Married couple

[Studentcbu]

Married for 2 years

 

[CanGoldDigger]

I, the sponsor, was always a room mate to my spouse before getting married. I don’t recognize us as common law during that time. We were students just shared a place to lower down our expenses. I applied my PR as single and copr as single at same address. Now I have applied under family sponsorship as married couple. Will this be any issue?

So are you married now?

 

[Studentcbu]

So are you married now?

Yes

 

[CanGoldDigger]

Yes

Then no problem.

 

[CanGoldDigger]

Thanks, that’s a relief

Don't stress out too muck already, it's going to be a long way ahead. Good luck !

 

[armoured]

I, the sponsor, was always a room mate to my spouse before getting married. I don’t recognize us as common law during that time. We were students just shared a place to lower down our expenses. I applied my PR as single and copr as single at same address. Now I have applied under family sponsorship as married couple. Will this be any issue?

Did you reside together as room-mates for more than a year before the day you became a PR? They may very well ask for more information on the basis that you (possibly) did not declare a common-law spouse. And possibly this could mean, if they decide you were common-law, that you can never sponsor your spouse.

I won't attempt to guess how this will go. It will likely end up depending on other aspects, like dates and time passed at various stages, and if you have any supporting evidence that you weren't in a relationship before / started seeing each other romantically at a later date. If there are other room-mates, that may support the case.

 

[CanGoldDigger]

Did you reside together as room-mates for more than a year before the day you became a PR? They may very well ask for more information on the basis that you (possibly) did not declare a common-law spouse. And possibly this could mean, if they decide you were common-law, that you can never sponsor your spouse.

I won't attempt to guess how this will go. It will likely end up depending on other aspects, like dates and time passed at various stages, and if you have any supporting evidence that you weren't in a relationship before / started seeing each other romantically at a later date. If there are other room-mates, that may support the case.

Don't scare people so much, living together doesn't make people common-law, it looks more like a marriage fraud. That's even more scary.

 

[armoured]

Don't scare people so much, living together doesn't make people common-law, it looks more like a marriage fraud. That's even more scary.

There are multiple cases of this happening, up to and including the applicants receiving the unreported spouse ban. Those who reside together as roommates and then get into a relationship should be quite careful about this.

To be fair: there are also multiple cases here where the applicants admit that they started as roommates and were in a relationship before one became a PR, and they thought it didn't count. And even more cases, of course, where couples objectively were commonlaw and also didn't include.

 

[canuck78]

We lived as roommates for 2 years. The day I applied for PR we lived at different places and stayed apart for 9 months. Then again shared address for 6 months. During these 6 months, I signed my ecopr. Then again stayed at different address for next 10 months till we got married.

When in the 2 years did you start dating?

 

[canuck78]

We never dated during those 2 years.

So when exactly did you start dating? Can you provide proof of when you started dating?

 

[canuck78]

Technically after our wedding. There was no love like relationship before that. Just long term friends.

That is going to be tough to prove. How many roommates did you have in these rentals? Was her permit expiring?

 

[armoured]

We lived as roommates for 2 years. The day I applied for PR we lived at different places and stayed apart for 9 months. Then again shared address for 6 months. During these 6 months, I signed my ecopr. Then again stayed at different address for next 10 months till we got married.

In my opinion only (and I could be wrong): the living together first during your app / then living together when you got your COPR is not going to look good.

The fact that your (romantic) relationship didn't have a clear document-able 'start date' doesn't help.

Was this an arranged marriage?

 

[thanhtam23]

Technically after our wedding. There was no love like relationship before that. Just long term friends.

i’m confused, how could you marry someone without dating?

 

[canuck78]

i’m confused, how could you marry someone without dating?

An arranged marriage although there still can be a “dating” period. That can mean a few interactions via phone, electronically or in person up to a longer period of more western style dating (not typically the case). The issue is it becomes very hard to prove you weren’t dating before entering into an arranged marriage when you also lived together multiple times.

 

[armoured]

The issue is it becomes very hard to prove you weren’t dating before entering into an arranged marriage when you also lived together multiple times.

That's related to my asking the question above - the comment that they didn't date/have a relationship other than friends before marrying.

Which, looked at overall, perhaps not strange from a culture that has arranged marriages, but sharing housing for so much of the time before makes it hard to distinguish from common law.