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Acquiring permanent residency in Canada

Tips for unmarried couples

Guidy Mamann gives legal advice to those soon to acquire landed status in Canada, who wish to be reunited with loved ones overseas.

Question:
I always read your articles in the newspaper and noticed that you have been a blessing to a lot of people who need assistance and advice. Now I am writing this letter to seek some. I am under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and soon will acquire my landed status. I have a fiancée overseas. What is the best, right and fastest way to be reunited? Thanks a lot. God Bless.

Answer:
Congratulations on your engagement. Since you are under the LCP you are entitled to apply for permanent residence from within Canada after completing two years of care giving here. Your fiancée cannot be included as your dependent in your application until you are married, or in a common law or conjugal relationship, as defined under our immigration laws.

Family members will be processed concurrently if they are included “at the time the application was made”. Applicants must list all family members in Canada and abroad, and indicate which ones they wish to have processed concurrently for permanent residence. Family members may not be added to an application once processing has begun.

You absolutely must notify immigration authorities of any changes in your marital or common law status in writing before you are landed. Make sure that you have confirmation that CIC has received your notice and ensure that your spouse is examined before you are landed. If he is not examined prior to your landing, you will not be able to sponsor him later as your spouse. Furthermore, an undisclosed marriage prior to landing will be treated as a material misrepresentation and could lead to deportation proceedings, if discovered CIC usually catches these misrepresentations when the nanny sponsors her spouse and includes a marriage certificate that pre-dates her own landing as a single person.

It is not important where you marry. However, the biggest reason for you to avoid getting married before you are landed is that if CIC determines that your husband is medically or criminally inadmissible both of your applications will be refused. A newly wedded nanny can see 2-3 years of hard work go down the drain because of their groom’s undisclosed drunk driving conviction or previously undetected medical problem.

He can apply for a visa to visit you here but there is no guarantee that it will be approved. He should be truthful about having a fiancée in Canada even though it may make it more difficult for him to get the visa. Any lack of candor may come back to haunt you later when you sponsor him.

Of course, this will result in a longer separation from your partner, but this may be better than risking your hard work and future in Canada.

Guidy Mamann practices law in Toronto at Mamann & Associates and is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as an immigration specialist. Reach him confidentially at 416-862-0000 or at or .

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