Are we still common law?

[Rob_TO]

Agreed with above, simply having testimonial letters does NOT prove common-law. Testimony letters are secondary pieces of evidence. IRCC wants to see hard evidence of cohabitation like a joint rental/lease agreement, mail to both of you going to same address, joint financial accounts, joint insurance, etc etc. Some official documents should be able to prove the cohabitation started on the day you said it did.

If all you have to prove you started cohabiting are letters from friends/family, you could have a hard time.

At the very least if you lived with his father from the very beginning then you should create an official rental agreement and have it back-dated to when the cohabitation started, signed and notarized. You can download lots of sample rental agreements from the internet to use as a template (just Google it).

Also the 30 day separation may be more serious that you think. We have seen other cases rejected for a similar break, since the visa officer thought it broke the cohabitation so would have had to reset the clock to zero at that time. However we've also seen successful cases with similar length breaks. In the end the only decision that matters is up to the visa officer processing your file, and if they personally view the temporary separation as too long to continue common-law qualifying.

 

[Canada8197]

OK... So should i apply for an extension again...? :/ I had already applied for an extension last year 2016 and have a full year until 2018 Jan 31... I don't know how I can fix this unless if I get another visitor extension... Please advise... At this point I really don't know what to do anymore. If we can still somehow apply while keeping the break in mind then we can apply in September since that was when I returned... But other than letters from his father and friends we don't have hard proof as he does not rent right now..

If I do get an extension then we would for sure be eligible to apply. But right now we're stuck and I'm really anxious as to what my options are.. Would the rental agreement be able to be done now? Or is that too late?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

OK... So should i apply for an extension again...? :/ I had already applied for an extension last year 2016 and have a full year until 2018 Jan 31... I don't know how I can fix this unless if I get another visitor extension... Please advise... At this point I really don't know what to do anymore. If we can still somehow apply while keeping the break in mind then we can apply in September since that was when I returned... But other than letters from his father and friends we don't have hard proof as he does not rent right now..

If I do get an extension then we would for sure be eligible to apply. But right now we're stuck and I'm really anxious as to what my options are.

You can apply for another extension. If you state that you are trying to become common-law to apply for sponsorship and you show sufficient proof of finances, you should be approved; you can pay the full PR fees ahead of time and include that receipt with the visitor extension app to show you are serious.

Or you can get married, which removes the requirement of one year of cohabitation.

 

[Canada8197]

You can apply for another extension. If you state that you are trying to become common-law to apply for sponsorship and you show sufficient proof of finances, you should be approved; you can pay the full PR fees ahead of time and include that receipt with the visitor extension app to show you are serious.

Or you can get married, which removes the requirement of one year of cohabitation.

We had stated in our previous extension we were planning on getting married, and was approved for one year. However, due to the large burden of marriage costs and how we want it to be genuine and not rushed, we changed our minds. Do we state that? And do I just state we are trying to establish common law union, show our conjoint bank, credit card, insurance beneficiary, and CRA declaration (however that was declared as 2017 common law... Should I change that?) when we applied last year, we stated his father will give me shelter plus all food and I showed my valid visitor medical insurance. I was afraid that because I already got one year extension, I'd be rejected. Should I apply for just six months and it ending in June 2018 so that we can apply right before my visitor pass expires?

And just to be absolutely sure, what should we do now to prove the cohabitation? Right now we have conjoint bank account from April. Is there anything else we should do NOW so we don't mess up again?

 

[Canada8197]

Just wondering, I do have a phone bill under my name that shows our address. The date of activation was October 2016. However, that's the only thing I have from 2016 in my name in our address. The phone company is chatr. Would that in anyway help prove us living together, or is that too insignificant? I also have an insurance (medical) policy under my name since August 2016 showing the same address, too. (however, I took off in August and returned in September due to the family emergency.. At this point I'm unsure if I should seek an immigration lawyer's help.

 

[scylla]

Just wondering, I do have a phone bill under my name that shows our address. The date of activation was October 2016. However, that's the only thing I have from 2016 in my name in our address. The phone company is chatr. Would that in anyway help prove us living together, or is that too insignificant? I also have an insurance (medical) policy under my name since August 2016 showing the same address, too. (however, I took off in August and returned in September due to the family emergency.. At this point I'm unsure if I should seek an immigration lawyer's help.

The phone bill is of some help. But the 30 days you were apart is a problem and it's quite possible this will be viewed as a break in cohabitation (we've found on this forum that anything more than three weeks is typically a problem). When did those 30 days happen? If it happened before April - I would start counting common law from the time you have solid evidence in April. If the break happened after April, I would start counting your common law time after you returned to Calgary after the break. Keep future breaks to 2 weeks max to avoid issues. Or just get married.

 

[Rob_TO]

. But other than letters from his father and friends we don't have hard proof as he does not rent right now..

Again, you should not get a "letter" from his father, you should create an official rental agreement with the father as landlord. He does rent now (from his father) even if the rent cost is free. Putting a rental agreement together on a proper template, will be much better proof than simply a letter from his father.

Also nobody here can say for certain if you will or won't be approved if you submitted a common-law app today. We can just point out the red flags in your cohabitation which is the 30 day break and the lack of proofs going back to the beginning of cohabitation. HOWEVER ultimately the final choice is up to the visa officer reviewing your file. One option for you is to submit everything now and hope your situation satisfies the visa officer. We have seen cases where cohabitation has been questioned intensely and more proofs demanded, and other cases where people are approved very easily even with breaks in the 12 months. Definitely the safer option is waiting until you have 12 full months of rock solid cohabitation proof with no breaks, but it's up to you.

 

[Canada8197]

Again, you should not get a "letter" from his father, you should create an official rental agreement with the father as landlord. He does rent now (from his father) even if the rent cost is free. Putting a rental agreement together on a proper template, will be much better proof than simply a letter from his father.

Also nobody here can say for certain if you will or won't be approved if you submitted a common-law app today. We can just point out the red flags in your cohabitation which is the 30 day break and the lack of proofs going back to the beginning of cohabitation. HOWEVER ultimately the final choice is up to the visa officer reviewing your file. One option for you is to submit everything now and hope your situation satisfies the visa officer. We have seen cases where cohabitation has been questioned intensely and more proofs demanded, and other cases where people are approved very easily even with breaks in the 12 months. Definitely the safer option is waiting until you have 12 full months of rock solid cohabitation proof with no breaks, but it's up to you.

Hi Rob, does that mean I can get an official rental agreement signed now, dating from June 2016, or must it be dated now, in July 2017? Thank you.

 

[Canada8197]

The phone bill is of some help. But the 30 days you were apart is a problem and it's quite possible this will be viewed as a break in cohabitation (we've found on this forum that anything more than three weeks is typically a problem). When did those 30 days happen? If it happened before April - I would start counting common law from the time you have solid evidence in April. If the break happened after April, I would start counting your common law time after you returned to Calgary after the break. Keep future breaks to 2 weeks max to avoid issues. Or just get married.

The 30 days happened from August to September. The phone bill started in October and my medical insurance started in August... What should I do? Please advise.

I also found out I'm eligible for IEC with NZ. however, I want to know if applying for IEC would negatively affect my sponsorship application?

Edit : oh darn lol you already applied to that question in my thread. Thank you scylla.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi Rob, does that mean I can get an official rental agreement signed now, dating from June 2016, or must it be dated now, in July 2017? Thank you.

I would just date it back to when you actually started living together at his house. That would properly reflect the actual living situation.

 

[Canada8197]

I would just date it back to when you actually started living together at his house. That would properly reflect the actual living situation.

Okay, and that would really help my situation in a way that we can apply for common law?
I can try to gather more documents such as his grandmother's hospital record that would indicate the car accident, the letters and a letter from his employer stating that he could not go due to work commitments and one month was too long for him. Would that be enough, or should I go with a different route right now and apply for IEC to retain legal status until mid 2018?

 

[Rob_TO]

Okay, and that would really help my situation in a way that we can apply for common law?
I can try to gather more documents such as his grandmother's hospital record that would indicate the car accident, the letters and a letter from his employer stating that he could not go due to work commitments and one month was too long for him. Would that be enough, or should I go with a different route right now and apply for IEC to retain legal status until mid 2018?

Again, nobody here can say for certain. The only opinion that ultimately matters is that of the visa officer who will be processing your file.

Including all that you mentioned may be enough to convince the visa officer and have PR processed with no problem, or they may not. The choice is up to you if you submit with what you have and hope it's enough, or wait a bit longer to be more certain. There is no easy answer here.

 

[Canada8197]

Okay. I may just go for IEC just to be safe then. One last question ; my partner has already declared common law to CRA... Should I just do my IEC as common law too? Canuck suggested I apply for an extension explaining common law establishment, so I'm not sure if we should list us as single or common law as of now.