Almost ready to file... Can someone help check? Common law

[SarauiCanada]

Hi,

I am from new Zealand. I met my partner online in 2015 and came here 2016. I've retained legal status and stayed here ever since then. My IEC expires August 2019. We are about to file just wondering if our stuff is sufficient..

- in my job I have no benefits so I can't list him as beneficiary.

-my partner ONLY got his full time job related to his education in 2018 October, so we moved together to London Ontario from Toronto.. He will have benefits and i am his beneficiary.

-we do not own a car so there's no beneficiary or insurance there....

-neither of us have life insurance as we feel that it's a scam given our age (20s)

-signed lease with partner's mother in 2016( free stay just do chores ) until we moved out in March 2018.. We have lease forms from there.from landlords.

-have 20 photos of us,, all random get together. Although we really did more in 2018 than 2016 and 2017 as we didn't have good jobs and I didn't have IEC until late 2017. Hoping that's explainable.

-have joint bank account since 2017 may and he dissolved his old bank account and we only use the joint bank with joint credit cards

-filed taxes as common law for 2017, albeit not much (I only got $15 in return. . Lol)

-will get some signed letters from his mother and aunt (father not present ) and my side of family and i suffered abuse so I cut them off years ago and I'm fully independent. Is that fine ? Also letters from friends...im thinking have them attach photos of their license with it just to be better ..

-in October 2016 I left Ontario for 30 days to take care of my partners grandfather who was hit by a car and was in hospital. I took care of her as my partner worked(min wage.) should I get his family to clarify that too? Since I'm not sure if that's a break in common law but it's now been two years in total so I'm not sure if we should clarify ?

We live together so do we need to send chat logs of how we met online ..? We lost skype but managed to transfer the word data convo between us so it's on a word pad... But I think we'd drive the officer insane if we sent all of it in and we also do live together now ...

Does social media count ? If not I don't know if I'd like to include that ...

Is there anything I'm missing ? The more the merrier and I'd appreciate the help please ! Thank you.

I'm just stressed as we have way more vacations and dates and even a trip to Alberta but all done in 2018. I hope officers won't be suspicious that we didn't do as much back then but I'm hoping that if we explain that I didn't work back then and he had a minimum wage job (was looking for a job related to his field of study and couldn't find one until now ) I'm hoping that's fine.....? :/

I'm applying inland as I have a very decent job and I hope owp won't be declined. In total I had visitor status which was changed to IEC (IEC app listed my partner as common law already as it was late 2017).

 

[SarauiCanada]

One thing I forgot to mention... The chat logs will never end. However since we met online do we have to send in chat logs between us from 2015 until 2016 when I came to show how we established relationship? The chat logs there are probably over 1000 pages so I'm hoping to not drive any officers insane .

 

[Xipijeta]

One thing I forgot to mention... The chat logs will never end. However since we met online do we have to send in chat logs between us from 2015 until 2016 when I came to show how we established relationship? The chat logs there are probably over 1000 pages so I'm hoping to not drive any officers insane .

I believe the new rule is 10 maximum pages of letters, emails, social media ect. I cropped 10 pages of our messenger conversation since i wasnt able to download all of it. They dont need to see your whole convo i dont believe its a deal breaker so i wouldnt stress to much about that. Good luck

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi,

I am from new Zealand. I met my partner online in 2015 and came here 2016. I've retained legal status and stayed here ever since then. My IEC expires August 2019. We are about to file just wondering if our stuff is sufficient..

- in my job I have no benefits so I can't list him as beneficiary.

-my partner ONLY got his full time job related to his education in 2018 October, so we moved together to London Ontario from Toronto.. He will have benefits and i am his beneficiary.

-we do not own a car so there's no beneficiary or insurance there....

-neither of us have life insurance as we feel that it's a scam given our age (20s)

-signed lease with partner's mother in 2016( free stay just do chores ) until we moved out in March 2018.. We have lease forms from there.from landlords.

-have 20 photos of us,, all random get together. Although we really did more in 2018 than 2016 and 2017 as we didn't have good jobs and I didn't have IEC until late 2017. Hoping that's explainable.

-have joint bank account since 2017 may and he dissolved his old bank account and we only use the joint bank with joint credit cards

-filed taxes as common law for 2017, albeit not much (I only got $15 in return. . Lol)

-will get some signed letters from his mother and aunt (father not present ) and my side of family and i suffered abuse so I cut them off years ago and I'm fully independent. Is that fine ? Also letters from friends...im thinking have them attach photos of their license with it just to be better ..

-in October 2016 I left Ontario for 30 days to take care of my partners grandfather who was hit by a car and was in hospital. I took care of her as my partner worked(min wage.) should I get his family to clarify that too? Since I'm not sure if that's a break in common law but it's now been two years in total so I'm not sure if we should clarify ?

We live together so do we need to send chat logs of how we met online ..? We lost skype but managed to transfer the word data convo between us so it's on a word pad... But I think we'd drive the officer insane if we sent all of it in and we also do live together now ...

Does social media count ? If not I don't know if I'd like to include that ...

Is there anything I'm missing ? The more the merrier and I'd appreciate the help please ! Thank you.

I'm just stressed as we have way more vacations and dates and even a trip to Alberta but all done in 2018. I hope officers won't be suspicious that we didn't do as much back then but I'm hoping that if we explain that I didn't work back then and he had a minimum wage job (was looking for a job related to his field of study and couldn't find one until now ) I'm hoping that's fine.....? :/

I'm applying inland as I have a very decent job and I hope owp won't be declined. In total I had visitor status which was changed to IEC (IEC app listed my partner as common law already as it was late 2017).

Hi

Don't send chats. The checklist is clear that such communication proofs are for couples not living together.

From what you've listed, your only common-law proofs are the rental agreements and the bank statements, which is pretty thin. What other proofs do you have?

No need to explain the October trip, as you have one year of cohabitation since then.

 

[SarauiCanada]

Hi

Don't send chats. The checklist is clear that such communication proofs are for couples not living together.

From what you've listed, your only common-law proofs are the rental agreements and the bank statements, which is pretty thin. What other proofs do you have?

No need to explain the October trip, as you have one year of cohabitation since then.

Hi, we have photos. . Can you clarify what helps? We filed taxes in 2017 as common law too. I'm just not sure what I should be looking at. My IEC insurance has the address with his mother,, and some random bills. Living there throughout 2016- 2018 for free with his mother, we have had no bills to pay but she can vouch for that because I wasn't authorized to work and he worked minimum wage so we really hustled to save up more than anything. We are going to do stat declaration for common law too but can you advise of anything else people usually submit? I'm just really nervous and maybe I missed something... I can send in a copy of our phone bills with bank showing it comes out from same credit card every month ? As I didn't have a sin until September so I didn't get a plan with Virgin Mobile until early this year but both of them have the same address. We have 4 driver's licenses showing same address (moved around quite a bit as we had issues with landlords after moving out of his mother's house). Please if there's anything else official that people usually submit can you let me know? I might be so nervous that I'm forgetting something ... But I don't know what....

 

[SarauiCanada]

We also both have paystubs that both show our allocated addresses since I believe 2017? (when I started working as well ). Is there anything else? Right now we pay rent and hydro which is under our name and we have an internet plan under our name since Aug 2018 (again we didn't move out until March and we moved again for Aug as the first landlord sold his house ) and status has been common law on CRA since 2017 and our t4 is both the same address

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi, we have photos. . Can you clarify what helps? We filed taxes in 2017 as common law too. I'm just not sure what I should be looking at. My IEC insurance has the address with his mother,, and some random bills. Living there throughout 2016- 2018 for free with his mother, we have had no bills to pay but she can vouch for that because I wasn't authorized to work and he worked minimum wage so we really hustled to save up more than anything. We are going to do stat declaration for common law too but can you advise of anything else people usually submit? I'm just really nervous and maybe I missed something... I can send in a copy of our phone bills with bank showing it comes out from same credit card every month ? As I didn't have a sin until September so I didn't get a plan with Virgin Mobile until early this year but both of them have the same address. We have 4 driver's licenses showing same address (moved around quite a bit as we had issues with landlords after moving out of his mother's house). Please if there's anything else official that people usually submit can you let me know? I might be so nervous that I'm forgetting something ... But I don't know what....

Photos are relationship proofs. Common-law proofs are what show the one year of continuous cohabitation, i.e. mail, payslips, bills, your insurance, shipping receipts, your IDs etc. over at least a one year period. What proof options did you choose for that section the checklist?

 

[SarauiCanada]

Photos are relationship proofs. Common-law proofs are what show the one year of continuous cohabitation, i.e. mail, payslips, bills, your insurance, shipping receipts, your IDs etc. over at least a one year period. What proof options did you choose for that section the checklist?

So my IEC insurance has him as my beneficiary from I think last year around October (don't remember will have to dig ). We have some mail, mine mostly from Kingston for license coming in. Both him and I have payslips sent to our same address since I believe November 2017 and even now as well. We already filed our taxes like I said for 2017 under common law and we are sending all four licenses (I imagine they would discard the old ones as they're invalid now anyways). For phone bills we've always had two lines we've used but unfortunately both were under his name until earlier this year as Virgin Mobile wouldn't let me change it over to my name as I had "no credit" and no ID which was annoying as heck. The lease with his mother started in 2016 and ended in 2018 March where we signed leases with other landlords and had some mail coming in through there but the problem is it's this year that had the most activity .... We still will not be able to get any car insurance with me as beneficiary as he is under his mother's and using her vehicle to help make things cheaper for us. We were hoping that the span of things coming in wasnt so slow as it's spread out and mostly from this year.. Is this insufficient ? What should we do? I don't want to lose my job here and my IEC ends later 2019. He has added me to his new work insurance now that he has a proper job, however that's only from December 2018.:/
Thank you

 

[SarauiCanada]

The last resort for us is to get married.... But I do feel like that may be suspicious to marry and apply right away? We can only do a civil wedding and go to the courthouse, no white dress and no champagne as we've always wanted to save up for something big way later when we are more comfortable. But that's our final resort and I worry that path would be more suspicious as we'd be applying right after. :/

 

[canuck_in_uk]

So my IEC insurance has him as my beneficiary from I think last year around October (don't remember will have to dig ). We have some mail, mine mostly from Kingston for license coming in. Both him and I have payslips sent to our same address since I believe November 2017 and even now as well. We already filed our taxes like I said for 2017 under common law and we are sending all four licenses (I imagine they would discard the old ones as they're invalid now anyways). For phone bills we've always had two lines we've used but unfortunately both were under his name until earlier this year as Virgin Mobile wouldn't let me change it over to my name as I had "no credit" and no ID which was annoying as heck. The lease with his mother started in 2016 and ended in 2018 March where we signed leases with other landlords and had some mail coming in through there but the problem is it's this year that had the most activity .... We still will not be able to get any car insurance with me as beneficiary as he is under his mother's and using her vehicle to help make things cheaper for us. We were hoping that the span of things coming in wasnt so slow as it's spread out and mostly from this year.. Is this insufficient ? What should we do? I don't want to lose my job here and my IEC ends later 2019. He has added me to his new work insurance now that he has a proper job, however that's only from December 2018.:/
Thank you

What options did you tick off in the checklist and what are you including for each?

 

[SarauiCanada]

What options did you tick off in the checklist and what are you including for each?

Hi, I'm so sorry for me being unclear... I meant that when we were almost ready that I almost got everything together to start the application (which I know will take a bit and I'm ok with) what checklist did you mean? I'm completely new and unaware of everything but I will be looking into everything soon. I just hope that I have other ways to prove cohabitation and/or do the application and I hope you'll have some tips or guides for me.

Thank you so much @canuck_in_uk I know you're busy and I'm sorry for all the questions.

 

[SarauiCanada]

Sorry to add to this. I'm just extremely stressed because initially I thought proofs spanning over 2016-2018 gradually was okay. I had no idea it all had to be from 2016-2017 and that our cohab stuff from this year wouldn't be as valid as previous years.. We were extremely frugal until this year due to jobs and now I'm afraid the officer won't think it's a legitimate reason and will reject us based on not enough proof of cohab...

 

[np08]

Hi, I'm so sorry for me being unclear... I meant that when we were almost ready that I almost got everything together to start the application (which I know will take a bit and I'm ok with) what checklist did you mean? I'm completely new and unaware of everything but I will be looking into everything soon. I just hope that I have other ways to prove cohabitation and/or do the application and I hope you'll have some tips or guides for me.

Thank you so much @canuck_in_uk I know you're busy and I'm sorry for all the questions.

THE checklist - the one that tells you all the forms and all the different documents and types of proof you need to include. The checklist that goes on the top of your application package.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp?

Fill the little questionnaire and get your application package (they can differ based on where people are from) and then go through the checklist and see what you have. Canuck was specifically asking about which things you can check off in the cohabitation proof part of the checklist.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi, I'm so sorry for me being unclear... I meant that when we were almost ready that I almost got everything together to start the application (which I know will take a bit and I'm ok with) what checklist did you mean? I'm completely new and unaware of everything but I will be looking into everything soon. I just hope that I have other ways to prove cohabitation and/or do the application and I hope you'll have some tips or guides for me.

Thank you so much @canuck_in_uk I know you're busy and I'm sorry for all the questions.

I suggest that you go through the application package and get familiar with everything now. The checklist is very clear on required proofs.

Sorry to add to this. I'm just extremely stressed because initially I thought proofs spanning over 2016-2018 gradually was okay. I had no idea it all had to be from 2016-2017 and that our cohab stuff from this year wouldn't be as valid as previous years.. We were extremely frugal until this year due to jobs and now I'm afraid the officer won't think it's a legitimate reason and will reject us based on not enough proof of cohab...

It doesn't have to all be from 2016-2017. Proofs from this year are just as valid. You need to show at least one continuous year of cohabitation, whether it was 2016-2017 or this past year. The problem was that your initial post only listed the rental agreements and bank statements, which is not really sufficient, regardless of the time period they cover.

Review the app and the checklist. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5289-sponsor-your-spouse-common-law-partner-conjugal-partner-dependent-child-complete-guide.html

 

[kaur1172]

I suggest that you go through the application package and get familiar with everything now. The checklist is very clear on required proofs.



It doesn't have to all be from 2016-2017. Proofs from this year are just as valid. You need to show at least one continuous year of cohabitation, whether it was 2016-2017 or this past year. The problem was that your initial post only listed the rental agreements and bank statements, which is not really sufficient, regardless of the time period they cover.

Review the app and the checklist. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5289-sponsor-your-spouse-common-law-partner-conjugal-partner-dependent-child-complete-guide.html

Hi,

I sincerely appreciate your time and effort. I would like to get your thought on my case

we are living together since aug 2020 and had individual bank accounts.

After marriage May 2021, we got a joint account and hydro account in my name
(before I was the only account holder for hydro and phones)
-after getting a driving license in Feb 2021, We have common vehicle insurance as well
-have a rental agreement since Aug 2020 (before the wedding)
-have a letter where he has listed a beneficiary under my work benefits after the wedding.

Along with these proofs(vehicle insurance, rental agreement, and beneficiary coverage,)
Is beneficial to add each person's bank sttaements to the same address before marriage happened to prove longer cohabitation

Thank you