Common Law or Conjugal Sponsorship?

[Dee Cee 25]

So here's our story... My same sex partner and I have lived together in Singapore for two years from Sep 2010 - Nov 2012. We were both foreign worker status at that time. I am a Canadian Citizen and she is from Philippines. During those two years we both established a rental agreement and a joint bank account.

I came back to Canada in Nov 2012 because my work contract already ended and I cannot stay while she is still living and working in Singapore up to this day. I did not file my tax return in 2011 and 2012 because from my understanding I am only required to report my "Worldwide Income" if I lived in Canada during those period of time (Sep 2010 - Nov 2012). Income was only small around $20K CAD at that time.

Now since we have lived apart from Nov 2012 - Present (Mar 2016), I have been filing my taxes as "SINGLE" from years 2013 - 2015 since we do not live in the same household anymore. If I declare my tax as "LIVING COMMON LAW" it would not be valid because she is living overseas and she does not have an SIN to report her income. We have a lot of proof like pictures, transcripts of constant conversations, trips taken together and financial support (remittance and joint bank statements) to support a "GENUINE" relationship by all means.

My question is, would my Common Law sponsorship be rejected when CIC will look at my OPTION C tax assessment and they will see that my current marital status is "SINGLE"? From my understanding CRA and CIC are now exchanging information to verify all PR applications, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Can someone please reply? Appreciate it much. I am so confused whether to file for Common Law or Conjugal Partner. :

 

[Aquakitty]

4 years is quite a gap but I think you are OK as long as you still have evidence of the years you lived together. I think you'd want to explain why you didnt apply for PR sooner. I'm not sure what you mean about Cra and CIC sharing information. The Option C had ones tax status right on it

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I am just worried because i am filing my taxes with marital status as "single". if i submit her sponsorship and PR application as Common Law and Canada Immigration would look at my Tax Assessment and I DID NOT declare I was in a Common Law relationship, would that be a problem?

She has to work and study subsidized by her employer that's why I couldn't apply her for PR sooner.

I hope someone can give me some insight on this one please.

 

[truesmile]

You can file your taxes as married/common-law with a spouse that has no SIN, software I have used will accept 9 zeroes in place of a valid SIN..

It will be more of a problem with the CRA, than with the CIC. Just apply, don't over-explain it (for now), and then if they ask simply tell them what you have told us here. If you change your marital status now (say online for eg), and then order your Option C, the CIC will not be aware how long you filed taxes as 'single'. That information is confidential.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I am just worried because i am filing my taxes with marital status as "single". if i submit her sponsorship and PR application as Common Law and Canada Immigration would look at my Tax Assessment and I DID NOT declare I was in a Common Law relationship, would that be a problem?

She has to work and study subsidized by her employer that's why I couldn't apply her for PR sooner.

I hope someone can give me some insight on this one please.

CRA and CIC have slightly different definitions surrounding common-law. CRA definition requires current cohabitation. Specific definition is "a person who is not your spouse, with whom you are living in a conjugal relationship". So I think you were right not to list her as common-law partner in your taxes. Since you could be common-law for immigration but not for taxes (and vice versa), I don't think this will be a problem with sponsorship. Of course if a visa officer sees "single" status on your tax forms, it may raise their suspicions a bit if they aren't as familiar with CRA definitions.

I think your bigger problem is the almost 4 year gap since you last lived together. See here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf
5.36. How can someone in Canada sponsor a common-law partner from outside Canada when
the definition says “is cohabiting”?
For common-law relationships (and marriage), the longer the period of separation without any
cohabitation, the more difficult it is to establish that the common-law relationship (or marriage) still
exists.

A visa officer may conclude that this long a gap effectively ended the common-law status, in which case they would require you to get married or establish a new 12 months cohabitation. Or they could feel that with proof of the ongoing relationship over this entire time, the original common-law status continued. Unfortunately since all this is up to discretion of the visa officer, the only way you will know for sure is to apply and see what happens.

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Thank you guys! Appreciate all your opinion on this one. Yes 4 years is quite a gap. She has documentations that she cannot leave her company due to her ongoing contract so I was not able to file for sponsorship as soon as I left Singapore and came back to Canada. However, we do have a joint bank account to prove the visa officer that our relationship is genuine and still on-going. We also have our previous messages and email as well as remittance slips, etc. I would've stayed longer in Singapore but my work contract already ended.

I just hope that this "single" status will not raise further suspicion when I file for common law sponsorship. Thank you so much guys! This is really helpful!

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Hi Guys! not that everybody cares but this would be a great info for someone like me. Just an update about my situation...

So I spoke to one of the CRA agents and he explained to me that filling common-law sponsorship has NO BEARING when filing as SINGLE on my tax returns. This means that CIC does not care about your marital status when they look at your OPTION C Print out. BUT the agent told me that it is better to change my marital status to COMMON LAW even if we are living apart.

I will try to call someone from CIC and ask the same question just to get a second opinion. Will post it here for updates. Thanks Rob_TO!

 

[Hayles1980]

I just had the interview for common law sponsorship of my spouse who has no status. They asked why I filed my taxes as single, and I simply said 'Because to file as common law I need the SIN number of my spouse and he doesn't have one.' And he said that's a good answer and didn't think anything of it.

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Thank you Hayles! It's really nice to hear from someone who went through the actual situation. Much appreciated!

 

[ALMALL]

Thank you Hayles! It's really nice to hear from someone who went through the actual situation. Much appreciated!

Hi just sharing my CRA experience. Me and my wife was in a Common-Law Partner before and I did reported it to CRA when we became common law partner and they ask the dates coz they are recording it on their data. The CRA agent told me that it has a great impact in the immigration process the marriage status in the Option C. There is no need to report any SIN# for a partner living in other country they already understand if you tell them that your common law is not here in Canada.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi Guys! not that everybody cares but this would be a great info for someone like me. Just an update about my situation...

So I spoke to one of the CRA agents and he explained to me that filling common-law sponsorship has NO BEARING when filing as SINGLE on my tax returns. This means that CIC does not care about your marital status when they look at your OPTION C Print out. BUT the agent told me that it is better to change my marital status to COMMON LAW even if we are living apart.

I will try to call someone from CIC and ask the same question just to get a second opinion. Will post it here for updates. Thanks Rob_TO!

CRA call centre agents are just as good as CIC agents... meaning they constantly give out wrong answers.

Definitely do NOT change your marital status and file taxes as common-law, unless you are sure you meet the CRA definition of common-law. Best to talk to an experienced accountant if you are unsure of the wording in the CRA rules. In case you are ever audited in the future and CRA determines you really shouldn't have been common-law for tax purposes, they will not care what some random CRA agent told you on the phone.

I just had the interview for common law sponsorship of my spouse who has no status. They asked why I filed my taxes as single, and I simply said 'Because to file as common law I need the SIN number of my spouse and he doesn't have one.' And he said that's a good answer and didn't think anything of it.

You still need to change your marital status to married or common-law if it applies to you, regardless of if your partner has a SIN. So if you are presently cohabiting with your partner and have been at least 12 months, then they would be common-law for tax purposes even if they don't have a SIN and don't need to file their own tax return. CRA can use your partners world income (if any) to determine your family income, or if they are living with you in Canada and not working you can claim a common-law partner for a tax credit.

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Hi Almall, thanks for sharing your experience. However, we lived common law in Singapore not in Canada. This was Sep 2010 - Nov 2012. Does this mean I have to do a re-assessment of my tax return? From my understanding CRA can only do re-assessments for the past 3 years. Which would mean that I have to re-assess my tax returns for years 2013-2015. I did not receive any GST/HST credit at that time.

So if I were to change my status to Common Law using form RC65 and she is not presently living in Canada, do I put her address using my Canadian Address? Or should I put her address overseas and explain to CRA why we have different addresses? Also, her income is not canadian income, should I just put $0 on her income declaration?

Another thing is, would CRA ask for a proof that we are common law? Do we need to present formal documentation for this? I know that this is beyond the scope of Immigration Forum but I just need someone to point me in the right direction to get my sponsorship application filled out correctly. Appreciate it if someone could reply.

 

[Dee Cee 25]

Thanks Rob! Yes I will have to talk to an accountant and know my options.

 

[ALMALL]

Hi Almall, thanks for sharing your experience. However, we lived common law in Singapore not in Canada. This was Sep 2010 - Nov 2012. Does this mean I have to do a re-assessment of my tax return? From my understanding CRA can only do re-assessments for the past 3 years. Which would mean that I have to re-assess my tax returns for years 2013-2015. I did not receive any GST/HST credit at that time.

So if I were to change my status to Common Law using form RC65 and she is not presently living in Canada, do I put her address using my Canadian Address? Or should I put her address overseas and explain to CRA why we have different addresses? Also, her income is not canadian income, should I just put $0 on her income declaration?

Another thing is, would CRA ask for a proof that we are common law? Do we need to present formal documentation for this? I know that this is beyond the scope of Immigration Forum but I just need someone to point me in the right direction to get my sponsorship application filled out correctly. Appreciate it if someone could reply.

I had hard time thinking about common law too when I wanted to file sponsorship but its hard coz needs lots of evidence so me and my wife decided to get married in 3rd party that legalized same sex marriage.

 

[Hayles1980]

CRA call centre agents are just as good as CIC agents... meaning they constantly give out wrong answers.

Definitely do NOT change your marital status and file taxes as common-law, unless you are sure you meet the CRA definition of common-law. Best to talk to an experienced accountant if you are unsure of the wording in the CRA rules. In case you are ever audited in the future and CRA determines you really shouldn't have been common-law for tax purposes, they will not care what some random CRA agent told you on the phone.

You still need to change your marital status to married or common-law if it applies to you, regardless of if your partner has a SIN. So if you are presently cohabiting with your partner and have been at least 12 months, then they would be common-law for tax purposes even if they don't have a SIN and don't need to file their own tax return. CRA can use your partners world income (if any) to determine your family income, or if they are living with you in Canada and not working you can claim a common-law partner for a tax credit.

Actually the CIC officer who gave us the interview (inland sponsorship) said it didn't matter, but what do I know.....