Questions about sponsoring a common law partner

[eMCee]

Hi,
I just need some help.
I am a permanent resident holder, I've been here for almost 2 months already and currently employed. As you can see, i am planning to sponsor my partner who currently resides in the Philippines as my common law partner.
We lived in the same roof for more than a year, we have enough pictures, email logs and conversation histories and emails than can provide, we can have our families and friends to write a letter as a proof that we are a couples for more than a year though we do not have mortgages, insurances and bills under our names since it was her mom who paid all those bills.
And I also need to know if my current income will affect the application since i was just here last month and been employed since that month as well. And if the "income" part will affect the application, can i have my dad as my co signer since he's been here for almost 5 years? Will that be a big help to our application?
Thanks.

 

[scylla]

Did you declare your common law partner on your application when you immigrated to Canada? Was your partner medically examined?

 

[eMCee]

Nope. There was no declaration made that she was my common law. She's about to have her medical since it is one of the requirements

 

[scylla]

Have you only been a permanent resident for two months? Or did you become a permanent resident a while ago?

 

[eMCee]

A permanent resident for 2 months

 

[scylla]

OK - so you have a pretty big problem on your hands. You should have included your common law partner in your application to immigrate and she should have been medically examined as part of your application process. Because you didn't do this, you have two issues: (1) because you failed to declare your common law partner before you landed as a PR in Canada, you can never sponsor her; (2) you committed misrepresentation by landing as a single person when you were in fact in a common law relationship. Misrepresentation can sometimes result in having your PR status revoked.

If you submit a common law sponsorship application, it will be refused (because you failed to declare her in your application) and your own PR status could be in jeopardy.

How long did you actually live together before you left for Canada?

 

[eMCee]

That's sad to hear.

We've lived on the same roof for about 1 year

 

[scylla]

That's sad to hear.

We've lived on the same roof for about 1 year

Did you definitely live together for a year or more? Or is there any chance it was less than a year by even a few days?

 

[eMCee]

i think it was less than a year since i need to go here. Maybe around 11 months

 

[scylla]

i think it was less than a year since i need to go here. Maybe around 11 months

It's very important that you figure out for sure how long you lived together. If you lived together for less than a year, then sponsorship is still possible. However you won't be able to sponsor her as a common law partner because you don't qualify. You would either have to return and live with her for a full year to become common law - or get married (getting married would be far simpler) - and then sponsor her.

 

[eMCee]

Given that we only have 11 months when we lived in together, how can i sponsor her if the common law is not applicable? Aside from going home and completing a full year living with her.

 

[scylla]

Given that we only have 11 months when we lived in together, how can i sponsor her if the common law is not applicable? Aside from going home and completing a full year living with her.

You can go home and marry her - and then return to Canada to file the sponsorship papers. That's the only other option.

For common law, you would have to return and live with her for a full year before you'd qualify to sponsor her. Since you've been away for two months, that would very likely be seen by CIC as too big a break in living together and you'd have to start again from scratch.

 

[mc1234]

You can go home and marry her - and then return to Canada to file the sponsorship papers. That's the only other option.

For common law, you would have to return and live with her for a full year before you'd qualify to sponsor her. Since you've been away for two months, that would very likely be seen by CIC as too big a break in living together and you'd have to start again from scratch.

Scylla, in your opinion what is the maximum time commonlaw partners can spend apart before CIC would say start over again?

 

[scylla]

I'm by no means an expert in this - and I don't think there's a black and white answer. If you've only been living together for a year and then have a six week break - I've seen many on this forum say that's too long. In the OPs case, he's already been away for two months and would likely be away for at least another month before returning - I think that's too long.

 

[eMCee]

How about for the Conjugal sponsorship? Will we be able to do that? And actually im not sure if getting married is an option for us for us, since we are common law partners of the same sex. Will that make any dfference?