Common Law Supporting Documents

[mwhite]

I am currently putting together my support documents for myself and my common law partner for my PR.

My issue is, that we do not have any bills together, no lease or mortgage together, and the bills I do receive are paperless which cant be regenerated but to paper copies

My current immigration lawyer has requested that I have at least 12 months proof. I can not apply from a will or insurance here in Canada.

I personally may only have 6 month worth of paper bank statements, phone bills and my previous tax returns under the same address. I have plenty of photos and several letter from friends.

Would all this be enough supporting evidence?

Any help, would be grateful!!

 

[Rob_TO]

We applied common-law in a similar situation. I already had a mortgage and all utilities in my name, so when my fiancee moved in she was not added to anything. The only proofs we had to show common-law status were:
- joint credit card account (we just showed 1 sample month's bill with both our names. Online bill was printed)
- mail to her sent to this address (1 random phone bill, and 1 CRA notice of assessment). If you get online statements just print one off that shows address, or request some paper mail from the company.
- she was added to my employer benefits as common-law spouse, showing the date we became common-law
- we have life inurance, with each other listed as primary beneficiary
- 1 testimonial from family member that we were genuine couple and living together

And that was pretty much it (as well as photos and stuff). For common-law, you don't really have to show concrete proof of the specific day you moved in together. Lots of this works on the honour system, and in the absence of a shared lease/rental agreement, the date you started living together is whatever you guys say it was. Just make sure the dates match up in residence history on each others application forms.

Also if you or your boyfriend have filed as common-law with the CRA, show this as proof. There is a page you can print out from CRA "my account", that shows common-law status, date it became official, and partner's name. This is good to print off and include in the application.

 

[canadianwoman]

This partly depends what country the applicant is coming from. Your immigration lawyer is certainly right that it is better to have 12 months of proof. You have to prove that you two have lived together for 12 months. Some people get accepted without a lot of 'official' proof; not everyone does.
What country is the applicant from?

 

[Rob_TO]

This partly depends what country the applicant is coming from. Your immigration lawyer is certainly right that it is better to have 12 months of proof. You have to prove that you two have lived together for 12 months. Some people get accepted without a lot of 'official' proof; not everyone does.
What country is the applicant from?

OP is from Australia, so i think they are good with "minimal" proof, as long as they have ample evidence to support the relationship itself is genuine!

 

[canadianwoman]

Australia, so it could be OK. Without official proof like a lease or utility bills for a year, get as much other proof you can.

 

[mwhite]

Yes Im Australian and my bf is Canadian
Thanks for the infor, very helpful!

 

[Rob_TO]

I forgot to mention, also note this in your country-specific guide: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3906e.pdf
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

So you must have at least 2 letters from friends/family, and have the writers get them certified/notarized. You can have more but only 2 are mandatory to be certified.
This will help add to your proofs of common-law.

 

[Lisa11]

I sent in lots of documents pictures 50+, declaration of common law. Several affidavits, facebook and Skype conversations. Joint bank accounts and life insurance. I have now been asked to send in more proof of common law. I have applied inland. I'm Canadian and boyfriend from France. I'm so disappointed after waiting six months to recieve a letter from cpc asking for more proof.

 

[Rob_TO]

I sent in lots of documents pictures 50+, declaration of common law. Several affidavits, facebook and Skype conversations. Joint bank accounts and life insurance. I have now been asked to send in more proof of common law. I have applied inland. I'm Canadian and boyfriend from France. I'm so disappointed after waiting six months to recieve a letter from cpc asking for more proof.

Sorry to hear that. What was your situation i.e. living with family/friends, rented apartment etc?
Did you include snail mail sent to the address, addressed to each of you?
Did you change your status with CRA to common-law and include that?
Did the joint bank account and also life insurance statement show your address on it?

 

[Lisa11]

We lived with his daughter in Paris for three months before moving to canada into a house I owned. I have not put his name on my mortgage as it is for sale and due to the cost of doing same. They say they want proof dated back one year. Did not get joint bank accounts till we moved to canada. Sent mail in his name which has been sent to address. His daughter provided affidavits that we lived woth her. Just hoping that they reconsider with the additional documents I have sent. And that it doesn't take too long for them to make a desion.

 

[canadianwoman]

This is an example of what can happen, even with an applicant from a first-world country. To the OP: if you want to be completely safe, wait until you have one year of official proof you live together. You have six months now, so would only have to wait six more months. Not having enough proof can delay your application a lot longer than that.
On the other hand, people have been accepted without everything. It just depends on what kind of visa officer you get.

 

[Rob_TO]

We lived with his daughter in Paris for three months before moving to canada into a house I owned. I have not put his name on my mortgage as it is for sale and due to the cost of doing same. They say they want proof dated back one year. Did not get joint bank accounts till we moved to canada. Sent mail in his name which has been sent to address. His daughter provided affidavits that we lived woth her. Just hoping that they reconsider with the additional documents I have sent. And that it doesn't take too long for them to make a desion.

Sounds like they want more proof from your first 3 months together in Paris. Only things i could recommend here are:
- if you guys received ANY mail whatsoever to your daughters address in Paris, include it
- did your daughter provide specific dates in her affidavit, or just general statement? Make sure specific dates, from-to, were included
- can you get other affidavit letters from people in Paris? i.e. if your daughter is living with anyone else (spouse or roommate), letters from neighbours, landlord etc... that could also confirm you were living there
- include photos of you in the house "living" there (if you have any)

Or as Canadianwoman mentioned, how long would it take to be officially common-law in Canada only? Since you only lived in Paris 3 months... well after sponsor approval and the time your app has spent at Paris VO, aren't you 12-months common-law by now without even using the Paris information?

 

[canadianwoman]

The couple has to have 12 months of cohabitation before the application is sent in. The time spent together after the application is sent in is good evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, which the visa officer and appeal judge if it gets that far will want to see, but it does not make up for a lack of 12 months of living together before.

 

[Rob_TO]

The couple has to have 12 months of cohabitation before the application is sent in. The time spent together after the application is sent in is good evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, which the visa officer and appeal judge if it gets that far will want to see, but it does not make up for a lack of 12 months of living together before.

Based on other posts from the poster (Lisa11), they were living 3 months in France and then 10 months in Canada, before even sending off the inland application. So they were officially common-law.

What i am saying is since the application was submitted, there has been an additional 6 months to get this request for more info. So to TODAY, they were cohabiting 3 months in France and now 16 months in Canada.

So to me at least, showing any more cohabiting proof from France is pointless, since they would qualify for common-law anyways based on time spent just cohabiting in Canada. Also as this is more recent and where they are today, it may be easier to collect further proofs as opposed to trying to dig up old proofs from France.