Unusual situation....???

[jez34253]

Hello

I am a perm resident and I sponsored my partner under conjucal spouse application with her being outside canada. It passed the initial app stage in Canada and got sent to England (where she is from). However, we have decided to get married. Here are my questions... If she comes to Canada and we get married, what will happen to application that is being dealt with in England?? Will they reject it, continue to process it, send it back to Canada for processing here thus delaying things??
Any comments would be gratefuly received!

Thanks

Jez

 

[AngelB]

Why not wait to marry after your partner lands?

 

[Aroundtown22]

How were you able to apply as conjugal partners if there is no barrier to marriage? It was my understanding that conjugal partners were meant for people that, for what ever reason, could not live together long enough to qualify as common-law and could not marry?

 

[BeShoo]

They will continue to process it in London and they will continue to treat it as a conjugal partnership application even if you get married. Sometimes they will consider the marriage as additional evidence that you were in a committed relationship at the time of the application, but they still have to judge your application for evidence that you were in a qualifying conjugal relationship for at least one year at the time of the application.

Aroundtown22, yes, conjugal partners is "meant" for such a situation, but I don't think that it's actually a requirement in the act or regulations. Some immigrations officers, however, will not look on your application kindly if you could have married or lived together and simply chose not to. It's also possible that whatever barriers there were no longer apply to this particular relationship.

 

[AllisonVSC]

The Conjugal Partner category was created to help couples who couldn't marry or establish common-law co-habitation (gay couples, people who can't legally divorce former partners in their own country, couples who can't stay in one another's country for one year, etc) but they can't EXCLUDE other types of couples from applying in this category either.

 

[bobshynoswife]

The Conjugal Partner category was created to help couples who couldn't marry or establish common-law co-habitation (gay couples, people who can't legally divorce former partners in their own country, couples who can't stay in one another's country for one year, etc) but they can't EXCLUDE other types of couples from applying in this category either.

no, they can't exclude people from applying, but they can deny them based on the fact that the original poster does not have any barriers against marrying and thus does not qualify as a conjugal partner.

my advice would be to cancel the application, marry, and re-apply as a married couple. at least you'll get some of your fees returned and you won't waste time on an application that will probably be denied.

 

[sbwv09]

The point of the conjugal partner class is for people who have some kind of barrier to being either married or common law to be able to come via the family class. This is a tough class in the best of circumstances, but if you get married you just prove to CIC that there was no reason you couldn't be married before you applied, so you will certainly be denied.

I'd follow bob'swife's advice. Even if you don't, at LEAST wait to get married until after they decide on your case... but honestly, you will probably be denied.

 

[BeShoo]

no, they can't exclude people from applying, but they can deny them based on the fact that the original poster does not have any barriers against marrying and thus does not qualify as a conjugal partner.

I don't believe that "no barriers against marrying" is a valid reason for denial by itself, but it can be one of the factors to be weighed in as an indication that the relationship is not genuine. If it's denied, it will be because the relationship is not genuine, and they could say that if it were really genuine you would have gotten married. Honestly, though, we really don't have enough information from the original poster to say whether her relationship in the year leading up to the application filing date was genuinely "marriage-like" (conjugal).

my advice would be to cancel the application, marry, and re-apply as a married couple. at least you'll get some of your fees returned and you won't waste time on an application that will probably be denied.

That depends on whether they currently have a genuine relationship and want to wait to see what the decision is. If the applicant's portion has already started processing in London, they won't be getting back any of the $550 in processing fees. They would only get back the RPRF if they've already paid that and they would get that back anyway if the application is denied.

 

[bobshynoswife]

I don't believe that "no barriers against marrying" is a valid reason for denial by itself, but it can be one of the factors to be weighed in as an indication that the relationship is not genuine. If it's denied, it will be because the relationship is not genuine, and they could say that if it were really genuine you would have gotten married. Honestly, though, we really don't have enough information from the original poster to say whether her relationship in the year leading up to the application filing date was genuinely "marriage-like" (conjugal).

If I apply as a spouse, the IO can say that our marriage is not genuine, thus my husband does not qualify to immigrate because he is not a 'spouse' under their definition. even if we are legally married.

it goes to show then that since the conjugal category is only for those for whom it is IMPOSSIBLE to marry or co-habitate for 1 year to apply as common-law, that the original poster will be found to not be a 'conjugal partner' under this definition and will be denied.

CIC's intent is to ensure that immigrating spouses are in a long-term, committed relationship. the original poster had no barriers to getting married or becoming common law partners, so it seems they just wanted to immigrate before getting married, which is not a way to immigrate to canada.

 

[Holidaylove]

I was in the same situation. My now usband and I applied under conjugal, London, Because he was in the military. there was nothing stopping us from getting married. but we definetly could not live together. We proved everything to we could, that we had joint bank accounts, lived together when possible, letters from the miltary etc. The IO did come back and question. During which time we had gotten engaged. Our immigration Agent that was helping us with our case advised us that we should withdraw and apply after we get married. Conjugal is tricky to get approved for. It's not impossible and in some cases it does get approved, but it's definetly not very easy. My advise withdraw and wait til your married.

 

[Holidaylove]

sorry forgot to mention. the IO questioned because he didn't believe that our relationship was committed for a year. even tho we had been together for 2 by this point.

 

[iarblue]

Go ahead get married based on this the first app for conjucal will get denied anyway.So get married and reapply as married.Cojucal will only be considerd if you are from a war torn country,or a natural disaster like haiti,or same sex where in your country same sex is not recgonized.

 

[whoopi83]

Hi

As many people have already said, you may have an issue regarding conjugal sponsorship although without you giving all relevant information which you may not want to do on a public forum it is difficult for anyone to give you any meaningful advice. Read the OP2 manual on cic.gc.ca which will give you an idea of what you're up against. If you are a heterosexual couple, one from Canada and the other a British Citizen, you may find that unless one of you is legally married to someone else, you have a hard time establishing your reasons for applying as conjugal. I realise that with only 6 months available usually to stay in either country establishing a common-law relationship would be difficult (financially, if you both have jobs) but what CIC are looking for is a mutually exclusive relationship which is interdependent and marriage like. Trying out a relationship before you marry is just not seen as permanent enough; they want a de jure (legal) union or a de facto (in fact and marriage like). The view seems to be that if you are portraying yourselves as a permanent, mutually exclusive couple and want to spend your lives together and you have a route available, then why are you holding back? I agree marrying before you are ready to or simply because you do not believe in it as an institution seems a little outdated in this day and age but the fact is a marriage is a legal contract and a common law relationship meets most of the burdens of a married couple. Conjugal is not impossible - I've read success stories - but they are the most difficult if you could have chosen another route which demonstrated your commitment.

If you are intending to marry, you may want to consider withdrawing the application or waiting for the decision to determine your next move.

 

[jez34253]

Thank you for all your comments and advice. It doesn't look too hopeful does it
We have decided to wait and see what happens with app and then re think if it gets rejected. We sent lots and lots of evidence of relationship being genuine though so maybe it will be ok. Fingers crosssed.
With hindsight we shouldn't have chosen conjugal but it's done now.
Thanks again

Jez