Inland Common-Law sponsorship question

[mandsandjo]

Hello everyone!

My same-sex partner and I have been in a dedicated and interdependent relationship for 1.5 years, long distance for one year. She is from Germany and I am Canadian born. On July 30th, 2015 we moved in together in Canada because she received a Working Holiday visa through International Experience Canada. Her work permit states she must leave Canada by July 29th, 2016. She cannot apply for another year through IEC because Germans are only issued one year terms through IEC. We would like to apply for Common-Law PR sponsorship but since her permit expires on the 365th day of us living together, we are at a loss as it pertains to the application. The Common-Law requirement is that we have lived together for 1 year consecutively.

Basically, we are trying to figure out if we need her to apply for a visitors visa before the permit expires, therefore forcing her to quit her job for that time period, and then apply for PR after a couple of months OR should we apply as common-law on July 29th, with the OWP application at the same time?

If we apply for PR and OWP on July 29th, would she then have implied status and therefore could continue working until a decision has been made on the application? We are concerned that staying past July 29th without a visitors visa, even though we will have submitted an application would be against immigration law and would ruin any future chance of her getting PR.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as we will need to save up for the visitor's visa requirements (proof of funds for 6 months stay) if that is the best route for us to take.

Thanks in advance!

 

[starry101]

Any reason you don't want to get married? You could apply for PR right away and get an open work permit within 4 months of applying.

 

[mandsandjo]

The reason we don't want to get married now is simply that we would like to have a nice ceremony with both of our families there and not something rushed or forced only for the application of PR. We would like to save up some money and have a beautiful wedding like any other couple. We don't want the memory of our wedding to be less than spectacular because we rushed it in order to get PR. We know that Common-law is an option for us, so we would like to go that route, I think.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Basically, we are trying to figure out if we need her to apply for a visitors visa before the permit expires, therefore forcing her to quit her job for that time period, and then apply for PR after a couple of months OR should we apply as common-law on July 29th, with the OWP application at the same time?

If we apply for PR and OWP on July 29th, would she then have implied status and therefore could continue working until a decision has been made on the application? We are concerned that staying past July 29th without a visitors visa, even though we will have submitted an application would be against immigration law and would ruin any future chance of her getting PR.

Hi

She needs to apply to extend her stay and change her status to visitor before her IEC expires. This will allow her to stay past July 29th and for you guys to become common-law.

She will have to stop working as soon as her IEC expires. If you apply inland with an OWP app, she would be able to stay in Canada on Implied Status but would not be able to work until her OWP is granted.

I strongly suggest you consider an outland application. Vienna has been processing apps very quickly as of late.

 

[mandsandjo]

Thank you!

We don't want to do an outland application because she will be unable to work for the full 16 months that the application takes. With the OWP program, she will be able to work for 2 years after getting the permit, so she will only be out of work for 4 months compared to 16.

Another couple questions:

Normally, a requirement of the visitor's visa is that you can prove to the immigration officer that you will leave Canada upon the expiry of that visa. As that is not the case and we want to apply for PR, do we need to declare that, or will declaring that the intent is that we want to apply for PR ruin the visitors visa? We have heard of people being refused visitor's visas due to the "feeling" that they would not leave Canada once the visa expires. Having both names on our lease, joint accounts, etc. certainly does not help our case that she is leaving upon the expiry of her visa.

Also, how much money is generally accepted as proof of funds for a 6 month visitor's visa? I will submit a letter of invitation stating that I will be supporting her financially for the duration of the visa, including food, housing and all other expenses.

Thanks again!

 

[starry101]

You can just apply to change your visa from work to visitor online. It's pretty painless, just a few forms. You don't have to prove to them that you will leave when the visa is up. This is more of a concern for people trying to get into Canada. Once you're here, it's pretty easy to stay. Here is what you will use (you can see what they ask for) http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/visitor.asp

 

[canuck_in_uk]

We don't want to do an outland application because she will be unable to work for the full 16 months that the application takes. With the OWP program, she will be able to work for 2 years after getting the permit, so she will only be out of work for 4 months compared to 16.

As that is not the case and we want to apply for PR, do we need to declare that, or will declaring that the intent is that we want to apply for PR ruin the visitors visa?

Also, how much money is generally accepted as proof of funds for a 6 month visitor's visa? I will submit a letter of invitation stating that I will be supporting her financially for the duration of the visa, including food, housing and all other expenses.

Vienna averages less than a year and I believe there have been a few recent ones completed in 6 months, so they are speeding up a bit.

Inland will give her the work permit but she will not be a PR for 2 years. She is not supposed to leave Canada at all during those years, as she risks the PR app being cancelled if she is refused re-entry.

To clarify, she will not be applying for a visitor visa. She will be applying for visitor status. Different things. She can state in the app that she wants to stay to become common-law with her partner and apply for sponsorship; CIC has no issue with that.

There is no specific requirement. Include copies of your payslips to show you can support her.

 

[mandsandjo]

Thanks a lot for clarifying!
Sounds like it will be easier than we thought it would be.

 

[mandsandjo]

To clarify, she will not be applying for a visitor visa. She will be applying for visitor status. Different things. She can state in the app that she wants to stay to become common-law with her partner and apply for sponsorship; CIC has no issue with that.

Do we still use the same application package noted above? Application to Change Conditions or Extend Your Stay in Canada as a Visitor? Or is there a different one when applying for visitor status?

 

[Alurra71]

Do we still use the same application package noted above? Application to Change Conditions or Extend Your Stay in Canada as a Visitor? Or is there a different one when applying for visitor status?

It is the same application package when the time comes, unless they change it between now and then