Hi everyone,
My partner and I have been living together for a year on February 1st, but I'm also leaving the country that day because I'm on visitor record and have to leave Canada before or by then. I wonder if that is going to be a problem at all considering that a) I'm leaving pretty much all my stuff in our apartment even though I don't know when I'm gonna be able to live with him again and b) I wouldn't be leaving this exact day if I had a choice and I am just doing what I was told by an immigration officer. We're going to apply for outland common law under family class.
So, here's the complicated part: proving that we lived together, continuously, for those 12 months. My boyfriend is the sponsor and I moved in with him a month after we met in person because I was pretty much living with him already (he didn't want to deal with my roommates) and I was supposed to leave later that month anyway, so we arranged things that way and it worked great.
The problem is that he never had a lease for the apartment in first place and all utilities are included in his rent, so there's literally no documentation related to that except for separate mail we receive under the same address. I didn't set up a bank account or needed to get anything in the mail until March and I don't really get much in the mail in general.
We also don't have joint bank accounts because it was never necessary. I had little to no income for the past year, didn't contribute financially at all for the most part so it's not even that we could considerate it.
However, we have a good relationship with our landlord and neighbours. His close friends and family and also my close friends and family know that we've been together since then and the circumstances, but other than letters from all these people, we have no idea what other proof to provide. Realistically, how can we improve our chances of not getting our application refused based on not being able to prove that we lived together for a full year?
My partner and I have been living together for a year on February 1st, but I'm also leaving the country that day because I'm on visitor record and have to leave Canada before or by then. I wonder if that is going to be a problem at all considering that a) I'm leaving pretty much all my stuff in our apartment even though I don't know when I'm gonna be able to live with him again and b) I wouldn't be leaving this exact day if I had a choice and I am just doing what I was told by an immigration officer. We're going to apply for outland common law under family class.
So, here's the complicated part: proving that we lived together, continuously, for those 12 months. My boyfriend is the sponsor and I moved in with him a month after we met in person because I was pretty much living with him already (he didn't want to deal with my roommates) and I was supposed to leave later that month anyway, so we arranged things that way and it worked great.
The problem is that he never had a lease for the apartment in first place and all utilities are included in his rent, so there's literally no documentation related to that except for separate mail we receive under the same address. I didn't set up a bank account or needed to get anything in the mail until March and I don't really get much in the mail in general.
We also don't have joint bank accounts because it was never necessary. I had little to no income for the past year, didn't contribute financially at all for the most part so it's not even that we could considerate it.
However, we have a good relationship with our landlord and neighbours. His close friends and family and also my close friends and family know that we've been together since then and the circumstances, but other than letters from all these people, we have no idea what other proof to provide. Realistically, how can we improve our chances of not getting our application refused based on not being able to prove that we lived together for a full year?