PR under Spousal Category

[ilovemma]

Hello Folks,
I have a question which is kinda bothering me, so I thought I would ask you guys for you valuable opinion and advice. We are about to file P.R for my wife who is on closed work permit and she works in a different city. She rents an apartment there because she don't drive and its hard for her to get back and forth from work to Mississauga. I go see her when I off and she comes to Mississauga when she is off. The question I have is that will it be an issue because technically we are not living together because of the closed work permit. But we are legally married. Our marriage is registered and performed the marriage following our cultural tradition.

Friend of mine had a same situation. He told me to gather more proofs to prove that it is a legit marriage. What are the chances that we can be called for an interview? What kind of proofs do I need to make our case strong?

We got my name added as her spouse on her passport and changed her address to our residence. I am kinda confused about this whole situation. Thing I am worried about the most it that it will delay the whole process if there will be an interview....

 

[Rob_TO]

Are you applying inland or outland?

If inland, then you MUST be living together in the same house during the entire application processing. This is a mandatory requirement for inland sponsorship. If CIC ever found out you were residing in 2 separate places, they would simply cancel your application no matter if you are married or not.

If you apply outland, then there is no stipulation that you must be living together. Although it does seem very strange to not live together when you are each in cities so close to each other.

 

[ilovemma]

She is on a closed work permit which means she can only work at the place mentioned on her work permit no where else and it is not feasible for her to drive back on forth because she don't drive.

Will they not look at the work permit as they issued that work permit too.

 

[Rob_TO]

She is on a closed work permit which means she can only work at the place mentioned on her work permit no where else and it is not feasible for her to drive back on forth because she don't drive.

Will they not look at the work permit as they issued that work permit too.

It doesn't matter what reason you come up with, you are simply not allowed to live in different homes with an inland application. If CIC finds out, the application is cancelled. If you don't want to live in same home during processing, then you need to apply outland.

You can read more here on inland requirements: http://www.cic.gc.ca/ENGLISH/RESOURCES/manuals/ip/ip08-eng.pdf
One of the eligibility criteria in R124 is cohabitation with the sponsor in Canada.
Documents provided as proof of the relationship should also establish that the spouse or common-law partner and the sponsor are living together.
Persons who are not cohabiting with their sponsor at the time CIC seeks to grant permanent residence (persons who have been removed or who have left
Canada voluntarily), are not eligible to be granted permanent residence in the Spouse or common-law partner class and may apply in the family class
(overseas).

 

[ilovemma]

Thank you for your valuable input. What do you think is the best alternative to avoid these circumstances?

 

[ilovemma]

How should I go about the application process? If we go with outland application, what happens when her work permit expires? For outland application, she needs to leave the country? Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you for your valuable input. What do you think is the best alternative to avoid these circumstances?

You have only 2 choices:
1. live together, file inland or outland
2. don't live together, can only file outland

With an outland application she can still reside in Canada as long as she maintains a legal visitor, work or study permit. So she could continue working under her closed work permit.

With an outland app, when the work permit expires she could apply for it to be renewed and if it's renewed she can continue working. Or if it can't be renewed she could apply to switch over to visitor status (in that case she would need to stop working). She could work after full PR is granted.

 

[PMM]

Hi

You have only 2 choices:
1. live together, file inland or outland
2. don't live together, can only file outland

With an outland application she can still reside in Canada as long as she maintains a legal visitor, work or study permit. So she could continue working under her closed work permit.

With an outland app, when the work permit expires she could apply for it to be renewed and if it's renewed she can continue working. Or if it can't be renewed she could apply to switch over to visitor status (in that case she would need to stop working). She could work after full PR is granted.

Except that if they file outland, she will be subject to Condition 51 and once she is PR they have to live together for 2 years.

 

[BeShoo]

Legally, you don't have to live in the same house to be "cohabiting" although it may be hard to convince the processing officer of that. See my post here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html;msg357760#msg357760

Be sure to read the case Fantin v. Canada, linked in that post, because I think you will find it very interesting in your situation.

 

[wowsers]

The analysis in this thread is very useful but might be more useful still if the facts were clarified. First obvious point is that the OP does not state when the marriage was celebrated; so we do not know how long they have been married. Nor do we know whether they have ever had the same residence. He and his wife now maintain two residences, but all we know about the wife's residence is that it is not in Mississauga. Where is it? Who owns it? Where are her belongings (clothes etc)? What is there to prevent the OP from moving to the place where his wife's residence is situated? What is to prevent her getting a licence to drive? How difficult would commuting be and what would be the comparative cost of driving/owning a car and commuting by public transport? Since the OP has not yet started the application and has a choice of inland or outland, the latter (outland) seems the obvious choice since the spouses are married and need only prove that their marriage is genuine. Those are the kind of questions which would interest a Visa Officer. As for Condition 51, the OP has some time to arrange his life so as to satisfy that condition. The best way to deal with the problem would be to live in the same residence. Then there can be no argument about the living together requirement.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi

Except that if they file outland, she will be subject to Condition 51 and once she is PR they have to live together for 2 years.

Ya but once she gets PR she will have SIN and can work wherever she wants, meaning she is no longer tied to her current job with closed work permit anymore, so can relocate to some new job closer to spouse in order to cohabit.

Legally, you don't have to live in the same house to be "cohabiting" although it may be hard to convince the processing officer of that. See my post here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html;msg357760#msg357760

Be sure to read the case Fantin v. Canada, linked in that post, because I think you will find it very interesting in your situation.

I'd be very careful suggesting that. I've read several cases on this site of people getting apps rejected due to not living together during inland processing, and there is no appeals process for an inland app so I don't think any court cases would help much. No matter what any court case says, it's still a huge gamble to do and I would never suggest anyone try it no matter what.

 

[Alurra71]

Hi

Except that if they file outland, she will be subject to Condition 51 and once she is PR they have to live together for 2 years.

If they have been married less than 2 years and share no common children at application time, she will be subject to to Condition 51 regardless of whether the application was filed Inland/Outland.

 

[BeShoo]

I'd be very careful suggesting that. ... No matter what any court case says, it's still a huge gamble to do and I would never suggest anyone try it no matter what.

I wouldn't really say that I'd suggest it. I just wanted to clarify that they don't technically have to be under the same roof. I do agree that it could be a huge gamble to claim to be cohabiting. Even legally, there needs to be very special circumstances and it would likely be hard to convince some random immigration officer that it was proper.