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Single on PGWP will be common-law September

russ6970

VIP Member
Sep 14, 2017
3,067
626
Newfoundland
Category........
FAM
LANDED..........
31-12-2020
Hi,

I am on a 3 year PGWP (got it in November 2017). Do I have to tell CIC if and when I become Common-law (in newfoundland it's 2 years and then you become common-law automatically) to update the PGWP? I am planning on applying for the graduate Provincial Nominee program after a year of this permit and will have her as common-law on this application. Any help is gratefully appreciated.
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,538
20,358
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
For immigration related matters, you become common law after living together for 1 year continuously - not 2 years. You need to follow CIC's rules and definitions - not those of the province you're living in. So you should have said you were common law in your November PGWP application.

You do not have to update CIC regarding your common law status - there's really no way to do that unless you're applying for something new. You must include your common law partner when you apply for PR and may want to explain that you made an error in not listing this common law partner in your PGWP application.
 
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kw.jr

Newbie
Nov 30, 2019
4
0
Hi,

I am on a 3 year PGWP (got it in November 2017). Do I have to tell CIC if and when I become Common-law (in newfoundland it's 2 years and then you become common-law automatically) to update the PGWP? I am planning on applying for the graduate Provincial Nominee program after a year of this permit and will have her as common-law on this application. Any help is gratefully appreciated.
hello, I am in a similar situation here. I am hoping you could give me some advice on how you handled the common law on your PR application?

My bf and I became common law in April 2017 ( we started living together since April 2016). However, he did not declare we are common-law when he applied his PGWP in March 2018. We were not aware that we became common-law automatically after living together for a year in Canada. Now we are applying PR under Provincial Nominee program and then EE. We were asked to submit previous work/study permits in the application, I am not sure if CIC will investigate his previous work permit and find he declared single at the time(but we were common-law automatically).

Would that cause our PR application get rejected? What can we do to fix this? We were lack of knowledge of the importance of common-law ... Help please! I appreciate your time and response!!!