Sponsoring my long term girlfriend

[nicosuria]

Hey everyone,

So just a little bit of background information, I'm a Filipino citizen who is currently a Canadian permanent resident.

I have a girlfriend back home in the Philippines and we have been in a relationship even before I went to Canada (since 2013). We've been trying to apply for her to visit me in Vancouver but have been denied twice. Unfortunately my girlfriend is currently unemployed and has not yet visited any countries that require a visa application (we've gone to Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, though).

So my question is this: Can we specify in the application that we are common-law partners even if I did not state that in my Permanent Residence application?

Here are the facts:

1. I did NOT specify that I was in a Common-Law relationship at the time my Permanent Residence was processed and approved.
2. My girlfriend and I DID live together for a period of more than 1 year before I left for Canada.
3. I have been supporting my girlfriend financially for than a year now.
4. I have a decent paying job, with a certificate of employment, payslips, tax forms and even a lease agreement to prove my financial stability.
5. I bought her a return flight.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hey everyone,

So just a little bit of background information, I'm a Filipino citizen who is currently a Canadian permanent resident.

I have a girlfriend back home in the Philippines and we have been in a relationship even before I went to Canada (since 2013). We've been trying to apply for her to visit me in Vancouver but have been denied twice. Unfortunately my girlfriend is currently unemployed and has not yet visited any countries that require a visa application (we've gone to Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, though).

So my question is this: Can we specify in the application that we are common-law partners even if I did not state that in my Permanent Residence application?

Here are the facts:

1. I did NOT specify that I was in a Common-Law relationship at the time my Permanent Residence was processed and approved.
2. My girlfriend and I DID live together for a period of more than 1 year before I left for Canada.
3. I have been supporting my girlfriend financially for than a year now.
4. I have a decent paying job, with a certificate of employment, payslips, tax forms and even a lease agreement to prove my financial stability.
5. I bought her a return flight.

Thanks in advance!

1. Well you have 2 problems, you misrepresented yourself by not declaring her when you emigrated, and secondly as you were c/law and wasn't examined, she is no longer a member of the family class and can't be sponsored.
2. It is unlikely she will get a visitor visa now or in the future.

 

[nicosuria]

Thanks for the quick reply, @PMM. I'm glad I asked this question before we submitted an application that declared us as common law!

1. Well you have 2 problems, you misrepresented yourself by not declaring her when you emigrated, and secondly as you were c/law and wasn't examined, she is no longer a member of the family class and can't be sponsored.

- At the time, it was a only a little more than a one year relationship (we started living together 2013 May and I left for Canada on December 2014). We honestly did not think we would be able to sustain a long distance relationship so I believe I was truthful when I declared myself single at the time.
- We have continued dating since with me going back to the Philippines every 6 months - that brings that total length of our relationship to more than 4 years now.

2. It is unlikely she will get a visitor visa now or in the future.

- This seems a little harsh when it was never our intention to misrepresent our relationship in any way.
- Does this mean she will never be admitted as a visitor even if we don't declare our relationship as C/Law?
- Is there some other Canadian Immigration policy we're violating if all we are applying for is a temporary visitor visa?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

- At the time, it was a only a little more than a one year relationship (we started living together 2013 May and I left for Canada on December 2014). We honestly did not think we would be able to sustain a long distance relationship so I believe I was truthful when I declared myself single at the time.
- We have continued dating since with me going back to the Philippines every 6 months - that brings that total length of our relationship to more than 4 years now.


- This seems a little harsh when it was never our intention to misrepresent our relationship in any way.
- Does this mean she will never be admitted as a visitor even if we don't declare our relationship as C/Law?
- Is there some other Canadian Immigration policy we're violating if all we are applying for is a temporary visitor visa?

You weren't single. As soon as you became common-law in May 2014, you were required to add your partner to your application. As said above, you can never sponsor her, so if she wants to immigrate, she will need to qualify independently.

She can certainly apply for a TRV. She didn't do anything wrong, as you are the one that committed misrepresentation. However, without a job, money, property, travel history or any real ties to her country, she has pretty much no chance of being approved.

 

[scylla]

Agreed with the advice given above. You were common law when you landed in Canada and became a PR. Since you were common law, you were obligated to add her to your application before landing. Since you failed to do this, you can never sponsor her. You were not truthful when you said you were single - this was misrepresentation. You were clearly common law.

You really have two options. One is for your girlfriend to qualify for PR on her own (e.g. through Express Entry or another economic immigration program). The other option is for you to formally give up your PR status, leave Canada and then apply again for PR from scratch - this time including your girlfriend in the application as a common law partner.

I also agree that her chances of getting a TRV approved are pretty much nil given she has no real ties to her home country and has already been refused twice.