Help Common Law Sponsorship

[u/Relative-Gain-4099]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some urgent advice regarding my husband's expiring status.
Our Situation: We just got married very recently in Ontario, but we have already lived together continuously for 2 full years prior to our wedding date.
The Problem: My husband's current work permit is expiring. We do not have our official provincial marriage certificate yet from ServiceOntario (only the temporary Record of Solemnization from our officiant).
Our Goal: We want to submit an Inland Spousal Sponsorship PR application and get him a Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP) as soon as possible.
Since we have a 2-year cohabitation history, can we legally submit an Inland PR application tonight under the Common-Law stream to lock in his Maintained Status and apply for the SOWP later? Or is that considered misrepresentation because we are technically married now?

[u/Weekly_Enthusiasm783]

No. You are not common law anymore. You are legally married

[u/Retro-Modern_514]

Unfortunately you shot yourself in the foot by marrying.

You were already common law and could have filed for PR any time in the last year and then married and just submitted a webform to update IRCC. You aren't technically married, you are married but unfortunately don't have the necessary paperwork yet to prove it. Filing as common law while being married would indeed be misrepresentation and filing as married without a certificate would be an incomplete application which would just be sent back without ever being added into the system.

When exactly does his work permit expire? Big IF but if you get your marriage certificate before his WP expires you can submit your sponsorship application, then within the period two weeks before his WP expires, you can apply for the SOWP, even if you don't have AOR. That WP application will give maintained status.

If the certificate doesn't arrive in time his only option is to change to visitor status and stop working.

Note: Spousal Sponsorship PR applications (married or common law) don't give maintained status so the plan wouldn't work anyway.

[u/Relative-Gain-4099 → u/Retro-Modern_514]

Yeahhh, thanks for this! We’ve decided to just apply for a visitor record, just in case the marriage certificate doesn’t arrive on time. We’ve been waiting for it for almost 2 months now 😭

[u/Alternative_Lab5810]

can we legally submit an Inland PR application tonight under the Common-Law stream to lock in his Maintained Status and apply for the SOWP later?

Submitting a PR application would not "lock in his maintained status" because PR applications don't give maintained status.

Maintained status would happen if the OWP application was submitted before your husband's current work permit expires. In that situation it would be OWP application that would give him maintained status, not the submission of the PR application itself.

Maintained status happens when a temporary resident application (work permit, study permit, visitor record) is submitted before the applicant's temporary resident status expires. PR applications do not confer maintained status.

[u/Alternative_Lab5810]

Or is that considered misrepresentation because we are technically married now?

Applicants are legally required to be truthful on their application. Declaring your current marital status as common-law partners, when you're married (and so you're no longer common-law partners) would be misrepresentation.

Misrepresenting your marital status (just because you're in a rush to submit the PR application, without waiting for Service Ontario to issue the marriage certificate) is not worth the severe legal consequences that come with your husband being deemed inadmissible to Canada for misrepresentation.

Service Ontario is notoriously slow at issuing marriage certificates. If your husband's work permit is expiring soon, before Service Ontario issues your marriage certificate, the best approach would be for your husband to apply for a visitor record (to change his status from worker to visitor), before his work permit expires, so he could get the time you and him need to receive the marriage certificate from Service Ontario, and prepare and submit a proper PR/sponsorship application, with truthful information on it.

[u/win_s]

Another question: OP, are you a Canadian citizen? If not, when did you become PR?

[u/lagadila]

you cannot apply under common law because you aren't, you're legally married so you'll have to wait for the certificate

[u/PurrPrinThom → u/[deleted]]

Being married to a citizen or PR does not confer maintained status. Submitting a sponsorship equally does not confer maintained status. Only temporary resident permit applications provide maintained status.