PR Application is asking for information my unaccompanying common-law partner (who is a Canadian citizen)

[benaj0]

Hello! I received my ITA yesterday (March 18th 2020) (yay) and have started working through my PR application.

Summary of my reason for posting
I'm quite confused as to why the application has a section titled "Jane Smith: Unaccompanying, PR Spouse Form" (her name isn't Jane, but for the purpose of this post it is).

This section requires three subsections be completed:

1. Personal Details (including her family and relationship history)
2. Contact Details
3. Personal History (including employment, education, and travel history)

Here's the kicker: Jane is a Canadian citizen (she was born in Canada).
So why am I required to complete all of this for her (did I make a mistake somewhere)?

Info about my EE Profile

1. I said I am in a common-law relationship as Jane and I have been living together since Jan 1st 2020.
2. I said she would not be accompanying me (because she's Canadian).
3. I said there are 2 members of my family (Jane and myself). I chose 2 because the help tooltip says: "Include yourself, your spouse or partner, and any children that you have, even if your spouse, partner or children will not come to Canada. Do not include your parents or any other relatives."
4. I said I have a relative in Canada, because as I understand it, Jane is my relative in Canada. (I have no siblings in Canada. Jane has a father and siblings in Canada.)
5. Interestingly, I did not receive any extra points for "relative in Canada".

Info about my PR Application

1. I spoke to IRCC on the phone about why my application contains sections for my unaccompanying partner and she believed it should not be there, however, she was unable to assist me in "removing" it. She believes I was incorrect in selecting my family size as 2 in the EE Profile (because my partner is not dependent on me). This has really confused me, as the question about family size does not state the spouse must be dependent.
2. The same person at IRCC confirmed I did complete the "relative in Canada" correctly.
3. I tried to alter my PR application to change my family size to 1, yet the section for Jane still remains. I also tried removing the "relative in Canada", yet the section for Jane remains.
4. The only way I can remove the section for Jane is by modifying my Family Information and stating I am single (but this is not true). It actually leads me to believe I could be wrong (the section for Jane should there).

Final thoughts

1. I guess I just really want to understand if this really matters? Ultimately, we can obviously complete Jane's history. At this point it looks like I have no choice if I want to be able to submit the application and move on.
2. Did I answer the family size incorrectly? If I did, is that why Jane has a section for herself? Why does updating the family size to 1 in the PR application not remove her? (The IRCC agent was similarly confused, and personally I found her a bit ignorant. She should have been able to help here and know the answer in my opinion)

I appreciate any help, and thank you in advance.

Regards,
Ben

 

[Juliana.6]

Hi Ben,

Have you get any answer or help regarding this question? I have the same situation and I need help
Also, regarding family, do you need to provide the information about all your common law family information members?

Juliana

 

[benaj0]

Hey! I contacted IRCC on the phone and cleared up all of this.

The agent confirmed:

• Family size is 1.
• My common law partner is not considered a Canadian relative of mine.
• I still must continue with my application stating I'm in a common law relationship, mainly because I am in a common law relationship recognized by Canada. But, also because I said common law in my EE profile.
• Changing my relationship status to Single was not advised (because it would differ to the EE profile, and I'd have to explain why). Also, we'll be doing our 2020 taxes declaring common law and the discrepancy could be a red flag to IRCC.
• I should still complete my partner's work history, address history, travel history etc. because it's mandatory for me to proceed with the form. This is just a little bit of overhead. I asked if I could just enter placeholder/dummy values like "same address for 10 years" but the agent said this might look weird so advised it safest to just complete the sections.
• My partner lived abroad for a period of time in the last 10 years so my application is requesting a police report for her. However, the agent said that because she is already a Canadian citizen (and not accompanying me to Canada) that I can upload a letter instead stating this isn't necessary, and provide evidence that she is a citizen (such as her Canadian passport).

I think I'm a bit of an edge case Express Entry participant, because I have a Canadian partner and we aren't doing the sponsorship route instead. This just means the online application (which is very generalized) is asking for things that aren't relevant for my application.

The agent also emailed me this information:

Express Entry - Canadian or permanent resident family members
Your family members who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents are not required to undergo an immigration medical exam or submit police certificates as part of your application for permanent residence. If you want to make sure they are identified properly, we invite you to:

• Access your account,
• Under the section Continue my profile / application, not yet submitted, choose the line with your Express Entry Profile,
• Click on Continue Profile,
• Click on Modify Family Information located in the top menu of the page, and
• Verify if the displayed information is correct.

If you are still prompted to provide supporting documents after confirming that the information is entered correctly, you may upload a letter of explanation in the corresponding field for your family member with proof of Canadian citizenship (e.g., birth certificate if born in Canada) or permanent residence (e.g., Permanent Resident Card).

 

[Juliana.6]

Hi Ben,

Why is your common law not considered your Canadian relative?
Based on this website https://www.canada.ca/en/services/immigration-citizenship/helpcentre/glossary.html#family_members it should be because of the family member definition

Family members: An applicant’s closest relatives, in the context of an application to IRCC. It is defined as a spouse or common-law partner, dependent children, and their dependent children.

Also, do you need to add all the information about your common law's family (siblings and parents)?

 

[benaj0]

I don't think it matters too much whether I answer my common-law partner is a relative or not. It won't affect the application because either answer doesn't change my calculated CRS points. I might just select yes in the end because that's what I did in the EE Profile, and explain my interpretation in supporting documentation.

I don't know if I need to add my common-law partner's family, but I did it anyway, because it can't hurt to be there.

I really feel like whoever comes to review my e-APR will be like "OK so his partner is a Canadian citizen... And I can confirm this from her Canadian passport. I don't really need to look through the partner's information."

 

[benaj0]

This might help:
- if I edit my family and say I have a brother in Canada, then my CRS actually score goes up by 15.
- if I edit my family and say I have a common-law partner in Canada, my CRS score does NOT go up by 15. This option gives me the same overall score as if I said "No" to a relative in Canada.

I don't know why spouse/partner/common-law is an option in the list when it doesn't award extra points.