after 9 months of waiting, it's still so disappointing and discouraging

[jaune]

I thought I was going to receive AIP and work permit soon but today I got a letter from CIC saying that the evidence we had sent to them isn't enough to prove that we had a 1-year common law relationship prior to the application.

It's unbelievable for me because I already got the letter from CIC asking me to proceed with MICC. I even got CSQ (Certificat de selection du Quebec), I thought everything would be going smoothly from then on because CIC is supposed to invite the applicant to proceed with Quebec when we are deemed eligible to obtain PR, however, with this letter, aren't things going backwards? I'm so frustrated and disappointed...

They asked us more proof for the period of Sept 2008-2009. But we already sent them everything necessary:

from Sept-Oct 2008 We were travelling together and we sent the passport pages with all the stamps of the countries where we were.

from Oct 2008- Apr 2009 We were living at my partner's (sponsor) mothers home and we sent a solemn letter written by his mother proving that we have lived together at her place for 6 months.

from May 2009- sept 2009 We are living together in the apartment where we live right now and sent the lease co-signed by my partner and myself!

On top of that, we have made 4 solemn letters and 2 normal letters from friends who knew about our relationship and of course photos at different stages.

Since we are not married and we don'T have any joint bank account or insurance, I don'T know what else I could send....I really thought what I sent was already convincing....I didn't only send proof starting from Sept 2009 but since the day we were together which is back to Dec 2007!

I am really questioning what went wrong? Is there any possibility that they missed out some of the proof we sent?

 

[lynw]

jaune, that's awful for you... did you send photos, sentimental stuff.....? Or perhaps like you say something just got lost along the way?

 

[iarblue]

Looks like someone has the dates wrong,could you have put a wrong year on something by mistake or are they reading the wrong date?And why are they going back to Sept of 08?What was the date you applied?

 

[minna]

maybe you can send them a letter documenting your travels, and include another copy of those pages of your passport, and other things like hotel receipts, boarding passes etc. Maybe they don't consider your visa stamps to be sufficient on their own - like, maybe they need proof that you were together not merely entering and leaving the same countries at the same time? Perhaps your credit card records might help you here? Depends, I guess on where you were traveling.

just an idea!

 

[jaune]

Looks like someone has the dates wrong,could you have put a wrong year on something by mistake or are they reading the wrong date?And why are they going back to Sept of 08?What was the date you applied?

They want proof starting from Sept 2008, because I sent in the application in Sept 2009, that's exactly the 1 year they need.

 

[iarblue]

Ok well then i guess they need more proof,or they missed something.Email them fax them exactly what you posted here,ask them what else they would like,its obvious they want more proof,common-law is a tough class to be in as you have to prove every month with no gaps so if there is a gap of 2 weeks they want to know why,and did you send them proof of living with the inlaws?As that in itself is hard to prove as anyones family would do this for their child so maybe thats the part they are questioning,as you have no proof of this no bills no rent bills etc.

 

[maxvol]

I think if you had showen them joint bank accounts and also proof of life insurance by having your name on his life insurance and vice versa perhaps your case would be more stronger. Just my 2 cents. Because for a IO assessing your case they look for 1 year of co-habitation, from what you are saying it seems you lived on and off at different places with your partner. Hope this helps

 

[jaune]

I think if you had showen them joint bank accounts and also proof of life insurance by having your name on his life insurance and vice versa perhaps your case would be more stronger. Just my 2 cents. Because for a IO assessing your case they look for 1 year of co-habitation, from what you are saying it seems you lived on and off at different places with your partner. Hope this helps

1 year of co-habitation doesn't mean 1 year of living together AT THE SAME PLACE right? We have always lived together at difference places, we were not living together on and off.

We don't have joint back account because I am not eligible to open any bank accounts in Canada as long as I am not a PR.
My partner and I don't have life insurance either...

Since we didn't plan to make a PR application like this, we didn't keep any of the bus tickets or entry tickets, receipts of our travel etc in sept -oct 2008- this is frustrating, all what we have is the VISA stamps and photos of these countries which we already sent them...!

Since we are frequent travellers, we are not the kind of people who keep everything, receipts, tickets and stuff, I think people would only do that when they have planned beforehand to make an application, no?!

 

[sgnv]

We don't have joint back account because I am not eligible to open any bank accounts in Canada as long as I am not a PR.
My partner and I don't have life insurance either...

Go to the bank with your common-law partner and request to open an account with his name as primary account holder. My boyfriend and I did this before we sent all the paperwork to CIC. Of course you can open a bank account in Canada without being a PR, the bank is gonna ask for your passport and another official ID and that's it, as long as the primary account holder is a Canadian Citizen/Resident.

I opened my personal bank account and even got a credit card with a Canadian Bank 5 years ago as a visitor/student and I still have it.

Also, I'd recommend you that you and your common-law partner go and sign a Statutory Declaration of Common-Law, find any Notary Public, bring your ID's, fill out the necessary form(s) and afterwards send this official paper to CIC.

Good Luck!

 

[jaune]

Go to the bank with your common-law partner and request to open an account with his name as primary account holder. My boyfriend and I did this before we sent all the paperwork to CIC. Of course you can open a bank account in Canada without being a PR, the bank is gonna ask for your passport and another official ID and that's it, as long as the primary account holder is a Canadian Citizen/Resident.

I opened my personal bank account and even got a credit card with a Canadian Bank 5 years ago as a visitor/student and I still have it.

Also, I'd recommend you that you and your common-law partner go and sign a Statutory Declaration of Common-Law, find any Notary Public, bring your ID's, fill out the necessary form(s) and afterwards send this official paper to CIC.

Good Luck!

Well, it's too late to open a bank account now, what they want is a proof of common law relationship during that time, not right now...

And I DID send a statutory declaration of common-law, plus one solemn letter from my partner's friend signed by a lawyer, another 2 solemn letters signed in front of a commissioner of oath!

I think our problem is- we didn't plan to make such application beforehand, we didn't keep any evidence of our being together...but maybe, as Iarblue says, we separated for 2 weeks twice due to travel reasons during that 1 year period, that's why they are not satisfied...

 

[Asta]

when i went to TD bank and asked if i can open bank account i was told that i cant do that if i dont have any canadian document as ID. so i dunno. maybe it depends on a bank?
can u make joint bank account from old husband's account? like just putting my name after his?


Jaune, sorry to hear that, at least they ask more proof and not send ur papers to local office without AIP for interview which u would have to wait for around a year or so.
actually im hoping that they would ask me for more proof instead of interview. cause interviews are nasty with nasty interviewers. as far as i have read here. im feeling that i didnt put enough proof.

maybe u should put more lovey-dovey proof if u have. that u would proof ur LOVE relationship. any gifts or cards? letters, snail mail letters between u two? lovely chats and so on..?

wish u best of luck and im waiting for my own verdict..

 

[minna]

well, if you don't have receipts what about credit cards bills. you should be able to get credit card statements back that far. Perhaps the places you stayed would have records of your stay. You might call and ask. Airlines also should be able to give you records of past tickets. When I go to Air Canada, for instance, it has a record of all the trips I have booked online with them since I've been a mileage club member. It's not like you're talking about a long time ago, perhaps other airlines will still have records of you being passengers together on their computers that they can release to you. Did you sign any guestbooks together? What about people you met along the way? Did you send emails to family and friends about your travels? Did either of you keep a journal or diary during that time? Did you have travellers insurance at all? All of these could be used as proof of your travels together, I would think. I'm just brainstorming ideas.

I think your problem is that you were traveling together for the time you claimed to be living together. Although you may have been together, and in a committed relationship, I think this is much harder to prove as a marriage-like relationship as there are not the day-to-day commitments and bills and payments made together. Probably if you are able to scrape together as much proof as possible of your joint travel plans, that will help the IO come to the decision you want. They didn't outright reject your application, so that is a glimmer of hope, now it is up to you and your partner to provide enough proof for them.

 

[jaune]

Thank you for all your replies.

I think I will just give them whatever I can think of as additional information then, it's true that we must have emails, and some other little things...hopefully all little things come together would become a strong evidence!

However, I am wondering if they would strictly consider the period which is 1 year prior to my application sent (from Sept 2008-Sept 2009) only. Since it is clear that we have still been living together from sept 2009 till now, I wonder if it would be useful to send proof of our CURRENT situation? In fact, only the rental lease of the apartment where we are living shows that we have been living together for 14 months now, but apparently, a jointly signed lease isn't enough to satisfy them.

 

[plumosa]

when i went to TD bank and asked if i can open bank account i was told that i cant do that if i dont have any canadian document as ID. so i dunno. maybe it depends on a bank?
can u make joint bank account from old husband's account? like just putting my name after his?

I have an account at TD and they were able to open it with just a copy of my visitor's record. I also had my CSQ (Quebec Selection Certificate) but he didn't end up using it (he actually said he had never seen one before)

My visitor's record was good for 6 months and that was enough for them! Maybe try again?

 

[canadianwoman]

It sounds like they don't believe you were together in September 2008 while you were traveling, or that they just don't have enough proof of that. Try getting what Minna suggested for that time period.