really confused

[Remrov]

Hello everybody.

I'm still busy filling out my application, buzy with the Quebec part now.

I'm trying to fill out the application for selection form for Quebec. But there's just something I don't understand.

My situation:
I'm sponsored person.
My boyfriend sponsor.
We have been living together in the Netherlands for 1.5 years (common law relationship). On June 26 this year he went back to Canada to be able to sponsor me, he's Canadian resident. I staid in the Netherlands.

For the Canada part we applied for common law relationship sponsorship, since we had been living together for 1.5 years. But now for this Quebec form I just don't know what to do.
I thought I was his de facto spouse but in section 4 of that form, it just doesn't fit. We have been living together as common law partners for 1.5 years but at the moment he lives in Canada, and I live in the Netherlands. But this is not for persecution or penal control reasons.

I think at the moment I'm his conjugal partner then, but I thought that you\re only conjugal partners when you are not allowed to live together or something for penal controll reasons.
We have been living apart now since June 26 this year, but only to be able to start this outland immigation process.

Can anybody please help me?

Do I have to choose for ' conjugal' or ' de facto?'
Is it allowed when you applied for common law for the Canada part, to suddenly apply as conjugal for the quebec part?
I'm already struggling with this for many weeks now, and no matter what I read, I can't figure it out.

 

[MissDominica]

Hi,

Even if you are apart, you are still common-law partners if you have met the common-law criteria before your common-law partner went back to Canada. They recognise that common-law partners may be separated for periods of time. However, it states that the longer you are apart, the harder it is to prove that your common-law relationship is still genuine. So you are not conjugal - you are common-law. But make sure you keep gethering evidence of your relationship while apart (phone bills, skype log, emails, etc) so that you can prove your relationship continued after your SO left.

 

[Remrov]

But how do I fill this out on that selection form for Quebec.
This is what it says:

" A. If you are the sponsor’s the facto spouse

I reside with, and have been in a conjugal relationship with ________________________________________
since _____________________ .

or

I have been in a conjugal relationship with ______________________________________________________
since ____________________ . Due to persecution or penal control, we are unable to reside together."


I don't know which to choose. I don't reside with my de facto spouse, we are living apart, but not for persecution or penal control reasons.

Can you help me with this?

 

[CharlieD10]

You ARE residing with them. Don't you have a home together with him/her when you are in the same country? If you are temporarily separated because you are in your home country or for work or whatever the reason is, it does not mean you are living apart in the sense Immigration uses the term.

Living apart means you have no way of maintaining and have never had a residence together at all, which is why they give you those options of persecution or penal control etc.

 

[perkele]

You ARE residing with them. Don't you have a home together with him/her when you are in the same country? If you are temporarily separated because you are in your home country or for work or whatever the reason is, it does not mean you are living apart in the sense Immigration uses the term.

Living apart means you have no way of maintaining and have never had a residence together at all, which is why they give you those options of persecution or penal control etc.

I don't think they're residing together anymore since her boyfriend is back in Quebec now and she is in the Netherlands. (Both have different address now but I could be wrong too)

@ remrov: I would definitely try contacting the MICC and asking them since they are the ones who will be looking at the form. And no matter what they say to do, I would write a note (a brief note) explaining it that you are common-law and that you have lived at least one year together even though you are now living separately.

 

[Remrov]

We have indeed separate addresses now.
But I hope we didn't do the whole application part for Canada wrong now. Because I've red over and over again, that you were common law partners if you lived together for at least one year, and conjugal partners when you don't live together because of persecution or penal control reasons.

I will definitely call the MICC, thanks for that advice, because I don't know how to solve this. The only reason my boyfriend went back to Quebec and me staying in the Netherlands was because we wanted to do the out-land application.

 

[CharlieD10]

You don't have to stay in the Netherlands to file Outland. In fact, I suggest you go and visit once the application is filed, especially as you are visa-exempt. Aside from being good for your relationship, it also demonstrates that you remain committed in a common-law relationship and that any separations are temporary.

That is why, in spite of the separate addresses currently, I believe it is best for you to write that you reside together (although you are not currently cohabiting) and then perhaps explain that you are temporarily in different countries for whatever reason on a separate sheet of paper.

 

[perkele]

I don't think you did it wrong. It's just that the definitions that the CIC provides are clear but they do not always coincide with what the MICC says.
If I recall correctly CIC says that you are common-law as long as you lived together for at least a year, however the MICC makes it sound like you still have to be living together at the time you fill the forms.

De facto spouse (from the MICC website)

A person at least 16 years of age of the same or the opposite sex who has:

been living maritally for at least one year with the sponsor or the principal sponsored person; (qui vit maritalement depuis au moins un an avec le garant ou le parrainé principal; )

...

So indeed, I would definitely give the MICC a call to clarify it and be on the safe side.

As for your boyfriend going back to Canada in order to do the outland application, I'm pretty sure that he could have stayed in the Netherlands with you so long as he could prove that you both had the intention of moving to Canada once the process was completed. Nonetheless, good luck!

 

[Remrov]

Thank you all for your responses.

Well, I'm happy that I didn't do everything wrong then.

I also have to stay in the Netherlands mostly because I have a parrot to take care of. I can leave my parrot at my mom's but she works fulltime and that's too much time to be alone for a parrot.
And I can't take my parrot with me until I have a Canadian status. But I intent to visit my boyfriend definitely when we have send the application. But I understood that I have to take proof with me that I'm only staying temporarily, and that at the customs they will decide how long I am allowed to stay.

I also think that in Quebec ' conjugal relationship' means something different than in the rest of Canada?

When you look at that question in that form for Quebec about de facto spouse, you constantly see 'conjugal relationship' coming up. I'll call the Micc soon definitely about this.