Anyone want to double check our genuine relationship proof?

[throwmyapples]

Okay! We are sending everything off this week.. the worry around here is nuts. BUt we're so close!

We have included:
-All lease agreements spanning the past three years
-All tax returns from the past 4 years showing they were mailed to the same address
-Proof of a shared cell phone plan
-Proof of a joint savings account
-Proof that I am my sponsored partners beneficiary
-Proof that we are both authorized on a number of credit cards
-Photocopies of employment emergency contact forms showing partner relationship as far back as three years ago.
-50+ photos chronologically documenting our relationship (holidays, anniversaries, graduations, vacations)
-the most recent month of cell phone communication showing calls/texts to each other
-ticket stubs, flight confirmations, hotel reservations
-15 letters from each of our family and friends in both the U.S. and Canada attesting to our relationship, all original signed letters with contact information.

Does this sound adequate? We are suddenly concerned that our letters not being signed by a notary or commissioner of oaths means we are not actually ready after all. For some reason neither of us took the checklist reference to declarations of our genuine relationship to mean these letters required a witness or a notarization. Should we be requesting that our friends re-write the letters and have them witnessed and stamped? We have dog-eared the threads and found many who say they were fine without them as common-law couples with adequate proof, many saying they were absolutely required, and no one saying they were denied without them.

Can anyone offer any clarity as to whether our current collection of proof of our common-law relationship is acceptable?

Thanks!

 

[Kedeisha]

they are adequate BUT you need to have 2 letters notarized it was in the checklist better to be safe than sorry don't based your proof on others but try n get at least 2 notarized

 

[Aneyshar]

I'm green of envy!!! ;D

Your documentation and evidence sounds more than adequate to me. We sent probably 75% of what you have. Of course we haven't been approved or refused yet. But my impression is that with your amount and quality of evidence you should not have any problem getting approved.

Good luck and once you do send your application I can add you to our July-2011-Applicants spreadsheet so we can keep track of all the applications in July!

 

[throwmyapples]

they are adequate BUT you need to have 2 letters notarized it was in the checklist better to be safe than sorry don't based your proof on others but try n get at least 2 notarized

Thanks for the reply! I understand that many people are saying that they are required, but we are honestly having a difficult time believing that the CIC would absolutely REQUIRE something they don't explicitly mention. The guide says two statutory declarations are required, but notarization isn't specifically mentioned and a Commissioner of Oaths versus a notary are not specified. Everything else related to these types of specifications is so specific. Do you suggest we have our friends and family re-write those letters in front of a notary or commissioner rather than sending our package out this week? We feel a little pressured as the FBI reports are 3 months old on August 3rd at this point.

 

[Love_Young]

That evidence is very good. Just remember that your relationship is unique to the both of you and that no evidence will be like anyone else's. Main things to remember to showcase in your particular situation is to: 1)have evidence to show you have lived together in a conjugal like relationship for 1 continuous year and 2)that it is genuine. Both of which you seemed to have displayed. However, you are correct, when applying common-law it is a requirement that you have 2 letters notarized. It is listed on the checklist. You don't need anymore than 2 notarized (unless you want to) so any others that are just regular letters will be okay.

 

[Love_Young]

It would also be a good idea to get the "Statutory Declaration of Common Law Union" done. It isn't a requirement but often asked for.
Here is the form: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm5409e.pdf

I would also advise reading this: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf
P.S. It is actually written that you require 2 notarized letters when applying common law. I am currently trying to re-find it. Will post when I do.

 

[throwmyapples]

I'm green of envy!!! ;D

Your documentation and evidence sounds more than adequate to me. We sent probably 75% of what you have. Of course we haven't been approved or refused yet. But my impression is that with your amount and quality of evidence you should not have any problem getting approved.

Good luck and once you do send your application I can add you to our July-2011-Applicants spreadsheet so we can keep track of all the applications in July!

Thanks so much! We look forward to being in the spreadsheet!

 

[throwmyapples]

It would also be a good idea to get the "Statutory Declaration of Common Law Union" done. It isn't a requirement but often asked for.
Here is the form: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm5409e.pdf

I would also advise reading this: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf
P.S. It is actually written that you require 2 notarized letters when applying common law. I am currently trying to re-find it. Will post when I do.

Hey! Thanks for the reply. I just read through that guide and while it mentions that statutory declarations are preferred, it does not say they are a requirement. Can anyone point me to a CIC statement on the *requirement* of these letters not only having contact info/original signatures (which we have) but notarization as well? Everyone is saying it's very helpful, or even required, but we can't find anything official actually stating a seal/stamp is to be on anything except a statutory declaration from us (we are not including this) or things translated to English/French (and all our forms are in English).

I understand that there are things that are very *helpful* to do, but we are 2 weeks away from expired FBI forms and are SO READY to go to FedEx this week. Getting our friends and family to find the time/transportation to rewrite letters in front of a notary or commissioner could take awhile (I'm guessing we can't just go have the letters stamped ourselves), and I would hate to have things expire because we halted the process to do something that wasn't imperative.

Also, no one seems to be specifying the notary vs. commissioner of oaths?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[aerogurl87]

Taken from one of the guides for sponsorship in the US. It says "If you are a common-law or conjugal partner, provide evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing and has existed for at least 12 months prior to your application. Also provide details of the history of your relationship and at least two statutory declarations from individuals with personal knowledge of your relationship supporting your claim that the relationship is genuine and continuing."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3910e.pdf

 

[eletyl]

honestly, I think it's better to take an extra week to make your application more solid now - so solid they won't think an interview is necessary - than to risk it not being solid, and wasting 6 extra months later waiting for a resulting interview.

 

[throwmyapples]

Taken from one of the guides for sponsorship in the US. It says "If you are a common-law or conjugal partner, provide evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing and has existed for at least 12 months prior to your application. Also provide details of the history of your relationship and at least two statutory declarations from individuals with personal knowledge of your relationship supporting your claim that the relationship is genuine and continuing."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3910e.pdf

Thank you. Unfortunately neither of us were aware until last night that statutory declaration specifically meant a notarized and witnessed letter, we both thought that it was simply supposed to be an official statement signed with verifiable contact information (and almost all our letters encourage the reader to contact the writer with any further concerns). Did you apply common-law? Did you use a notary or a commissioner of oaths? At this point re-submitting the FBI requests to make time for getting our letters re-done would delay us by at least a month, which is almost not an option at this point. Oy. ???

 

[aerogurl87]

Thank you. Unfortunately neither of us were aware until last night that statutory declaration specifically meant a notarized and witnessed letter, we both thought that it was simply supposed to be an official statement signed with verifiable contact information (and almost all our letters encourage the reader to contact the writer with any further concerns). Did you apply common-law? Did you use a notary or a commissioner of oaths? At this point re-submitting the FBI requests to make time for getting our letters re-done would delay us by at least a month, which is almost not an option at this point. Oy. ???

I agree with eletyl. At this point I'd wait and send in the application and go over it with a fine tooth comb while making sure you have everything mentioned in that checklist I linked to. It'd be much better to do that and have to wait a bit to send everything in than to send it in now and risk being called in for an interview, having your documents sent back, or worse yet being rejected because you missed two things it said to include in the form. And nope, I haven't applied yet, I'm just living in Canada with my boyfriend on a work visa right now.

 

[throwmyapples]

I agree with eletyl. At this point I'd wait and send in the application and go over it with a fine tooth comb while making sure you have everything mentioned in that checklist I linked to. It'd be much better to do that and have to wait a bit to send everything in than to send it in now and risk being called in for an interview, having your documents sent back, or worse yet being rejected because you missed two things it said to include in the form. And nope, I haven't applied yet, I'm just living in Canada with my boyfriend on a work visa right now.

Thanks for the input! We are going to head to a notary public at the UPS store tomorrow and bribe two of our friends with breakfast.
It seems that a notary public in the U.S. is similar to a commissioner of oaths in Canada? We were going to go ahead and fill out the statutory declaration of our common law union there as well and are hoping that a notary will suffice. (We can't find a listing for a commissioner of oaths in the U.S.). If we can hammer out those three notarizations tomorrow, we should be able to mail this gigantic box of worry off to Mississauga Tuesday! Hooray!!

 

[missmini]

wooow nice piece of evidence u have there....i'm jealous too

at least 2 letters have to be affidavits for common-law...no need to rewrite them in front of the notary just sign it in front of him; yes, a public notary should be fine
yes the common-law paper is not requirement but many embassies r asking for it during the process, including Buffalo; so why not just do it from now?!
I think u have enough; if u think to add i would say (from my own list):
- cards given to each other on different occasions
- pictures of gifts or gift receipts on different occasions
- house appliances, electronics common bills/receipts
- receipts from other going outs if u have - ticket concerts, other shows etc
- old communication - old phone bills or some email/skype log before u started to live together
- each of u write an essay about ur relationship (for him the essay is more or less the answers to spouse questionnaire, for u it would a separate letter)

good luck

 

[QCSunshine]

I agree with missimini that some examples of written communication (copies of emails and copies of handwritten cards/postcards/etc are what we used) from the beginning and throughout the relationship up until now would be good to include.