Common law sponsorship from US to Canada

[Shanrxo]

Hi there

I have a couple questions. I am a Canadian citizen and my boyfriend is an American citizen. I am a flight attendant based out of Toronto in Canada... If I understand correctly, I cannot work in the United States while on a visitors permit. Would I be able to legally live with my boyfriend in Florida for a yr. while still working out of Toronto (commuting from Florida to Toronto when I have a flight to operate) and then when the year is up sponsor him to come to Canada? As my common- law spouse ? Any information is appreciated

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi there

I have a couple questions. I am a Canadian citizen and my boyfriend is an American citizen. I am a flight attendant based out of Toronto in Canada... If I understand correctly, I cannot work in the United States while on a visitors permit. Would I be able to legally live with my boyfriend in Florida for a yr. while still working out of Toronto (commuting from Florida to Toronto when I have a flight to operate) and then when the year is up sponsor him to come to Canada? As my common- law spouse ? Any information is appreciated

Common-law requires 12 months of continuous cohabitation. This can be done while as a visitor in a country, you'd just need to be cautious on how you explain to US border patrol each time you enter the US. They probably don't like people "living" in the US on visitor status only. But immigration in Canada won't care.

Your more concerning issue may be your work schedule and how many days you'll be separated out of the 365 required to become common-law. How frequently and for how many days at a time, would you be separated due to your work?

 

[KBH]

I agree with Rob's concerns about how often you would be away for work. I'm familiar with a case very recently where somebody was applying common-law Canada/US and had been staying in Canada with their partner, but had to make a few trips to the US for business and it was deemed that the trips meant they had not cohabited 365 days continuously and their application was rejected.

 

[Shanrxo]

I agree with Rob's concerns about how often you would be away for work. I'm familiar with a case very recently where somebody was applying common-law Canada/US and had been staying in Canada with their partner, but had to make a few trips to the US for business and it was deemed that the trips meant they had not cohabited 365 days continuously and their application was rejected.

It would be maybe a week to 10 days out of the month all depending on how I bid for my schedule. What is the minimum amount of days per 365 required to qualify?

 

[mrs_december]

It would be maybe a week to 10 days out of the month all depending on how I bid for my schedule. What is the minimum amount of days per 365 required to qualify?

There's not a minimum. The stipulation is that you have cohabited for a year. If you're gone 25-30% of every month, it's going to be very difficult to prove consistent cohabitation. It's not just the sharing an address, they want to see a common-law relationship where these two people spend time together in a marriage-like relationship. If one or the other is gone most of the time, even for a legitimate reason like work, they could argue that your living arrangements don't look like a marriage, regardless of whether or not your intentions are good. Something to be aware of.

 

[Rob_TO]

It would be maybe a week to 10 days out of the month all depending on how I bid for my schedule. What is the minimum amount of days per 365 required to qualify?

There are no rules, it's entirely at the discretion of the visa officer processing your file. Totally depends on their personal opinion of if the breaks void the common-law status or not.

In my opinion spending 30% of the total qualifying time separated, will be a major concern to have visa officer possibly reject the common-law claim.

 

[KBH]

Agree with above. Getting married so you can sponsor him that way would probably be a less risky option. Going through the application process only to get rejected is an expensive and disappointing process. They seem to really be cracking down on common-law applications recently, so I would expect it to not be easy if you decide to go that route.

 

[kcward7]

Oh no what makes you think they’re getting harder on common law applicants?

That they meet requirements - they are rejecting applications when they feel that hasn't been met, etc.

 

[KBH]

Oh no what makes you think they’re getting harder on common law applicants?

They seem to be increasing the burden of proof required for common-law applicants to show they have been cohabiting for 12 months. Recently (more than ever) it seems I'm reading about secondary requests for documentation to further prove cohabitation.