Common Law questions

[Some_Guy35]

Good day everyone, I have a few questions in regards to my and my girlfriends situation.

I'm a Canadian citizen, and she is a Czech national with an Experience Canada visa, which expires at the end of January.

We are looking at the Common Law visa, and this is where our questions lie.

1 - Does the application for the Common Law (CL) have to be submitted exactly 12 months after we have started our lives together?
(She came end of Jan 2012, and we have been living together ever since.)

2 - If we apply for the CL visa, does it extend her current Experience Canada (EC) visa? If so, can she leave Canada and return under her current, extended EC?

3 - For the proof of the CL relationship. Do all the documents supporting the relationship have to be for a full consecutive 12 months? Or the combined documentation support an approximate 12 month minimum relationship?

4 - Due to the length of the application process, is there an intermediate visa that she can apply for to extend her stay until the CL visa is approved? Can a visitors visa be applied for, and received here in Canada? Or even a Professional Development???

Thats the sum of our questions. Any responses will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CharlieD10]

1. At a minimum, yes. You cannot submit a common-law partner application unless it includes proof of a minimum cohabitation of 12 months consecutively. If you send it in before it is clear you have lived together for 12 months, your application will be rejected.

2. No. I may be wrong, but I don't think those visas are extendable/renewable.

3. ALL the documents do not have to pertain to the entire 12 months but there must be some that confirm the full period, for example, your lease (if you have one), your joint account (if you have one), your statement of common-law status etc.

4. She may apply to change her status to visitor and she can do this at least 30 days before her current status expires.

 

[scylla]

2 - If we apply for the CL visa, does it extend her current Experience Canada (EC) visa? If so, can she leave Canada and return under her current, extended EC?

No - applying for CL does not extend her current IEC visa and she must stop working when it expires. She has a few options: (1) Apply for a second IEC visa (if she qualifies); (2) Change her status to tourist and remain in Canada as a visitor; (3) Find an employer who is willing to offer her a job and obtain and approved LMO and then apply for a work permit.

And as CharlieD said, don't apply until you have a minimum of 12 months of cohabitation. If you apply even a few days early, you don't qualify and will be refused.

 

[ldjames]

2 - If we apply for the CL visa, does it extend her current Experience Canada (EC) visa? If so, can she leave Canada and return under her current, extended EC?

Most countries allow two visits under the IEC programme so as long as she still meets the criteria she can re-apply when it opens again- in January I believe. This applies even if a Common-Law application is in process.

3 - For the proof of the CL relationship. Do all the documents supporting the relationship have to be for a full consecutive 12 months? Or the combined documentation support an approximate 12 month minimum relationship?

Anything related to proving co-habitation (leases and shared bills) would need to cover this period. Things like supporting letters from your friends, entertainment receipts and photos don't need to cover this period but be believable and authentic.

 

[Danteryu]

I was on an IEC permit and I applied for Inland common-law sponsorship, submitting the OWP application at the same time. Several CIC employees and immigration experts had said to me that applying for the OWP at the same time as PR *does* give you implied status as a worker after your IEC expires.

I did this and worked under implied status for 5 months, with no problems at all.

 

[MissDominica]

I was on an IEC permit and I applied for Inland common-law sponsorship, submitting the OWP application at the same time. Several CIC employees and immigration experts had said to me that applying for the OWP at the same time as PR *does* give you implied status as a worker after your IEC expires.

I did this and worked under implied status for 5 months, with no problems at all.

Interesting. I did not think that was the case.

However, IF implied status for IEC exists (which Im surpised that it does?) it would only give you implied IEC status while your new IEC application is in progress. If it is rejected, she would have to leave immediately even though she has a CL sponsorship in process. I think the OP was hoping that by applying for a new IEC and a sponsorship application at the same time, it automatically meant she could extend her current IEC for the duration/reason that he had a sponsorship application in place... However, in reality, the implied status is only due to the fact that you are "waiting to hear back about your IEC status and are assuming an extension until you hear otherwise"... I do not think it would be wise for her to leave Canada while on IEC implied status because technically it is a just a grace period where she is waiting to see if she gets another one... kind of a limbo... not a safe place in terms of being guaranteed re-entry necessarily if she leaves Canada. If she is from a visa-exempt country she would likely get away with it.

Again, I did not think implied status existed for IEC... so my advice is just given on the basis of IF it existed, how I would proceed. Good luck!

 

[scylla]

I was on an IEC permit and I applied for Inland common-law sponsorship, submitting the OWP application at the same time. Several CIC employees and immigration experts had said to me that applying for the OWP at the same time as PR *does* give you implied status as a worker after your IEC expires.

I did this and worked under implied status for 5 months, with no problems at all.

It doesn't give you implied status. IEC visas cannot be extended and implied status therefore does not apply to these visas. Unfortunately CIC often gives out bad information and there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding out there regarding IEC visas and implied status among some immigration professionals. However the rules are very clear. No extensions to these visas are possible.

 

[MissDominica]

It doesn't give you implied status. IEC visas cannot be extended and implied status therefore does not apply to these visas. Unfortunately CIC often gives out bad information and there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding out there regarding IEC visas and implied status among some immigration professionals. However the rules are very clear. No extensions to these visas are possible.

This is what I thought as well.

 

[dzuls]

I was on an IEC visa and before it expired, I applied for a work permit. Until a decision was made, I was under implied status so I think IEC visas aslo benefit from the implied status.

As for IEC extension itself: the IEC program consists of 3 programs actually. For some countries, the IEC program agreement allows to take part in the same kind of program again, for some countries there is a rule saying that you have to apply for a different kind of a program and there must be 6 months before you can go to Canada with that visa.

 

[Some_Guy35]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate it.

Your information brings some clarity to a very confusing situation.

Thanks!