Common Law Partner - eligibility to sponsor

[andrewvarghese]

Hi everyone, would really appreciate some expert feedback on my situation below.

My friend and I went to university together in UK. My friend's program began in September 2014 and mine in October 2014, for which my friend reached the UK first and moved into private university accomodation booked through the university website. The accomodation was a 7 bedroom house offering student accomodation for many years.

Based on positive feedback received from my friend, I too decided to move into the same accomodation a month later.

My friend and I began dating sometime in October 2015 while we were living in the university accomodation. Our rental agreements and reference letters with the accomodation provider were separate for separate rooms and bank statements also show separate rental payments.

I applied for my Canadian Permanent Residency in November 2015, did a soft landing in March 2016 and returned to the UK as I had a job there and had been recently promoted to a senior role. I declared myself as single throughout the process. The address on my application was my university accomodation.

Me and my partner decided to get our own place to live in together January 2016 (I had already received my PR confirmation by then and was yet to do a soft landing). From January 2016 is when we had a shared lease and bills and were living in the same room (this time it was the entire house) for a continuous period of 2 years - although we hadn't completed 12 months of living under a common lease when I did my soft landing

I moved to Canada in 2019 and given the COVID situation in the UK now, I have been thinking of bringing my partner in through sponsorship.
My questions are -

1. Am I ineligible to sponsor my partner because I declared myself as single in my application? Is there a difference between dating and common-law in this situation?
2. By definition, we would have become common-law in January 2018 (1 year of a continuous shared lease). However, would I need to explain myself that we weren't common-law before this period because our address history would be the same before (university accomodation was the same address). Are there any documents that would make our case strong in case any questions are raised?
3. Is it better for my partner to apply independently and given the current processing times, what option is safer and faster?

Any guidance and feedback would be very helpful.

 

[steaky]

1) Probably.
2) Get a lawyer and get some legal advice
3) Yes

 

[armoured]

I applied for my Canadian Permanent Residency in November 2015, did a soft landing in March 2016 and returned to the UK as I had a job there and had been recently promoted to a senior role. I declared myself as single throughout the process. The address on my application was my university accomodation.

Me and my partner decided to get our own place to live in together January 2017 (I had already received my PR confirmation by then and was yet to do a soft landing).
...
1. Am I ineligible to sponsor my partner because I declared myself as single in my application? Is there a difference between dating and common-law in this situation?

Any guidance and feedback would be very helpful.

Guidance and feedback: no-one can tell you much that is useful while your information has outright contradictions about when you landed (soft or not), and you can be clear about what you mean when you say things like 'PR confirmation.' I don't understand your dates here at all, because they make no sense.

In relatively simple terms: if you were common law at the time you first landed in Canada with a confirmation of permanent residence document, you would be ineligible to sponsor your spouse in future - the documentation you received clearly indicated you MUST advise IRCC of change of family circumstances.

There is a somewhat more complex question - in fact and in IRCC interpretation - of when your period of cohabitation began. Yes, you could certainly argue that joint housing with a number of other tenants and rooms with individual leases does not constitute such cohabitation. IRCC could examine that and disagree.

In my personal opinion, a lawyer might be well placed to make this distinction clear (with reference to basic concepts of law and IRCC practice) and you should consider (if the dates actually make sense, which I can't tell from above).

And given the potential consequences of making inadvertent errors (like making a complete hash of dates and the meaning of words as you have above), you might be well advised to do so.

 

[canuck78]

Hi everyone, would really appreciate some expert feedback on my situation below.

My friend and I went to university together in UK. My friend's program began in September 2014 and mine in October 2014, for which my friend reached the UK first and moved into private university accomodation booked through the university website. The accomodation was a 7 bedroom house offering student accomodation for many years.

Based on positive feedback received from my friend, I too decided to move into the same accomodation a month later.

My friend and I began dating sometime in January 2016 while we were living in the university accomodation. Our rental agreements and reference letters with the accomodation provider were separate for separate rooms and bank statements also show separate rental payments.

I applied for my Canadian Permanent Residency in November 2015, did a soft landing in March 2016 and returned to the UK as I had a job there and had been recently promoted to a senior role. I declared myself as single throughout the process. The address on my application was my university accomodation.

Me and my partner decided to get our own place to live in together January 2017 (I had already received my PR confirmation by then and was yet to do a soft landing). From January 2017 is when we had a shared lease and bills and were living in the same room (this time it was the entire house) for a continuous period of 2 years - although we hadn't completed 12 months of living under a common lease when I did my soft landing

I moved to Canada in 2019 and given the COVID situation in the UK now, I have been thinking of bringing my partner in through sponsorship.
My questions are -

1. Am I ineligible to sponsor my partner because I declared myself as single in my application? Is there a difference between dating and common-law in this situation?
2. By definition, we would have become common-law in January 2018 (1 year of a continuous shared lease). However, would I need to explain myself that we weren't common-law before this period because our address history would be the same before (university accomodation was the same address). Are there any documents that would make our case strong in case any questions are raised?
3. Is it better for my partner to apply independently and given the current processing times, what option is safer and faster?

Any guidance and feedback would be very helpful.

We have seen applications go both ways. Some have been considered common law where as others have fought and overcome the living together in a communal setting. Get a lawyer. Have you been declaring yourself as common law sincr you entered Canada on documents like tax returns, insurance, etc. That could also be an issue. The fact that you applied to immigrate to Canada and then moved to Canada without him in early 2019 means that you have been apart for some time and did not sponsor him. There could be concerns about whether the relationship continued throughout this whole period.

 

[andrewvarghese]

Guidance and feedback: no-one can tell you much that is useful while your information has outright contradictions about when you landed (soft or not), and you can be clear about what you mean when you say things like 'PR confirmation.' I don't understand your dates here at all, because they make no sense.

And given the potential consequences of making inadvertent errors (like making a complete hash of dates and the meaning of words as you have above), you might be well advised to do so.

Good pick up. Thanks @armoured for pointing out the dates. Fixed now.

 

[andrewvarghese]

We have seen applications go both ways. Some have been considered common law where as others have fought and overcome the living together in a communal setting. Get a lawyer. Have you been declaring yourself as common law sincr you entered Canada on documents like tax returns, insurance, etc. That could also be an issue. The fact that you applied to immigrate to Canada and then moved to Canada without him in early 2019 means that you have been apart for some time and did not sponsor him. There could be concerns about whether the relationship continued throughout this whole period.

Hi @canuck78 thank you for your reply and that's a valuable suggestion on hiring a lawyer.

We discovered the concept of common-law only recently when we began to explore options to reunite due to Covid 19 and therefore I haven't had my partner on my tax returns or any other documents here (already speaking with accountants to revise submissions made in the past). We come from a country where it is either single, dating or marriage and the concept of common-law is new to us, however we respect the fact that we need to adhere to Canadian laws.

We definitely do not want to complicate matters or even intend to misrepresent. Would it be better if my partner applies independently for permanent residence without me sponsoring? We will of course declare we are common law in my partners application. Would that impact my PR status?

The facts in front of me are:

1. Common address during our time at university, different rooms, different rental agreements, separate rental payments for 15 months, during the time which I applied for my residency.

2. Common address, joint lease in both our names and rental payments from my account after I became a permanent resident in 2016 and till 2019. No other bills or a joint bank account, so I am unsure if this documentation would be enough to prove we were common-law. Worried if we do go down the sponsorship route by proving we began cohabiting only from 2016, would the documentation suffice.

I've also received inputs from members in my inbox that getting married could be a solution. But this does not change the fact that we were common-law earlier so I am unsure.

Thanks again.

 

[armoured]

1. Common address during our time at university, different rooms, different rental agreements, separate rental payments for 15 months, during the time which I applied for my residency.

2. Common address, joint lease in both our names and rental payments from my account after I became a permanent resident in 2016 and till 2019. No other bills or a joint bank account, so I am unsure if this documentation would be enough to prove we were common-law. Worried if we do go down the sponsorship route by proving we began cohabiting only from 2016, would the documentation suffice.

I've also received inputs from members in my inbox that getting married could be a solution. But this does not change the fact that we were common-law earlier so I am unsure.

From my reading of your facts but personal opinion of course:
1) You would not have qualified as common law before you landed in Canada - you didn't have a joint household long enough (based on the joint student housing with separate mostly-everything not being the same as a joint household);
2) You did live together long enough afterwards to qualify.

BUT: the top priority for you should be avoiding having IRCC determine that in fact you were common law before you landed in March 2016.

And that - 1) above - is dependent on preventing credible and solid facts that you did not have a joint household but just resided in the same building. It sounds to me reasonable but not being convincing here might be a challenge. But obviously there is some judgment involved here, and others could interpret it differently. (Side note that there's a bit of a catch-22 here, in that it's not necessarily treated symmetrically; I think if you'd tried to present this as common law, it would be seen as a weak case.)

Showing you were common law afterwards is a bit easier (if your documentation is good). You will have to show other relationship evidence, of course. And some aspects (administrative) might have to be dealt with.

Given the critical aspect of convincing IRCC that you were not common law at the relevant point - and phrasing this in rock-solid terms - is when the question of a lawyer becomes relevant. I don't think that this is necessarily that hard a point to make convincingly, but the consequences of slip-ups or misapprehensions are rather severe.

Marriage: I don't think getting married resolves the question of were-you-common-law-before-landing. But it does render partially moot and less relevant the question of whether you were common law later, as long as the relationship is otherwise convincing.

With both the lawyer and marriage option, they may help your case get handled more quickly by removing some of the ambiguity and making it more straigthforward.

 

[andrewvarghese]

From my reading of your facts but personal opinion of course:
1) You would not have qualified as common law before you landed in Canada - you didn't have a joint household long enough (based on the joint student housing with separate mostly-everything not being the same as a joint household);
2) You did live together long enough afterwards to qualify.

BUT: the top priority for you should be avoiding having IRCC determine that in fact you were common law before you landed in March 2016.

And that - 1) above - is dependent on preventing credible and solid facts that you did not have a joint household but just resided in the same building. It sounds to me reasonable but not being convincing here might be a challenge. But obviously there is some judgment involved here, and others could interpret it differently. (Side note that there's a bit of a catch-22 here, in that it's not necessarily treated symmetrically; I think if you'd tried to present this as common law, it would be seen as a weak case.)

Showing you were common law afterwards is a bit easier (if your documentation is good). You will have to show other relationship evidence, of course. And some aspects (administrative) might have to be dealt with.

Given the critical aspect of convincing IRCC that you were not common law at the relevant point - and phrasing this in rock-solid terms - is when the question of a lawyer becomes relevant. I don't think that this is necessarily that hard a point to make convincingly, but the consequences of slip-ups or misapprehensions are rather severe.

Marriage: I don't think getting married resolves the question of were-you-common-law-before-landing. But it does render partially moot and less relevant the question of whether you were common law later, as long as the relationship is otherwise convincing.

With both the lawyer and marriage option, they may help your case get handled more quickly by removing some of the ambiguity and making it more straigthforward.

Thank you once again @armoured

I am indeed reaching out to lawyers to make a solid case and accumulate all relevant paperwork for sponsorship.

At this stage, considering no application work has been filed, would it be better for my partner to apply independently?

 

[armoured]

Thank you once again @armoured

I am indeed reaching out to lawyers to make a solid case and accumulate all relevant paperwork for sponsorship.

At this stage, considering no application work has been filed, would it be better for my partner to apply independently?

I think it comes down more to how good your partner's file is independently, i.e. whether seems to qualify, and I do not follow those immigration streams much nor how they are being processed right now.

One small note: there's no problem with filing two parallel apps in different streams (as far as IRCC is concerned). In worst case scenario, the common law issue does not make your partner inadmissible, but ineligible to be sponsored by you.

Don't wish to give advice, honestly. I think I've made my opinion clear, that (assuming the facts are as you stated and documentation there) it seems straightforward enough, IF presented with sufficient care to the terms in IRCC usage. But the uncertainty is why you would speak to a professional (and hopefully a good one would not wind it up to be more than it is).

 

[andrewvarghese]

I think it comes down more to how good your partner's file is independently, i.e. whether seems to qualify, and I do not follow those immigration streams much nor how they are being processed right now.

One small note: there's no problem with filing two parallel apps in different streams (as far as IRCC is concerned). In worst case scenario, the common law issue does not make your partner inadmissible, but ineligible to be sponsored by you.

Don't wish to give advice, honestly. I think I've made my opinion clear, that (assuming the facts are as you stated and documentation there) it seems straightforward enough, IF presented with sufficient care to the terms in IRCC usage. But the uncertainty is why you would speak to a professional (and hopefully a good one would not wind it up to be more than it is).

Thank you @armoured and appreciate the feedback. On the face of it, yes, my partner does seem to qualify for independent residency and we are willing to wait it out given the current processing timelines.

I have also just realised that in April 2015, I travelled alone out of the UK for almost a month (3.5 weeks to be exact). I did return to the shared university accomodation after