Ive been cruising through this forum for roughly 6 months now. I also like to look though the Canadavisa.com forums without saying much of anything. While that forum is nice, you guys seem like a bit more of a tight-knit group of pals. I would like to also share my story and my continuting story as well. Like all of you, I worry my head off about this process. The \'what ifs\' are always always there. One day its \'No worries! This is going to be approved for sure\" and then the next its \"Im so afraid I dont want to be refused!!!\" and you guys have helped me a lot.
To keep things short and sweet, I met my boyfriend on World of Warcraft. I had been talking to him for about 5-6 months until we talked seriously about me coming over to meet him and his family. He lived with his parents, but I was not worried by that, Im good with parents haha. So the day finally comes where I leave London (I am a dual citizen with the US and the UK, but am a US passport holder) and come to see my beau in Quebec. I get there and was greeted by him and his parents at the airport. It was a lovely expierence. My intentions were for me to stay for only a month, but well...turned into well over that. I was not sure of what to do, because I really wanted to stay longer than a month when my time was up. I discovered I could stay for 6 months legally and I did so.
Ive been here for 2 years now(almost 3 in June), living with my boyfriend and his family under the same roof. Ive been staying here by extending a visitors visa. In August of 2010 we had applied for Common-law in Quebec.
I do have a few questions as well.
Im confident in our application, but theres always this little nagging voice in my head. In the application I submitted (of course) the paperwork, signed. Roughly 80 photographs, 6 letters from my mother, my sister, his mother, his grandmother and his father, many many greeting cards from my mom to his mom, from me to him ect, paired movie tickets(many many of those) and some museum tickets and also a years print out of our joint-bank account. I would like to think this is sufficient, but is it?
Also, for the police reports. I didnt submit any. I didnt because for starters, I didnt turn 18 in the US, therefore, I didnt see the need to ask for one. I turned 18 in the UK but there is a page on CIC where it says inland sponsorships need not sumbit one from the UK unless asked. (I cannot find the link at the moment =/) So did I do the right thing?
Thank you guys so much for reading all of this. Im sure its an eyefull.
Welcome out of Lurkdom!
I do not have any experience with common law, Quebec\'s immigration policies, or the inland application process besides a few basic things that I know so I wont feign any real advice on that. It does sound like you have a pretty good case for common law, however, so I would not worry too much about that. I don\'t know about the police clearances for you situation. Hopefully someone else can chime in there. Anyway even if it does turn out to be a problem (which I have NO IDEA if it will so dont let me scare you) The worst that would come of it would be a delay. It wont cause your dreams if immigrating to come to a crashing end or anything :P. Everyone freaks out while they are under the microscope so paranoia is inevitable. So just TRY to stay sane. Easier said than done, I know. OOOOH! TRUST ME! I KNOW! I could be the poster child for immigration induced insanity syndrome. I wish you luck and I hope that someone can answer your questions more directly soon.
Welcome! I met my spouse playing final fantasy online :) Good luck!!
Hello and thank you for the responces.
I\'ve found it to be rather tough to do inland for the main purpose of..there is not much to do! No working or school leaving it hard to make new friends and no ways to make money. The obvous plus side is im with my S/O.
I hope this process goes by quickly and I get my AIP
-keeps fingers crossed-
I dont mean to be the wet blanket, and I am by no means criticizing or doubting your relationship. But over the years Ive seen alot to tell me the types of things that throw up red flags on applications. I wish you had found us before you submitted your application, because we probably would have advised you to do some things very differently.
My basic concerns are these: first off, you were in Canada for more than two years before you guys finally submitted an application for him to sponsor you as a common-law partner . . . well past the one year qualification period - and yet it doesnt appear (from what you listed as having included with the application) that you submitted much to substantiate your qualification as a common-law partner. You mention joint bank account statements, but no joint lease/rental agreement or utility bills, etc. The rest of the things you submitted pretty much go towards proving your genuine relationship - and, frankly, for two years time, you didnt have much to show for that either. Letters from your mom to his mom, and from other family members to you (I assume to show that you were receiving mail at his address?), greeting cards and a few movie ticket stubs really dont prove that you have combined your affairs and cohabitated in a marriage-like relationship for a period of at least one continuous year. The 80 photos are, really, the only strong evidence you provided of your genuine relationship but, honestly, I dont think you submitted enough proof that you are a qualified common-law partner. They are also going to wonder why, in now almost three years of being/living together, you have not married.
Secondly, youre saying that you have managed to remain in Canada for three years now - having only submitted your inland PR ap 8 months ago - by extending your visitor status. I am really surprised that they actually permitted you to apply to extend what must have been at least 4 (probably 5) times without having a PR ap in process - and it also appears that you might not have included an extension application WITH the inland PR ap (rather than applying again to extend separately), which protects your status without you having to keep on applying over and over again. More importantly, it tells them, when they finally get around to assessing your application for first stage (sometime in the next couple of months or so), that you actually have valid temporary status. They dont seem to be able to tell that as easily if youve applied to extend separately.
Thirdly, had you found us earlier, we would have probably advised you to apply outland - it is much faster and you still could have remained in Canada by extending your visitor status separately (as youve already been doing).
Anyway - thats all behind you now. What I think you need to be prepared for going forward is that your application is likely to be transferred to your local CIC office for processing once its opened at CPC-V, which (considering the fact that they are currently processing for first stage application received through June 25, 2010) will probably be within the next 6-8 weeks. I suspect they are going to want to interview you - especially about the common-law qualification, but maybe even to prove your genuine relationship. Hopefully you dont live in an area with a high influx of immigrants because, if they transfer, your ap is going to go back into another waiting queue and that can delay your processing for first stage approval for up to two more years in a busy area. I would actually say that if the two of you are at all considering marriage, sometime in the next month would be a good time to do that. If you marry, you no longer have to prove that you have co-habitated - although you may still have issues proving your relationship is genuine if you didnt submit strong proof of that with the ap - but it could help. If you get married, then you need to immediately send - by registered mail and courier that can track the mailing - proof of your valid marriage to Vegreville - AND also proof that you have been extending your status and, at that time, have valid temporary status. In order to influence anything, that info will have to be received at CPC-V BEFORE they open your application to assess for first stage - and hopefully they will match the info to the ap. However, that will be a challenge - youll have to do your very best to include enough information and instruction in that regard that they can accomplish it. No guarantee, though. But if it works, they will change your application from a c/l to a spousal ap without you doing anything else and, knowing that you have kept your temporary status valid, it might help sway them towards not sending your ap to the local office.
The only thing left will be the quality of your proof of genuine relationship - and, unfortunately theres not much you can do to influence that now. Marriage, along with the valid temporary status (the point being that you are still together) might be enough to get you your first stage approval - and then the ap would stay in Vegreville to finalize within 3-9 months after that. Oh, and they will ask you for a UK criminal clearance. You might find out just how long its expected to take to get one back - youll need to have the timing down so that you have it back right around the time they will be asking for it . . . because it has to be no more than 3 months old at the time you submit it. It is just that it will be difficult to anticipate when theyll ask for it - it will be just after they assess for first stage, but that wont happen for (possibly) a long time if the ap is transferred, but you could expect it within the next couple of months if they dont transfer. So, even in that regard, youre up in the air a bit.
I dont know - what Im saying may seem really extreme. I just feel bad because I dont get a sense that you guys really understood, going in, just how tough this process really is and what was expected of you. A weak application will cause delays - and the wait time for inland is bad enough as it is. It just seems like you inadvertently neglected to cross every t and dot every i. Hopefully we can make some suggestions here that might help get things back on track before they open the ap and you get sent to the local office - because, once it goes there, there is no way to get it back to Vegreville and you have no choice but to wait out what could be a very long backlog.
Where are you from in Canada?
You mention joint bank account statements, but no joint lease/rental agreement or utility bills, etc. The rest of the things you submitted pretty much go towards proving your genuine relationship - and, frankly, for two years time, you didnt have much to show for that either.
I do admit I am a bit scarce on common-law evidence. As I have said in my first post, I have been living with my boyfriend\\\'s family. There has been no need to really make a rental agreement. The most I could provide for that was their letter. They explained that I have been with them and I do chores to compensate. The lack of evidence is mainly just us well...not doing much.
He\\\'s lost his job and without a lot of money, we have no been able to go out and document anything. It\\\'s not a good excuse, I know.
Also, I sent off an extension and it has been extended until November of this year. I\\\'m not entirely sure why they would keep extending, but everytime I have submitted my extensions, I have been candid on what I was doing and what is planned.
Would you think if we added my name to his credit card and such NOW, that would make any difference? Also, the mother had also explained that me and my common-law partner were living together and I was \'paying rent\' with chore compensation. A bit like a rent agreement. Do you think she should re-write something to focus on the rental agreement?
Getting married...as I know seems wimpy to say...Is something that is diffently a large step in a relationship for sure.
Were living in Gatineau Canada.
I am more than ready for any kind of interview. I know him back to front. However, I have heard of many cases where the IOs have already made up their minds in the interview.
I\\\'m so afraid now. :(
Everyone dealing with immigration feels afraid at some point because our hearts are in this. I don\'t know what to make of robsluvs advice..she\'s been pretty damn helpful in every post I have seen both here and on immigration.ca so I would reccommend trying to do everything suggested (if its do-able). BUT if you\'re not ready for marriage. Don\'t jump into it...I had my dream wedding taken away from me because we wanted to make things easier for the time being. Truth be told...we\'ve been married for 3 years now and he still doesn\'t have PR and getting the chance to wear a poofy dress and dance with my man in front on everyone we love doesn\'t seem like its going to happen now. Our train of thought was ...we will have the crazy spontanious marriage now with whoever decides to show up (we had a going away bbq for my husband when his visitors visa was running out and extension denied....and busted out with a surprise wedding ceremony). Then after he got to canada we were going to have a huge wedding to end all wedding! Don\'t get me wrong...It was really fun and totally surprised the heck out of everyone....but I do find myself flipping through bridal magazines and wishing we could do it again in a big way like we planned to but...its been 3 years kind of silly to have a wedding now when everyone is used to the fact that we are married already! Lol
Anyway...I\'m just saying. Goodluck!
It would be foolish to think that I would be alone in feeling like this. I know tons and tons of people are in much worse situations than I.
There were also quite a few other things I left out in my list of things I submitted. Which were: a few checks from the bank with my name and his name on them with our address on them, a bazillion(over exagerating) reciepts from outings and valentines gifts dating back to 2008-09-10, And junk mail (and official mail from the visa office, banks, schools)dating back to 2008-09-10. If asked for more documentation, I\'m sure I could whip up more. Like from websites whre I ordered things back in 2009-2008 under his residence with my name also on it. Me and his father also made a vocal agreement on the rent(chores in exchange), but I hope if it came to it, he could write something out for me and for the Immigration office. Just to be safe though...I think I\'m going to submit more in the next week. RobsLuv lit a fire under my ass.
If it really came down to it, and there would have to be an interview, I\'m not worried about it. my partner and his family would come along. They\'re like my family. I love them dearly and they love me too. (so touching)