Seeking Urgent Advice: I’m on visitor extension. Can I Still Claim Common-Law Despite Emotional Abuse and Separation Under One Roof?

[YVR123]

I’ll try to be more clear.
I came in May 2023 with a tourist visa ETA for 6 month so October 2023
He started the procedure for visitor extension in September and got an approval in October with a document but I was already away.

April 2024 from Japan I came back to Canada with a screen shot of this visitor record document from his step mom as she received it. And they let me go in.
This visitor record expired on October 2024 so I wasn’t out of statues.
Again same procedure in September 2024 he did proceed to a new application and I received a document at home for one year which is the one I have now until October 2025

The previous extension (2023) didn't matter. You were allowed in with your eTA.

You can stay as a visitor till your extension in Oct 2025. It has NOTHING to do with him any more.
He didn't "sponsor" you. He request for an extension to try to reach a common law relationship with you and that's commonly done.
But he has NO commitment with that kind of request. And thus this is not a "sponsorship".

 

[Bibiss]

The previous extension (2023) didn't matter. You were allowed in with your eTA.

You can stay as a visitor till your extension in Oct 2025. It has NOTHING to do with him any more.
He didn't "sponsor" you. He request for an extension to try to reach a common law relationship with you and that's commonly done.
But he has NO commitment with that kind of request. And thus this is not a "sponsorship".

Of course he have no commitment but he brought me here claimed he take responsibility and I think anyone deserve to have right on their own life.
I just can’t let someone take my life and do what they please and put me in the street and be erase I have human right. Not right now.
I want to be independent again and have a job and leave this country but he need to do his part at the very least you can just put someone in a trash bin.

 

[YVR123]

Of course he have no commitment but he brought me here claimed he take responsibility and I think anyone deserve to have right on their own life.
I just can’t let someone take my life and do what they please and put me in the street and be erase I have human right. Not right now.
I want to be independent again and have a job and leave this country but he need to do his part at the very least you can just put someone in a trash bin.

I am not saying what he did is right.
I am just trying to understand the immigration perspective of your situation.

 

[Bibiss]

I am not saying what he did is right.
I am just trying to understand the immigration perspective of your situation.

I know and I understand
That’s why I wanted to find a way.
If we need 12 month it would be eligible in July 2025 technically ?
If we put aside the common law what any right I have on this land ?

 

[scylla]

First thank you for reach out
So even I have can proof and have witness to show he sent me by force ?
I read that in case of abuse and other circumstances it’s possible but tricky
Honestly it’s have an option but it’s not I want to stay but have money and leave and work.
He’s Canadian citizen

If he is a Canadian citizen, then the only way to qualify for an open work permit is for you to be married or common law first, then he has to submit an application to sponsor you for PR through family sponsorship, and then you have to wait for AOR which typically takes 1-2 months after the sponsorship application is submitted. Only once you have AOR in the sponsorship application, only then can you qualify for an open work permit.

I'm unfortunately not aware of a path to a work permit based on abuse. Maybe others are.

To me, one of the main challenges you face is that you never became common law per IRCC's definition.

If you want to obtain a work permit then you would have to do that independently, likely through getting a job offer with an employer in Canada, an approved LMIA, and then applying for a closed work permit.

 

[scylla]

I know and I understand
That’s why I wanted to find a way.
If we need 12 month it would be eligible in July 2025 technically ?
If we put aside the common law what any right I have on this land ?

In terms of rights, you are here as a visitor and so have the right to remain in Canada as a visitor for the length of time you were allowed to enter Canada, usually six months. That's about it in terms of rights.

Yes, it sounds like you will be common law in July 2025. But per my earlier post, this alone does not allow you to apply for a work permit. Your partner first needs to submit an application to sponsor you for PR and you have to wait until you have AOR.

 

[Bibiss]

In terms of rights, you are here as a visitor and so have the right to remain in Canada as a visitor for the length of time you were allowed to enter Canada, usually six months. That's about it in terms of rights.

Yes, it sounds like you will be common law in July 2025. But per my earlier post, this alone does not allow you to apply for a work permit. Your partner first needs to submit an application to sponsor you for PR and you have to wait until you have AOR.

Thank you for reached out it’s exhausting
After read all of you I think about one option ask his step mom to be mediator, as she understood my situation in some point and advices me a month ago to ask him clearly what I need from him.
She can be neutral.
As I said in others reply, it’s not even work visa or common law I want here but accountability for my future and life.
So if he accept ultimately to give allowance or pay ticket then I’ll go and find my way safely.
Normally in Alberta you can sue anyone legally speaking no need to be common low or spousal but I’ll need proof of abuse.

 

[scylla]

Thank you for reached out it’s exhausting
After read all of you I think about one option ask his step mom to be mediator, as she understood my situation in some point and advices me a month ago to ask him clearly what I need from him.
She can be neutral.
As I said in others reply, it’s not even work visa or common law I want here but accountability for my future and life.
So if he accept ultimately to give allowance or pay ticket then I’ll go and find my way safely.
Normally in Alberta you can sue anyone legally speaking no need to be common low or spousal but I’ll need proof of abuse.

You can technically sue almost anyone. However you need evidence, as you say. And you may end up spending more on a lawyer than you get from your ex.

He sounds like a toxic person. I can't imagine living with him is easy. Tell him he needs to pay for your ticket home and then get the heck out of this bad situation. There is no future with someone like him. Good luck.

 

[canuck78]

Hello everyone,

I’m writing here because I feel completely stuck, isolated, and unsure where else to turn. I’m looking for legal guidance and clarity. anything that might help me find a way forward.


Here’s the full picture

• We started dating in January 2023 and began living together in May 2023.
• In October 2023, without warning, he broke up with me and secretly planned to take me to a homeless shelter, hiding the location. I didn’t even know we had broken up — I only found out once he told me I had to leave immediately.

• After asked his parents money, he instead send me to Japan, buying me a one-way ticket. I had no money, no support, and no choice. I was forcibly sent away on October 20, 2023, and stayed in Japan until April 2024.
• 
  
• All of this happened after he renewed my visitor status in September 2023, keeping the ICC unaware of the breakup and my forced departure.
• He once proposed marriage again in June 2024, but I declined temporarily — I hadn’t healed from what he did the year before. Now, I believe he only offered it to control the situation. And in a present time he told that if I had accepted his proposal I’ll not be in this position with nothing so I need to pay the consequences

When I returned, we resumed living together in July 2024. But in February 2025, he told me again we were “broken up” — yet still won’t tell anyone, including his family. He continues to live with me, but refuses to support me emotionally or financially, and has clearly said that once our lease ends in August 2025, I must leave. He says it’s “not his problem” if I end up homeless but my own. This time he can’t ask money so he just decided firmly to walk away in August and cut ties with me and my situation in Canada.

I’ve seen an immigration student lawyer for free who told me I can’t apply for spousal abuse protections or claim common-law unless he acknowledges the relationship. But someone recently told me that’s not true — that I can still claim common-law if I prove the abuse and control, even if he says we broke up in February 2025 or even prove the broke up in October 2023 was not my doing and choice even it was not 12 months.

According to Canadian law, a couple can be separated but still count as common-law if there’s emotional abuse or forced separation, especially when one partner remains financially and legally dependent on the other. That’s my case. Still it’s really unclear this part so

At this point, all I want is:

• To claim common-law status so I can apply for the spousal open work permit under abuse
• Or seek compensation and support so I can safely leave, find housing, get a job, and restart my life.

But I want to fight !!

If someone can give me advice or more clarity about this please thank you so much !!

The biggest I see is that you are no longer in a relationship so won’t qualify for spousal sponsorship.