Hi there my name is Felix and my common-law partner's name is Emma.
I am currently in the process of becoming a permanent resident in Canada and have been referring to this website over the last years in search of advice. Until now it hasn’t seemed necessary to make an account and post specific questions as I found answers reasonably fast in these forums.
That has changed.
For the questions I am about to ask I need to first go back and tell you about the history of me, my partner and Canada.
I am 26 years old and a German citizen, my first journey to Canada took place on October 15th, 2014. I came as a visitor on a 6 month visa. I eventually landed on Manitoulin Island where I fell in love and stayed, after extending my visa until August 2015, I returned to Germany. In September 2016 I flew back to Canada to visit the woman I fell in love with. At that time I was rather unprepared and had no funds. I was only given an allowance for 3 weeks, but I somehow extended my stay and was granted a visitor visa for another 6 months.
After that I applied for an IEC working holiday visa from within Canada. I was approved and received a message stating I would be granted my working holiday visa the next time I would cross the border. And I was given a one year deadline to do so.
At this point I should mention that I was living with my common-law partner and her parents on a homestead in rural northern Ontario. Just after I had received my IEC confirmation, my partner’s father fell seriously ill and got laid off his employment. As an established household, we had to hold together and focus on the well-being of the entire family as we were going through these very tough times. My partner and her mother took on more work to finance the household while I focused on maintaining the household and gardens, doing repairs, cooking, etc.
After things got more stable we contacted the constituency clinic of our local MP Carol Hughes to seek advice about my visa situation. We became extremely scared when we were told that I was out of status and possibly ran danger of being deported.
After driving to Pearson Airport and meeting in person with a CBSA officer, we were told that I had implied status for the time I was waiting to get my IEC visa finalized by an IRCC officer. We drove then to the Sault St. Marie land border and underwent a “flagpole” procedure. I received my 12 month working holiday visa, which was valid until May 2019.
We looked into Family Sponsorship and kept in touch with our constituency clinic to work towards permanent residency. While my partner was taking on more and more workload to stabilize her income I extended my stay as a visitor successfully until November 2019. As we were gathering more and more documents and evidence for submitting our application we were notified in January of 2020 that my visitor extension was refused, as the officer was not satisfied I had reasons to leave the country.
We immediately began to plan a trip to Germany which was only possible because my partner's income is seasonal and in the Winter there is no work for her. We thought we could submit our PR application from Germany and it would be easy to return home to Canada.
We flew in early February 2020, and got quickly troubled by the outbreak of COVID-19. As of now we are staying at a friend's place in Germany and we finally submitted our PR application which was received 17th of April, 2020. We were advised by the Canadian embassy in Germany that an AOR would be satisfactory proof of our relationship to allow us re-entry into Canada.
However we are very unsettled by the possibility of being denied entry into Canada because I have stronger ties to Canada than to Germany, at least in the light of the last three years living with my common-law partner and her parents in Canada. On the other hand we can not stay much longer here in Germany as it would jeopardize our application and my partners income, and therefore her ability to sponsor me. Also we are very anxious about being separated as we have spent everyday together for the last 3+ years.
We are reaching out for help in this time of uncertainty and anxiety. My partner and I would sincerely appreciate all insight and advice. Thanks in advance.
Felix & Emma
I am currently in the process of becoming a permanent resident in Canada and have been referring to this website over the last years in search of advice. Until now it hasn’t seemed necessary to make an account and post specific questions as I found answers reasonably fast in these forums.
That has changed.
For the questions I am about to ask I need to first go back and tell you about the history of me, my partner and Canada.
I am 26 years old and a German citizen, my first journey to Canada took place on October 15th, 2014. I came as a visitor on a 6 month visa. I eventually landed on Manitoulin Island where I fell in love and stayed, after extending my visa until August 2015, I returned to Germany. In September 2016 I flew back to Canada to visit the woman I fell in love with. At that time I was rather unprepared and had no funds. I was only given an allowance for 3 weeks, but I somehow extended my stay and was granted a visitor visa for another 6 months.
After that I applied for an IEC working holiday visa from within Canada. I was approved and received a message stating I would be granted my working holiday visa the next time I would cross the border. And I was given a one year deadline to do so.
At this point I should mention that I was living with my common-law partner and her parents on a homestead in rural northern Ontario. Just after I had received my IEC confirmation, my partner’s father fell seriously ill and got laid off his employment. As an established household, we had to hold together and focus on the well-being of the entire family as we were going through these very tough times. My partner and her mother took on more work to finance the household while I focused on maintaining the household and gardens, doing repairs, cooking, etc.
After things got more stable we contacted the constituency clinic of our local MP Carol Hughes to seek advice about my visa situation. We became extremely scared when we were told that I was out of status and possibly ran danger of being deported.
After driving to Pearson Airport and meeting in person with a CBSA officer, we were told that I had implied status for the time I was waiting to get my IEC visa finalized by an IRCC officer. We drove then to the Sault St. Marie land border and underwent a “flagpole” procedure. I received my 12 month working holiday visa, which was valid until May 2019.
We looked into Family Sponsorship and kept in touch with our constituency clinic to work towards permanent residency. While my partner was taking on more and more workload to stabilize her income I extended my stay as a visitor successfully until November 2019. As we were gathering more and more documents and evidence for submitting our application we were notified in January of 2020 that my visitor extension was refused, as the officer was not satisfied I had reasons to leave the country.
We immediately began to plan a trip to Germany which was only possible because my partner's income is seasonal and in the Winter there is no work for her. We thought we could submit our PR application from Germany and it would be easy to return home to Canada.
We flew in early February 2020, and got quickly troubled by the outbreak of COVID-19. As of now we are staying at a friend's place in Germany and we finally submitted our PR application which was received 17th of April, 2020. We were advised by the Canadian embassy in Germany that an AOR would be satisfactory proof of our relationship to allow us re-entry into Canada.
However we are very unsettled by the possibility of being denied entry into Canada because I have stronger ties to Canada than to Germany, at least in the light of the last three years living with my common-law partner and her parents in Canada. On the other hand we can not stay much longer here in Germany as it would jeopardize our application and my partners income, and therefore her ability to sponsor me. Also we are very anxious about being separated as we have spent everyday together for the last 3+ years.
We are reaching out for help in this time of uncertainty and anxiety. My partner and I would sincerely appreciate all insight and advice. Thanks in advance.
Felix & Emma
