PR Application w/US partner

[matteh]

Hi All,

Bit of a weird one, so seeking advice on how to tackle my situation.

I am an Australian Citizen currently living in Canada, I am on a 2 year WHV. I have roughly 11 months left on my Visa. I have been in stable employment in the same job for 1 Year now, and am starting to prepare my application for PR.

My partner, is a US citizen, who also works in the US (as a Flight Attendant). For the past year, she has spent roughly 10-15 days a month here in Canada, which we have an apartment where we cohabitate. We are not married, but have been in this relationship for roughly 1.5 years.

As I am going to apply for PR, I want to understand if I will be able to include her in my application as either common-law partner or conjugal partner. As I understand, we may not meet the requirements as common-law, however the reason why not, is because she works in the US, then comes back into Canada.

Any advice I would greatly appreciate.

 

[scylla]

Hi All,

Bit of a weird one, so seeking advice on how to tackle my situation.

I am an Australian Citizen currently living in Canada, I am on a 2 year WHV. I have roughly 11 months left on my Visa. I have been in stable employment in the same job for 1 Year now, and am starting to prepare my application for PR.

My partner, is a US citizen, who also works in the US (as a Flight Attendant). For the past year, she has spent roughly 10-15 days a month here in Canada, which we have an apartment where we cohabitate. We are not married, but have been in this relationship for roughly 1.5 years.

As I am going to apply for PR, I want to understand if I will be able to include her in my application as either common-law partner or conjugal partner. As I understand, we may not meet the requirements as common-law, however the reason why not, is because she works in the US, then comes back into Canada.

Any advice I would greatly appreciate.

You won't include her in the application at all.

To include her as a common law partner, you must have cohabitated continuously for at least 1 year. Unfortunately you don't meet this requirement due to her travel. Unfortunately the reason isn't material. You either meet the requirements or you don't - there's no leeway.

Conjugal partners cannot be included in economic immigration PR application.

 

[armoured]

As I am going to apply for PR, I want to understand if I will be able to include her in my application as either common-law partner or conjugal partner. As I understand, we may not meet the requirements as common-law, however the reason why not, is because she works in the US, then comes back into Canada.

This may not be the advice you wish to hear, but one concrete option is to marry.

 

[matteh]

You won't include her in the application at all.

To include her as a common law partner, you must have cohabitated continuously for at least 1 year. Unfortunately you don't meet this requirement due to her travel. Unfortunately the reason isn't material. You either meet the requirements or you don't - there's no leeway.

Conjugal partners cannot be included in economic immigration PR application.

Thanks for confirming! So I assume if I went down this route, I would have to gain permanent residency then sponsor her? Gauging from what Ive read, that could take 1-2 years. Is there any other avenue I could go down (other than marriage) that I could potentially include her in my application?

This may not be the advice you wish to hear, but one concrete option is to marry.

Not against this idea at all, but I'm not sure how it would work in my current situation. As in, say we get married, Would I then be able to add her onto my PR application? Would we have to be married in our country of citizenship (Aus/US)? Would we have to prove that we can't/don't want to settle in the US or Australia? What sort of timeline would that be?

Before this COVID situation, our original plan was for me to apply for PR then sponsor her. However, due to the borders shutting, I am trying to figure out whats the best avenue for both of us to get status in Canada ASAP. My understanding is she will not be able to cross the border on a Visitor visa as she has been.

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

Thanks for confirming! So I assume if I went down this route, I would have to gain permanent residency then sponsor her? Gauging from what Ive read, that could take 1-2 years. Is there any other avenue I could go down (other than marriage) that I could potentially include her in my application?

Yes. That's how it would work. The sponsorship process would take about 1 year.

Note that right now you still wouldn't qualify to sponsor her. To go the conjugal route you need significant barriers to becoming common law or getting married. You face no such barriers. So you would still either have to get married or live together for 1 year continuously to become common law in order to be able to sponsor her. Conjugal is a non started for you.

Marriage is your only option for including her in your current application. Common law is the other option - however if you started now, you'd be a year away from achieving this status. So not an option at this time.