Is it impossible to apply for Common-law sponsorship on Visitor's visa?

[lbelch]

here's a summary of my situation:

I've been living in Canada since 2001 as a middle-highschool student, college student, and a foreign worker
my Canadian partner and I have been living together since November, 2014 and wish to continue. (6 months so far)
my PGWP visa expires in August, 2015
I'm from a visa exempt country
I will need a Visitor's Visa to stay

So if I'm staying as a visitor, simply because there are no other visa that I can apply to,
Am I not eligible to apply for Common-law with my partner at all?
What is the best course of action my partner and I can take, to stay together in Canada?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Ponga]

You are not yet eligible to apply for sponsorship as her common-law partner. Your only option is to apply to change the conditions of your current PGWP (from worker to a visitor) prior to the expiry date.

Good luck!

 

[Jayjuat]

Im in the same situation. My boyfriend and i had been living for 6 months and we have a four months baby that is born here in Canada. We havent changed our status as a common law partner and my visitor's pass will expire on August 20th. Do we still have time to change our status and then he can sponsor me? I really need an advice.

 

[Ponga]

Im in the same situation. My boyfriend and i had been living for 6 months and we have a four months baby that is born here in Canada. We havent changed our status as a common law partner and my visitor's pass will expire on August 20th. Do we still have time to change our status and then he can sponsor me? I really need an advice.

You can't change your status...you must `qualify' to be a Common-Law couple, which will ONLY happen after you have lived together for one full year and have evidence to prove that. You'll need things like a joint lease/rental agreement, mail that has been delivered to each/both of you at the same address, utility bills showing both names, etc.

All you can do now, is to apply to extend your visitor status before it expires. You should ask for one year, explaining that you are trying to meet the requirement for CL so that he can sponsor you, even though you may only need a few months, because by August you will have lived together for ~ 9 months, right?

Good luck!

 

[lbelch]

Thanks for the replies, and just to re-confirm,

There are no restrictions on how I'm staying in Canada to accumulate my 1 year for Common-law sponsorship, as long as I'm legally staying, as I've understood.

Also, after I've applied for Common-law sponsorship, what happens if I need to leave Canada? Will it influence my application at all?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

There are no restrictions on how I'm staying in Canada to accumulate my 1 year for Common-law sponsorship, as long as I'm legally staying, as I've understood.

Also, after I've applied for Common-law sponsorship, what happens if I need to leave Canada? Will it influence my application at all?

Immigration status has nothing to do with becoming common-law; you could be in Canada illegally and still become common-law with someone.

It depends on whether you apply inland or outland. If you apply inland, leave and are refused re-entry to Canada, your PR would be considered abandoned and be cancelled. If you apply outland, you are free to leave without any risk to your app.

 

[Rob_TO]

I'm from a visa exempt country
I will need a Visitor's Visa to stay

These 2 sentences do not go together. If you are visa-exempt, then by definition you don't require a visa to be in Canada. You would simply require visitor "status" to stay here legally, which is usually pretty easy to do for visa-exempt people.

As mentioned, just apply to CIC to change status of your stay here from PGWP to visitor's status. You can usually get 6 or 12 months status. Just note any visitor status you have is cancelled the second you leave Canada, and then you would get new visitors status upon re-entry from CBSA.

 

[Rob_TO]

Im in the same situation. My boyfriend and i had been living for 6 months and we have a four months baby that is born here in Canada. We havent changed our status as a common law partner and my visitor's pass will expire on August 20th. Do we still have time to change our status and then he can sponsor me? I really need an advice.

You should note that while you must meet 12 months of cohabitation for CIC PR immigration purposes, for Canadian tax purposes with CRA you are immediately considered common-law the second you have a baby and are living together (so no 12 months requirement). So make sure that for whoever is filing Canadian income tax, changes their status with CRA from single to common-law, effective as of the day the baby was born (so guess around February 2015).

So you are common-law for CRA, but not common-law (yet) for CIC.