Conjugal partner sponsorship

[stephcy]

I'm a Cypriot citizen and my boyfriend is a Canadian citizen. We are together for more than a year and we wanted to apply for the conjugal sponsorship as we can't stay together for no longer than 6 months, I can't work in Canada etc.
Do we apply for this category? At the moment i'm in Canada visiting him for the last 4 months, we live together, and share expenses. All our family and friends know that we are a couple, this is the way we are presenting ourselves. We have lots of photos proving our relationship from trips we've been to, emails, Skype and Viber conversations. However we don't have joint bank accounts as I don't have a status here and I'm not sure if I can have an account as i'm just a visitor.

We are trying to prepare our papers to apply under this category and family and friends volunteer to write us letter confirming our relationship (Statuary declaration). Does anyone know what they should write in these letters? or if there is a specific format?

Are there any other evidence we can provide to support our application?
I'm a bit devastated cause from posts i have been reading conjugal relationships are considered to be only if war separates you and stuff like that.

Is there anyone who did the conjugal partner sponsorship successfully?

Thank you

 

[MilesAway]

Applying conjugal is almost certain to fail. You are in Canada, so there is no barrier that prevents you from extending your stay to become common-law. Presumably there is also no barrier to your getting married.
You need to be common-law or married. Sorry, conjugal does not apply to you.

 

[Ponga]

I'm a Cypriot citizen and my boyfriend is a Canadian citizen. We are together for more than a year and we wanted to apply for the conjugal sponsorship as we can't stay together for no longer than 6 months, I can't work in Canada etc.
Do we apply for this category? NO! You will likely NOT be approved as a conjugal partner. You need to extend your visitor status (stating that you are trying to establish the 1 year cohabiting requirement to become common-law). At the moment i'm in Canada visiting him for the last 4 months, we live together, and share expenses. All our family and friends know that we are a couple, this is the way we are presenting ourselves. We have lots of photos proving our relationship from trips we've been to, emails, Skype and Viber conversations. However we don't have joint bank accounts as I don't have a status here and I'm not sure if I can have an account as i'm just a visitor.
Yes you can. Scotia Bank and TD Bank will allow you to be added to his account, with his permission of course. LOL!
We are trying to prepare our papers to apply under this category and family and friends volunteer to write us letter confirming our relationship (Statuary declaration). Does anyone know what they should write in these letters? or if there is a specific format?

Are there any other evidence we can provide to support our application?
I'm a bit devastated cause from posts i have been reading conjugal relationships are considered to be only if war separates you and stuff like that.


Is there anyone who did the conjugal partner sponsorship successfully?

Thank you

 

[Kayaker]

to add to what Ponga said - RBC allows joint bank accounts as well. My husband added me to his account while I was a visitor.

 

[Rob_TO]

The final decision is of course up to the specific visa officer reviewing your case, but most likely your conjugal app would be rejected based on either:
1. There is zero barrier to you getting married.
2. Since you are visa-exempt, it's very easy for you to extend your visitor status in Canada another 6-12 months, and even longer, to allow you to live together 1 year straight and obtain common-law status. CIC would not care about your inability to work during this time as that is not an actual immigration barrier.

 

[stephcy]

Thank you all for the replies

Yes you are right we don't apply under the conjugal. A lawyer has mislead that we could apply. I asked for an extension of my visitor's visa so we will apply as common-law. We have already been in two banks and they told us I cannot open an account neither for my partner to add my name on his accounts. However when I email one of those banks they told me that I can so we have to go back again.

Do you know if under a visitor's visa I can add my name on house bills? Or what other kind of evidence we can provide for common law?

Thank you everyone

 

[sammystorm19]

Thank you all for the replies

Yes you are right we don't apply under the conjugal. A lawyer has mislead that we could apply. I asked for an extension of my visitor's visa so we will apply as common-law. We have already been in two banks and they told us I cannot open an account neither for my partner to add my name on his accounts. However when I email one of those banks they told me that I can so we have to go back again.

Do you know if under a visitor's visa I can add my name on house bills? Or what other kind of evidence we can provide for common law?

Thank you everyone

And yet another mistake from a Lawyer!!

 

[Ponga]

And yet another mistake from a Lawyer!!

FWIW, even CIC screwed up on this when I was first trying to apply for sponsorship!

My partner was still married, but had been legally separated for a few years. Because of this we were told BY CIC that we needed to apply as a conjugal couple, even though we had already started living together! After filling out the majority of the forms and then calling them regarding another question, I was told that we had been given wrong information and that I could apply as common-law after we had lived together for 1 year, but ONLY after my partner was divorced. So...we waited and waited, only to find out that this was yet another mistake made by CIC and that a person can qualify as common-law even if they are still married, but have been separated for at least 1 year. Obviously, I/we wasted a fair amount of time before we even got our application sent in to CIC!

 

[rhcohen2014]

Thank you all for the replies

Yes you are right we don't apply under the conjugal. A lawyer has mislead that we could apply. I asked for an extension of my visitor's visa so we will apply as common-law. We have already been in two banks and they told us I cannot open an account neither for my partner to add my name on his accounts. However when I email one of those banks they told me that I can so we have to go back again.

Do you know if under a visitor's visa I can add my name on house bills? Or what other kind of evidence we can provide for common law?

Thank you everyone

from my experience, you don't need to prove anything about your status to change the utility bill in your name. I was easily able to put the hydro bill in my name. they don't ask for your legal status or a sin#. they ask for your name and address.