What can I do?

[KBH]

I honestly can’t even fathom why they’re questioning anything! My package was the epitome of perfect... I sent emergency insurance showing I live here and he paid for it, we sent letters from both of our families and friends, I’ve extended my stay twice with this address and signed letters from my hubby stating that he is responsible for my care...

We have ZERO red flags, we have two kids together...

Here's the thing about common-law... they aren't questioning the legitimacy of your relationship. It's not about red flags. To be eligible to sponsor a spouse in the common-law class, you must have lived together consecutively for 12 months, that is the sole thing that makes you eligible to be sponsored. That being the case, they must be absolutely certain that you have been living at the same address for that period of time. Most people applying common-law do actually have something like a joint lease, joint bills, joint bank account showing the same address. So the fact that your application was missing all this means, as far as common-law applications go, it definitely was not perfect. (I say this from an educational perspective, not trying to criticize at all).

The MOST important part of the common-law proofs is the actual proof of cohabitation from a renting/owning perspective. Whether that's a joint lease; a letter from the landlord; a letter from parents if you are living with parents; whatever. So I think if you can provide a letter from the landlord, it would greatly help your case. In their eyes I am sure that is a key piece of evidence that is missing.

 

[Elanigana]

We tried. The landlord is a company. So they won’t write a letter.

If you've been in Canada two years, do you have a Canadian ID with his address on it?
Cell phone bill w/ his address?
If he's renting and you're not on the lease, get a letter from the landlord stating you have been living there.

Our cell phone is a family plan. Because it was cheaper. We sent them that.

No canadian ID, just my visitor record, which we sent.

The landlord is a company, they refused to write letter.

The lady who lives above us is the Vice President of the condo association for our condos... I’m going to ask her to write a letter.

I don’t know what else I can do.

We’re sending our bank account- which we got after we applied... a receipt from our tax lady who filed our taxes two years in row..

We’re sending the records from my sons hospital visits... he’s in the hospital every couple weeks for high 106 fevers...

I don’t know what else we can send.

If we get denied, we will marry and apply again.

 

[Elanigana]

Here's the thing about common-law... they aren't questioning the legitimacy of your relationship. It's not about red flags. To be eligible to sponsor a spouse in the common-law class, you must have lived together consecutively for 12 months, that is the sole thing that makes you eligible to be sponsored. That being the case, they must be absolutely certain that you have been living at the same address for that period of time. Most people applying common-law do actually have something like a joint lease, joint bills, joint bank account showing the same address. So the fact that your application was missing all this means, as far as common-law applications go, it definitely was not perfect. (I say this from an educational perspective, not trying to criticize at all).

The MOST important part of the common-law proofs is the actual proof of cohabitation from a renting/owning perspective. Whether that's a joint lease; a letter from the landlord; a letter from parents if you are living with parents; whatever. So I think if you can provide a letter from the landlord, it would greatly help your case. In their eyes I am sure that is a key piece of evidence that is missing.

I understand this and I get that we’re missing a key piece of information.

It doesn’t make the blow any easier to deal with.

I’ve been in Canada for two years almost ( September) and I can’t prove it. It sucks.

Right now I’m just trying to find a way to remedy and move on. If that means we get denied, get married and reapply, then so be it.

I really just want to make sure that my family isn’t broken apart for too long. We have two young kids ( 2 & 3) who wont understand why daddy is in another country..

 

[np08]

I understand this and I get that we’re missing a key piece of information.

It doesn’t make the blow any easier to deal with.

I’ve been in Canada for two years almost ( September) and I can’t prove it. It sucks.

Right now I’m just trying to find a way to remedy and move on. If that means we get denied, get married and reapply, then so be it.

I really just want to make sure that my family isn’t broken apart for too long. We have two young kids ( 2 & 3) who wont understand why daddy is in another country..

Can I ask why you didn't get married in the first place? Common law is harder to prove and given that you guys have kids and all, wasn't it logical to just have a quick ceremony so that you don't have the headache of proving cohabitation? Especially when you realized you didn't have any of the usual documents they request, which must have happened before you applied (when you were putting everything together)?

Was there any barrier to getting married? Like if one of you was divorcing someone else or something like that?

 

[Elanigana]

Can I ask why you didn't get married in the first place? Common law is harder to prove and given that you guys have kids and all, wasn't it logical to just have a quick ceremony so that you don't have the headache of proving cohabitation? Especially when you realized you didn't have any of the usual documents they request, which must have happened before you applied (when you were putting everything together)?

Was there any barrier to getting married? Like if one of you was divorcing someone else or something like that?

My dad died two months before I came here. Our daughter was born right after his passing. At the time- we were going to have my boyfriend move to the states- but then life flipped upside down and we decided on Canada.

We didn’t get married because we thought it would send a red flag. Coming here, getting married and applying... so we decided to do common-law since we had almost lived together a full year... so we waited until we had been here a full year and applied common law.

Now I’m hindsite we should have gotten married...

And now we will and reapply..

 

[np08]

My dad died two months before I came here. Our daughter was born right after his passing. At the time- we were going to have my boyfriend move to the states- but then life flipped upside down and we decided on Canada.

We didn’t get married because we thought it would send a red flag. Coming here, getting married and applying... so we decided to do common-law since we had almost lived together a full year... so we waited until we had been here a full year and applied common law.

Now I’m hindsite we should have gotten married...

And now we will and reapply..

I'm sorry for your loss and the difficult situation all around.

And yes, I've noticed a lot of people on the forum who come in and ask for advice tend to think it's a red flag to get married like that, but it's really not. People will literally travel to Canada or any other country for a week, just to get married and then go home and apply outland. That in itself is never a red flag in long distance relationships that tend to be between people from different countries, not to mention continents. Same goes for having a small ceremony or not having your family there, anything like that. They get all of it and it's easy to explain in a separate letter.

Good luck and you should have no issues with a spousal app, especially given that you have kids. You're on a visitor status? Did you also apply for a work permit? Either way, if you apply inland, keep in mind you can also get a work permit so you don't have to be unemployed while the application is being processed.

 

[Elanigana]

I'm sorry for your loss and the difficult situation all around.

And yes, I've noticed a lot of people on the forum who come in and ask for advice tend to think it's a red flag to get married like that, but it's really not. People will literally travel to Canada or any other country for a week, just to get married and then go home and apply outland. That in itself is never a red flag in long distance relationships that tend to be between people from different countries, not to mention continents. Same goes for having a small ceremony or not having your family there, anything like that. They get all of it and it's easy to explain in a separate letter.

Good luck and you should have no issues with a spousal app, especially given that you have kids. You're on a visitor status? Did you also apply for a work permit? Either way, if you apply inland, keep in mind you can also get a work permit so you don't have to be unemployed while the application is being processed.

I’m on a visitor record and have approval to stay on a visitor record until March 2019.

I guess we will just reapply after getting married if this falls through.

 

[np08]

I’m on a visitor record and have approval to stay on a visitor record until March 2019.

I guess we will just reapply after getting married if this falls through.

If you apply inland and put in an application for your work permit before your status expires, I don't see a reason why you'd have to separate your kids from their dad at all (unless, of course, you need to keep working in the US or something like that.) On the other hand, given that you're American, your outland app would probably be very fast, especially in a case with kids, so it might even be better to go down that route.

That's something you'll have to figure out, but I have no doubt your spousal app will go well. Plus, the common law one is still on going and I would definitely try and send a final letter of explanation with detailed info on why you don't have any additional documents that they've requested. You really don't have anything to lose, might as well give it a go.

 

[noonnabi]

My dad died two months before I came here. Our daughter was born right after his passing. At the time- we were going to have my boyfriend move to the states- but then life flipped upside down and we decided on Canada.

We didn’t get married because we thought it would send a red flag. Coming here, getting married and applying... so we decided to do common-law since we had almost lived together a full year... so we waited until we had been here a full year and applied common law.

Now I’m hindsite we should have gotten married...

And now we will and reapply..

In the nicest way possible, if you knew you intended to apply for common-law (and presumably knew the requirements there), why didn't you make more of an effort to create/gather proof of cohabitation? For instance, you probably could have asked for your name to be added to the lease and to some joint bills/accounts, etc. I'm not sure how you can describe your application as "the epitome of perfect" given that it lacks many of the components of a standard application package.

 

[Elanigana]

If you apply inland and put in an application for your work permit before your status expires, I don't see a reason why you'd have to separate your kids from their dad at all (unless, of course, you need to keep working in the US or something like that.) On the other hand, given that you're American, your outland app would probably be very fast, especially in a case with kids, so it might even be better to go down that route.

That's something you'll have to figure out, but I have no doubt your spousal app will go well. Plus, the common law one is still on going and I would definitely try and send a final letter of explanation with detailed info on why you don't have any additional documents that they've requested. You really don't have anything to lose, might as well give it a go.

Yes. We’re definitely going to send a letter and see if we can get the landlord to write something.

 

[Elanigana]

In the nicest way possible, if you knew you intended to apply for common-law (and presumably knew the requirements there), why didn't you make more of an effort to create/gather proof of cohabitation? For instance, you probably could have asked for your name to be added to the lease and to some joint bills/accounts, etc. I'm not sure how you can describe your application as "the epitome of perfect" given that it lacks many of the components of a standard application package.

We had other proofs of cohabitation. We sent my emergency insurance that we paid for, we have taxes, we had stuff from his work showing my living here for insurance benefits. Our family phone plan. Many letters from friends and family. Facebook screenshots / picture screen shots / location screenshots.

The only thing we didn’t have was a lease / utilities!

We did reach out to the landlord. It’s a company and they would not add me to the lease without an SIN and background check. I don’t have a SIN

 

[Elanigana]

We had other proofs of cohabitation. We sent my emergency insurance that we paid for, we have taxes, we had stuff from his work showing my living here for insurance benefits. Our family phone plan. Many letters from friends and family. Facebook screenshots / picture screen shots / location screenshots.

The only thing we didn’t have was a lease / utilities!

We did reach out to the landlord. It’s a company and they would not add me to the lease without an SIN and background check. I don’t have a SIN

We’re reaching out again to see if they will at least write a letter stating that I’ve lived here- even though I’m not on the lease.

 

[Elanigana]

At this point: I just want to know how we either remedy this, or reapply.

When / If they send us a denial can we get married and reapply right away?

Will we be considered red flag after getting a denial for common-law app?

 

[marilamb]

At this point: I just want to know how we either remedy this, or reapply.

When / If they send us a denial can we get married and reapply right away?

Will we be considered red flag after getting a denial for common-law app?

From what I know of, if you apply when married using inland app you will still need the same proof. Would you apply outland?

 

[KBH]

From what I know of, if you apply when married using inland app you will still need the same proof. Would you apply outland?

No, they would not need the same proof. They would only need to prove that they were currently cohabiting, not that they had been living together for at least 12 months.