Dear Mr Brown:

My fiancé in Canada wishes to sponsor me and my child to immigrate there. We have not lived together as yet, so we would not be considered common-law partners. However, I read about conjugal partners being allowed to immigrate. I am wondering how we can prove we are conjugal partners.

— JAT

Dear JAT:

Marriage immediately creates a legal relationship recognised for immigration purposes. A Canadian or permanent resident of Canada may sponsor their spouse who is a foreign national.

Common-law partner

Canadian Immigration authorities cannot require couples to marry in order to immigrate as the decision not to marry is a constitutionally protected choice. Accordingly, a couple must be common-law partners to sponsor to immigrate. Common-law partners have to meet the definition, including living together continuously for one year to have their relationship legally recognised.

Conjugal partner

A conjugal partner is a foreign national partner of Canadian or permanent resident sponsors who would ordinarily apply as common-law partners but for the fact that they have not been able to live together continuously for one year.

Conjugal partnerships are similar to a common-law relationship in other respects, such as a bona fide conjugal (sexual) relationship for a period of at least one year. The conjugal partner category is mainly intended for partners where neither common-law partner status nor marriage is possible, usually because of marital status or sexual orientation, combined with an immigration barrier. For example, the foreign partner may be married but comes from a country where divorce is not possible. In this case, the partners probably will not be able to obtain long-stay visas in order to live together in one another’s country and meet the cohabitation requirement for common-law partners. Marriage would also be unavailable under the circumstances.

Fiancés

Immigration officers do not assess future relationships or the intention of individuals to marry, establish a conjugal relationship, combine their affairs, or become mutually interdependent. Therefore, there is no fiancé(e) category for immigration. Accordingly, as an unmarried couple, they must provide evidence that they are in a committed and mutually interdependent relationship of some permanence and have combined their affairs to the extent possible, as either a common-law or conjugal partnership.

Please visit jamaica2canada.com for additional information on Canadian Permanent Residence programmes, including Express Entry, the Study and Work progamme, Visitor’s visas or Appeals, etc.

Antonn Brown, BA, (Hons), LLB, MSc, RCIC, is an immigration counsel and education agent of JAMAICA2CANADA.COM-a Canadian immigration & education firm in Kingston. Send questions/comments to jamaica2canada@gmail.com or devry.jamaica@gmail.com