Hi everyone!
Thanks for all the great info on here, it's already been a huge help!
So to summarise our situation: I am French, my boyfriend is Irish, I moved to Ireland when I was 17 (in 2012) to attend university there and that's how we met. I was just accepted into a PhD programme in Canada, they will pay me to do the programme and it will take 5 years to complete. Obviously I would like to bring my boyfriend with me and he would like to work while we are in Canada. But I don't have a good sense of how hard this will be and how likely we are to be rejected.
From what I understand the visa option that makes the most sense would be a joint application - me for a study permit (international student visa), and him for an open work permit as my common-law partner.
As this is a huge daunting process for me I would love some advice and feedback on our application!
In particular I have the following questions:
1. How to prove we are common-law?
(For a brief history of our relationship: we started dating in Nov. 2012, we moved in together (but with 3 other housemates!) in summer 2013, then I lived in Belgium between Sept 2014-Sept 2015 in order to complete a student internship (we visited each other every other month or so), when I came back to Ireland I moved back into our houseshare, we all lived there for another year and a half or so and in January 2017 the two of us moved out and into a one-bedroom apartment with just the two of us! So now we've been living together "just the two of us" for just over a year but we've lived together before that with other housemates for about 2.5 non-consecutive years.
Is the official start of our common-law partnership when we moved with the other roommates in 2013? Or when we moved just the two of us in 2017? And how do I explain this and which leases/ etc to include?
So far I am thinking of submitting the following documents:
- Letter of explanation giving a brief history of our relationship
- Lease for our current place, signed by the two of us in Jan 2017
- Various bills/bank statements which only have 1 of us named but show we have the same address
- Internet bill which has both our names on it
- Statutory declaration signed by notary public
- Plane tickets from when we visited each other when I was in Belgium
- Pictures from us on vacation, at my sister's wedding where boyfriend was in the family pics, etc.
- Maybe letters from our parents/ family friends saying we are a permanent couple?
- Maybe an explanation of why we aren't married (don't have a concrete reason tbh we'll prob get married when I finish PhD but not right now)?
2. How to prove we can support ourselves financially?
So far I am thinking of including:
- Offer letter from the university which states they will pay me XX,XXXCAD/year for five years
- Letter from my boyfriend's employer to show he's employed in his home country (implication being he'll be able to find work in Canada)
- Statements from my boyfriend's savings account which show he has XX,XXX€ in the bank so he can supplement my income while looking for work in Canada if needed
3. How to prove we won't overstay our welcome?
I was thinking of explaining in the letter of explanation that my boyfriend's Dad owns a small organic farm which my boyfriend helps with on the weekends and will eventually inherit so we are planning to go back to Ireland once my 5 years of PhD are up. Also was planning on explaining that he has a good permanent public service job to go back to, and that I have strong ties to my home university and want to work there when I am done with my PhD. In reality we don't really know where we'll go as it's five years from now which is a long time so it's hard to answer this question, but we don't intend to stay in Canada so far. Maybe I could also explain that I chose Canada because it has a really good PhD I want to attend but I don't have any reason to stay there once I graduate?
What do you guys think - do we have a chance? Am I missing important documents I should be including? Will it be a problem that we're asking them to let us in for five whole years? I've never done anything like this before and I'm really nervous.
The application doesn't actually ask for any personal letters, photos, or anything like that - but everyone on here seems to be including them and since we don't have joint accounts or life insurance policies (mostly because we're young and broke) I'm grasping at straws a bit here lol.
Thanks in advance for any help, advice, feedback....
Thanks for all the great info on here, it's already been a huge help!
So to summarise our situation: I am French, my boyfriend is Irish, I moved to Ireland when I was 17 (in 2012) to attend university there and that's how we met. I was just accepted into a PhD programme in Canada, they will pay me to do the programme and it will take 5 years to complete. Obviously I would like to bring my boyfriend with me and he would like to work while we are in Canada. But I don't have a good sense of how hard this will be and how likely we are to be rejected.
From what I understand the visa option that makes the most sense would be a joint application - me for a study permit (international student visa), and him for an open work permit as my common-law partner.
As this is a huge daunting process for me I would love some advice and feedback on our application!
In particular I have the following questions:
1. How to prove we are common-law?
(For a brief history of our relationship: we started dating in Nov. 2012, we moved in together (but with 3 other housemates!) in summer 2013, then I lived in Belgium between Sept 2014-Sept 2015 in order to complete a student internship (we visited each other every other month or so), when I came back to Ireland I moved back into our houseshare, we all lived there for another year and a half or so and in January 2017 the two of us moved out and into a one-bedroom apartment with just the two of us! So now we've been living together "just the two of us" for just over a year but we've lived together before that with other housemates for about 2.5 non-consecutive years.
Is the official start of our common-law partnership when we moved with the other roommates in 2013? Or when we moved just the two of us in 2017? And how do I explain this and which leases/ etc to include?
So far I am thinking of submitting the following documents:
- Letter of explanation giving a brief history of our relationship
- Lease for our current place, signed by the two of us in Jan 2017
- Various bills/bank statements which only have 1 of us named but show we have the same address
- Internet bill which has both our names on it
- Statutory declaration signed by notary public
- Plane tickets from when we visited each other when I was in Belgium
- Pictures from us on vacation, at my sister's wedding where boyfriend was in the family pics, etc.
- Maybe letters from our parents/ family friends saying we are a permanent couple?
- Maybe an explanation of why we aren't married (don't have a concrete reason tbh we'll prob get married when I finish PhD but not right now)?
2. How to prove we can support ourselves financially?
So far I am thinking of including:
- Offer letter from the university which states they will pay me XX,XXXCAD/year for five years
- Letter from my boyfriend's employer to show he's employed in his home country (implication being he'll be able to find work in Canada)
- Statements from my boyfriend's savings account which show he has XX,XXX€ in the bank so he can supplement my income while looking for work in Canada if needed
3. How to prove we won't overstay our welcome?
I was thinking of explaining in the letter of explanation that my boyfriend's Dad owns a small organic farm which my boyfriend helps with on the weekends and will eventually inherit so we are planning to go back to Ireland once my 5 years of PhD are up. Also was planning on explaining that he has a good permanent public service job to go back to, and that I have strong ties to my home university and want to work there when I am done with my PhD. In reality we don't really know where we'll go as it's five years from now which is a long time so it's hard to answer this question, but we don't intend to stay in Canada so far. Maybe I could also explain that I chose Canada because it has a really good PhD I want to attend but I don't have any reason to stay there once I graduate?
What do you guys think - do we have a chance? Am I missing important documents I should be including? Will it be a problem that we're asking them to let us in for five whole years? I've never done anything like this before and I'm really nervous.
The application doesn't actually ask for any personal letters, photos, or anything like that - but everyone on here seems to be including them and since we don't have joint accounts or life insurance policies (mostly because we're young and broke) I'm grasping at straws a bit here lol.
Thanks in advance for any help, advice, feedback....
