Canadian citizen with American common-law spouse living outside of Canada

[AJ3000]

Hello,

This is my first post and I am looking for some advice.

I am a Canadian citizen and my partner is American. We have been dating since Feb 2009, having met in Australia. We have lived together in Ethiopia and now in Vietnam. We are English Teachers. We are engaged to be married but won't be having a wedding in the near future. We want to start the process for sponsoring my partner to Canada ASAP.

I have two related by slightly separate questions.

1) We have lived together in Australia (Feb 2009-Feb 2010), Ethiopia (July 2010 - March 2011) and now Vietnam since September 2012. We had a long-distance relationship for 1.5 years from March 2011 - Sept 2012). We only have a record of a lease agreement for Vietnam (less then a year) but have ample additional evidence of our relationship (facebook, pictures, etc). The question is our eligibility for common-law status. We consider ourselves common-law married. We will get officially married. I would like to hear some opinions. By the definition of conjugal partner, that doesn't really fit our relationship.

2) I intend to move back to Canada and attend graduate school next year. We are trying to get the timing right so she can move back with me and be able to live and work. When we make the application, I will make this clear. I am concerned about the processing times for the various visa office. As my fiance is an american citizen - will it be process at CPP - Ottawa? As per the apply where list on the CIC list.



Or because we live in Vietnam temporarily, will it be processed in Singapore (wth a current 26 month wait time).

As you can imagine, we would like to have it processed in Ottawa (10 months).

My partner is originally from Wisconsin and still is a resident (driver's license, registered to vote).

Thanks for your help.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

1) We have lived together in Australia (Feb 2009-Feb 2010), Ethiopia (July 2010 - March 2011) and now Vietnam since September 2012. We had a long-distance relationship for 1.5 years from March 2011 - Sept 2012). We only have a record of a lease agreement for Vietnam (less then a year) but have ample additional evidence of our relationship (facebook, pictures, etc). The question is our eligibility for common-law status. We consider ourselves common-law married. We will get officially married. I would like to hear some opinions. By the definition of conjugal partner, that doesn't really fit our relationship.

2) I intend to move back to Canada and attend graduate school next year. We are trying to get the timing right so she can move back with me and be able to live and work. When we make the application, I will make this clear. I am concerned about the processing times for the various visa office. As my fiance is an american citizen - will it be process at CPP - Ottawa? As per the apply where list on the CIC list.

Hi

1. To be common-law, you must have lived together for 1 year continuously AND be able to prove it to CIC. If the time in Australia was a FULL year and you can prove it, then you are common-law. If it was even a day less than a year or if you cannot prove the full year, then no, you are not common-law. You would need to wait until September to qualify.

2. Yes, it will go to Ottawa. I've never seen CIC change the office from the one of nationality to the one of residence. It is pretty much always the other way around, sending the app to the one of nationality instead of the one of residence.

 

[Rob_TO]

1 - Well technically if you lived together a full 12 months in Australia, then you are common-law no matter what happens after that as long as the relationship continues. However it sounds like you don't have any proofs of cohabitation from your time in Australia. And if you can't prove it... according to CIC it didn't happen. If you don't have joint lease records or other concrete proof that you indeed shared an address there, you may be out of luck.

Another option could be waiting to establish common-law in Vietnam, seeing as you have better proofs there. If you started living together there in Sept 2012, then you would qualify for common-law here as of Sept 2013, and at that time you could submit your application.

However it's up to you, and how strong a case you could make for living together in Australia. Remember that common-law status is fact based. If you can't prove to the VO you were common-law in Australia, then the rest of the time in the relationship is inconsequential, as the decision to approve/reject your application will be based primarily on proving 12 months of continuous cohabitation.

 

[canadianwoman]

I also suggest waiting until you have a year of proof of cohabitation in Vietnam. That will be September, so it is not long to wait. Still refer to your previous cohabitation periods in the application and offer whatever proof you have.
CIC will most likely not choose to process the application in Singapore.
Your partner can come to Canada as a visitor and stay with you when you return if the PR visa has not yet been issued.

 

[amikety]

Big rule with CIC: If you can't prove it, it didn't happen.

As far as the Visa Office, you can select Ottawa. Since your spouse is American, s/he can travel to the USA for an interview if needed. (They do interviews at the NYC and LA office for Ottawa - yes it gets confusing). You would need to have funds on hand, just in case, although interviews for American/Canadian couples are rare. (I'm only aware of 1 where the American was a citizen born in the USA and interviewed out of all the people on the Ottawa Spreadsheet - over 100. 2 others I'm aware were interviewed weren't American citizens.)

Just keep in mind- fund for travel as mentioned and CIC may still decide to process the file in Singapore. If that happens - you can withdraw and re-apply once you are back in Canada. Chances are, your American spouse will be allowed to stay in Canada with you while the application is in process since Americans are visa exempt. No working, but at least you're together. We are extremely lucky on that aspect.

(If your file is sent to Singapore, come back for more help!)

 

[AJ3000]

Hello,

Thank you for all the wonderful advice. We are going to wait until Sept to make our application.

Really impressed with all the helpful information and will certainly return with more questions in the future.