Common law

[Kate W]

Hello,

I summit my PR application though PNP in September 2022, and I declared my marital status as SINGLE. But actually I lived with my partner started from March 2022, until now it still less than 12 months. I am wondering should I inform CIC about the change of my marital status now or not after we live together over 12 months?

Many thanks for your kind responses in advance!

 

[Naturgrl]

Hello,

I summit my PR application though PNP in September 2022, and I declared my marital status as SINGLE. But actually I lived with my partner started from March 2022, until now it still less than 12 months. I am wondering should I inform CIC about the change of my marital status now or not after we live together over 12 months?

Many thanks for your kind responses in advance!

You are not common law unless you have lived together continuously for 12 months.

 

[moscatojuices]

Hello,

I summit my PR application though PNP in September 2022, and I declared my marital status as SINGLE. But actually I lived with my partner started from March 2022, until now it still less than 12 months. I am wondering should I inform CIC about the change of my marital status now or not after we live together over 12 months?

Many thanks for your kind responses in advance!

Further to what @Naturgrl said, once you become common-law, I first recommend having a conversation with your partner to ensure you two understand that you have met the common-law threshold and are comfortable with the consequences of entering a common-law relationship.

This means handing your partner's personal data over for immigration purposes, eventually being common-law for tax purposes and then later on potentially for property purposes (e.g., who gets the house and dog if you break up?). That's the first thing. This is serious shit (I became common law this year). It's basically marriage without the wedding.

But it sounds like you will soon reach the 12-month threshold for immigration purposes. In that case what you need to do is together complete IMM 5409 (Google it), notarize it and send it to IRCC along with a scanned copy of the main page of your partner's passport after you get your AOR for your PNP application.

If your partner is Canadian then IRCC would basically do nothing. If your partner isn't Canadian they will then ask you to complete/redo a whole bunch of forms and add her as a dependant to your application. But if she'd doing her own PR application, then make sure you explain that in your letter.