Unsure to apply for common-law PR now or later - any advice welcomed

[commonlawsponsor]

Hello,

I have done quite a bit of reading on here but I'm not sure if I understand everything 100% so if anyone could help clarify, that would be greatly appreciated.

So a bit of background...
I'm a Canadian citizen living in Berlin, Germany with my Italian boyfriend. We have been dating since November 2009, living together since July 2011 (although I'm not sure if we have enough paperwork to prove it). In August 2014 he will be finished his schooling and his work contract. Our plan was to move to Canada to be closer to my family and work and then travel starting in spring 2015 for approx. 1 year through North and South America. Originally I thought he could get a working holiday visa for 1 year, work in Canada, travel and then return to Canada and tackle permanent residency/work visas/possibly marriage then. Now they have changed the Youth Mobility Agreement into IEC and Italians are only allowed to work 6 months (maybe this was the case previously and had misread it). The IEC is also more complicated than the youth mobility agreement was (although nothing compared to PR) and since it is only for 6 months, and we will eventually have to go the PR route anyways, either before or after marriage, I thought - maybe we should just do it now, but I'm still not convinced (partially because the whole thing seems daunting and scary).

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Option 1 - Apply for outland PR now as common law. Hope the process is done in a timely manner, so we can travel in spring 2015. If sooner, he could live and work with me in Canada from fall 2014 to spring 2015, before our trip. That would be ideal, but it isn't necessary.


Option 2 - He applies for IEC in 2014 - using his 6 work months in late fall 2014 to spring 2015 and part of his 6 travel months for our 1 year trip as planned. Apply for inland visa shortly before we leave to travel for one year, or shortly after we leave, hope for phase 1 approval while we are traveling return to Canada (hopefully with an OWP so he can work), complete the application and wait for phase 2 approval.

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Questions and clarifications:

1) Since he is an Italian citizen, living in Germany, we have a choice and can choose the Vienna office to process his application. Correct?
2) Do police checks expire?
3) If our application is delayed or if it is refused and we need to appeal - and his medical expires and need to be done again - does it need to be done by the same doctor? Is it a lot cheaper to have a re-do if done by the same physician?
4) If appealing - how long do you have to appeal? Does this cost more money?
5) If an interview is required - only he will be needed in Vienna or Rome? If so, how much notice do they give you?
6) If we have cohabited for over 1 year when we apply outland, but I would like to return to Canada while they finish processing his outland PR is that a problem?
7) If he applies outland, can he then apply for an IEC if he would like to without causing problems?

8) If applying inland - stage one approval can take up to 1 year. After that you have another year to complete and submit the rest of your application. Correct?
8) If we lived together for over a year, apply for inland, then travel while it is being processed - will they still consider us living together if we are traveling together? Or will this cause problems?
9) Common-law applicants have just as good a chance at approval as a spouse as long as they can prove they lived together for a year. Correct?
10) If my boyfriend owns the apartment we live in - is a lease from him just as valid as it would be from a landlord (but no record of monthly payments)? What else can we use as proof? Do the utility bills, joint bank accounts have to be from the whole time we lived together, or can the last few months suffice? (I'm not sure how to prove we lived together - we are both registered officially with the German government as living in the same apartment, we have received mail at the same address but separately. We are willing to take whatever steps necessary now, but do not have a solid paper trail for the past two years living together).

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Ok, I think that is it for now.

Thanks in advance for all your help. It is very kind of everyone who takes some time to post answers on this board. For such a serious and overwhelming process, it really helps (and I haven't even actually started yet.)

 

[commonlawsponsor]

Ok, so I confirmed, (I think) that police reports do expire. Sorry for my question, should have read more, but it's hard when everything is so stressful.

 

[amikety]

Your plan to apply for common-law is good. If you apply this summer, you hopefully will have his PR by August 2014 (probably sooner, as you've been together and lived together for some time and CIC likes that).

As far as proof of living together, did you both file taxes using the same address? It's okay if you didn't file together if you can't in Germany (although you just choose not to is a different story). Old phone records, old bank statements - anything showing you two had the same address. It can only have 1 name on it as long as there is matching mail from the same time period in the other person's name too. Once you start looking, you'll find you have more proof of cohabitation than you thought.

 

[Sweden]

1 - yes, he can choose either Vienna or Rome
2 - yes they do, no matter what it says on the Police Check, they need to reach CIC within 3 months of being issued.
3 - no - the medicals can be done by any doctor.
4 - not sure. But yes it costs money. For now I would say concentrate on the PR application and worry about the appeal later if needed!
5 - if an interview is required, it will be at the VO that you choose. You can switch VO in the middle of the process
6 - not necessarily. If you can prove that you have lived at least 12 months, you are common law. You remain Common law as long as the separation is temporray and you can prove that you will live again together, and you maintain contact.
7 - no, the processes are separate, so he can apply for both.
8 - Inland: both you AND him have to be in Canada for the duration of the application and both of you shouldn't leave the country. Also : the process is only 1 : you send everything in, and then they process stage 1 and then stage 2.
9 - Yes
10 - get as many proofs as possible. Show that you are both registered at the same address etc. Show that you get letters, bills, get a common joint account.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[commonlawsponsor]

Thank you amikety and Sweden. Both of your responses really helped to ease the stress as much as can be expected.


I knew we would one day have to go through this process but I was one of those ignorant Canadians who thought when the time came we would get married and after that it would be a piece of cake. I always thought it would only be complicated if they suspected a marriage of convenience, and I thought that it wouldn't concern me because I was marrying for love. But my cousin recently married a Brit and hearing about her process opened my eyes and made me do some better research. If I would have known sooner, we would have done more to leave a paper trail.

So thanks again!

 

[canadianwoman]

4) If appealing - how long do you have to appeal? Does this cost more money?

It does not cost more in terms of fees, but usually people use a lawyer for appeals, and that can cost $3,000 or more.

5) If an interview is required - only he will be needed in Vienna or Rome? If so, how much notice do they give you?

They only interview the applicant. So you will not need to go to any interview. If the visa officer wants to talk to you, they will phone you, but this is very rare. You don't always get much notice. I think my husband only had 2 weeks notice, and his interview was in a different country.

8) If we lived together for over a year, apply for inland, then travel while it is being processed - will they still consider us living together if we are traveling together? Or will this cause problems?

Don't plan to travel if you apply inland. If the applicant cannot get back into Canada, the application is over. In your situation, outland seems best. The applicant can visit Canada and still apply outland.

10) If my boyfriend owns the apartment we live in - is a lease from him just as valid as it would be from a landlord (but no record of monthly payments)? What else can we use as proof? Do the utility bills, joint bank accounts have to be from the whole time we lived together, or can the last few months suffice? (I'm not sure how to prove we lived together - we are both registered officially with the German government as living in the same apartment, we have received mail at the same address but separately.

You need proof you lived together for at least one year for common-law. If you don't think you can prove it, get married.
You can get affidavits from neighbours that they know you two were living together in his apartment for more than a year. Proof that you are both registered at the same apartment is good. Mail addressed to both of you, or either of you, at the same address is fine: you need the envelope though, or at least a letter that has your address on the letter itself - ideally from something 'official' like a bank. You will need mail from a span of a year, though. (If you are a pack rat, this is one time that's a good thing.)
Utility bills and joint bank accounts should ideally be for the whole year, but if you don't have that, keep in mind you also have to prove your relationship is genuine, so the joint bank account is good for that in any case.

 

[amikety]

I do know of a few sponsors that were interviewed as well. They attended with their spouse and the IO decided to have a chat with them as well as the applicant.

 

[canadianwoman]

Yeah, that happened to me. My advice is to avoid it. That is, don't accompany your spouse/partner to the embassy for the interview.

 

[commonlawsponsor]

Why do you think I should avoid the interview? Do you think it worked against you? Or was it just too stressful?

I wouldn't mind doing the interview, unless the process takes longer they we anticipated and I happen to be back in Canada, then I don't want to fly back to Europe just for that.

 

[canadianwoman]

They won't ask you to fly in for the interview. A sponsor is usually only interviewed if he or she has gone to the embassy with the applicant, the visa officer is told the sponsor is there, and decides to talk to the sponsor too. Some people have had no problem with this, but it does give the VO the chance to ask you two the same questions and compare answers. If they are not exactly thesame, yyou're looking at a refusal. It is just adding one more nervous person to the mix.