Adding common-law partner after COPR - Declaring to IRCC and supporting documents

[AG-PPR2020]

Hello. My partner and I recently passed the 1 year of living together and became common-law partners under the CIC rule. I currently have a COPR valid through Dec 2021 but I understand that I need to declare my common-law union using the IRCC webform and have the COPR cancelled until my partner's file will be processed. I have a question for folks with similar experience: What documents do I need to submit when declaring my status change to IRCC? Do I need to submit the full list of documents noted by IRCC here for relationship assessment upfront while declaring via webform? Could I submit some of these (for example letters from family/friends) at a later date?
Thank you in advance for your insights!

 

[isabell.L]

I do not have Copr yet, but I had added my husband after I did my Medical exam.
What I did was my agent raised a webform to IRCC regarding my marriage, attach with my husband's passport and our marriage certificate and ask them for a document list. then they sent me a document list, anyways, below is my list for your reference,

IMM0008
SCHEDULE A
IMM5562
IMM5406
PASSPORT PHOTOS
COPY OF PASSPORT
POLICE CERTIFICATE
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
FEE & CSQ(if your are in QC)
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE ( Since you're common law, I think you will need to provide other proofs.)

And he just submitted his medical exam last month.

Hope it helps. good luck!

 

[AG-PPR2020]

I do not have Copr yet, but I had added my husband after I did my Medical exam.
What I did was my agent raised a webform to IRCC regarding my marriage, attach with my husband's passport and our marriage certificate and ask them for a document list. then they sent me a document list, anyways, below is my list for your reference,

IMM0008
SCHEDULE A
IMM5562
IMM5406
PASSPORT PHOTOS
COPY OF PASSPORT
POLICE CERTIFICATE
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
FEE & CSQ(if your are in QC)
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE ( Since you're common law, I think you will need to provide other proofs.)

And he just submitted his medical exam last month.

Hope it helps. good luck!

Thank you very much for sharing!

 

[isabell.L]

Thank you very much for sharing!

No problem, just one more thing,
I would strongly recommend your partner to apply for the police certificate asap,
, cos they are currently in high demand and it took us 2 months to get it from RCMP, if you do it ahead it will save you a lot of time.

 

[AG-PPR2020]

No problem, just one more thing,
I would strongly recommend your partner to apply for the police certificate asap,
, cos they are currently in high demand and it took us 2 months to get it from RCMP, if you do it ahead it will save you a lot of time.

Thanks for noting. We are outland currently residing in the US but my partner would need to get a police certificate from his home country as well. How much time did IRCC give you for submitting the documents?

 

[isabell.L]

Thanks for noting. We are outland currently residing in the US but my partner would need to get a police certificate from his home country as well. How much time did IRCC give you for submitting the documents?

60 days

 

[AG-PPR2020]

60 days

Thanks!

 

[asimhafeez19]

Thanks!

Hello I am in a similar situation, got my copr cancelled and now in process of adding my spouse in my application. You will need police cert from all the countries he has lived in since the age of 18.

 

[AG-PPR2020]

Hello I am in a similar situation, got my copr cancelled and now in process of adding my spouse in my application. You will need police cert from all the countries he has lived in since the age of 18.

Thank you for the info. Did they give you 30 days or 60 days for uploading the documents?

 

[asimhafeez19]

Thank you for the info. Did they give you 30 days or 60 days for uploading the documents?

Its on VO's discretion. Did you raise a webform and informed them?

 

[AG-PPR2020]

Its on VO's discretion. Did you raise a webform and informed them?

helpful to know-thanks.
Not yet - trying to put in a police cert request from my partner's home country first (they might take at least a couple of months to issue)

 

[ShaneD]

Hello. My partner and I recently passed the 1 year of living together and became common-law partners under the CIC rule. I currently have a COPR valid through Dec 2021 but I understand that I need to declare my common-law union using the IRCC webform and have the COPR cancelled until my partner's file will be processed. I have a question for folks with similar experience: What documents do I need to submit when declaring my status change to IRCC? Do I need to submit the full list of documents noted by IRCC here for relationship assessment upfront while declaring via webform? Could I submit some of these (for example letters from family/friends) at a later date?
Thank you in advance for your insights!

Hi, I'm in a similar situation, my COPR was issued in July 2020 and I completed 1 year living of together with my partner in November 2020. I informed about this to IRCC in Feb 2021(wasn't aware until then that a partner can be added after COPR), but still they haven't reviewed the decision to add my partner. I'm thinking whether I should submit some relationship proof upfront to speed up the process. What have you submitted up to now in lieu of a marriage certificate and have you had any updates since then? Thank you!

 

[AG-PPR2020]

Hi, I'm in a similar situation, my COPR was issued in July 2020 and I completed 1 year living of together with my partner in November 2020. I informed about this to IRCC in Feb 2021(wasn't aware until then that a partner can be added after COPR), but still they haven't reviewed the decision to add my partner. I'm thinking whether I should submit some relationship proof upfront to speed up the process. What have you submitted up to now in lieu of a marriage certificate and have you had any updates since then? Thank you!

Hi there -thanks for sharing your experience. Did you inform them via webform? did they ever get back to you/ask for your partner's documents?

We haven't informed IRCC yet but we will soon and I am planning to include a copy of our 1+year old apt lease with our names, our shared renter's insurance and both our driver licenses that shows the same address along with the webform declaration. You can find the full list of documents that IRCC needs for assessing the relationship between common-law partners here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-relationship.html

 

[ShaneD]

Hi there -thanks for sharing your experience. Did you inform them via webform? did they ever get back to you/ask for your partner's documents?

We haven't informed IRCC yet but we will soon and I am planning to include a copy of our 1+year old apt lease with our names, our shared renter's insurance and both our driver licenses that shows the same address along with the webform declaration. You can find the full list of documents that IRCC needs for assessing the relationship between common-law partners here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-relationship.html

Hi, thank you so much for your quick response. I informed the Canadian High Commission in Colombo via an email. They currently have my application. Initially they responded saying that after COPR you can't add a partner. But after getting back to them with more evidence from forums like this, they said they would review it an get back to me. Meanwhile I submitted the joint lease agreement, some joint financial evidence. But they still did not get back to me or send any document request. I didn't send a lot of evidence thinking I'll submit altogether once they request, but now I'm wondering whether I should.

But I have seen people who married and informed after me get document+meds/bio requests for their partners from other offices. I guess it all depends on the processing office.

 

[AG-PPR2020]

Hi, thank you so much for your quick response. I informed the Canadian High Commission in Colombo via an email. They currently have my application. Initially they responded saying that after COPR you can't add a partner. But after getting back to them with more evidence from forums like this, they said they would review it an get back to me. Meanwhile I submitted the joint lease agreement, some joint financial evidence. But they still did not get back to me or send any document request. I didn't send a lot of evidence thinking I'll submit altogether once they request, but now I'm wondering whether I should.

But I have seen people who married and informed after me get document+meds/bio requests for their partners from other offices. I guess it all depends on the processing office.

I see. My file was processed in Ottawa so I don't have experience communicating with local embassies or commissions but from other posts seems like their offices have been slow due to COVID: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/adding-spouse-after-copr.608022/page-12 I would recommend following up until they get back to you with the list of documents they need! I hope you hear back soon!

I will post updates here if they get back to me once I declare.