Inland Spousal PR Application

[PeaceMyCountry786]

Hello everyone,



I'm seeking advice and would be grateful for any assistance. I hold Canadian permanent residency and have lived with my girlfriend for three years. Tomorrow, we're having a court marriage. Currently, she's on a work permit expiring in November 2024. I obtained my PR in October 2021, and even then, though we cohabited, our relationship wasn't committed. Despite sharing the same address for three years and not including her details in my June 2021 permanent residence application, could this be seen as misrepresentation when we apply for her PR in the near future, implying we were in a common-law relationship during my PR application when we weren't?



We don't have a joint bank account, but we share expenses like mobile bill, rent, groceries tc. However, we haven't designated each other as beneficiaries for life insurance or banks.



Any guidance on this matter would be deeply appreciated.

 

[Ponga]

Hello everyone,



I'm seeking advice and would be grateful for any assistance. I hold Canadian permanent residency and have lived with my girlfriend for three years. Tomorrow, we're having a court marriage. Currently, she's on a work permit expiring in November 2024. I obtained my PR in October 2021, and even then, though we cohabited, our relationship wasn't committed. Despite sharing the same address for three years and not including her details in my June 2021 permanent residence application, could this be seen as misrepresentation when we apply for her PR in the near future, implying we were in a common-law relationship during my PR application when we weren't?



We don't have a joint bank account, but we share expenses like mobile bill, rent, groceries tc. However, we haven't designated each other as beneficiaries for life insurance or banks.



Any guidance on this matter would be deeply appreciated.

This could be a very big problem, because you WERE in fact common-law after the first year you were living together if you were `a couple' (and you know what that means, I suspect). The only thing that deemed you common-law was the cohabiting for 365 days or more in the same space and living together. Trying to convince IRCC [now] that you were just room mates all that time would probably not be wise, because they don't take well to [more] misrepresentation. This may be a very difficult mistake to overcome, IMHO.

If you were in fact common-law on the day before you became a PR, you should have added your partner to your application. It sounds like you have in fact misrepresented yourself and...may not be able to sponsor your partner, even after you are married. It doesn't matter if you did not have joint accounts. What matters is that you DID cohabit under the same roof, in a conjugal type relationship for 3 years! It could get even worse...your own PR status could be in jeopardy because of the misrepresentation. Don't focus on this today, or even tomorrow, but...don't ignore this.

I suggest you wait for others to offer their insight, but would also suggest you think about conferring with a really good lawyer (maybe the law firm that generously provides these free forums (Cohen Immigration Law), but not sure what, if anything they could do since is appears that the rules are pretty firm. They may offer a free consultation.

Congrats on the nuptials and...good luck!