Same Sex sponsorship, experience & Time-line

[perrinsa]

Yeah - as long as they do not limit your stay in your passport, you have 6 months..

As to the order - do not apply for an extension after submitting your perm residence application.. as soon as you application is in - you are on implied status which means you have the rights of a visitor until a decision is made.

Only apply for an extension if you have issues getting your perm residence application in before your 6 months are up.

You should know that if you leave canada - even to the US during this time, you have a very good chance of not being let back in until your PR is issued - and the risk of them cancelling your application. So be prepared to be be able to leave Canada for up to 18 months. You will also not be able to study or work, until your OWP is issued - if you submit that application with your perm residence application.

Hope this helps

 

[toxicair]

Thank you perrinsa

I have no intention of leaving the country at all. not even the province. So I will be staying put with a lot of patience.

Okay thank you. If the case is that I have to leave before the 23rd January, I will apply for the extension first. Can I apply for the PR while i am under implied status? or can I only apply for PR when they grant me an extension?

Also, Am I on implied status while my PR is in process? or do I have to extend each time?

 

[perrinsa]

You are in implied status until a decision is made on your application, so as long as your PR is being processed you have the same status you had when you put in your application. You will not have to apply for any other extensions during the process period.

I don't know of any restrictions preventing you from filing an application while you are in implied status.

 

[toxicair]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. I really appreciate it.

I will look around some more on that on whether to wait till my extension is granted to apply for PR or if I don't have to wait in order to be able to do that.

I have one question though..
Is it better to get married in a town hall by justice of peace or rather in a church? :-\

 

[perrinsa]

I have heard of people that had large church weddings and had their visa's declined and of people who just had simple town hall ceremonies and got theirs with no problems. The wedding itself isn't the deal breaker - its the circumstances around the entire marriage and whether or not the IO feels that it is a legit relationship - married or otherwise..

Hope this helps

 

[boasorte]

I have one question though..
Is it better to get married in a town hall by justice of peace or rather in a church? :-\

It all depends. But cases where the wedding was held at a city/town hall with 2 witnesses are more likely to be looked at differently. You can still have a small wedding but make sure to explain why.

 

[toxicair]

hi!

Okay so we have everything sorted and planned now. Our only concern is the whole TRV thing.. Still so confused. I asked this person PMM.

And this is what he/she said "If there is no date written below the stamp, then you would have been give 6 months. It is not when your TRV expires (visitor visa) it is when your admission expires that is when you apply for an extension."

So I am assuming I am allowed to stay 6 months unless the officer at port of entry states otherwise and writes it on my visa?
I really wish someone could just tell me that that is indeed a fact..

 

[perrinsa]

That is what my lawyer told me when I applied. He asked to see my passport and the entry stamp had no exit date on it so it was valid for 6 months. He told me that the expiration on the visa is only for admittance, you can arrive the day before the visa expires and still stay for 6 months - if the IO doesn't limit your stay at entry.

Hope this helps

 

[toxicair]

Thank you perrinsa

Tell me is it possible that i can postpone my flight to a few days before my visa expires? because my mom had a heart attack yesterday. She's really sick now and I have to stay with her a little while. She's fine emotionally regarding everything and everything between us has been back to normal. but now I need to stay a month or with her. My visa expires the 23rd january. will they let me enter ? Can I just show them my ticket then and provide reason to the officer of my situation?

 

[perrinsa]

Sorry to hear about your mom.

You can enter anytime before the visa expires. If the officer asks why you have come so close the end of the visa, tell them that your original trip had to be delayed because of a family emergency. Make sure you have an return ticket and provide that if asked.

Hope this helps

 

[toxicair]

Okay Thank you so much. Will I still be able to apply for PR and an an extension?

 

[perrinsa]

Once you are in Canada legally, you can submit an extension application up to 30 days before your 6 months entry are up (unless a specific date is stamped in your passport by immigration on arrival) If you have all your papers together, you can submit your PR application any time. DO NOT apply for a TRV extension once your PR application is submitted as you are on implied status as soon so you do that and will remain in that status until a decision is made.

Hope this helps

 

[raniloc]

We are a same-sex couple too, we are married, though. I don't think the process will be any different because we are same-sex couples. There are no different requirements. Be careful though if you are thinking about hiring a consultant or lawyer. My husband and I were researching them and one of them tried to tell us that the application process is harder for gay couples so her fee would be double what it would have been. We naturally distrusted this and went with a different consultant who, when we told him what the first consultant had said, seemed dumbfounded and assured us that the process is no different or harder. The first consultant also told us there would have to be an additional charge for her services because my husband and I met online, and she said that that makes the application harder to get through, or to prove authenticity. I doubted this, as well, and the second consultant assured us that this is simply not the case.

I think you will be fine, just make sure you don't get suckered by an immigration consultant or lawyer, if you choose to hire one.

Hi Iamrobot85,

Sorry for bothering you... Im searching this forum in hope of finding the possible reasons why the IO is taking long in processing our application.
I saw your profile and your situation is somewhat similar to ours. We are in the "same-sex" male relationship but unlike yours we are not married since my country the Philippines
does not recognize same-sex marriage although we have been living together for more than 4 years now.

We filed an application to CIC last Feb 13, 2011 as "common-law relationship" category since we satisfied the category of continously living together for a year.. We submitted all kinds of evidence we could think in the last 4 years of our relationship that proves we are continuosly living together as common-law relationships. The sponsorship was approved (DM) by CPC in Mississauga last March 16, 2011 and the application was forwarded to the local visa office last March 29, 2011.

April 11, 2011 we received the AOR and Passport request. April 25 2011, local visa office received the passport. June 12, 2011 we received an RPRF payment request and we paid it right away in June 13, 2011. July 5 2011, CPC send a postal mail confirming the RPRF payment. On the same day, they informed the local visa office that we already paid the RPRF.

Since July 19 after we received the postal mail confirming the RPRF payment, we have not received any feedback from the local visa office.
ECAS is showing "application received " " medical results have been received" under permanent residence application status for the last 3 months and half.

My questions are;
- What are the possible reason why our application is not moving? Are they prioritizing spousal application considering this category involve true married couple and their children while for common-law same-sex only 2 individuals are involved ? ( i hope not...)

- Will they require an interview at this stage of our application? What stage do they usually ask for an interview?

- Since they requested the RPRF payment? Does this mean our application is approve for visa released?

My Timeline
Feb. 13, 2011 - Submitted Application
Feb. 17, 2011 - CPC-M Received Application
March 16, 2011 - CPC - DM
March 29, 2011 - CEM Received
April 11, 2011 - AOR / PPR
April 24, 2011 - PP sent
April 25, 2011 - CEM Received PP
June 12, 2011 - RFPR fee request
July 5, 2011 - CPC-M confirmed RPRF payment. Informed local visa office

 

[canadianwoman]

You submitted in February, so actually your timeline is well within the normal range for Manila.
There is no priority given to heterosexual marriages with children.
Usually if they ask you to pay the RPRF, that means that a favorable decision will be forthcoming. They could ask for an interview still, though I doubt they will.

 

[raniloc]

You submitted in February, so actually your timeline is well within the normal range for Manila.
There is no priority given to heterosexual marriages with children.
Usually if they ask you to pay the RPRF, that means that a favorable decision will be forthcoming. They could ask for an interview still, though I doubt they will.

Thank you canadianwoman for your advise... Yes, we fully understand our application is well within the range of processing time, however, what bothers us is this, i came to know one forumer here and compared each others timeline. We found out we filed our application almost at the same time with only 1 week difference (ours are ahead of 1 week). Their application is spousal. Both of us also paid the RPRF, they paid in June 10 while we paid in June 13. July 5 CPC-M acknowledges both of our payments and the local embassy was notified. July 13 they got DM while ours is still "application received"status in ecas 'till today.

Its been 3 weeks since the local Visa office have been notified by CPC-M and still our common-law application is not moving. While the spousal application was approved considering we have almost the same timeline. :'( :'( :'(

Im just thinking.. maybe they have not touch yet our application since ecas status is still "application received" for the last 3 and half weeks. : : :