Common law Sponsor

[jakelong0509]

Hi everyone,

I have a concern regarding common law sponsor, I am a PR holder
Time Line:
+ Jan 2021, me and my spouse move in together
+ July 2021, I got my PR
+ Jan 2022, Based on Common Law definition, after 1 year of living together we became common law
+ But during my PR application (Feb 2021), we hadn't living together for 1 year, therefore in my PR application I put my martial status as Single.
Just want to ask if I eligible to sponsor my spouse?

Thank You

 

[armoured]

Hi everyone,

I have a concern regarding common law sponsor, I am a PR holder
Time Line:
+ Jan 2021, me and my spouse move in together
+ July 2021, I got my PR
+ Jan 2022, Based on Common Law definition, after 1 year of living together we became common law
+ But during my PR application (Feb 2021), we hadn't living together for 1 year, therefore in my PR application I put my martial status as Single.
Just want to ask if I eligible to sponsor my spouse?

Thank You

No issues. You were not common law until you'd been living together for 12 full months, that is, you were single until Jan 22. You became a PR before that.

 

[jakelong0509]

No issues. You were not common law until you'd been living together for 12 full months, that is, you were single until Jan 22. You became a PR before that.

Thank you for the reply.

 

[canuck78]

No issue as already said. You should have proof that you are common law through lease or other bills with both address and dates on the,. You both should have changed your marital status on your CRA info starting January 2022 which is additional proof that you have been common law. You would have changed benefit information to include your partner after January 2022.

 

[jakelong0509]

No issue as already said. You should have proof that you are common law through lease or other bills with both address and dates on the,. You both should have changed your marital status on your CRA info starting January 2022 which is additional proof that you have been common law. You would have changed benefit information to include your partner after January 2022.

Hi, Thank you for your reply

Just want to ask another question, we just check back the document we did in 2022 and we found that my spouse applied in-land visitor visa in Nov 2022 but the marital status was left Single. just want to ask if this effect anything?

Thank You

 

[ERCAN]

Hi, Thank you for your reply

Just want to ask another question, we just check back the document we did in 2022 and we found that my spouse applied in-land visitor visa in Nov 2022 but the marital status was left Single. just want to ask if this effect anything?

Thank You

It may as this is a material fact that was omitted. Keep in mind that cohabitation alone isn't automatically a common-law. As mentioned by @canuckyou need multiple proofs to support your common law. So there is a need to inspect all other documents you have to determine the moment you entered in marriage-like relationship. I know that many on this forum may disagree but there are cases where this has been successfully applied in situations similar to yours. However, the discrepancy occurred on Nov 2022, which at the 22 months of living together, which is a lot more than in cases I'm referring to.

Given the hassle I would suggest to marry officially and try to avoid this common-law thing altogether. If you do, you will not be required to submit all your cohabitation documents from the beginning and thus it will likely not be reviewed as thoroughly as with common-law.

 

[Ponga]

It may as this is a material fact that was omitted. Keep in mind that cohabitation alone isn't automatically a common-law. As mentioned by @canuckyou need multiple proofs to support your common law. So there is a need to inspect all other documents you have to determine the moment you entered in marriage-like relationship. I know that many on this forum may disagree but there are cases where this has been successfully applied in situations similar to yours. However, the discrepancy occurred on Nov 2022, which at the 22 months of living together, which is a lot more than in cases I'm referring to.

Given the hassle I would suggest to marry officially and try to avoid this common-law thing altogether. If you do, you will not be required to submit all your cohabitation documents from the beginning and thus it will likely not be reviewed as thoroughly as with common-law.

Getting married does nothing to erase the misrepresentation when the visitor visa application was submitted in Nov of 2022, right?

 

[jakelong0509]

Getting married does nothing to erase the misrepresentation when the visitor visa application was submitted in Nov of 2022, right?

This is quite tough because we didn't know if we are cohabited during 2021 and 2022 or not since we lived in the same room, split our rent with our friends in the same house, we didn't have joint account or anything and only had lease agreement that have our name and our friend names on it. Until 2023, we moved to another place that only us, we started to shared our bill together. The thing is I updated CRA in 2023 while we filing 2022 tax as common-law not sure if we can update it again as 2022 single and 2023 is Common law.

 

[canuck78]

This is quite tough because we didn't know if we are cohabited during 2021 and 2022 or not since we lived in the same room, split our rent with our friends in the same house, we didn't have joint account or anything and only had lease agreement that have our name and our friend names on it. Until 2023, we moved to another place that only us, we started to shared our bill together. The thing is I updated CRA in 2023 while we filing 2022 tax as common-law not sure if we can update it again as 2022 single and 2023 is Common law.

You really needed to update CRA when you became common law since you would have been common law for over a year at that point and would have been receiving payments from the government as being single. You can easily change correct this by contact CRA. Would also send in a webform to IRCC clarifying that you were not single and were common law when you applied for a TRV. Just to clarify you have been living continuously together for a year to be common law. What is your partner’s immigration history?

 

[jakelong0509]

You really needed to update CRA when you became common law since you would have been common law for over a year at that point and would have been receiving payments from the government as being single. You can easily change correct this by contact CRA. Would also send in a webform to IRCC clarifying that you were not single and were common law when you applied for a TRV. Just to clarify you have been living continuously together for a year to be common law. What is your partner’s immigration history?

My partner timeline:
+ 2020, she applied for pgwp
+ Dec 2022, she applied for in land Visitor Visa
+ May 2023, she opted in the extend Pgwp

 

[ERCAN]

Getting married does nothing to erase the misrepresentation when the visitor visa application was submitted in Nov of 2022, right?

I didn't say it would.

 

[ERCAN]

This is quite tough because we didn't know if we are cohabited during 2021 and 2022 or not since we lived in the same room, split our rent with our friends in the same house, we didn't have joint account or anything and only had lease agreement that have our name and our friend names on it. Until 2023, we moved to another place that only us, we started to shared our bill together. The thing is I updated CRA in 2023 while we filing 2022 tax as common-law not sure if we can update it again as 2022 single and 2023 is Common law.

This is precisely my point. Being roommates doesn`t qualify automatically as common-law, you need marriage like relationship as per definition of common-law. Living along with other friends in the same apparent helps, especially having other friends listed on the same lease. So you might potentially argue that you didn`t consider or presented yourself as a couple at that time and only started to be one when you moved in a separate apartment. Again, I don`t know your whole story I`m just giving you a hint. If you have concerns, its better to speak with a immigration lawyer. Most suggestions on this forum (including mine) are not professional but based on our experience or interpretation of the instructions.

 

[jakelong0509]

You really needed to update CRA when you became common law since you would have been common law for over a year at that point and would have been receiving payments from the government as being single. You can easily change correct this by contact CRA. Would also send in a webform to IRCC clarifying that you were not single and were common law when you applied for a TRV. Just to clarify you have been living continuously together for a year to be common law. What is your partner’s immigration history?

Hi Canuck,
As you mentioned that I should send a webform to IRCC to clarifying my partner marital status when applied for a TRV, but my partner already received the visa, how do I update it through webform to correct this mistake?