please give some suggestions regarding our common-law case

[luckygirll]

I heard some cases were rejected as 'for the convenience of marriage', especially when the applicant is an international student and the permit is expiring/expired. Our case is under sponsoring common-law partner. I summarize some of our backgrounds as below, any suggestions would be appreciated!

In 2009, my partner and I knew each other and began dating. He flew every summer/winter vacation to visit me in my home country.
In 2011, I applied student visa and came to Canada as we decided to get together, not separated anymore. Since then, we have been living together till now(more than 3 years). I attended school for a one-year post graduate program and graduated in 2012.
In 2012, I got one year post-graduate work permit (as the length of the program) and somehow didn't find a job successfully due to the length constraint of the work permit.
In 2013, the work permit expired. To maintain the legal status, in 2014 I applied for another program and extended my student permit to 2016 but not attending school anymore.

My partner would like to sponsor me under common-law category. But for the concern as I mentioned in the beginning, is there any red flag raised for VO reviewing my case? Does my case give VO the feeling of the immigration purpose since considering my current situation?

There are some stories in our relationship. My partner was planning to sponsor me two years ago, but something unpleasant happened between us and we are rebuilding our relationship little by little. Can I mention this when narrating our development story? Would there be a negative impression of our unstable relationship given to the VO? If I'm not doing so, I think the VO would have some doubt why to this stage, is the application designated.

I really would have someone to review and analyze our case as the outsider, give me some heads up and suggestions. Thanks!!

 

[Rob_TO]

Did you live continuously for 12 months, even though you had something "unpleasant" happen to your relationship? Or was there a long stretch of time where you lived separately?

As long as you have proof of the cohabitation (joint leases, shared finances, mail to same address, doing taxes as common-law, etc) then you shouldn't have a problem.

Also I wouldn't volunteer too much info, especially if you actually lived together during that entire 3 years. There is no need to mention about going through relationship difficulties and rebuilding things, it would just complicate things for the VO reviewing your file.

 

[daijoeboo]

Relationships have ups and downs.
It is not necessary to tell them about every little argument you had, unless for example, you had an application in the system, then cancelled it due to this 'unpleasant experience'.

People I think, tend to look at their situation too subjectively sometimes.

Objectively speaking (meaning from my point of view, that being of someone who doesnt know you) your relationship has been continuing since 2009 and it has been long-distance at times so this was difficult. Thats about all I can see. There is no reason, objectively speaking, to find anything unfavorable about your situation.

More importantly, to validate the authenticity of this relationship, you will need many supporting documents because you are not legally married. Dont worry so much about the story, the drama, the arguments, etc., this is a normal relationship. What matters is the paper trail. For example, if he was visiting you, he should have ticket receipts, perhaps hotel receipts, phone records, etc. These things will prove the authenticity of your relationship far more than a story. Photos of you and your families together, photos of the places you traveled to, photos of when he visited you, etc.

If you look at the paperwork you will see where they ask about all this - these are the things they are interested in knowing about.

Even if you did have to mention your 'unpleasant story', the continuing paper trail would be very useful to prove that the relationship was strong and going since 2009.

 

[luckygirll]

Did you live continuously for 12 months, even though you had something "unpleasant" happen to your relationship? Or was there a long stretch of time where you lived separately?

As long as you have proof of the cohabitation (joint leases, shared finances, mail to same address, doing taxes as common-law, etc) then you shouldn't have a problem.

Also I wouldn't volunteer too much info, especially if you actually lived together during that entire 3 years. There is no need to mention about going through relationship difficulties and rebuilding things, it would just complicate things for the VO reviewing your file.

We have been living together in Canada since 2011 till now, no separation during the time. We have plenty of evidence documents to prove the cohabitation. Would they have some question about why the sponsor decided to sponsor now, not before, considering my current status? Do I need explain it if I am not covering this part in our development story? Or let me ask you another way, is it normal to sponsor the applicant after they have been living together continuously in Canada for 3+ years as common-law partners?

Thank you for your input!

 

[Rob_TO]

We have been living together in Canada since 2011 till now, no separation during the time. We have plenty of evidence documents to prove the cohabitation. Would they have some question about why the sponsor decided to sponsor now, not before, considering my current status? Do I need explain it if I am not covering this part in our development story? Or let me ask you another way, is it normal to sponsor the applicant after they have been living together continuously in Canada for 3+ years as common-law partners?

It's not strange at all, and I wouldn't even mention it. Perhaps you both considered moving to another country together at some point, so applying for PR wasn't right until you were certain you would permanently reside in Canada. Who knows... everyone has different reasons on when they apply. In fact having a longer relationship before you apply may actually make your application easier to approve.

So just list your cohabitation, fill in your relationship details about how you met and how the relationship developed, and IMO completely leave out any and all references to going through rough patches or needing to rebuild the relationship.

 

[luckygirll]

Thank you for being so helpful, Rob! This question bothered me a lot. Now I'm more confident in preparing my application material.
One more question to ask, do I need explain why we stay common-law partner instead of marriage considering our traditional values when I am going to choose the visa office in Beijing? Thanks!

 

[luckygirll]

Relationships have ups and downs.
It is not necessary to tell them about every little argument you had, unless for example, you had an application in the system, then cancelled it due to this 'unpleasant experience'.

People I think, tend to look at their situation too subjectively sometimes.

Objectively speaking (meaning from my point of view, that being of someone who doesnt know you) your relationship has been continuing since 2009 and it has been long-distance at times so this was difficult. Thats about all I can see. There is no reason, objectively speaking, to find anything unfavorable about your situation.

More importantly, to validate the authenticity of this relationship, you will need many supporting documents because you are not legally married. Dont worry so much about the story, the drama, the arguments, etc., this is a normal relationship. What matters is the paper trail. For example, if he was visiting you, he should have ticket receipts, perhaps hotel receipts, phone records, etc. These things will prove the authenticity of your relationship far more than a story. Photos of you and your families together, photos of the places you traveled to, photos of when he visited you, etc.

If you look at the paperwork you will see where they ask about all this - these are the things they are interested in knowing about.

Even if you did have to mention your 'unpleasant story', the continuing paper trail would be very useful to prove that the relationship was strong and going since 2009.

Thanks for your information. You're right, I don't have to complicate my case by providing too much info for the VO. We have lived together since I came to Canada in 2011. Unfortunately, we've lost some of proof documents such as tickets, hotel receipts before 2011. But I would concentrate and focus more to the period when we lived together.

 

[Rob_TO]

do I need explain why we stay common-law partner instead of marriage considering our traditional values when I am going to choose the visa office in Beijing? Thanks!

No, getting married is a personal choice and nobody can force you to get married.

The visa officer processing your PR application in Beijing will be a Canadian citizen, and they will be analyzing it based on Canadian law. So common-law status is perfectly fine no matter what country you're from.