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Common law - Lack of evidence for 4 months of cohabitation

Apr 8, 2021
7
1
Hi everyone, I have been lurking around on this forum and have received numerous helpful suggestions, so hope if anyone could help me with the following issue:

I am trying to apply for Inland Common Law Sponsorship. I am currently an international student from China and my girlfriend is a PR in the same program as me.
We started dating back in Mar 2018, but really started to cohabit from Sept 2019 onwards. Since we are in a coop program, we are currently only doing 4 month sublets instead of full year-long leases. We don't have any utility bills since they are mostly included in the rent, or we pay these to the original lease holder. Here are some documents that we can produce for each address, all of these are 4 months sublets.

Residence 1:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- I was the one paying the rent, and we have email transfer receipts showing she had been transferring her share of rent to me.
- One Amazon receipt from me showing my billing address and one online order receipt from her showing the same shipping address

Residence 2:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- Email transfer histories showing we have been paying our own share of rent to the respective original leaser.
- A couple of online order receipts from both of us showing the same shipping address.

Residence 3:
- This is a bit tricky. This is the first term since covid and my girlfriend wanted to live back home. However, she changed her mind and stayed at my place for most of the time.
- I have my sublet agreement with the original leaser for the place (doesn't have my girlfriend's name on it)
- Her bank statements indicate that she is spending most of her time in my city instead of her own (at most 2 weeks break in between), but there's no concrete address showing it.
- We do have one food delivery receipt ordered from her phone showing my address.
- Would it help if I ask my roommate at the time to certify that my girlfriend is staying with me most of the time? What other evidence can we provide for this one?

Residence 4:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- Email transfer showing that we both paid the rent indicated on the sublet agreements.
- Various online order receipts showing the same shipping address

Residence 5:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- We started to use a joint bank account. We transferred our share of rent into this account and transferred to our landlord.
- Various online order receipts showing the same shipping address

Additional details:
- We have opened a joint account and been using it daily for almost 5 months. We can dig up email transfer histories between us to show financial dependency.
- We are thinking of declaring our common law status to CRA. We filed our taxes as single for last year. Would it be an issue if we change it now?
- We can also ask our previous landlords to provide letters to support our cohabitation. Do those letters need to be notarized?
- We can provide a lot of other evidence to support our relationship, i.e, chat history, social media, gifts.

Can anyone weigh in on my situation? Thank you very much!
 

malimu

Star Member
Mar 18, 2019
128
9
Ottawa
Common law will be effective Sept date 2020
Following will help: as i sent in the same
You will need at least 12 months of joint bank account proof statements with same address
Joint lease with both names and address and the land lord can attest to this. i don't think a need to be notarized but legitimate.
Amazon etc same address or credit card statements with same address. anything for either of you with same address.
letters from family and friends stating your relationship and also if they can say you are living common law
have your friends send letters from over seas to you with your names and same address.
CRA common law filings a good idea and proof incomes from CRA
prove that you are cohabitating and living like say a married couple and doing all things jointly. U may also need individual items at your address for each of you.
make sure you have loads of pictures together and send relevant ones up to 20
if travel history together even b4 u began living together will be helpful. any evidence that you are serious and legitimate couple.
Some common law applications have come back lack of enough proof.

chat history etc as u mentioned above
read doc ck list thoroughly and see what they want you to include
cell phone bills individual with same address
library cards
pc optimum membership or similar
if i think of more i will write
respond so i know i know i need send u more details
 

malimu

Star Member
Mar 18, 2019
128
9
Ottawa
You could also get one of his parents to write a letter stating you both live with them and how long you have lived there, get it notarized. You can also have letters notarized from your family stating that they are aware of your relationship and that you both live together. Medical coverage covering you both
Do you have a joint rental agreement? If not, talk to your landlord and ask him if he would write a supporting letter, confirming that you two lived together in this place as a common-law couple. This letter must be notarized.
i had this information saved..hopefully you can use it
 

scylla

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Hi everyone, I have been lurking around on this forum and have received numerous helpful suggestions, so hope if anyone could help me with the following issue:

I am trying to apply for Inland Common Law Sponsorship. I am currently an international student from China and my girlfriend is a PR in the same program as me.
We started dating back in Mar 2018, but really started to cohabit from Sept 2019 onwards. Since we are in a coop program, we are currently only doing 4 month sublets instead of full year-long leases. We don't have any utility bills since they are mostly included in the rent, or we pay these to the original lease holder. Here are some documents that we can produce for each address, all of these are 4 months sublets.

Residence 1:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- I was the one paying the rent, and we have email transfer receipts showing she had been transferring her share of rent to me.
- One Amazon receipt from me showing my billing address and one online order receipt from her showing the same shipping address

Residence 2:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- Email transfer histories showing we have been paying our own share of rent to the respective original leaser.
- A couple of online order receipts from both of us showing the same shipping address.

Residence 3:
- This is a bit tricky. This is the first term since covid and my girlfriend wanted to live back home. However, she changed her mind and stayed at my place for most of the time.
- I have my sublet agreement with the original leaser for the place (doesn't have my girlfriend's name on it)
- Her bank statements indicate that she is spending most of her time in my city instead of her own (at most 2 weeks break in between), but there's no concrete address showing it.
- We do have one food delivery receipt ordered from her phone showing my address.
- Would it help if I ask my roommate at the time to certify that my girlfriend is staying with me most of the time? What other evidence can we provide for this one?

Residence 4:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- Email transfer showing that we both paid the rent indicated on the sublet agreements.
- Various online order receipts showing the same shipping address

Residence 5:
- Signed sublet agreements showing both my name, my girlfriend's name and my landlord's name
- We started to use a joint bank account. We transferred our share of rent into this account and transferred to our landlord.
- Various online order receipts showing the same shipping address

Additional details:
- We have opened a joint account and been using it daily for almost 5 months. We can dig up email transfer histories between us to show financial dependency.
- We are thinking of declaring our common law status to CRA. We filed our taxes as single for last year. Would it be an issue if we change it now?
- We can also ask our previous landlords to provide letters to support our cohabitation. Do those letters need to be notarized?
- We can provide a lot of other evidence to support our relationship, i.e, chat history, social media, gifts.

Can anyone weigh in on my situation? Thank you very much!
IMO residence #3 is a problem and IRCC may regard this as a break in continuous cohabitation. You need to show that this residence was your GF's primary residence. It's not enough to show that she spent most of her time there. It sounds like her primary residence was her parents' home but that she spent most of her time at your place. If so, that's an issue.

What if you start counting the year starting with residence #4? How many more months would you have to live together to get the one full year? That's the best option. Or get married.
 
Apr 8, 2021
7
1
Thank you for the suggestions! We think that residence #3 would also be an issue. In hindsight we should have signed a sublet together.
If we start counting from residence #4, then we are currently 8 months into continuous cohabitation. We have already signed another sublet for the next four months, so by September we should satisfy the common law requirement right? Also we would have more history on our joint bank account (9 months in total)

How strong is our case if we choose to submit it right now to IRCC, assuming we can get certification from our roommates and landlords? Would it make our case stronger if we wait for another four months and then submit? Another question that we had was if the sponsor had to remain in Canada for the duration of the application. If the sponsor leaves the country for a few months, will IRCC find out and refuse the application?

Thank you!
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
95,714
22,020
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
Thank you for the suggestions! We think that residence #3 would also be an issue. In hindsight we should have signed a sublet together.
If we start counting from residence #4, then we are currently 8 months into continuous cohabitation. We have already signed another sublet for the next four months, so by September we should satisfy the common law requirement right? Also we would have more history on our joint bank account (9 months in total)

How strong is our case if we choose to submit it right now to IRCC, assuming we can get certification from our roommates and landlords? Would it make our case stronger if we wait for another four months and then submit? Another question that we had was if the sponsor had to remain in Canada for the duration of the application. If the sponsor leaves the country for a few months, will IRCC find out and refuse the application?

Thank you!
Your case is weak if you submit right now.

To be classified as common law, you must have complete a full 12 months of continuous cohabitation. If you start counting from residence #4, you are only at 8 months and are not common law at this time. You would need to wait another 4 months before submitting your application.

The sponsor and the applicant must cohabitate for the 12 months to become common law, as well as once the application is submitted IF you apply via the inland route. If either the sponsor or applicant needs to leave Canada for several months after the application is submitted, then apply outland and not inland. There is no requirement to continue to cohabitate after applying with the outland process. Note there is no open work permit with the outland process.
 
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Apr 8, 2021
7
1
Thanks scylla! I think we will wait it out and collect more evidence for the next 4 months. Would it be an issue that the evidence that we have for residence #4 is a lease agreement and several invoices? We only started officially collecting formal evidences this term.

For applying inland, would it still be an issue if me and my partner continue to cohabit, but in a different country other than Canada? We have no plans of separating but we might visit our home country for a few months together after we graduate.
 

scylla

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Jun 8, 2010
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Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
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Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
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VISA ISSUED...
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LANDED..........
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Thanks scylla! I think we will wait it out and collect more evidence for the next 4 months. Would it be an issue that the evidence that we have for residence #4 is a lease agreement and several invoices? We only started officially collecting formal evidences this term.

For applying inland, would it still be an issue if me and my partner continue to cohabit, but in a different country other than Canada? We have no plans of separating but we might visit our home country for a few months together after we graduate.
A lease agreement is relatively strong evidence. What do you mean by invoices as other evidence? Can you show any bank statements from that period with the same address, or utility bills / cell phone bills, or credit card statements, or anything from your school / place of employment that shows the same address?

Inland requires you to both be in Canada. Yes, it will be a problem if you relocate to your home country for a few months. If you want the option to do this, you need to apply outland.
 
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Apr 8, 2021
7
1
Invoices as in various online order receipts showing address for both of us. The issue is that my partner has most of her bills attached to her parents, where in fact her residential address has changed along the way. Would getting a letter from our landlord stating that we have lived together and paid utility bills in the rent suffice?
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
95,714
22,020
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
Invoices as in various online order receipts showing address for both of us. The issue is that my partner has most of her bills attached to her parents, where in fact her residential address has changed along the way. Would getting a letter from our landlord stating that we have lived together and paid utility bills in the rent suffice?
I see. That's not great that all of her bills remained attached to her parents' address. Make sure you fix that going forward.

None of us here can tell you if what you have will be enough for IRCC. That's up to them. It's a bit thin to be honest.

I would include the letter from your landlord, the joint lease, and the online receipts and hope that's enough for those months.
 
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malimu

Star Member
Mar 18, 2019
128
9
Ottawa
i saw few 2020 common law sponsorships had issues lack of supporting documentation re common law. i sugest don't rush as if all came back you lost your timeand likely lost your turn in the que. May be u get married if you sre rushing. take your time cover all angles as now is covid times.Delays are common. Read our suggestions as are based on good readings. Proceed with caution. No rush is my thoughts else all can be returned or cause delays.
 
Apr 8, 2021
7
1
Thank you guys for the help! I think rushing it is not really a wise idea since my evidence is a bit on the thin end. I will get back to collecting more evidence and submit one down the line!
 
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malimu

Star Member
Mar 18, 2019
128
9
Ottawa
Thank you guys for the help! I think rushing it is not really a wise idea since my evidence is a bit on the thin end. I will get back to collecting more evidence and submit one down the line!
Have friends send postal mails from overseas too on your common adress n also congratulating you both on your common law union etc. Her friends also can send mail etc n make sure they have dates. Can help
 
Apr 8, 2021
7
1
I just had an additional question, hope you guys can help me with this...

Would it be an issue (or delay processing) if my partner becomes a citizen during the processing of the application? Say we initially submitted the application with her being a PR, could we just update IRCC when she becomes citizen (along with relevant documents)?
 

armoured

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Feb 1, 2015
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I just had an additional question, hope you guys can help me with this...

Would it be an issue (or delay processing) if my partner becomes a citizen during the processing of the application? Say we initially submitted the application with her being a PR, could we just update IRCC when she becomes citizen (along with relevant documents)?
Won't be an issue.