conjugal partners?

[cgb]

Here’s the situation- I’m from California, my boyfriend of 1.5 years is from Scotland. We’ve been living together since January in Toronto both on temporary work visas. He’s a computer programmer and should be able to easily get an extension (the job is on the list of those exempted from LMOs). For me, it’s not so easy. I just graduated university in California and my temp work visa will expire in August. I have a job that I like a lot, but it’s more of an ‘office job’ that I doubt will give me a positive LMO. I’ve asked my employer to apply for one and they will, though they doubt it’ll be positive.

Here’s the question- Is there any other way the two of us can stay living together? We are not ready to get married, though in a committed relationship. We aren’t common law b/c we’ve not been living together for over 12 months and he’s not a permanent resident. He can’t work in the US; I can’t work in the UK. I’ve been looking at conjugal partners, but there seems to be very loose guidelines and I’ve heard it’s quite difficult to have approved. I could possibly stay in Canada living with him until it’s been 12 month, then apply for common law (but I need to work somehow, and again he’s not a PR or citizen so that might not even work…). If my LMO does come back negative, I’d like to know if there’s another option or if I should get started right away. Sorry for being long-winded. Any help or ideas?

 

[sbwv09]

Unless he is a Canadian citizen or a PR, he can't be your sponsor as common law or conjucal. I don't know much about the work visas so maybe you can continue to stay some way through that route, but not as a spousal PR applicant.

 

[Leon]

To get an open work permit as a spouse of a temporary worker, you have to either be married or qualify as common law. Until then, you need to qualify for your own work permit. If your LMO comes back negative, you could apply to change your status to visitor while you work something out, maybe find a new job where you can get an LMO.

There is a working holiday visa for US citizens, see http://www.bunac.org/usa/workCanada/ but that's probably what you are already doing?

 

[RobsLuv]

What Leon says is true - but that's still only temporary status. What you're talking about - with common-law, spousal and conjugal partners - is permanent status and that's only available to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident wanting to sponsor their partner/spouse to Canada as a permanent resident. If either of you are thinking that Canada is someplace you want to stay permanently, then one of you will have to apply for PR under one of the other classes (Skilled Worker, Provincial Nominee, Entrepreuner, etc) and then sponsor the other one. I was under the impression that that process takes years, although I just looked at the processing timelines for Skilled Worker aps through both London (for him) and Buffalo (for you) and they're both showing 6-8 months. That's almost unbelievable as it used to be well over 2-3 years. So maybe it isn't such a long shot after all, if you can qualify with the points. You might look into that and then post questions on the SW forum here, or on Road to Canada. Also, if one of you does go that route and you manage to live together for at least one year before the application is finalized, or you get married, you have to notify the visa office of the change in "marital status" and the partner will have to be added to the SW application. Don't miss this piece as it will cost you the ability for the one not immigrating via SW to immigrate at all. If the SW applicant lands without declaring a partner who is qualified to be sponsored, they are forever barred from sponsoring that person in the future. So keep that part in mind.

Otherwise, you have a couple of other options: Toronto is not that far away from NY State - and get a job so you can meet the income/asset requirements to sponsor your partner to the States. The US has a fiance visa, so it could be possible for you to bring him to the States with the ability to live and work there as your fiance. There is a requirement that you eventually marry - I'm not sure about the details, but there is an excellent US immigration forum at visajourney.com. In the meantime, with him living in Toronto and you just on the other side of the border, you could probably manage to spend quite a bit of time together back and forth . . . I mean, we did it from California to Ontario for 2 years. It wasn't easy, but love finds a way. And I don't know what the immigration process is for the UK - Scotland is really lovely and I seem to remember hearing that it's not that hard to get status over there.

 

[cgb]

Thanks for all the info everyone! Not exactly what I wished to hear, but very helpful.... I'm not thinking that I really want to stay permanently, guess the conjugal thing won't work out then.

Yes, I'm already on the swap visa- same as bunac, but a bit cheaper. Pretty sure they'd figure it out pretty quickly if I tried to apply through bunac instead of swap. Could try though.

Guess the best shot for now is to try to find a job that will sponsor me fresh out of uni for when the visa expires.

Thanks again!