Sponsorship after PR query

[harkaran333]

Hello friends,

i needed some suggestions\guidance. I came to Canada originally as a student,i have a post graduate work permit for 3 years now and i have been working for 7 months at a company.
In 5 months ill be applying for express entry PR as 1 will complete 1 year of full-time work. While i was studying here i met a Brazilian girl and we are dating since then. She studied here as an exchange student
and in Jan 2016 she went back. She visited me for a month in Feb and 3 months again as well.

My question is, what is the best way to get her a PR/work permit as well so that we can stay together in Canada. Hopefully ill be able to get PR soon once i apply in next few months. Should i get my PR first then marry her and sponsor her
or probably prove her as a common law and then apply PR altogether with her name on it

Please guide

 

[Rob_TO]

Had you lived together with her at some point for 12 consecutive months? If so she is already your common-law partner and must be declared as such on any PR app you do for yourself.

If not, then you won't become common-law until you've lived together 12 consecutive months.

You can't sponsor her for PR (after you get your own PR status), or include her in your own PR app, until you are legally common-law or married.

 

[harkaran333]

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, first thing will be that i get PR for sure. Yes, we lived more than 12 months together from 2015 to 2016(i might not have enough docs to prove that though) but then she went back. I don't know if it can still be considered as common law or not. After I get PR I will marry her and then apply for her PR in few years in that case.

Now that I have a work permit is there a way that she can get one too and we can stay together at least?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, first thing will be that i get PR for sure. Yes, we lived more than 12 months together from 2015 to 2016(i might not have enough docs to prove that though) but then she went back. I don't know if it can still be considered as common law or not. After I get PR I will marry her and then apply for her PR in few years in that case.

Now that I have a work permit is there a way that she can get one too and we can stay together at least?

You are still common-law, so you MUST INCLUDE her in your PR application. If you don't, it is misrepresentation. She will be forever excluded from the Family Class and you will not be able to sponsor her.

If you are working in a skilled job, as your common-law partner, she can apply for a spousal OWP.

 

[harkaran333]

Hello canuck_in_uk

We used to live in the same house as 9 other people.Its was a huge house lol. We all friends were sharing the same house. We started dating last year before she left Canada. The address was same but we were not dating initially. Will this effect us in the future(the way you said misrepresentation) if I apply for PR for myself only?

Also if i were to apply for common law how do i prove it? I don't have any accounts or any other things with her name on it. Also she lives in Brazil not Canada.

P.S Putting her as a common law might affect our chances, so i was thinking to get PR first and then in 2-3 years marry her and invite her here.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

We used to live in the same house as 9 other people.Its was a huge house lol. We all friends were sharing the same house. We started dating last year before she left Canada. The address was same but we were not dating initially. Will this effect us in the future(the way you said misrepresentation) if I apply for PR for myself only?

Also if i were to apply for common law how do i prove it? I don't have any accounts or any other things with her name on it. Also she lives in Brazil not Canada.

P.S Putting her as a common law might affect our chances, so i was thinking to get PR first and then in 2-3 years marry her and invite her here.

Were you living together in a romantic relationship for at least a year?

 

[harkaran333]

It just happened to be that we all were living at the same address as it was cheaper to do so. Technically when we started dating then yes we were at the same address for a year. I would not be able to prove it though. Also we didn't know as this would get serious and we would actually want to marry each other in the future. She went back in 2016 and i got my post-graduate work permit in 2016. She visited me for a month during my graduation and now we are finally planning a future for us.

She is on a visitor visa now and I am on PGWP. We were dating but now we are more serious and want to live together. No rush though. If i somehow prove our common law when i apply for PR it will effect the visas we obtained. Thing is we were not even sure about us back then.

Now that we are, we have been visiting each other also so i was just curious that how can we make it work.i have two questions?

1)As we were multiple people on that same address, when i apply for PR and not put her as common law is that bad?
2)Once I get my PR and legally marry her in Canada in 2-3 years that way we can both live together right?

 

[Ponga]

Listing the same address, if you try to sponsor her later, will undoubtedly create [justifiable] questions with CIC. She will need to indicate that she DID leave under the same roof as you.

It seems as though you're willing to gamble on the `hope' that CIC doesn't `figure it out' when you eventually apply to sponsor her, rather than doing what's right [now] by adding her to your application next year.

I hope you get lucky!

You and she are the only ones that honestly know the real story here. Do the right thing and then enjoy your life together in Canada!

 

[harkaran333]

Oh our addresses have changed a lot of times, also I'm not sure yet that i take this setup to marry her yet.

but the scenario I see which is actually true and might work for us is that yes we were friends and we lived together (lot of people actually), Traveled together and in 2-3 years now we are looking at legal ways to stay together or even a marry in couple of years. Going this path was never our intention.

I can also say that she was my best friend initially and now we feel different for each other. Reason ill marry her is actually because of the house that we all shared. i dont want to marry her or be in common law right now as i would like to spend more time before i can decide that "yes it is her".

I'm worried now because i didnt realize this can cause problem in the future. Although iam sure we have answer and justifications for those.

My query has turned into a concern now.

 

[Ponga]

Oh our addresses have changed a lot of times, also I'm not sure yet that i take this setup to marry her yet.

but the scenario I see which is actually true and might work for us is that yes we were friends and we lived together (lot of people actually), Traveled together and in 2-3 years now we are looking at legal ways to stay together or even a marry in couple of years. Going this path was never our intention.

I can also say that she was my best friend initially and now we feel different for each other. Reason ill marry her is actually because of the house that we all shared. i dont want to marry her or be in common law right now as i would like to spend more time before i can decide that "yes it is her".

I'm worried now because i didnt realize this can cause problem in the future. Although iam sure we have answer and justifications for those.

My query has turned into a concern now.

It doesn't matter if you were even considering marrying her then. What matters...and what appears to be true, is that for at least one year, you were living together in a conjugal relationship. If that really is true...she was your common-law partner. If you and she are still `together', even though you no longer live together (obviously), she is still your common-law partner.

It's true that CIC may have a hard time proving this, but don't assume that they'll be blind to it either.

 

[harkaran333]

Ponga thanks for you reply though one thing is If i do mention her on my PR application as common law now. Will this be a concern for the old visas we applied? we never knew that living at the same address and getting married in the future can create a problem.

Also she verified that on her CIC applications same address as mine was never there. she had to fill university address due to some reason, her ID and few more people some girls and guys will have same address as me on their ID though.

 

[Ponga]

Ponga thanks for you reply though one thing is If i do mention her on my PR application as common law now. Will this be a concern for the old visas we applied? we never knew that living at the same address and getting married in the future can create a problem.

YES!

Also she verified that on her CIC applications same address as mine was never there. she had to fill university address due to some reason, her ID and few more people some girls and guys will have same address as me on their ID though.

Even though she used her university address for "some reason", it doesn't change the fact that her real address was the same as yours.

I'm not going to suggest that you pretend that she wasn't your partner. I'll wait for someone else to do that.


Good luck!

 

[harkaran333]

Well thanks. U did save my life, i know some other university students that are doing the same. they live together and say they will marry if they like their GFs. They might have a problem as well. This kind of means that anyone having a relationship and living at the same address need to update their visa forms with Common-law status. I will let my friends know. Thanks Sir

 

[Ponga]

Well thanks. U did save my life, i know some other university students that are doing the same. they live together and say they will marry if they like their GFs. They might have a problem as well. This kind of means that anyone having a relationship and living at the same address need to update their visa forms with Common-law status. I will let my friends know. Thanks Sir

NO! I am NOT suggesting that at all.

For the purposes of immigrating to Canada, a person is deemed to be Common-Law if they have lived together (anywhere in the world) for at least 365 days and...they have been in a committed, marriage-like relationship. There are many people that are NOT common-law, even though they are living with someone that they are dating. You really need to fully understand what CIC determines to be Common-Law...then honestly ask yourself if you and she were/are common-law.

 

[harkaran333]

now this last post actually answers my questions and i think I am not concerned anymore. I initially confused you for sure by saying that I am in a common law. In that case i am sure we wont have a problem in the future.

Sorry for asking weird questions, you have actually answered my query. Thanks for your time