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Is this woman making a fool of me?

Dear Miss Powell,
I have been with a Canadian woman for the past three years. We always go back and forth over the years. When I came up to visit her in April, she convinced me to stay with her and she said that she has put in the sponsorship application and so I don’t need to go back down as the papers are being processed by her lawyer. I told her I’m not used to just staying at home and that I can’t just stay home and wait on her, hand and foot, while the papers and processed. I need to work. One of my friends said he doesn’t think she put the papers in and that she's just looking a yard boy to spoil her. I told him I trust her and that I gave her the picture and the police record to send in. He asked me if I signed anything and that’s when I got worried. I asked her how come I didn’t need to sign anything and she said because she’s the one doing the sponsoring and her lawyer is handling everything. How can I find out if she really put the papers in? I don’t want to call the authorities and get myself in trouble, but I would really like to know if I can trust her. I am a hardworking man and I took long leave to visit with her, but my leave will soon be up and if she hasn’t put in the papers, I think I'd better go back to my job and call this quits. Please help me as I don’t want to call the immigration authorities and mess things up, but I need to know the truth. Is this woman making a fool of me? Help me please.
Dear BB,
I think you are at a risk of breaching the Canadian immigration rules without realising it. First and foremost, when you come into Canada on a temporary resident or visitor’s visa, the maximum amount of time that you are authorised to stay is six months. If you have a legitimate reason for wishing to stay longer than the required time, you must apply for authority to remain in Canada/extend your time before it expires. The rules are different if you have evidence that a sponsorship application was in fact submitted.
Second, if you are being sponsored, you should not have doubts about the process, as this application must be done jointly. There are several forms that you must sign and documents that you must provide to Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada. The forms that you are required to complete and sign are the Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking, Generic Application Form for Canada, Additional Dependants/Declaration, if you have more than five dependants on your application, Schedule A–Background/Declaration, Additional Family Information, Sponsorship Evaluation and Relationship Questionnaire and Use of a Representative form, if you are indeed using a lawyer.
If you have not signed any of these documents, then chances are your application was not submitted.
Additionally, as the spouse or common-law partner that is being sponsored, you can apply for a work permit while you wait on the processing of your application. You do not need to sit at home and just be a “yard boy”, as your friend puts it. You can apply for a work permit at the same time that you are submitting your sponsorship application. You must also complete and sign those forms.
I think it is time that you sit down with your partner and have a serious talk about things and make your decision about the best way forward. Why not let her take you in to her lawyer to find out the status of things? Better yet, consider visiting a lawyer on your own to ensure that you have legal representation on your own and to get more details about the applications required and the process.
Just be sure not to overstay the time granted for you to be in the country, without the proper paperwork, as that could ruin any chances of your application being successful or for you to get your visa renewed.

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Deidre S. Powell is an international lawyer, mediator and notary public who is a member of the Jamaican and Ontario, Canada bars. Her office is in Ottawa, Ontario. Her areas of practice are in immigration, commercial, real estate, family and administration of estates. Email: info@deidrepowell.com. Subject line: Immigration or Tel: 613.695.8777 Find her on Facebook, Instagram and twitter for the latest updates.

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