Will I lose common law status if I leave Canada while our application is sorted?

[elexis969]

I am currently living with my boyfriend as common law in canada and have been for 18 months (together 2 years). He is a canadian citizen and I am from the United Kingdom - My IEC visa is due to run out in 7 months - 1 month after we would have been living as common law for 2 years. My intention was to leave Canada when my visa ran out and work in the U.K until permanent residence was granted and return to canada to live with my boyfriend as I am obviously not able to work whilst a decision is made (applying outland). I have just been told that if I leave Canada to return home (which could be anywhere upto a year) I will lose my common law status with my boyfriend and now Im very confused - I know I can always apply for a visitor visa to enable me to stay until a decision is made but financially that doesn't help me, nor do I want to sit in a house doing nothing for 6-12 months.

Has anyone else done this or know anymore information regarding what would happen if I left Canada?

 

[Rob_TO]

I have just been told that if I leave Canada to return home (which could be anywhere upto a year) I will lose my common law status with my boyfriend

Whoever told you that is completely wrong. Once you establish the initial 12 months, you are officially common-law and can then live apart if you want to. Same as a married couple is still considered married even if they happen to be living apart. Many people apply outland as common-law when the sponsor is living in Canada, and the applicant in some other country. You should just keep continuing proofs/evidence that the relationship is continuing long distance.

Read here for more info on this: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf
5.36. How can someone in Canada sponsor a common-law partner from outside Canada when
the definition says “is cohabiting”?
According to case law, the definition of common-law partner should be read as “an individual who
is (ordinarily) cohabiting”. After the one year period of cohabitation has been established, the
partners may live apart for periods of time without legally breaking the cohabitation. For example,
a couple may have been separated due to armed conflict, illness of a family member, or for
employment or education-related reasons, and therefore do not cohabit at present (see also 5.44
for information on persecution and penal control). Despite the break in cohabitation, a commonlaw
relationship exists if the couple has cohabited continuously in a conjugal relationship in the
past for at least one year and intend to do so again as soon as possible. There should be
evidence demonstrating that both parties are continuing the relationship, such as visits,
correspondence, and telephone calls.
This situation is similar to a marriage where the parties are temporarily separated or not
cohabiting for a variety of reasons, but still considers themselves to be married and living in a
conjugal relationship with their spouse with the intention of living together as soon as possible.
For common-law relationships (and marriage), the longer the period of separation without any
cohabitation, the more difficult it is to establish that the common-law relationship (or marriage) still
exists

 

[zardoz]

I am currently living with my boyfriend as common law in canada and have been for 18 months (together 2 years). He is a canadian citizen and I am from the United Kingdom - My IEC visa is due to run out in 7 months - 1 month after we would have been living as common law for 2 years. My intention was to leave Canada when my visa ran out and work in the U.K until permanent residence was granted and return to canada to live with my boyfriend as I am obviously not able to work whilst a decision is made (applying outland). I have just been told that if I leave Canada to return home (which could be anywhere upto a year) I will lose my common law status with my boyfriend and now Im very confused - I know I can always apply for a visitor visa to enable me to stay until a decision is made but financially that doesn't help me, nor do I want to sit in a house doing nothing for 6-12 months.

Has anyone else done this or know anymore information regarding what would happen if I left Canada?

This is not correct. You will not lose your common-law status if you have already met the requirements and have no intention of terminating the relationship. No more than a married couple would suddenly cease to be married under the same conditions.

 

[elexis969]

Thank you both for your replies - I really appreciate it, I was very surprised when I was told this and it didn't seem right but I wanted to double check to settle my nerves!

 

[jamsham12]

I am currently living with my boyfriend as common law in canada and have been for 18 months (together 2 years). He is a canadian citizen and I am from the United Kingdom - My IEC visa is due to run out in 7 months - 1 month after we would have been living as common law for 2 years. My intention was to leave Canada when my visa ran out and work in the U.K until permanent residence was granted and return to canada to live with my boyfriend as I am obviously not able to work whilst a decision is made (applying outland). I have just been told that if I leave Canada to return home (which could be anywhere upto a year) I will lose my common law status with my boyfriend and now Im very confused - I know I can always apply for a visitor visa to enable me to stay until a decision is made but financially that doesn't help me, nor do I want to sit in a house doing nothing for 6-12 months.

Has anyone else done this or know anymore information regarding what would happen if I left Canada?

As the others have stated, who ever told you that is telling you false information. To give you some context, I entered into common-law with my partner from Dec 2012- Dec 2013 while i was in Canada on a swap visa. My partner submitted an P.R app in Jan 2015 which has been approved in November of 2015. However for the past 2 years since my work permit expired in Canada in 2013, I returned to the states for work as I needed to work and was not living with my common-law partner but was still approved for P.R. Once you establish the cohabitation period of at least 1 year in the terms of CIC, that co-habitation does not break unless the common-law partnership has ceased or in general terms you both break up.

 

[elokuu]

Have you already applied outland? If not, you should do so as soon as possible - many applications through the London visa office have been processed in just 4-5 months recently, so you could be a PR shortly after or even before your IEC visa expires if you send in the application soon.

 

[elexis969]

I haven't applied yet, I know we qualify now - but if my understanding of the PR rules is correct is that if we live as common law for more than 2 years then when(if) I am granted I will not have any conditions attached to my PR, whereas if its common law for less than 2 years you get conditional PR where you have to stay together for 2years after the day you get your conditional PR, aka if we were to break up they could deport me. The reason for this is because the career I want to get into said I cannot apply with a conditional PR, and we are eager to start earning decent cash as soon as possible to buy our own place.

 

[Rob_TO]

I haven't applied yet, I know we qualify now - but if my understanding of the PR rules is correct is that if we live as common law for more than 2 years then when(if) I am granted I will not have any conditions attached to my PR, whereas if its common law for less than 2 years you get conditional PR where you have to stay together for 2years after the day you get your conditional PR, aka if we were to break up they could deport me. The reason for this is because the career I want to get into said I cannot apply with a conditional PR, and we are eager to start earning decent cash as soon as possible to buy our own place.

Note that to avoid conditional PR (Condition 51) you would need to be together 3 years before applying (1 year of qualifying, then 2 years of official common-law status).

I'm curious, what kind of career would have specific rules against you having Condition 51?

 

[elexis969]

Oh balls really - well thats buggered that plan . Its the edmonton police service they said "Unfortunately, at this time we do have to ask that you wait until the condition is removed from your permanent residence status" when I enquired about it.

 

[Rob_TO]

Oh balls really - well thats buggered that plan . Its the edmonton police service they said "Unfortunately, at this time we do have to ask that you wait until the condition is removed from your permanent residence status" when I enquired about it.

Remember also though that the Liberals made an election promise to scrap the whole "condition 51" thing for PRs. So if you're lucky, they might push that into effect sometime soon. Although the actual timing of this happening (or if they ever actually do it) is anyone's guess.