Question about Long Distance Relationship and Conjugal Class

[zcollette]

Hello Everyone,
Great website, lots of information...

I am an American Citizen/Canadian Permanent Resident that has been living in Canada for 9 years. I will be applying for Citizenship early next year. Unfortunately, when I moved here I left behind the love of my life but I have continued a serious long distance relationship with her over the years. We fly and visit each other 2 or 3 times a year, but that is getting quite costly and she has made the leap to move here with me. Even though we are serious and love each other, we are not talking marriage just yet. The question I have is: what are the odds of me being successful in sponsoring her under conjugal family class? Will I need to get a lawyer or somebody to help the process? I have no idea where to start. Thank you so much for any information you would be able to offer.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hello Everyone,
Great website, lots of information...

I am an American Citizen/Canadian Permanent Resident that has been living in Canada for 9 years. I will be applying for Citizenship early next year. Unfortunately, when I moved here I left behind the love of my life but I have continued a serious long distance relationship with her over the years. We fly and visit each other 2 or 3 times a year, but that is getting quite costly and she has made the leap to move here with me. Even though we are serious and love each other, we are not talking marriage just yet. The question I have is: what are the odds of me being successful in sponsoring her under conjugal family class? Will I need to get a lawyer or somebody to help the process? I have no idea where to start. Thank you so much for any information you would be able to offer.

Probably 0 chance, there are no barriers, as you can freely enter the US and she can freely enter Canada, so there are no barriers to living in a Common/law relationship for a year. Either in Canada or the US.

 

[canadianwoman]

If she is an American citizen, the chances of a successful conjugal-class application are not good. For conjugal class, there should be some barrier that prevents you from marrying or living together. Still, one forum member has had a successful conjugal-class application - Allison, I think.

Were you living with her before you moved to Canada? If you were living with her for more than a year when you became a PR, you should have declared her on your application and when landing.

 

[zcollette]

Thanks for the quick reply! You guys are good....

Were you living with her before you moved to Canada? If you were living with her for more than a year when you became a PR, you should have declared her on your application and when landing.

I was in high school at the time I came across with my family. My American mother married a Canadian, and since we all moved over at once, immigration took quite a while. We had to keep renewing our visitor's status every year for 4 years, and finally became PRs after 5 years. I've been a hard-working taxpayer ever since!

The only barriers we would try to claim would be distance and the high costs involved in traveling 2000+ miles. I live in Southwest Ontario and she lives in Washington State. The economy is really rough were she lives and she scrapes a living barely about minimum wage, but still lives with her parents (and pays them rent too) Sadly, she can't afford tuition for higher education to further her career, but she would like to go to a Canadian school once our finances stabilize.

Can she simply live with a visitor's permit while she lives with me here in Ontario? I am confident I can support her financially and I will be purchasing health insurance for her as well.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[BeShoo]

I don't think the "barrier" thing is quite as important as many others here think it is. However, you description sounds like you are more in a "serious dating relationship" than in a marriage-like relationship. That's a critical difference.

And when you say, "not talking marriage just yet," it does sound like you're quite quite at the marital stage yet. In order to qualify for the conjugal partnership class, you do have to prove that your relationship is exactly like a marriage in most every way that is possible, despite the fact that you are living in two different countries, and that it has been that way for at least one year.

You have mentioned that she is barely scraping by financially, but you didn't say anything about you giving her any spousal-type support. You would need to do as much financial intermingling as possible, beneficiaries on each other's life insurance/wills, etc., joint bank accounts/credit cards if possible. You would need to show that you have been presenting yourselves as a common law married couple for at least a year, etc.

You also need to explain why you are not married and haven't really been able to live together one year continuously to qualify as common law. If you're not at that stage yet, your application hasn't got a chance. No girlfriend/boyfriend sponsorships and no fiancé(e)s!

She might be able to visit you for 6 months and she could ask for an extension, but they might not approve it if they discover that the job situation back home is bad. That is a red flag that she is trying to immigrate illegally. There is no guarantee that they will let her stay for 1 year. Ordinarily the limit is 6 months. If you've already filed or are about to file an application, that is reassuring since it shows you are trying to do things legally, but that will be hard to do one year in advance.

 

[zcollette]

Thank you for bringing up these good points, I hadn't considered it that way.

There hasn't been much intermingling of finances except for the fact I have transferred server hundred dollars via paypal. When I said "not talking marriage", I meant to say that I don't think we should have to marry for the sake of immigration. I feel that the lifestyle we live, if it were not for the miles between us would be considered common-law marriage. We spend at least 4-6 hours online via skype together every single night, since that is the least expensive form of communication we have at the moment. She has always been there for me and I for her, I can also get testimonies from friends and family if necessary.

There will be no illegal immigration, we are not lying about anything and want to do everything legitimately. Also, her job is steady, she could stay there her whole life if she wanted, but it is pretty much a dead-end. I was hoping since individuals of other (less fortunate) countries are allowed to come to Canada to achieve a better life, that she should be able to as well, even if she is an American.

Thanks again for your points, hopefully I can find a way to make it happen.