Still married in Philipines, want be sposnored by Canadian..

[meiko3886]

Hey All!
Im writing in the name of my Friend,who asked me for help. He is philipino, use to live around 4 years in Canada, mostly on work permit,that he was keep extending. When program for temporary workers got shut down, he had to go back to Philipines, because he couldnt extend his work permit anymore. He has gf, thats canadian PR. They are together for 3,5 years, but they didnt live together while in Canada. Unfortunately he didnt apply for PR before, because he followed advices of crappy immigration consultant... Now he is back in Philipines for 6 months or so, studying to be able to get work permit in Canada. What more, he is married back in Philipines,but in separation for at least 4 years. There is no divorce in Philipines! He and his gf wish to get married, but its impossible then.
Now he is wondering what to do? Any advices which path he could go?
He was wondering if its possible to apply as conjugal relationship, but in my opinion it wont work. They had chance to live together but they didnt (they wanted to start,but then he had to go back to his country). In addition, he didnt try yet any visitor visas or work permits (since he decided to study some more first), which would make him not qualify as conjugal in my opinion. Is it correct?
He cannot go for spousal sponsorship, since he is not able to marry his gf, while still married by philipines law.
This case is quite difficult, anyone knows a good solution? Thanks in advance..

 

[Rob_TO]

Conjugal may work in this case. Before trying it, I would first have him apply for new visas to come to Canada. If those are rejected then they would have a very good chance at a conjugal app.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Conjugal may work in this case. Before trying it, I would first have him apply for new visas to come to Canada. If those are rejected then they would have a very good chance at a conjugal app.

Unlikely to work. The GF could go to the Philippines for a year, and establish common/law relationship.

 

[susana]

Hi


Unlikely to work. The GF could go to the Philippines for a year, and establish common/law relationship.

Agree ! Conjugal won't work. He can request for an annulment of his marriage, I know some people who did it.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi


Unlikely to work. The GF could go to the Philippines for a year, and establish common/law relationship.

No, if he is still married in Philippines then technically it's illegal to live with another partner there and they could face persecution. Same reason it can be hard for a same-sex couple to establish common-law while living in Philippines. For this reason I still say conjugal has a good chance of succeeding.

Agree ! Conjugal won't work. He can request for an annulment of his marriage, I know some people who did it.

Several people on this site from Philippines did successful conjugal apps while their annulment was being processed. The process for annulment is incredibly long and from what i've heard can involve knowing certain people or giving bribes to make it go quicker, and in the end they are not always successful. CIC does not require an annulment to apply for sponsorship.

 

[Awesomeg]

No, if she is still married in Philippines then technically it's illegal to live with another partner there and they could face persecution. Same reason it can be hard for a same-sex couple to establish common-law while living in Philippines. For this reason I still say conjugal has a good chance of succeeding.

Several people on this site from Philippines did successful conjugal apps while their annulment was being processed. The process for annulment is incredibly long and from what i've heard can involve knowing certain people or giving bribes to make it go quicker, and in the end they are not always successful. CIC does not require an annulment to apply for sponsorship.

Conjugal wont work in this case, according to the information provided: "They had chance to live together but they didn't (they wanted to start, but then he had to go back to his country).

 

[Rob_TO]

Conjugal wont work in this case, according to the information provided: "They had chance to live together but they didn't (they wanted to start, but then he had to go back to his country).

What happened in the past is now in the past. CIC will care more about their situation going forward, and if there are legal/immigration barriers today for them getting married or cohabiting for 12 months. Since they can't legally get married and can't legally cohabit... that is the exact situation a conjugal app is for.

 

[meiko3886]

Still i wonder if conjugal could work since there would be a chance,that he could try to apply for visitor visa and stay in Canada for 1 year and then apply for common law sponsorship. CIC could bring it up and stay they dont qualify, coz not enough effort was taken.. im not an expert tho, but i read that u need provide many denied visitor visas or failed work permits.

Oh,actually he had one work permit denied. He was on work permit all time and wanted to extend,but then law for temporary workers changed around summer last year. He was really fighting for that work permit extention, his case was even in newspapper since he was trying to fight for the rights of all temporary workers. That time his work permit extention got refused and he had to go back.
Still he didnt try to get visitor visa.

 

[Rob_TO]

Still i wonder if conjugal could work since there would be a chance,that he could try to apply for visitor visa and stay in Canada for 1 year and then apply for common law sponsorship. CIC could bring it up and stay they dont qualify, coz not enough effort was taken.. im not an expert tho, but i read that u need provide many denied visitor visas or failed work permits.

Did you not read my first post above?
"Before trying it, I would first have him apply for new visas to come to Canada. If those are rejected then they would have a very good chance at a conjugal app."

So basically he has 2 options:
1. Get a new visa to Canada, come here and cohabit for 12 months, then apply as common-law.
2. Only in case new visa attempts are rejected, then apply under conjugal since both marriage and cohabitation in Philippines would be illegal.