In need of some advice!

[JSpears]

Hello all,

I’m in need of some advise.

I have a boyfriend who is currently living in Colombia. We’ve had quite the history.

We met in 2006 while he was here in Canada and we spent 6 months together. Obviously we fell in love but he ended up having to go back to Colombia.

It was difficult but we decided we would try to make it work. I flew out to Colombia on two occasions spending an extended amount of time there.

Untimately it got really difficult leaving each other and we decided in 2010 that it was too hard and broke things off.

We have however kept in contact all this time. We have tried to stay apart but it’s impossible. We love each other and do want to be together.

We want to get married but gay marriage was still fairly new in Canada in 2006 and not legal at the time in Colombia, but we also didn’t want to do it just for immigration purposes.

We are older now and we definitely know we want this.

What options do we have? Am
I able to sponsor him? I have done research but it’s not clear.

Any advise or help would be appreciated.

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Hi there. Same-sex marriages are legal here in Colombia since 2016, so you two can get married now, which would make you ineligible to apply for a conjugal application. You should get married or establish a common-law relationship, which you get when you live together continuously for one complete year. That being done, you should be able to sponsor him, as long as you meet the other requirements like not being on welfare, etc. If you provide strong evidence of your relationship and you don't need an interview and there's absolutely no problems, you can expect your outland application to be completed in 6 months or less if Bogota is your VO, which sounds like it would be. I have seen about four recent cases processed in Colombia where they had the visa within 5 months after their applications were received in Mississauga. The VO is fairly fast compared to others, so that should be an advantage for you.
VO means visa office.

 

[JSpears]

Thank you for your reply.

Marriage could be a possibility, the only issues is being able to be together for 1 year consecutively.

He can’t just come here for one year and I can’t just go there for one year.

Is this our only option?

 

[JulianaAndrew]

There are three different, separated streams you could apply for to sponsor a partner. Those are spousal, common-law, or conjugal. If you get married, you can only apply for the spousal sponsorship application. So, if you get married, you don't need to become common-law to apply for an app. Conjugal isn't an option for you, because you are not eligible. But, as you've stated, getting married would be easier than becoming common-law, so that's why I suggested getting married.

 

[JSpears]

Thank you very much for your reply and advise. I appreciate it.