Outland Vs Inland?? Experiences/Advice welcomed

[Ponga]

Ok so we already applied for the extension citing oursleves as common law with proof that we've had a joint lease here together since shortly after I arrived, I returned to the U.K to visit family and to keep in line with the visitor visa limits, the only was we can wait another four months before we apply is if we apply for another extension but we already have an extension application in process...can we apply for another extension with the current on pending, and if we have applied for the first extension declaring ourselves as common law so would you say they are likely to deny our request based on my return to U.K for a month? Also I saw in the outland application there is an option to apply as not common law but another option for people who have been unable to fulfill a full year of cohabiting without a break because of visa limitatiosn so why would we not do that if common law will not be accepted?

Yes, it's very possible.

Once a couple has reached Common-Law status (after one full and complete year of living together) a one month separation is a non-issue; during the year that it takes to establish Common-Law it IS an issue.

 

[Ponga]

Even though you have a joint lease, you will still need to disclose the fact that you left Canada for one month, in your application, right? One of the questions asks for your last entry into Canada.

If the visa officer sees this as a break in cohabiting (which it really is) and denies the application, you would then need to start all over again. Even though an Outland applicant can appeal a refusal, it's usually better to re-apply.

IMO, it's not worth the risk and I would wait the 4 months.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

can we apply for another extension with the current one pending, and if we have applied for the first extension declaring ourselves as common law so would you say they are likely to deny our request based on my return to U.K for a month?

Also I saw in the outland application there is an option to apply as not common law but another option for people who have been unable to fulfill a full year of cohabiting without a break because of visa limitatiosn so why would we not do that if common law will not be accepted?

There is no point in applying for another extension. Just wait for the current extension app to be processed. Whether you are actually common-law or not has no bearing on the extension app' it only has bearing on the PR app.

Conjugal is not an option. There are no legal or immigration barriers preventing you from either marrying or living together for a year.

We have friends here who applied under spousal sponsorhip, he Canadien, her French, she returned to France for two and a half months after five months here then returned and they applied as common law and were accepted as they also had copy of a joint lease together..

Here on the forum, we see a lot of "well, my friends did this", "my friend told me I could do this", "I know someone who did this" etc.

Common-law is a legal status, just like marriage. It requires a couple to cohabit in a marriage-like relationship continuously for a year.
That is immigration law and that is what you should follow, not your friends' "we did this" advice.

Yes, it's very possible.

Once a couple has reached Common-Law status (after one full and complete year of living together) a one month separation is a non-issue; during the year that it takes to establish Common-Law it IS an issue.

OP was asking if they would refuse the current visitor extension app because of the one month separation, not the PR app.

 

[LeelaD]

'Conjugal is not an option. There are no legal or immigration barriers preventing you from either marrying or living together for a year.'

I don't understand what you mean when you say there are no immigration barriers preventing us living together for a year, if I am only allowed into the country for six months maximum at a time then that is a break in living together when I leave so this is not counted as a barrier?

 

[Ponga]

OP was asking if they would refuse the current visitor extension app because of the one month separation, not the PR app.

Alrighty then...I guess that settles that.

 

[Ponga]

'Conjugal is not an option. There are no legal or immigration barriers preventing you from either marrying or living together for a year.'

I don't understand what you mean when you say there are no immigration barriers preventing us living together for a year, if I am only allowed into the country for six months maximum at a time then that is a break in living together when I leave so this is not counted as a barrier?

He could visit you in the UK, to eventually reach the required one year (you, 8 months here, he, 4 months there), or...you could get married. Not doing either one, would NOT be compelling reasons for a Conjugal Sponsorship approval; it's your personal choice.

 

[CDNPR2014]

'Conjugal is not an option. There are no legal or immigration barriers preventing you from either marrying or living together for a year.'

I don't understand what you mean when you say there are no immigration barriers preventing us living together for a year, if I am only allowed into the country for six months maximum at a time then that is a break in living together when I leave so this is not counted as a barrier?

even though a single entry is limited to 6 months, it is possible to a) apply for an extension of stay to qualify as commonlaw (most PR applicants are granted 12+ months extensions) or b) move to the other person's home country to continue another 6 mo. of cohabitation. Also, since you have no barriers to entering one or the other country, you can also get married. not choosing to get married because of personal reasons is not a valid reason to be approved for conjungal.

 

[LeelaD]

Initially we only asked for a three month extension for the summer and my plan *was* to return to U.K however I got pregnant but have miscarried, since then we have found out that we can remain together here while still processing an outbound application, I have been reading and reading on the applications and the formats and ways of going about this but when it comes to the crunch it becomes overwhelming about where to start and what is best, in hindsight we should have applied for a six month extension when we applied, when I first posted here I was hoping we could just process our outbound application, if I applied via outbound now and had it recieved before my visitor extension application reply is recieved would I have status to stay here while that outbound application is being processed..

I'm sorry if I'm asking a lot of convoluted questions and I really appreciate the replies, I'm feeling now I might be better to just leave and return and start again with six month visitor status available on my return.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Initially we only asked for a three month extension for the summer and my plan *was* to return to U.K however I got pregnant but have miscarried, since then we have found out that we can remain together here while still processing an outbound application, I have been reading and reading on the applications and the formats and ways of going about this but when it comes to the crunch it becomes overwhelming about where to start and what is best, in hindsight we should have applied for a six month extension when we applied, when I first posted here I was hoping we could just process our outbound application, if I applied via outbound now and had it recieved before my visitor extension application reply is recieved would I have status to stay here while that outbound application is being processed..

I'm sorry if I'm asking a lot of convoluted questions and I really appreciate the replies, I'm feeling now I might be better to just leave and return and start again with six month visitor status available on my return.

i don't understand why you think you need to leave. you have applied to extend your stay. PR applicants (or those trying to become commonlaw) are rarely denied extensions, so there's really no reason to assume your request will be denied. since you only asked for 3 months this time, when that extension is about to expire, then you can apply again and ask for a 12+ month extension. this is very common and again has a very low rate of rejection. trying to come back after an extended stay and trying to stay for another long time is riskier than just applying for more extensions.

 

[Ponga]

i don't understand why you think you need to leave. you have applied to extend your stay. PR applicants (or those trying to become commonlaw) are rarely denied extensions, so there's really no reason to assume your request will be denied. since you only asked for 3 months this time, when that extension is about to expire, then you can apply again and ask for a 12+ month extension. this is very common and again has a very low rate of rejection. trying to come back after an extended stay and trying to stay for another long time is riskier than just applying for more extensions.

Agreed!

 

[LeelaD]

Yes I see, him coming to my country is not really an option, he would have to give up his job for the sake of that four months and leave his child(my sons father is dead so it was a simple decision for me to move here to be with him, anyway I'm digressing).

The issue paramount at the minute is that the initial extension I asked for I asked for three months, which will be one week away, so even if I get the extension application accepted the three months I asked for will be done in one week, if you apply for the first extension asking three months but during that three months something changes for you and you want to ask for more time are you saying that this is not possible, we cannot reapply and ask for more time...?

 

[LeelaD]

Sorry guys, I'm asking questions that are appearing after you have already answered them in previous posts...

 

[CDNPR2014]

Yes I see, him coming to my country is not really an option, he would have to give up his job for the sake of that four months and leave his child(my sons father is dead so it was a simple decision for me to move here to be with him, anyway I'm digressing).

The issue paramount at the minute is that the initial extension I asked for I asked for three months, which will be one week away, so even if I get the extension application accepted the three months I asked for will be done in one week, if you apply for the first extension asking three months but during that three months something changes for you and you want to ask for more time are you saying that this is not possible, we cannot reapply and ask for more time...?

are you saying your status expired 3 months ago and you are still waiting on a decision for the extension, so you assume if you do get the extension that extension would expire next week? i'm not sure that's how it works, and i'd recommend not jumping to conclusions until you see your extension approval. if you receive a date on your extension that is past the current date (or very close to the current date), then I would recommend either reaching out to CIC to have it corrected or reapplying for another one and asking for at least 12 months. people apply for multiple extensions all the time and are rarely denied.

 

[LeelaD]

Thankyou CDNP, yes my status was up very close to the time I applied for the extension(we have learned not to leave things to the last minute!) so yes, I was wondering since I asked for the extension for only three months would that mean when we receive a reply eventually that I will be out of status by the time it gets back to us, at the time it seemed fine to ask for the three months and we didn't know you could ask for 12 months and weren't sure what our chances were of being granted it(we have funds available and our genuine)...if we could start from the beginning we would go about everything a lot differently and feel that we have kind of gotten into a bit of a muddle with it all...

It's so appreciated to hear from everyone on advice though. Thankyou. Your advice is very sound to not assume or panic and to just wait until we actually get a reply back from them, at the worst I will have to leave the country and return, at the very worst I will have to live in my own country while we are processed, whatever we have to do we will do, we were mostly and are mostly just worried that we will do something wrong and end up illegal by accident or out of status and that that would have an impact on us being together.

 

[LeelaD]

Hi guys I hope this pushes my topic back to the top so I don't have to repost another question with the same information.....okay so....I recieved my reply for an extension which they granted and they have given the three months that I requested plus an extra month so I now have a deadline to leave Canada for 28 September(three weeks) ....*after* we applied for this extension we discovered we were not actually common law partners as I had gone back to UK for a time...we need another three months together now here to complete a full year or get married before our deadline which is a bit tight and we don't think we'll make....can I *now* apply for another extension....if I do will I have implied status again while I wait for the reply to that one??