Dear Mr Brown,

My fiancé in Canada wishes to sponsor me and my son to migrate there. We are in a same-sex relationship. We met online over a year ago. I would like to know whether we would be qualified to do so. He makes enough money to be a sponsor, but I am not sure how we should proceed.

— JHR

Dear JHR:

While marriage immediately creates a legal relationship recognised for immigration purposes, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident may also sponsor his/her spouse or common-law partner, who is a foreign national. The Constitution of Canada cannot force couples to get married for the purposes of immigration, so other types of relationships are recognised.

Based on what you have stated, I do not have all of the required information to give you a comprehensive response. However, I will assume that you have never lived together.

Fiancé

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, unmarried couples must provide evidence that they are in committed and mutually interdependent relationships of some permanence and have combined their affairs to the extent possible, as either common-law or conjugal partnerships.

Common-law partner

A couple must be common-law partners to sponsor immigration. Common-law partners have to meet the definition, including living together continuously for one year to have their relationship legally recognised. Based on the information that you provided, I do not think your relationship would be considered a common-law union.

Conjugal partner

A conjugal partner is a foreign national partner of a Canadian or permanent resident, 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.

As stated before, you did not provide me with enough information to enable me to fully determine the nature of your relationship, whether you have even met in person or the barriers that exist to getting married in a jurisdiction that recognises same-sex marriage, for example.

Please visit jamaica2canada.com for additional information on Canadian Permanent Residence programmes, including Express Entry, the Study and Work programme, 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