Length of Visit for US Citizen

[Scotch4451]

My question is, I had Landed Immigrant status when my family immigrated to Canada in the 60's. Both my parents are buried in Canada and I still have a sister there. I believe I still retain PR status because to my recollection, I have not relinquished it despite not living there for the last 35 years. Obviously, I cannot meet my residential obligation either. Over the last 2 years I have been in a serious relationship with a Canadian citizen. As a result, I have traveled back to visit 3-4 times per year. Because these are only temporary visits, I have not had any problems with customs and I have not been questioned about my prior status. Knowing that I cannot meet my residency obligation to maintain my PR, we applied to get a new PR status (would have to relinquish the old, to allow this to proceed) under the Family Class with her as my Sponsor but we did so as conjugal partners. To this date, CIC has not begun review of the application but should be getting to it shortly. Now, my plans are to move up there in the next month or two to be with her and get married. As a US citizen, the CIC says I do not need a visitor visa and my understanding is that I can stay up to 6 months. During that time, we will amend the application to reflect our new marital status. But now that I will be married, will this change in marital status allow me to stay longer and over that time, with the application progressing and perhaps a preliminary determination, will the CIC grant me some sort of PR status that will allow me to lawfully seek employment? Also, by amending the application for the change in marital status and mailing/home address, does this mean our application starts all over again at the bottom of the pile? Finally, as she is the Sponsor in Canada but the application was mailed from the States by me, it is considered a outland or inland application? I understand from other posts there are pros and cons to both and if I'm understanding correctly, you can still apply from outland even while both of us live in Canada.

I realize this is complicated and a lot of questions, but if anyone with some insight to untangling this web can help us by giving me/us some clear direction on how to proceed, I'd be extremely grateful. At this point, I don't know what I am going to say upon entry into the country, i.e., how long I'm staying, the purpose of my visit and the state of my existing or new PR status. Please help if you can. Thanks.

 

[lellen]

It is my understanding that conjugal sponsorship is only for people whose culture or the country they live in don't allow them to be legally married but they are considered to have a marriage in every other sense of the word. For example, a gay couple. I don't have the best terms but if you go to the Spousal Sponsorship section of this forum they will be able to explain it perfectly. Your application will most likely be returned to you because you don't qualify to be conjugal partners. Don't worry, IT HAPPENS A LOT. It's so confusing. When did you apply? You should get married and apply again with the marriage certificate.(your application is considered outland right now).

I suggest you ask all these questions here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/family-class-sponsorship-b5.0/

I just know this: being married to a Canadian citizen doesn't give you any special privileges other than they can sponsor you. You are only allowed to get an open work permit if you apply from within Canada, and it takes 12 months after you SEND the application, so really it doesn't REALLY help. Especially because if you get married, and you apply in the States, your entire application will be complete before that. But I would repost this thread in that section I gave you, many experts there.