Common law sponsorship - does being engaged help?

[shannonobrien29]

Hello,
I’m a Canadian citizen and my boyfriend is South African. We have been together for 2 and a half years and living together for 2 years. We are putting together our application and have many, many documents, proof, letters to prove our relationship and cohabitation. We are applying Outland.

But every time we talk to someone about our application they tell us we need to get married. Or engaged. That it will make things easier. It is making us doubt our application and worried we will be rejected. We plan to get married in the next three years but right now it is not financially optimal for us. We feel this money would be better directed towards starting a life together in Canada. We have indicated this on our letter within our application.

I’m wondering if anyone has any tips or insight for us. I’ve read on this forum not to refer to each other as “boyfriend and girlfriend”. Anything else? Should we get engaged just to increase our likelihood of getting approved?

Please help or share any common law success stories.

 

[canuck78]

Doesn't matter if you're married. 2 years of cohabitation is much more concrete proof than something like an arranged marriage where the spouses have met once or twice. Just make sure you have leases and bills in both your names.

 

[zardoz]

Hello,
I’m a Canadian citizen and my boyfriend is South African. We have been together for 2 and a half years and living together for 2 years. We are putting together our application and have many, many documents, proof, letters to prove our relationship and cohabitation. We are applying Outland.

But every time we talk to someone about our application they tell us we need to get married. Or engaged. That it will make things easier. It is making us doubt our application and worried we will be rejected. We plan to get married in the next three years but right now it is not financially optimal for us. We feel this money would be better directed towards starting a life together in Canada. We have indicated this on our letter within our application.

I’m wondering if anyone has any tips or insight for us. I’ve read on this forum not to refer to each other as “boyfriend and girlfriend”. Anything else? Should we get engaged just to increase our likelihood of getting approved?

Please help or share any common law success stories.

Being "engaged" has no immigration significance in Canada. It's not considered a "legal status" and is therefore irrelevant to IRCC. Similarly, there is no status of "fiancée" or "fiancé".