common-law or conjugal

[juliankatie]

I am a Canadian and my boyfriend is from Argentina.  We are trying to figure out how to apply for his residency.  We have been together over 2 years but have a few periods apart.  In total we have lived together for 18 months but have also lived apart for 5 month, 3 month and 1 month periods.  We were both working in different countries at the time and do not have a 12 month consecutive period together.  Should we apply as conjugal instead of common-law and if so - what do we need to prove?

Thanks for any help and advice!

Katie and Julian

[Leon]

Well, tricky.  Conjugal is normally reserved for people who can't live together or get married for some reason.  Obviously you have managed to live together quite a lot although you haven't managed to get the qualifying 12 months in one go.  You could apply conjugal and get denied because you have been able to live together and then again you might be approved if you get a nice immigration officer.  You could apply common law and get denied because you don't have 12 months in a stretch or you might be approved if you get a nice immigration officer.  The safest bet is getting married though.