Common law questions

[zenbeast]

Hello everyone,


I have been in a long distance relationship with my Canadian girlfriend for several years now. We visit each other atleast twice a year. Now we are thinking of taking the next step as in me moving to Canada.

The situation is as follows: my girlfriend is still going through college full time and there for does not hold a full time job and lives at her parents' house. The plan is for me to move in to their house aswell but I'm a bit worried about the whole situation.

1. I'm from a visa exempt country so I can theoretically stay up to twelve months in Canada as a visitor/tourist, when I enter Canada what should I tell border patrol and would they let me in if I intend to stay for such an extended stay?

2. Since we will be living together in my future in laws' house we will most likely not have much paper work with both our names on it (besides a joint bank account) my thought has been to prove that our relationship is genuine by providing letters of family members/friends, pictures of us in various ocassions, photo copies of plane tickets etc would this be enough?

Thank you in advance

 

[starnaenae]

I think the stay is 6 months, not 12. Visa exempt or not. Id doublt check this. We had to ask for a visitor extension. And even still after the 12 months to establish common law you would beed to extend your stay. You dont get status just because youre applying for pr unless youre applying inland and include an open work permit. During those 12 months you are not allowed to work either.

You can get a cellphone added to her bill or something. There are ways around it

 

[Buletruck]

Not quite that simple. You will only be allowed 6 month stay in Canada. You can apply for an extension before the 6 month expires, but that isn't guaranteed. Actually, neither is the 6 months. If you show up at a POE looking like you plan to move to Canada, chances are you'll be refused entry if they think you aren't just a visitor. You'll also need to provide proof you can support yourself during that time without working. You would be advised to get travel insurance as you won't have health coverage while you are here. And you won't be allowed to work.
You can have her parents draft a rental agreement for the two of you. A life insurance policy would also act as proof. You'll need to complete the one year cohabitation for common law or get married before you can consider applying.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

2. Since we will be living together in my future in laws' house we will most likely not have much paper work with both our names on it (besides a joint bank account) my thought has been to prove that our relationship is genuine by providing letters of family members/friends, pictures of us in various ocassions, photo copies of plane tickets etc would this be enough?

Proving a genuine relationship is completely different than proving common-law. Letters/pictures/etc. are not common-law proofs. You need solid proof that you have lived at the same address for at least a year.