Urgent - landing visa approved but marital status about to change - HELP

[jms221]

Hi

I have sponsored my partner under the Family Class sponsorship and his passport has just been returned with the landing visa attached. We applyed as being in a common-law relationship, which we are still, until the end of September when we will marry. His landing visa expires at the end of October.

What do we do? Do we notify Canadian Immigration services in London (we applyed in the UK) to tell them that our status will change soon, and return the passport and landing forms? Will this be processed in time before the end of October if we send it after we marry with the marriage certificate (one month time-frame)? Or, do we go to Canada now, and change the status once he has received his permanent residence card? Will Canadian immigration allow him in for 24hrs to process the permanent residence card and then allow him to return to the UK (with the idea that we will return at a later date)?

Thanks so much!

 

[rjessome]

As soon as he lands in Canada, he's landed and a PR. He can get married, go back to London, whatever. Immigration doesn't care after that. The only thing they care about is that he meets the residency requirements to maintain PR which is residing in Canada for 2 years out of 5. The visa in his passport will be voided as soon as he lands in Canada because as a PR, he doesn't need it anymore. It takes about 6 weeks to get the PR card after landing.

I don't know about the process for this with you applying as common law and then changing the status to married before landing. Call CIC or the embassy to find out.

 

[Suin]

I think, there sure will not be any problem. Get PR and then get married, or just land and get married. He will get PR any way, and it doesn't matter if you marry or not later.

 

[rjessome]

It COULD matter and that's why I advised the OP to call and ask! Don't tell anyone that something doesn't matter in immigration. It ALL matters. Too many times people have messed up because they "thought" or "someone told them" it wouldn't matter. It's not worth taking a chance.

 

[RobsLuv]

Is he going to land before you marry? If so, then there is no requirement that you notify CIC.

If you are intending to marry before he lands, you should definitely check with the processing office to make sure there are no issues with the COPR. It will not be the same situation - where you'd have to return the COPR, etc., - as you'd encounter if the application was an Independent Immigration application because your partner was approved as a family class applicant. Independent applicants have to declare a marriage or common-law relationship BEFORE landing because not declaring that relationship will result in them being prohibited from sponsoring their partner in the future. They need to return their COPR and their partner needs to be added to their existing application, and then they land together after the partner is examined. This is not your situation.

As far as family class sponsorships - whether a spouse or a common-law partner, it's essentially the same thing under the Act. Here is some information from Section 5.51 of the OP2 Processing Manual about changing categories during processing that might be helpful:

5.51. Switching categories between spouses, common-law partners and conjugal partners
Applicants are required to indicate the category in which they are applying for immigration to Canada. Conjugal partners, common-law partners and spouses are all specific categories with specific requirements. There is no requirement for an officer of the Department to automatically re-assess an application by considering such an application in terms of a different relationship between the applicant and the sponsor within the family class. The onus is entirely upon the applicant to indicate what their relationship is to the sponsor and to fulfill the requirements of the category under which they apply. There is no option to make a general application within the family class (within the conjugal categories, for example). A fundamental understanding of the family class is that members of that class must establish themselves as one of certain prescribed members in terms of their relationship with the sponsor. Different relationships to the sponsor correspond to different categories within the class as described in the Regulations. Applicants must self-identify within an application and they must meet the requirements of the category under which they apply. Each of spouses, common-law partners and conjugal partners are different categories with different requirements, and applicants choose to identify themselves, voluntarily, depending on their relationship to the sponsor on the application forms. However, applicants are also obliged to inform the Department if aspects of their life change prior to the finalization of their case, including their marital/conjugal status. If their conjugal relationship changes (for example, if applicants are in a conjugal-partner relationship with a sponsor and the applicant and sponsor marry), officers should make adjustments to the application (i.e., coding) and should proceed with processing in terms of the new conjugal relationship. (See 13.1 for guidance on procedures regarding technically illegal marriages). Until further notice, applicants whose marital status changes following a refusal decision—for example, following the refusal of their conjugal-partner application the sponsor marries the applicant—should be counselled to reapply under the appropriate category— in the above example, FC1.

As you can see, officers are instructed to make changes to coding in the application itself if the sponsor and applicant marry during processing - because the requirements for approval - of a spouse as opposed to a common-law partner as opposed to a conjugal partner - are different . . . but that's about it. Someone approved as a common-law partner is not going to subsequently be disapproved for marrying their common-law partner during processing.

It's always safest to notify CIC if you're going to marry during the process . . . before landing . . . so they can tell you if there are changes that need to be made to the COPR or not. You wouldn't want him to get to the border to land and then find out there was an issue. But if you're not going to marry until after he gets to Canada, it's a non-issue.

 

[StressedT]

Hi RobsLuv - you reply is very helpful - please could you supply a valid link to the Op02? I have tried to find it myself without success - is it still available? I would like to read more on this. Thanks in advance

 

[mud504@yahoo]

On my PPR from Buffalo it said to let them know before sending in passport if martial status or # dependents would be changing soon. If so I needed to contact the office.

 

[job_seeker]

Hi RobsLuv - you reply is very helpful - please could you supply a valid link to the Op02? I have tried to find it myself without success - is it still available? I would like to read more on this. Thanks in advance

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf

page 36

 

[jms221]

Thanks for your replies.

I contacted the CIC call centre yesterday and was informed that this was a common occurance. I didn't need to inform the immigration centre to notify anyone. It seemed more important that we arrive before the visa expired. However, I guess it wouldn't hurt still let them know??

I guess we just have our marriage certificate on hand when we arrive.