Strange Sponsorship Situation [Any advice welcome]

[bpelletier1423]

My situation is a very odd one that I have not been able to find answers for through general searches, and I could really use some other opinions. My name is Barbara, and I currently stay in Ontario under a temporary visitor visa, but I'm originally from the USA. I came into the country and married my first spouse, which did not turn out well for either of us. During this time, my first spouse and I had planned to pursue spousal sponsorship, however things kept coming up and my spouse never committed to beginning the process with me. He and I were on the outs for a while, and have been separated for a year and few months, now. The last time I extended my visitor visa, I did so with the intention of him sponsoring me - this visa runs out at the end of September of this year.

Shortly after officially separating from my husband, a close friend and I started seeing each other and have begun to make a life for ourselves. We didn't enter the relationship lightly, but we want to pursue getting married so that I can stay here with my new (we have been together for a year now) and his daughter. The plan we had in place was for me to divorce my partner who I have already been romantically separated from for a while now that we have the money to do so, and for me to remarry my boyfriend as soon as possible so that I wasn't at risk of being removed from the country. Since my original spouse whom I came to the country for never began the sponsorship process, there is nothing that needs to be redone, however after doing some reading I saw something that really worried me.



" Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
-DIVISION 2 - Family Relationships
-
New relationship

4.1 For the purposes of these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner of a person if the foreign national has begun a new conjugal relationship with that person after a previous marriage, common-law partnership or conjugal partnership with that person was dissolved primarily so that the foreign national, another foreign national or the sponsor could acquire any status or privilege under the Act. "


The purpose of my marriage is not primarily to gain status, it's a genuine marriage that we wanted to strive for anyways to live a happy life together. Any advice would be so very much appreciated, I really don't want to have to resort to going to school just to be able to not get deported and not have anywhere to go. Does divorcing my current legal spouse immediately disqualify me from being able to attain sponsorship from my soon-to-be new spouse despite the intentions being genuine? I can provide proof that our relationship is legitimate such as bills and am going to be changing my residency to his address as soon as I am able.

 

[armoured]

The purpose of my marriage is not primarily to gain status, it's a genuine marriage that we wanted to strive for anyways to live a happy life together. Any advice would be so very much appreciated, I really don't want to have to resort to going to school just to be able to not get deported and not have anywhere to go. Does divorcing my current legal spouse immediately disqualify me from being able to attain sponsorship from my soon-to-be new spouse despite the intentions being genuine? I can provide proof that our relationship is legitimate such as bills and am going to be changing my residency to his address as soon as I am able.

I'm not quite clear what that provision you cited is to deal with, but short form - you've nothing to worry about in this respect. That bit is not about your case but about some more complex schemes that are more obviously immigration fraud. Repeat, don't think you've anything to worry about with respect to that bit.*

Two quick questions:
-do you live with your current partner and for how long? (Are you already common law or will be soon?)
-when do you expect you'll be able to divorce and get remarried?

If you actually reside together it will be helpful in a couple of ways, but primarily as shows the relationship is genuine.

*Now that I read it again the 'that person' is the same person, i.e. if one divorces one's partner so that one can get PR status without the spouse being included in the app, and then attempts to re-marry in order to sponsor. That might be the case, for example, if one partner applied to become a PR under and economic program and the couple split because the other partner had some bar to immigration - such as medical - which would effectively be evaded if could now sponsor the former partner. In short - does not apply to you at all, your 'that person' are two separate people.

 

[bpelletier1423]

I'm not quite clear what that provision you cited is to deal with, but short form - you've nothing to worry about in this respect. That bit is not about your case but about some more complex schemes that are more obviously immigration fraud. Repeat, don't think you've anything to worry about with respect to that bit.*

Two quick questions:
-do you live with your current partner and for how long? (Are you already common law or will be soon?)
-when do you expect you'll be able to divorce and get remarried?

If you actually reside together it will be helpful in a couple of ways, but primarily as shows the relationship is genuine.

*Now that I read it again the 'that person' is the same person, i.e. if one divorces one's partner so that one can get PR status without the spouse being included in the app, and then attempts to re-marry in order to sponsor. That might be the case, for example, if one partner applied to become a PR under and economic program and the couple split because the other partner had some bar to immigration - such as medical - which would effectively be evaded if could now sponsor the former partner. In short - does not apply to you at all, your 'that person' are two separate people.

Thank you so much, that takes such a load off of my shoulders! To answer your questions, I do still live with my ex, but we are romantically separated and we have our own lives. We luckily still get along as friends/roommates, but I spend as much time with my current boyfriend as possible. I plan to send out the divorce paperwork either this upcoming Monday or Tuesday, and it's a joint separation so I hope there's no bumps in the road. I hope the government will see that my ex is also amicable to the divorce and don't think anything is suspicious about my situation. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply, I feel so much better.

**Edit: My boyfriend and I plan to get remarried as soon as we can, I read that you have to wait 31 days after the divorce is finalized to be able to remarry. Once that time period is up, we definitely plan to tie the knot.

 

[armoured]

Thank you so much, that takes such a load off of my shoulders! To answer your questions, I do still live with my ex, but we are romantically separated and we have our own lives.

You really do need to move out, it's fine that you're 'officially' separated, but it's not going ot be convincing and/or will cause you problems later with your app. Plan on doing this soon, and better apply when cohabitating with your current partner. (Note that if you apply inland, you must be residing together)

 

[canuck78]

Thank you so much, that takes such a load off of my shoulders! To answer your questions, I do still live with my ex, but we are romantically separated and we have our own lives. We luckily still get along as friends/roommates, but I spend as much time with my current boyfriend as possible. I plan to send out the divorce paperwork either this upcoming Monday or Tuesday, and it's a joint separation so I hope there's no bumps in the road. I hope the government will see that my ex is also amicable to the divorce and don't think anything is suspicious about my situation. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply, I feel so much better.

**Edit: My boyfriend and I plan to get remarried as soon as we can, I read that you have to wait 31 days after the divorce is finalized to be able to remarry. Once that time period is up, we definitely plan to tie the knot.

Was also about to comment as well about you still living with your spouse. This will likely raise concerns about the status of your relationship and whether there is something else going on. Even if nothing is going on it still could raise a red flag and may lead to concerns that something else may be going on. What is your status in Canada and how long have you been in Canada? How many extensions have you applied for?

 

[bpelletier1423]

Was also about to comment as well about you still living with your spouse. This will likely raise concerns about the status of your relationship and whether there is something else going on. Even if nothing is going on it still could raise a red flag and may lead to concerns that something else may be going on. What is your status in Canada and how long have you been in Canada? How many extensions have you applied for?

I completely understand why is could look a bit suspicious, which is why I'm so concerned. I've been in Canada since 2019, and have been on a visitor visa the entire time. This hasn't been by my choice, as I've been wanting to be working for years but haven't been able to because of my status. I tried looking for work that would give me a permit because I was unable to get an open work permit, but as to be expected I heard nothing back. I did extensions on my visa around once every year and a half without any issue, and the last extension I was issued is from May 18th 2023 to Sep 30 2024. At the time I sent this in, my ex and I were freshly separated by still legally married and he was still supporting me monetarily due to me not having anywhere else to go and being unable to work. When putting in the extension, I specifically stated that pursuing spousal sponsorship was stalled due to personal emergencies.

 

[bpelletier1423]

After speaking with my current partner about the concerns in here, we have definitely decided that the first step to getting this mess sorted out is to get the divorce underway, as well as get me moved out of here completely. Thank you all so much for your input, it genuinely did help me a lot!

 

[canuck78]

I completely understand why is could look a bit suspicious, which is why I'm so concerned. I've been in Canada since 2019, and have been on a visitor visa the entire time. This hasn't been by my choice, as I've been wanting to be working for years but haven't been able to because of my status. I tried looking for work that would give me a permit because I was unable to get an open work permit, but as to be expected I heard nothing back. I did extensions on my visa around once every year and a half without any issue, and the last extension I was issued is from May 18th 2023 to Sep 30 2024. At the time I sent this in, my ex and I were freshly separated by still legally married and he was still supporting me monetarily due to me not having anywhere else to go and being unable to work. When putting in the extension, I specifically stated that pursuing spousal sponsorship was stalled due to personal emergencies.

This is a very long time to remain in Canada as a visitor. You were likely given more time because of Covid and then you indicated that you were pursuing spousal sponsorship but it had been delayed due to personal emergency but you may struggle to extend again especially since you are not in the process of sponsorship. Would not count on being able to get another extension.