My common law struggle

[CanadianGirl593]

I'm struggling to prove my common law relationship because I keep being told different things and it's frustrating. I've made multiple forums to get answer to stuff since it's hard to get a straight answer and I've been making forums and trying to get things in order since August 2018. But I'll explain my situation in the most detail I can so hopefully I can figure things out and apply for common law sponsorship like planned.

So my boyfriend came to visit me in Canada for the first time in May 2018. Our plan was just for him to visit since we have never met in person before even though we were together for 2 years. He couldn't come before cause of school and the reason why I couldn't go there is a bit more complicated. He was given 6 months to be here but in August 2018 he decided that he wanted to stay with me in Canada longer so we started looking into visitor extensions and common law sponsorship. We applied for a 1 year extension and it got approved and now we're trying to get our common law stuff. We're struggling to prove our cohabitation because we couldn't do anything before the extension got approved because the bank wouldn't let us open an account without him having a visitor status of 1 year. We don't have any bills because we live with my parents. Practically everything we need to prove cohabitation we're unable to get. It's a deep struggle because we want to be together. We officially will be living together for 1 year in May. So if we can we will apply for common law after that.

But here's a list of what we do have:

- A letter from my parents stating we live with them and they financially support us.

- We have mail from December with his name and my address on it.

- His extension has my address on it.

- We have the 20 photos.

- My parents are writing us a support letter and we're going to ask our mutual friend for one. We're getting them notarized.

- We're going to sign a statuary declaration for common law union and get it notarized.

- We're opening up a joint bank account sometime this week and will have joint credit cards for that account.

- We have receipts from gifts we bought each other.

- Messages from our long distance relationship.

- We have his plane ticket and boarding pass. We're hoping that counts as proof for the start of our cohabitation.

- I'm changing my CRA status from single to common law in May.

- Him and I are going to write personal letters about our relationship.

So yeah, that's everything we have. But we also have my invitation letter that I wrote to help him enter Canada. He did show it to the border security and they did phone my mom to confirm the letter. So I'm hoping that's on their records. And we also have a letter that I wrote for his extension saying he will continue living with my parents and I. My mom co-signed the extension letter. Would we be able to use these two letters for proof of cohabitation?

Anyways any help for our situation will be greatly appreciated. Or if you have a suggestion of something else we could go for instead of sponsorship so my boyfriend can continue staying with me, that would be great.

 

[CitizenSoon]

Does he get any letters from his parents, siblings, other relatives or friends? These letters do not need to be notarized as far as I know from the most recent guide.
Do you have any receipts for dinners and tickets for cinema or so?

 

[Hurlabrick]

IMHO at this precise moment your case isn't 'rock solid', but then neither is it so thin that it is not worth putting it in. I would say that if you will have excellent proof by May 2019 or 1 year continuous cohabitation, personally, I would suggest you wait until then.

Of course you could always get married and problem solved......

 

[CanadianGirl593]

Does he get any letters from his parents, siblings, other relatives or friends? These letters do not need to be notarized as far as I know from the most recent guide.
Do you have any receipts for dinners and tickets for cinema or so?

His sister sent him a package during Christmas but there's no return address on it, there's just my address, but there's an international postal sticker on it. We haven't gone out for dinner or the cinema together. We usually go out with my family and do stuff. We've done stuff like go to the pumpkin patch, ice skating, mini golf, laser tag and stuff along those lines.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

IMHO at this precise moment your case isn't 'rock solid', but then neither is it so thin that it is not worth putting it in. I would say that if you will have excellent proof by May 2019 or 1 year continuous cohabitation, personally, I would suggest you wait until then.

Of course you could always get married and problem solved......

If we were to apply for another extension we probably would be able to get better proof, like our bank account would be 1 year old if we got another extension, but we fear that if we ask for a second extension we may get declined.

For marriage you still have to prove cohabitation. I've looked into it, unless I've missed something.

 

[Addus]

If we were to apply for another extension we probably would be able to get better proof, like our bank account would be 1 year old if we got another extension, but we fear that if we ask for a second extension we may get declined.

For marriage you still have to prove cohabitation. I've looked into it, unless I've missed something.

For marriage you only need to prove you are cohabiting right now. Showing some history is good but the 1 year requirement doesn’t exist.

 

[CitizenSoon]

You may look into the following, if you are interested in submitting more supporting documents.

I gathered the following information from a few posts from some forums. I am not quit sure which of the following supporting documents are very necessary. If someone can evaluate them one by one, it will be very helpful. Like very necessary, nice to have or do not include.

- Mail delivered to both of you, going to same address.

- Evidence of shared purchases (especially of household items).

- Important documents for both of you showing the same address.

- drivers license.

- Obtaining a state hunting and/or fishing license

- Getting a local library card.

- memberships to local organizations and clubs

- A registration card or document

- Registration with Service in the province.

- A certificate of residency from CRA

- Provincial and federal income tax returns

- Cellphone contract.

- Change status with CRA from single to common-law.

- bank account

- Power of authority on each other bank accounts

- friends letters (Statutory declarations)
The statutory declaration should include name and full address of the person who writes it. The people have to write who they are and how they know you, when they both met you and where. And then they have to confirm that you are common-law partners (not boyfriend and girlfriend), that you live together and your relationship is genuine and ongoing
from: https://britishexpats.com/forum/immigration-citizenship-canada-33/spousal-west-europe-information-guides-737129/#post9705980

- common law letter (Statutory declaration)

- phone bill or letter

- joint account for internet

- fingerprint showing same address

- Letters of support from parents.

- Personal letters (from each the applicant and sponsor).

- Proof of travel together.

- general or partial authorization for each other

- Photos of relationship.

- Evidence showing how you stayed in touch when doing long distance.

- medical exam or general check up showing same address

- Correspondence / letters with the translator showing same address

- translation of birth certificate/ translation of fingerprints

- Wills listing each other as the beneficiary

- Medical instructions granting decision-making power to the other person (such as a living will)

- If your job provides additional benefits, then the other person listed as your spouse/partner and covered under your benefits plan

- Emergency contact or family contact information at your job

- Any Bills to confirm address and sharing expenses

- Online shops Bills

- Money exchange Bill

- Clinic Bills

- Hospital Bills

- Wireless service provider letter showing name and address

- bank statement

- credit card statement

- bank transfers from his parents to your account like gifts, for support or so

- Statements for shared bank accounts.

- CRA letter for both of you showing same address, visitor may get individual tax number (please check)

- birth certificate as government document

- letters between him and his embassy

- joint private health insurance

- letters about the "history of our relationship"

- T4's and Notice of Assessment for the last two years

- explanation letter for documents we couldn't provide

- joint cat adoption document

- printout of every pay stub to show same address

- printout of every wireless bills to show same address

- printout of every joint land line phone to show same address

- A co-ownership agreement of a car or anything

- add in phone account as authorized contact.

- Powers of attorney

- Ikea / Costco Joint family Account

- Amazon Prime family membership email

- postcard from landlord, birthday cards from my mom, his sister.

- Letter he wrote to my mom asking her to let me visit him in Canada for first time

- 3 postcards sent to each other.

- Copy of Benefits plan from XX employer, showing YY as common-law spouse, dependent for health benefits

- 100% primary beneficiary for life insurance

- Letter from ZZ (XX's mother) as character witness to our common-law relationship (1 page)

- credit card Authorized User like shared credit cards (a second card for an authorized person who can be a visitor or not)
When a primary cardholder adds someone else to an existing credit card account, giving them permission to make purchases and manage other account features, that added person is called an authorized user. They get their own card but aren't responsible for payments. The primary cardholder gets the monthly statements and makes all the payments. But if those payments are made on time each month and the primary cardholder has good credit, an authorized user can build their own credit simply by being added to the account.

- Prove of payment for trips, outings

- Some screens of Skype.

- Few screens of Facebook, that show we are in relationships

- Letter to us from Hospital Foundation, Food Bank, or so, where we volunteered.

In other cases, the following can be in useful

- rental lease shared.
the property management company (on their letterhead) confirming that the owner [showing her full name] does in fact own the property [shown at the following address].

- a letter from the property management company (on their letterhead) confirming that the owner [showing her full name] does in fact own the property [shown at the following address].

- Tenant insurance.

- Letter from landlord attesting you were living together.

- Shared rental receipts.

- Proof of shared management of household expenses.

 

[shalenabennie]

You dont quaify for common law until you have lived together for 12 months,so you can't apply until at least may. You need to to be able to show that you will be able to support him for the length of the undertaking which is either 3 or 5 years, I can't remember

 

[Peanut butter and jelly]

My partner and I applied under the common law category having lived together for four years. I was very stressed about the amount of proof we presented because we didn’t really have much, all companies in NS had both of us as account holders bc we shared the same address but all of them could just include one name on the bill. We put our app together in 4 weeks and as proof of relationship and cohabitation this is what we submitted:
*Photocopy of lease just showing our names, date of move in and signatures. Since you live with your parents they can write such a letter, it’s been done before I read it several times.
*Car registration on both our names
*Car insurance (the letter came under his name because he pays for it but the policy shows both our names so I submitted both pages, first one used as proof of financial support)
*Drivers licenses
*Letter from my parents, his mom, his cousin, our neighbor, and my classmate
*Statutory declaration of common law
*Statutory declaration of my neighbor saying we’ve never separated and lived together since 2014
*Receipt of plane ticket
*14 pictures
*Receipt of a B and B we stayed at showing both our names
*Receipt for the VR console I got him and Facebook screenshot of him using it saying I got it for him
*10 pages of Facebook posts showing more pictures, checked in places and comments of family and friends
*Photocopy of handwritten holidays card from the SPCA where we volunteered addressed to both of us
*Cover letter (2 pages) written by my partner explaining how we met, why we moved in together so soon and how he’d support me as we were both students. He said we both would look for jobs, that I had savings and my parents would support us. My parents confirmed this on their letter.
*T4 slips for both of us, different years (we hadn’t declared common law to the CRA at the time of submitting the application)
*3 bills for the power company in different months on his name, phone bill on my name (1 for the month we applied because I never changed my address)
*Booking confirmation for wonderland on his name showing both our names
*History of e transfers going back to 2015

 

[shalenabennie]

Good luck with your app!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

For marriage you only need to prove you are cohabiting right now. Showing some history is good but the 1 year requirement doesn’t exist.

There is no cohabitation requirement at all when married.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

You dont quaify for common law until you have lived together for 12 months,so you can't apply until at least may. Being the sponsor, YOU and YOU alone would be financially responsible for him Not your parents. You need to to be able to show that you will be able to support him for the length of the undertaking which is either 3 or 5 years, I can't remember

Parental financial support is perfectly acceptable.

 

[Addus]

There is no cohabitation requirement at all when married.

I assumed they would be applying inland for the OWP but I realize the OP didn’t actually mention that. You do have to cohabit for that right?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I assumed they would be applying inland for the OWP but I realize the OP didn’t actually mention that. You do have to cohabit for that right?

Yes, inland requires that couples be cohabiting. This applies to both married and common-law. There is no separate requirement for married people to be living together.

 

[shalenabennie]

Parental financial support is perfectly acceptable.

Wouldn't the parents be required to co - sign then? How would they show that they were able to support themselves,when they dont support themselves?