Conjugal application received November 18, 2018
Medical exam done: March 14, 2022
Medical passed: March 15, 2022
Request for additional requirements/procedural fairness letter: September 16, 2022
Just received a procedural fairness letter from the immigration officer. We applied for conjugal sponsorship because we are first cousins. I am a Canadian citizen and my partner is a Philippines citizen. In the Philippines, marriage between relatives up to the fourth civil degree is prohibited. We plan on getting married here in Canada and tried to apply for a trv in 2021 but he was refused. I stated in our application another reason we can't stay together was because I am a Canadian citizen I cannot stay for more than 6 months in the Philippines so we were not able to cohabit for more than a year, but someone told me that isn't enough reason to be an immigration barrier because I could stay anywhere as long as I'd like to because I am a Canadian citizen. Is there a way to prove to the immigration officer that we are in a conjugal relationship? What more can we provide to prove to the officer that we cannot cohabit or cannot marry/cannot establish a common-law relationship?
It's hard if I were to be the one to stay in the Philippines, because I'm working here in Canada and I would have to pay a lot to stay in the Philippines for so long and it wouldn't even be permanent. I wouldn't even be able to work in the Philippines.
In our application we provided chat logs, photos from my visits to him in the Philippines and during videocalls, my tickets going to the Philippines, our ticket going to bohol/cebu together, airbnb receipts, remittance receipts from sponsor to applicant, birth certificate of our daughter, letters from our moms, and one letter each from my friend here in Canada and his friend from the Philippines, and posts from facebook showing that our relationship is public.
Thank you in advance!
"This refers to your application for permanent residence in Canada.
Your application, including all of its supporting documents, has been reviewed and it appears that you may not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada.
Subsection 12(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that a foreign national may be selected as a member of the family class on the basis of their relationship as the spouse, common-law partner, child, parent or other prescribed family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
Pursuant to section 2 of the regulations, a conjugal partner means, in relation to a sponsor, foreign national residing outside Canada who is in a conjugal relationship with the sponsor and has been in that relationship for a period of at least one year.
The conjugal partner category was created for exceptional circumstances - for foreign national partners of Canadian or permanent resident sponsors who would ordinarily apply as common-law partners but for the fact that they have not been able to live together continuously for one year, usually because of an immigration impediment. If a Canadian and a foreign national can get married or can live together and establish a common-law relationship, this Is what they are expected to have done before they submit sponsorship and immigration applications.
You have not sufficiently demonstrated that you meet the requirements of the conjugal partner immigration category. While you have submitted some evidence to show that a relationship exists, there is insufficient documentary evidence on file to show that you and our sponsor are unable to apply under the spousal or common-law categories because or exceptional circumstances.
Based on the information you have submitted to date, I am not satisfied that you and your sponsor have combined your affairs to the extent that I can conclude that this is a committed and long-standing interdependent relationship.
You and your sponsor have also not established that there is an immigration barrier to cohabitation. Accordingly, it appears that you and your sponsor could have cohabited and chose not to do so, which raises concerns about whether you and your sponsor have the significant degree of commitment characteristic of a conjugal relationship.
Before a final decision is made on your application, you are given this opportunity to respond to the above concerns. Any submission which you or your sponsor wish to provide must be received by this office within 30 days from the date of this letter. If no correspondence is received within the period specified, a decision will be made based on the available information on file which may result in the refusal or your application."
Medical exam done: March 14, 2022
Medical passed: March 15, 2022
Request for additional requirements/procedural fairness letter: September 16, 2022
Just received a procedural fairness letter from the immigration officer. We applied for conjugal sponsorship because we are first cousins. I am a Canadian citizen and my partner is a Philippines citizen. In the Philippines, marriage between relatives up to the fourth civil degree is prohibited. We plan on getting married here in Canada and tried to apply for a trv in 2021 but he was refused. I stated in our application another reason we can't stay together was because I am a Canadian citizen I cannot stay for more than 6 months in the Philippines so we were not able to cohabit for more than a year, but someone told me that isn't enough reason to be an immigration barrier because I could stay anywhere as long as I'd like to because I am a Canadian citizen. Is there a way to prove to the immigration officer that we are in a conjugal relationship? What more can we provide to prove to the officer that we cannot cohabit or cannot marry/cannot establish a common-law relationship?
It's hard if I were to be the one to stay in the Philippines, because I'm working here in Canada and I would have to pay a lot to stay in the Philippines for so long and it wouldn't even be permanent. I wouldn't even be able to work in the Philippines.
In our application we provided chat logs, photos from my visits to him in the Philippines and during videocalls, my tickets going to the Philippines, our ticket going to bohol/cebu together, airbnb receipts, remittance receipts from sponsor to applicant, birth certificate of our daughter, letters from our moms, and one letter each from my friend here in Canada and his friend from the Philippines, and posts from facebook showing that our relationship is public.
Thank you in advance!
"This refers to your application for permanent residence in Canada.
Your application, including all of its supporting documents, has been reviewed and it appears that you may not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada.
Subsection 12(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that a foreign national may be selected as a member of the family class on the basis of their relationship as the spouse, common-law partner, child, parent or other prescribed family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
Pursuant to section 2 of the regulations, a conjugal partner means, in relation to a sponsor, foreign national residing outside Canada who is in a conjugal relationship with the sponsor and has been in that relationship for a period of at least one year.
The conjugal partner category was created for exceptional circumstances - for foreign national partners of Canadian or permanent resident sponsors who would ordinarily apply as common-law partners but for the fact that they have not been able to live together continuously for one year, usually because of an immigration impediment. If a Canadian and a foreign national can get married or can live together and establish a common-law relationship, this Is what they are expected to have done before they submit sponsorship and immigration applications.
You have not sufficiently demonstrated that you meet the requirements of the conjugal partner immigration category. While you have submitted some evidence to show that a relationship exists, there is insufficient documentary evidence on file to show that you and our sponsor are unable to apply under the spousal or common-law categories because or exceptional circumstances.
Based on the information you have submitted to date, I am not satisfied that you and your sponsor have combined your affairs to the extent that I can conclude that this is a committed and long-standing interdependent relationship.
You and your sponsor have also not established that there is an immigration barrier to cohabitation. Accordingly, it appears that you and your sponsor could have cohabited and chose not to do so, which raises concerns about whether you and your sponsor have the significant degree of commitment characteristic of a conjugal relationship.
Before a final decision is made on your application, you are given this opportunity to respond to the above concerns. Any submission which you or your sponsor wish to provide must be received by this office within 30 days from the date of this letter. If no correspondence is received within the period specified, a decision will be made based on the available information on file which may result in the refusal or your application."
