sarahvan

I applied as a conjugal partner through Buffalo. On Friday, I received a rejection letter from CIC. Through what I had learned on this message board, I had a feeling that would be what the response was. We have tentatively decided not to appeal the decision. In short, we know that we don't meet the requirements of conjugal partners (as we have no impediment to marriage), so we know that we do not have much of a case for appeal. My question is, if we choose not to appeal and let CIC close to application, will we be penalized for this again if we apply as spouses sometime in the next 6 months to a year? Is there a waiting period between applications?

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Andrew Miller

No, you won't be "penalized" in any way. Re-applying as spouse or common-law partner is the best choice.

PMM

Hi Sarahvan

You won't be penalized if you submit an application based on marriage. Although it will be looked a closely. You may have difficulty if submit another conjugal partner or common-law, but spousal should be okay.

PMM

Cheeky Mouse

Hi Sarahvan,

I am so sorry to hear that you recieved that awful letter. I had hoped that you would have had better luck than us.
I'm interested to hear what the reasons were that they gave to reject your application, if you don't mind. Was is just on the 'no impedement to marriage' part or did they mention anything else? Also, did you guys have an interview?

Good luck with whatever route you choose next.

kanukistan

We are in a similar situation, although have not been rejected. YET! He is UK citizen, I am Canadian, ( no reason for rejection, other than interpretation of Conjugal) .. Would it be better to get married BEFORE CHC gets a chance to reject us? or Should we wait on the off chance that they have a heart. We are both in our 50's and don't see the need for a certificate of marriage. I have seen on other threads that couples were given 2 months to get married or their applications would be rejected.. Is this still the case.. If we get rejected, and decide to get married, do we have to start from scratch again. if so,, how long would that take... Getting very frustrated with the handling of Conjugal partners, don't qualify for common law as their is a huge pond between us.
thanks for you input...

Andrew Miller

I'm sorry but it is impossible to even guess what will be the best course of action in your circumstances now - I have no idea what kind of evidence you submitted to prove that you are meeting definition of conjugal partners, thus I don't know what your chances are.

In short - if you are fiancees or in boyfriend/girlfriend relationship then you are most likely not conjugal partners. Fact that you are separated due to the distance is not a good reason for not cohabiting together or not trying to do so (same with marriage) - conjugal partners category is designed for those who are in conjugal relationship but **cannot** get married or live together for valid reasons, after well documented attempts to do it.


Getting married now will simplify the process.

Cheeky Mouse

I totally agree with your frustrations. To qualify as a common law partner you'd need to live in Canada with your partner for a year and then apply, so add on another 6 months for the application and you've found yourself sitting around for 18 months not able to work.
I just can't understand why CIC can't take into account that for some couples it's just not feasable to do this. Some couples can't afford to live from one wage and not to mention the frustration and uselessnes the sponsored partner feels when they can't contribute.
But then you get the old chestnut 'just get married'. For some people this isn't an option for personal reasons, or like us they might just want to wait so that they can do it the way they want the first time. (Also maybe people don't want to spend their first year as husband and wife on separate continents waiting for CIC to sort out the paperwork!)
Just because you can't live together for whatever reason doesn't mean you love each other any less than say a couple who run down to city hall and get themselves a quick marriage certificate or who can afford to have one partner not working. Alas it seems almost impossible to convice CIC that if you're not married your intentions are not suspect.

Good luck to both of you, I wish you all the best.

kanukistan

I know there are a lot of similar cases out there. It would have been nice if the definition of "conjugal" was more explicitly explained in the application. Seems that the "rules" have changed since March when they reclarified everything... A while back i saw that couples were given 2 months to get married, submit their marriage certificates and they were granted PR. Well if that isn't a "marriage of convenience" then what is... They say in one hand they are trying to discourage this, but in the same breath they say, get married and we will approve you.. So a little piece of paper is suppose to prove a genuine committment..A marriage that once you are landed could be annulled or whatever... We wanted to wait until we had bought "OUR Home" as he is selling his, and i am selling mine. We wanted to get married with all our families present in our New Home... but alas, it looks like they have us against the wall and we will have to do a "quickie" marriage just to appease them... What a crock!!! Well enough venting... not sure where we will go from here...

Thanks for your well spoken comments. In total agreement with you. Good Luck with your application as well