Common Law Cohabitation Proof

[CosmicOwl95]

Hi everyone,

Ive been having a tricky time with being able to figure out all this immigration stuff. Heres a bit of background of my situation:

My boyfriend (Canadain Citizen) and I have been dating since Sept 2017, I lived with him every weekend (fri- sun) and extra periods of time during the holidays from Sept 2017 - end of april 2019 This was due to our work commitments during the week. After my IEC ran out beginning of May I had to come home to New Zealand for family reasons.

Since then I have applied for express entry and my score isnt high enough to be considered for PR and havent had any luck landing a job. My boyfriend sugested that we possibly look into the sponsorship process. Would our living situation be enough proof to show we lived together for at least 1 year - given if we got signed statements from his landlords of our living arrangement during that time period? We dont have any shared bank accounts or any electricity bill accounts etc - those bills are included in his room rental. We took turns paying for groceries etc on weekends and I pay for our spotify account that we share. Ive searched though some threads for more ideas on how to provide proof of cohabitation - could letters from other room tenants help prove this also?

Thanks to anybody who takes the time to read and or reply to this- anything helps im just lost and wanting to move back to be with him. I have been looking into getting a visitor visa as well.

-Toni

 

[phaeo]

I don't think that your living situation would qualify as common law, only staying with him over weekends and holidays wouldn't be considered living "in a marriage-like state" imo (though someone else with more experience might be able to weigh in). I would suggest getting married so he can sponsor you as his spouse, I don't think you have a strong enough case for common law.

 

[Qwertypod]

Hi everyone,

Ive been having a tricky time with being able to figure out all this immigration stuff. Heres a bit of background of my situation:

My boyfriend (Canadain Citizen) and I have been dating since Sept 2017, I lived with him every weekend (fri- sun) and extra periods of time during the holidays from Sept 2017 - end of april 2019 This was due to our work commitments during the week. After my IEC ran out beginning of May I had to come home to New Zealand for family reasons.

Since then I have applied for express entry and my score isnt high enough to be considered for PR and havent had any luck landing a job. My boyfriend sugested that we possibly look into the sponsorship process. Would our living situation be enough proof to show we lived together for at least 1 year - given if we got signed statements from his landlords of our living arrangement during that time period? We dont have any shared bank accounts or any electricity bill accounts etc - those bills are included in his room rental. We took turns paying for groceries etc on weekends and I pay for our spotify account that we share. Ive searched though some threads for more ideas on how to provide proof of cohabitation - could letters from other room tenants help prove this also?

Thanks to anybody who takes the time to read and or reply to this- anything helps im just lost and wanting to move back to be with him. I have been looking into getting a visitor visa as well.

-Toni

Unfortunately, no. It has to be a full year of continuous marriage-like cohabitation. It doesn't sound like that was your living situation.

 

[CosmicOwl95]

I don't think that your living situation would qualify as common law, only staying with him over weekends and holidays wouldn't be considered living "in a marriage-like state" imo (though someone else with more experience might be able to weigh in). I would suggest getting married so he can sponsor you as his spouse, I don't think you have a strong enough case for common law.

Thanks for your reply I thought that might be the case. Ill keep searching for a job through express entry for the time being I suppose.

 

[CosmicOwl95]

Unfortunately, no. It has to be a full year of continuous marriage-like cohabitation. It doesn't sound like that was your living situation.

Thanks for your reply

 

[21Goose]

Thanks for your reply

If you get married he can still sponsor you even if you don't live together at the moment. You can be in NZ and he can be in Canada (or come live with you in NZ) while the sponsorship goes through.

Of course that's only if you two are planning to get married anyway - marriage purely for immigration reasons will not work.