'd be inclined to emphasise the fact that she is working and getting to know Canada, and not say too much about your relationship. They need assurance that she is going home at the end of the IEC visa period so she will need to avoid mentioning the hopes of PR.

Now that IEC visas are part of CIC (which they weren't when she applied) its really important that you get this sorted asap. I'm not sure how much information-sharing goes between CIC and CRA but you want to get in with your explanations before they find out in other ways.

I'm one of those people who feel that applications must be completely truthful. One of the reasons for this is that immigration & visa records are permanent and any errors made can cause problems further down the line. What you are experiencing is one of those problems BUT its one that can be rectified. All the very best to you both. I hope it works out for you.

 

[Sorobu]

Hi there. I am a canadian citizen and I would like to sponsor my australian girlfriend through common law application.

We have been living together for a few years, but it was in a friend's basement... No lease, no proof. When my girlfriend renewed her IEC Visa she did so as single because we have no proof of living together, in fact my mail still went to my dad's house.

Does the single status on her IEC visa mean we misrepresented ourselves? we bought a house in may this year with both names on mortgage. So scared now as her IEC visa expires in May 2015.

please help!

Hello,

How did this work out for you? I have made a mistake when applying for IEC with not putting half sisters on family form. I have applied for permanent residency and only just realized that they constitute as immediate family. I put them in my PR application... I just don't know what to think of this. I am stressed