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Alberta laws about common law?

jvid23

Star Member
Nov 30, 2016
100
1
My boyfriend and i are just about to move from BC to Alberta and start our 1 year of living together before applying for a common law visa for me (Im swedish and he is Canadian). He just stumbled upom this while going through his school papers
http://www.commonlawrelationships.ca/alberta/

I have been a bit stressed out as we have been together amd lived together for a year but don't have enough proof of it for an application yet, and i am running out of visas here haha. But it looks like you might not need as much proof to apply in alberta?
just about to head to work so havent had time to look in to it, figured i'd post it here first and do some digging when i get home!

thanks!
 

CDNPR2014

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Mar 1, 2016
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you are applying for PR through the federal gov't, not provincial, so IRCC follows the federal guidelines for commonlaw relationships. This requires proof of cohabitation for 365+ consecutive days. Alberta's threshold for commonlaw status does not apply to spousal sponsorship applications and shouldn't be a factor in proving your commonlaw status for PR approval.

There are no separate guidelines for those planning to live in Alberta. The only province that has different guidelines for spousal sponsorship applications is Quebec. Even then, it's only a matter of additional paperwork, not about proving anything relationship wise.
 

Rob_TO

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jvid23 said:
My boyfriend and i are just about to move from BC to Alberta and start our 1 year of living together before applying for a common law visa for me (Im swedish and he is Canadian). He just stumbled upom this while going through his school papers
http://www.commonlawrelationships.ca/alberta/

I have been a bit stressed out as we have been together amd lived together for a year but don't have enough proof of it for an application yet, and i am running out of visas here haha. But it looks like you might not need as much proof to apply in alberta?
just about to head to work so havent had time to look in to it, figured i'd post it here first and do some digging when i get home!

thanks!
Common-law is always 1 year of cohabitation for immigration and tax purposes, no matter what province you're living in.

It's only for family law matters (like dividing assets upon separation, support payments, etc) that the provincial rules apply (like when some provinces require 3 years cohabitation).
 

Aquakitty

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Mar 21, 2011
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jvid23 said:
My boyfriend and i are just about to move from BC to Alberta and start our 1 year of living together before applying for a common law visa for me (Im swedish and he is Canadian). He just stumbled upom this while going through his school papers
http://www.commonlawrelationships.ca/alberta/

I have been a bit stressed out as we have been together amd lived together for a year but don't have enough proof of it for an application yet, and i am running out of visas here haha. But it looks like you might not need as much proof to apply in alberta?
just about to head to work so havent had time to look in to it, figured i'd post it here first and do some digging when i get home!

thanks!
Carefully read the spousal sponsorship checklist. It outlines the proof you need. Ignore the Alberta requirements.
 

methyl

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Feb 1, 2016
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If you've already been living in BC for some time, don't forget to gather proof before moving, this time also counts towards 1 year, even if you can only prove some months out of all time living together.