Partner Sponsorship

[4see]

I badly need your advice.

I am helping my brother and his girlfriend, who lives in the Philippines, with conjugal sponsorship. We are almost done with all the requirements but I just found out that it’s hard to get approved for conjugal sponsorship based on our situation. Is it true? They initially planned to get married when my brother went for vacation but failed to do so due to problems with the statement in lieu of non-impediment to marriage.
We can’t apply for common law since they did not live together for at least 12 months, and they couldn’t get married because of requirement issues. I think these aren’t enough grounds for conjugal sponsorship?

Should we proceed with the conjugal sponsorship or just apply for a visitor visa for his girlfriend? What can we apply for?
Also, they have a child together, and my brother is a Canadian citizen, we have submitted an application for proof of Canadian citizenship so we can apply Canadian passport for my nephew since IRCC said that a child may be a Canadian citizen if at least one parent is. We are still waiting for the final decision.
Please any advice would help.

 

[steaky]

I badly need your advice.

I am helping my brother and his girlfriend, who lives in the Philippines, with conjugal sponsorship. We are almost done with all the requirements but I just found out that it’s hard to get approved for conjugal sponsorship based on our situation. Is it true? They initially planned to get married when my brother went for vacation but failed to do so due to problems with the statement in lieu of non-impediment to marriage.
We can’t apply for common law since they did not live together for at least 12 months, and they couldn’t get married because of requirement issues. I think these aren’t enough grounds for conjugal sponsorship?

Should we proceed with the conjugal sponsorship or just apply for a visitor visa for his girlfriend? What can we apply for?
Also, they have a child together, and my brother is a Canadian citizen, we have submitted an application for proof of Canadian citizenship so we can apply Canadian passport for my nephew since IRCC said that a child may be a Canadian citizen if at least one parent is. We are still waiting for the final decision.
Please any advice would help.

Then why not wait until they live together at least 12 months?

 

[armoured]

I badly need your advice.

I am helping my brother and his girlfriend, who lives in the Philippines, with conjugal sponsorship. We are almost done with all the requirements but I just found out that it’s hard to get approved for conjugal sponsorship based on our situation. Is it true? They initially planned to get married when my brother went for vacation but failed to do so due to problems with the statement in lieu of non-impediment to marriage.
We can’t apply for common law since they did not live together for at least 12 months, and they couldn’t get married because of requirement issues. I think these aren’t enough grounds for conjugal sponsorship?

Should we proceed with the conjugal sponsorship or just apply for a visitor visa for his girlfriend? What can we apply for?
Also, they have a child together, and my brother is a Canadian citizen, we have submitted an application for proof of Canadian citizenship so we can apply Canadian passport for my nephew since IRCC said that a child may be a Canadian citizen if at least one parent is. We are still waiting for the final decision.
Please any advice would help.

I would suggest that yes, she should apply for a visa to visit (perhaps with the child)?

Apart from that - is he listed as the father on the birth certificate? How long have they been together?

-If the father is on the birth certificate, apply for a passport as well - there is no question that the child is a citizen if the father is one (and got citizenship by birth or naturalization). No need to wait for the citizenship certificate to be approved and sent - contact the embassy (consular section), you'll use the application for citizenship certificate as evidence that the boy is a citizen. (They'll issue a passport, probably temporary, on basis of the application and his presumed citizenship).

In my opinion, it probably will work to apply under conjugal, but it may be somewhat slow. (Better to apply after she has a visa refusal). Better would be for him to go to PH now and get married; but if that's not feasible, the conjugal would probably work. (He should explain why it's not feasible right now for him to travel for the marriage).

Again: better/easier for him to just go and get married. But if not feasible, yes, conjugal can be done.

By the way: if they apply under conjugal now, they can get married while it is being processed and send the marriage docs when ready. IRCC will take that evidence (I believe their internal regs say they must take that evidence) and continue with the same application, they will not need to 'change' it to a regular (non-conjugal) application.

 

[4see]

Then why not wait until they live together at least 12 months?

Because my brother lives here in Canada and her gf in the Philippines. They can’t live together because of my brother’s work.

 

[4see]

I would suggest that yes, she should apply for a visa to visit (perhaps with the child)?

Apart from that - is he listed as the father on the birth certificate? How long have they been together?

-If the father is on the birth certificate, apply for a passport as well - there is no question that the child is a citizen if the father is one (and got citizenship by birth or naturalization). No need to wait for the citizenship certificate to be approved and sent - contact the embassy (consular section), you'll use the application for citizenship certificate as evidence that the boy is a citizen. (They'll issue a passport, probably temporary, on basis of the application and his presumed citizenship).

In my opinion, it probably will work to apply under conjugal, but it may be somewhat slow. (Better to apply after she has a visa refusal). Better would be for him to go to PH now and get married; but if that's not feasible, the conjugal would probably work. (He should explain why it's not feasible right now for him to travel for the marriage).

Again: better/easier for him to just go and get married. But if not feasible, yes, conjugal can be done.

By the way: if they apply under conjugal now, they can get married while it is being processed and send the marriage docs when ready. IRCC will take that evidence (I believe their internal regs say they must take that evidence) and continue with the same application, they will not need to 'change' it to a regular (non-conjugal) application.

I read online that conjugal sponsorship are ideally only for the couple who cannot “legally” marry due to immigration, sexual reasons, or religion. So now we’re questioning if wen can apply them under conjugal sponsorship. We read online that conjugal sponsorship takes awhile and are hard to get approved.

Yes he is listed as the father on the child’s birth certificate. They’ve been together for 3 years now. And the kid is 7 months old. He went for vacation in the Philippines twice. They lived together for 3 months during those vacations. They found out his gf was pregnant 3 days before his flight. Just a few months ago, he went home for the kid’s baptism. They had planned to get married but had a problem with the statement in lieu of non impediment to marry.

We are still waiting for the kid’s proof of citizenship so we can apply for his Canadian passport. But what about the mom?

Getting married would be the best solution but he can’t go home because of work, that’s why we figured to just sponsor the kid and the mom.

 

[scylla]

I badly need your advice.

I am helping my brother and his girlfriend, who lives in the Philippines, with conjugal sponsorship. We are almost done with all the requirements but I just found out that it’s hard to get approved for conjugal sponsorship based on our situation. Is it true? They initially planned to get married when my brother went for vacation but failed to do so due to problems with the statement in lieu of non-impediment to marriage.
We can’t apply for common law since they did not live together for at least 12 months, and they couldn’t get married because of requirement issues. I think these aren’t enough grounds for conjugal sponsorship?

Should we proceed with the conjugal sponsorship or just apply for a visitor visa for his girlfriend? What can we apply for?
Also, they have a child together, and my brother is a Canadian citizen, we have submitted an application for proof of Canadian citizenship so we can apply Canadian passport for my nephew since IRCC said that a child may be a Canadian citizen if at least one parent is. We are still waiting for the final decision.
Please any advice would help.

Apply for the TRV first and wait for the results. If she is approved, she can come to Canada and they can become common law and then apply for sponsorship. If she is refused the TRV, then submit the conjugal application.

 

[armoured]

I read online that conjugal sponsorship are ideally only for the couple who cannot “legally” marry due to immigration, sexual reasons, or religion. So now we’re questioning if wen can apply them under conjugal sponsorship. We read online that conjugal sponsorship takes awhile and are hard to get approved.

Yes he is listed as the father on the child’s birth certificate. They’ve been together for 3 years now. And the kid is 7 months old. He went for vacation in the Philippines twice. They lived together for 3 months during those vacations. They found out his gf was pregnant 3 days before his flight. Just a few months ago, he went home for the kid’s baptism. They had planned to get married but had a problem with the statement in lieu of non impediment to marry.

Getting married would be the best solution but he can’t go home because of work, that’s why we figured to just sponsor the kid and the mom.

Yes, the conjugal was originally introduced primarily for the difficult cases as above where people cannot marry (and also face an immigration obstacle). But that does not mean other cases / situations are excluded.

Some of the additional scrutiny for other situations is to ensure that the relationships are real, and not frivolous or fraudulent.

They also used to be somewhat more strict about there being a (demonstrable) legal impediment AND an immigration restriction. Those things may still help somewhat.

But bottom line in this situation: since they have a relationship they can demonstrate is real (eg child together) and have made an attempt to get married (not exactly a legal impediment) it's a decent case for conjugal (in my opinion). They can take into account that

I agree with @scylla that applying for the visa for the mother is a good idea, as if not refused, can simply travel, and if refused, strengthens case for conjugal sponsorship. At any rate they can both start working on the conjugal sponsorship documentation (some things like police certificate will be needed anyway).

If they get married during the application process, great - send that info to IRCC.

We are still waiting for the kid’s proof of citizenship so we can apply for his Canadian passport. But what about the mom?

Please see my post above. They do not need to wait for the proof of citizenship to arrive to apply for the passport. (The fact it'll be temporary is not a big deal, since that's basically what infants get issued anyway). The mom will get either a tourist visa or a PR visa, question is timing.

 

[steaky]

Because my brother lives here in Canada and her gf in the Philippines. They can’t live together because of my brother’s work.

Can they get marry in another nearby country instead?