We made a mistake on the dates of statutory declaration of common law

[scylla]

I became a PR and landed here myself in January 17, 2019.

We became officially together on January 5, 2022, and he moved in with us (my sister and mom) in February 2022.

Also, one thing to note is that he came here as a visitor on ETA, but COVID came around January of 2019, and since there were lockdowns and we both live in two separate areas (living with his aunt at that time and I was living with my mom and sister), I decided to have him move in with me. Fast forward, we were supposed to apply for restoration of his status but wasn't able to and when we hit year after he overstayed his ETA, I decided to sponsor him through FC common-law after cohabiting for a year.

I'm very confused about your dates. If you only moved in together in February 2022, then you were not common law until February 2023.

Earlier I thought you said you moved together 2020. I know your statuatory declaration said 2019 which was wrong.

Dates are extremely extremely important. I think you are best to move foward with the lawyer reviewing absolutely everything you submit.

 

[juhanjuhanjuhan]

You say you applied march 2021 but became a couple in 2022. You will most likely be refused since you were not common law when you applied. But i suspect you've got the dates confused here too. If you had not resided together for one full year before you applied, refusal should be expected.

So I repeat my question - when did you start living together. Not 'official dates', actual dates. Specify pls that you still reside together or not, and that cohabitation was continuous.

When you speak to lawyer, you should also be precise - otherwise you're going to make things more complicated. Don't think - answer the questions.

Your goal with lawyer is to not get the misepresentation ban. I don't know if that will be possible. After all, your statutory declaration had the dates wrong by three years. And on top of that, it is material - by definition - because with that date wrong, it changes whether you are common law or not.

Is there a reason you cannot get married? I don't know if that would be sufficient to help in your case but it should be on the table with the lawyer.

Oh god no. Sorry for the confusion. It was late night when I replied my bad.

We became officially together on January 5, 2020, and he moved in with us (my sister and mom) in February 2020.

 

[juhanjuhanjuhan]

I'm very confused about your dates. If you only moved in together in February 2022, then you were not common law until February 2023.

Earlier I thought you said you moved together 2020. I know your statuatory declaration said 2019 which was wrong.

Dates are extremely extremely important. I think you are best to move foward with the lawyer reviewing absolutely everything you submit.

Dates are 2020 not 2022. Sorry for the confusion I was not thinking straight yesterday because of this + lack of sleep.

I am talking to my lawyer today but still would appreciate any input about what things I could present to help with the judicial review. Thank you!

 

[scylla]

Dates are 2020 not 2022. Sorry for the confusion I was not thinking straight yesterday because of this + lack of sleep.

I am talking to my lawyer today but still would appreciate any input about what things I could present to help with the judicial review. Thank you!

It's not a judicial review. A judicial review is something different.

You definitely need the new statutory declaration and an LOE. If you are living together with your mother, get an affidavit from your mother (not just a simple letter) stating when your partner first moved in and that your partner has been living with you continuously since then.

I do think it will be very important to explain the misrepresentation in the LOE. I don't have any advice on that. I would do what the lawyer tells you.

 

[juhanjuhanjuhan]

It's not a judicial review. A judicial review is something different.

You definitely need the new statutory declaration and an LOE. If you are living together with your mother, get an affidavit from your mother (not just a simple letter) stating when your partner first moved in and that your partner has been living with you continuously since then.

I do think it will be very important to explain the misrepresentation in the LOE. I don't have any advice on that. I would do what the lawyer tells you.

Ok thank you, but yup I was thinking of getting a letter from my mother too attesting that we live with her with my 2 sisters and cousin. Will update on here

 

[scylla]

Ok thank you, but yup I was thinking of getting a letter from my mother too attesting that we live with her with my 2 sisters and cousin. Will update on here

I would recommend an affidavit and not just a letter. But see what the lawyer says.

 

[armoured]

Dates are 2020 not 2022. Sorry for the confusion I was not thinking straight yesterday because of this + lack of sleep.

I am talking to my lawyer today but still would appreciate any input about what things I could present to help with the judicial review. Thank you!

It happens, no worries. Contrary to what I said (based on the incorrect dates), if you lived together feb 20-feb 21 and then applied in march 21, there at least remains a basis on which to argue that the mistake in the declaration was not material.

It is not a given though - the officer can certainly argue that it is material in that they would evaluate a one-year common law relationship differently than a two-year one. (There would be no way to deny it if it would have made the difference between common law or not).

The lawyer will almost certainly argue that it was clearly unintentional - based on, hopefully, providing no information about cohabitation prior to 2020 (ie you didn't fabricate evidence and so weren't really hiding anything). Now note, 'intent' in misrepresentation is tricky - you can't get away with just anything based on saying "whoops!" - but neither is the idea to catch everyone out for typos. Anyways, the lawyer knows better than I do.

I don't have a lot to add to what others said. Once again, priority should be the misrepresentation issue.

There may be other issues to come up (esp given your partner being out of status) but deal with them with the lawyer's assistance.

 

[armoured]

Follow-up question: is there some barrier to marriage/why didn't you just get married?

 

[juhanjuhanjuhan]

Follow-up question: is there some barrier to marriage/why didn't you just get married?

We haven't gotten married because I am not ready and we don't have the budget at the moment either. Will marriage make a difference in this case, I'm curious?

Btw we talked to Matcowsky Law Firm and we're gonna retain the to draft a PFL response and help us out. Thank you for all your responses. Any ideas are welcome

 

[scylla]

We haven't gotten married because I am not ready and we don't have the budget at the moment either. Will marriage make a difference in this case, I'm curious?

Btw we talked to Matcowsky Law Firm and we're gonna retain the to draft a PFL response and help us out. Thank you for all your responses. Any ideas are welcome

Getting married at this point won't fix anything. The issue is around the dates in your statutory declaration. You need to focus on address that

Stay away from saying you aren't ready to get married. Common law is essentially supposed to be the equivalent of marriage without the ceremony.

 

[Ponga]

We haven't gotten married because I am not ready and we don't have the budget at the moment either. Will marriage make a difference in this case, I'm curious?

Btw we talked to Matcowsky Law Firm and we're gonna retain the to draft a PFL response and help us out. Thank you for all your responses. Any ideas are welcome

It makes NO difference if you get married, except you'd feel forced to have done something that you're not ready for, or want!

 

[juhanjuhanjuhan]

Getting married at this point won't fix anything. The issue is around the dates in your statutory declaration. You need to focus on address that

Stay away from saying you aren't ready to get married. Common law is essentially supposed to be the equivalent of marriage without the ceremony.

Ok noted and I agree common-law is marriage like and we are like a married couple, our names are both in my lease, we share expenses, utilities, he is in my insurance, filed taxes as common-law etc.,

It just so happened that we made a mistake. My lawyer sounded hopeful but she said we will ask for extension to draft a PFL response. As soon as we pay the initial deposit, they will ask for an extension. Has anyone had experience with lawyers asking for extensions for drafting PFLs? She said 15 days is too short, and she wanted to order GCMS notes and our old files to take a look at other documents before writing a response.

 

[scylla]

Ok noted and I agree common-law is marriage like and we are like a married couple, our names are both in my lease, we share expenses, utilities, he is in my insurance, filed taxes as common-law etc.,

It just so happened that we made a mistake. My lawyer sounded hopeful but she said we will ask for extension to draft a PFL response. As soon as we pay the initial deposit, they will ask for an extension. Has anyone had experience with lawyers asking for extensions for drafting PFLs? She said 15 days is too short, and she wanted to order GCMS notes and our old files to take a look at other documents before writing a response.

I've certainly seen people request extensions to respond. I have no idea if IRCC grants these extensions every time. There will be no way to know the answer to that.

 

[Ponga]

Ok noted and I agree common-law is marriage like and we are like a married couple, our names are both in my lease, we share expenses, utilities, he is in my insurance, filed taxes as common-law etc.,

It just so happened that we made a mistake. My lawyer sounded hopeful but she said we will ask for extension to draft a PFL response. As soon as we pay the initial deposit, they will ask for an extension. Has anyone had experience with lawyers asking for extensions for drafting PFLs? She said 15 days is too short, and she wanted to order GCMS notes and our old files to take a look at other documents before writing a response.

Agree with @scylla in that there is no guarantee how IRCC will respond to a request for more time. Having to now pay a lawyer to `try' seems to only add to the angst that you must be feeling.

I really do not understand why the lawyer wants to `dig' so deep. The fact is that you made what appears to be a simple mistake in the dates of your common-law status. How does digging through GCMS notes and `old files' change that? Oh...I know...it's because they're being paid to help and more work equals more fees.

 

[scylla]

Agree with @scylla in that there is no guarantee how IRCC will respond to a request for more time. Having to now pay a lawyer to `try' seems to only add to the angst that you must be feeling.

I really do not understand why the lawyer wants to `dig' so deep. The fact is that you made what appears to be a simple mistake in the dates of your common-law status. How does digging through GCMS notes and `old files' change that? Oh...I know...it's because they're being paid to help and more work equals more fees.

I have a different opinion here. I think this is normal / proper procedure for lawyers. They are held to a higher standard than consultants. This lawyer was not involved in putting the original application together and doesn't know what was in it. They are now being asked to put together the PFL response and can't do this without having more sightlines into the application. They are going to draft the PFL and make statements there. To stand behind these statements and provide sound legal advice, then want to see the GCMS notes. If they provide bad legal advice based on not doing their homework, this can impact their ability to practice.