URGENT: PR Request received; Marital status changed

[Rakoth]

Hi,

My partner has applied to the CEC Class as single and everything went fine. We recently changed our status to common-law (Using the Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union), shortly afterwards, we received her PPR 5 business days later.

I am a canadian born citizen, with nothing to do with the application.

We are not married, and we do not plan to get married for another over a year. The PPR letter states that should she be married or divorced, she should not submit her passport. Does this constitute a marriage? Do we send a fax to the office? Is there a form we need to complete? What should we do from here.

(Also posted in the Skilled workers forum, I apologize, but I couldn't delete my own post)

 

[hbic]

hi, i think the statement is very clear. you are not getting married right? neither getting divorced. so she should submit her passport...

 

[Leon]

She should submit her passport but include a cover letter stating that although she hasn't married, she has entered a common law relationship with a Canadian citizen in case that would be of interest to them although I suppose you did let them know, your update probably hasn't been processed yet. With the cover letter, she has it covered and no way can they later say she didn't tell them something.

 

[Rakoth]

Thank you for the quick replies.

We haven't updated the office yet, we have the intention of doing so today. We aren't even sure what forms to use to do that, spent last night looking into this whole mess. We have a trip planned to the US office to submit her passport in person, and, if they do not answer in time, are wondering what to do about the trip. Should no further instructions come before the 26th (When we go to the office), then what happens when we show up to submit her passport?

Can they refuse us because her status is no longer the same?

Once again, thank you for the help. We were almost done, and elated about it close to complete, but we really feel we have thrown a wrench into things.

 

[Leon]

They will not refuse because she doesn't have to sponsor you. Even if you needed to be sponsored, they would not refuse the application, just refuse the passport for now and have her fill out the documents to add you to her application for you to get PR too including background checks, medicals etc. It would delay her application but that is not the case here because you do not need a PR.

 

[Rakoth]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. (I blame the anxiety this has caused us).

I meant can they refuse the passport request, since we will be showing up only two weeks after having updated her status?

I figure they can't refuse her, since I do not need to be sponsored, but they can delay the proceeding because they need to re-open her file and update the status. Would that lead to a reevaluation and another 5 month wait? Her visa expires in February and we are really hoping she doesn't have to leave Canada.

 

[Leon]

I don't see why they would refuse the passport request. I really do not think it is a big deal.

If you want to avoid her having to leave Canada, you can apply to change her status to visitor once she has 30 days left of her visa. Write in the application and she wants to stay and wait for her PR, is married and write that you will be supporting her while she is on visitor status waiting for her PR. Show pay slips and account statements to show you can.

It takes a while to process these too so while she is waiting for an answer, she is under implied status and can stay. The processing time is 4-5 months if you apply through the mail. Less if you apply online but in case they'd say no and refuse to change her status, it would be good to have applied through the mail because it buys you more time.