Inland V. Outland and will we still be seen as common law?

[lfindlay]

Hi all,

Almost ready to send off this common-law sponsorship application - finally! Couple questions:

We are planning on applying Outland. My boyfriend is from Sydney and he is going home for 3 weeks over Xmas. We were going to apply mid-November... will this have any effect upon our application? Do I even have to advise CIC that he has left? I cannot go with him as I can't take that much time off of work at this time. His work permit expires in August 2018, so we want to apply ASAP since we're applying outland.

Alternatively, we could apply Inland route instead and submit application in January or sometime after he returned.

Any recommendations?

Thank you!

 

[Miraclejj]

Hi all,

Almost ready to send off this common-law sponsorship application - finally! Couple questions:

We are planning on applying Outland. My boyfriend is from Sydney and he is going home for 3 weeks over Xmas. We were going to apply mid-November... will this have any effect upon our application? Do I even have to advise CIC that he has left? I cannot go with him as I can't take that much time off of work at this time. His work permit expires in August 2018, so we want to apply ASAP since we're applying outland.

Alternatively, we could apply Inland route instead and submit application in January or sometime after he returned.

Any recommendations?

Thank you!

Obviously, the inland route will be the best option for you. You can apply OWP with your inland application, it will valid till the decision made on your application. Outland application will not have this option, which means you boyfriend has to leave Canada, when his work permit expires and the decision hasn't been made.

To qualify as Common Law, you have to live together for 12 months consecutively. A short term apart maybe OK, such as one or two weeks. Three weeks apart is risky towards your Common Law status. And once CIC decided that three weeks apart is too long, then your application will be denied, and your common law time will count from the scratch.

 

[lfindlay]

Thank you for your response! I realize we are taking a risk by applying outland and his work permit expiring before a decision is made. We were originally told by an Immigration Consultant to go the outland route as it was quicker. The thing is, his flight is booked for 3 weeks already (Canada to Australia- so going for anything less than that is just not worthwhile). He hasn't seen some of his family since he left home over a year and a half ago, so not going is not an option at this point.

If we were to apply Inland, and applied PRIOR to him leaving, I would go that route...however, it is my understanding with the inland application you are not supposed to leave the country? Which is why we were thinking outland was kind of our only option at this point. REALLY do not want to have to start the common law time from scratch either....

 

[KBH]

Hi, have you already been living together for 12 months consecutively? Once you have that, you can spend as much time apart as you want. It's only during the initial 12 months that you would want to avoid a multi week trip.

 

[lfindlay]

Hi, have you already been living together for 12 months consecutively? Once you have that, you can spend as much time apart as you want. It's only during the initial 12 months that you would want to avoid a multi week trip.

Hi, yes - we've been living together consecutively for 14 months currently, but as far as official paperwork goes, as of Mid-November we will have been living together for one consecutive year (hence why we're waiting until then to apply). Any experience with applying Inland and then travelling...? Or if it's not going to be seen as an issue (him leaving for vacation after it's already been a year), we could wait until January and then apply Inland.