inland sponsorship, sponsor is travelling for business...

[Millu]

hi!
do someone has same kind of situtation?
we are starting to sponsoring on next october. my boyfriend has to travel for business quite alot.
can we still apply inland? im not gonna travel anywhere though. we can get letters from his company,
that he has to travel. i know inland takes much longer than outland, but we want to make sure we can stay together. and dont have to fly to interview or anything.
we are planning to apply under common-law category. can we do that even if we are not living in canada all the time? but still living together?

thank you sooo much.

 

[RobsLuv]

You don't say whether your bf is a Canadian citizen or a PR. If he is a PR, he has to be residing in Canada in order to be eligible to sponsor you - whether inland or outland. So just be sure, if he's a PR, to be careful what you say about where he is if they should call for him sometime.

The thing you should probably be concerned about is whether or not you'll have issues with CIC when they're assessing the common-law partnership if your bf is frequently, for long periods of time, away on business. The common-law qualification says that partners have co-habitated, in a marriage-like relationship, for at least one continuous year. After they have established that co-habitation, there may be "short" periods apart for business or family issues . . . but the duration must be short and always with the intention of resuming cohabitation as soon as possible. You can read about this in Section 5.36 of the OP2 Processing Manual.

How can someone in Canada sponsor a common-law partner from outside Canada when the definition says “is cohabiting”?
According to case law, the definition of common-law partner should be read as “an individual who is (ordinarily) cohabiting”. After the one year period of cohabitation has been established, the partners may live apart for periods of time without legally breaking the cohabitation. For example, a couple may have been separated due to armed conflict, illness of a family member, or for employment or education-related reasons, and therefore do not cohabit at present (see also 5.44 for information on persecution and penal control). Despite the break in cohabitation, a commonlaw relationship exists if the couple has cohabited continuously in a conjugal relationship in the past for at least one year and intend to do so again as soon as possible. There should be evidence demonstrating that both parties are continuing the relationship, such as visits, correspondence, and telephone calls. This situation is similar to a marriage where the parties are temporarily separated or not cohabiting for a variety of reasons, but still considers themselves to be married and living in a conjugal relationship with their spouse with the intention of living together as soon as possible. For common-law relationships (and marriage), the longer the period of separation without any cohabitation, the more difficult it is to establish that the common-law relationship (or marriage) still exists.

So, if he's away a lot, it could work against your common-law qualification - and also make it more difficult to prove a "genuine" relationship. Just depends on how the assessing officer views it - if they even become aware of it.

You are aware that you, as the applicant, should not leave Canada during processing of an inland. If you do, and you're refused re-entry, you forfeit the application because you will be unable to meet the requirement of being resident in Canada with your sponsor.

 

[Millu]

thank you so much for your reply.
he is canadian citizen. i came october, and we have lived together since. he was out of country november-december 6weeks. and now 4weeks. i will be joining him on next monday.

this is sooo hard.
but thanks anyway. you are awesome!