Sponsoring American Fiance - Living in Canada now

[yankanuck]

Hello All,

My fiance just proposed to me and we are planning on getting married next summer (yay!). Right now we currently live in Toronto. Zach is going to college for a two year diploma, he has completed the first year, is on a co-op work term right now during the summer and has one more year to go graduating in May 2012. I know that he has 1 year to work here after he has completed school. I want to get the process started now, instead of waiting until we are married next summer, so we would apply through common law. Would we HAVE to apply through the inland process since we are in Canada and both living/working/going to school etc. Would he not be allowed to leave the country throughout the whole process? I know outland is faster but would he not be able to utilize the one year that he is allowed to work here if we apply outland?

I am so confused as to the best way to go about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Thank you so much!

Kim

 

[CharlieD10]

No, he does not HAVE to apply Inland, even though he is living there. Apply Outland, it preserves the right to appeal, is generally faster for Americans anyways, and he can come and go from Canada as need be without jeopardising the application.

 

[yankanuck]

Thank you!!

So he would still be allowed to work here?

 

[Leon]

Yes, applying outland does not change the visa he is on. If he is already on some kind of work permit, that is still valid even though you apply outland.

 

[yankanuck]

Okay great! Whew! I was getting worried. This may not be as bad as I thought.

What do you guys think about applying through common law vs. waiting until next summer when were married?

Is it a lot longer of a process and more complicated to apply through common law? Or will it be okay since we have a date in mind and lots and lots of proof? We have joint line of credit, joint bank account, joint lease, we even filed our taxes this year as common law and I claimed him as a dependant.

 

[Leon]

If you can prove that you have lived together for 12 months, you would be ok. Getting married means you don't have to prove having lived together, still have to prove the relationship though. If you apply as common law, you might not want to tell them you are going to get married soon. They might just take that as a hint to shelf your application until you do :-/

 

[yankanuck]

Wow really?

Okay thanks for the tip!

 

[yankanuck]

I have another question.

When we filed our taxes this year we said our common law union started on December 25th 2009... Zach flew into Canada that day and we have been together ever since but for the first while we were living in different places. We lived with my parents here in Canada then went down to Florida and lived there for a bit with his parents then we came back up here and didn't start fully living together until September 2010 (joint lease and everything). On the Sponsorship application should I say that our common law relationship started December 2009 or September 2010 when we officially started living together?

Thank you!!

 

[Leon]

As long as you were living together at your parents house and other places, that is when your common law relationship started. Get a letter from the parents and other people who knew you were living together there as a part of your proof.