Documents for Common-Law Sponsorship

[redherring]

Hi! My partner and I are preparing the documents for common-law sponsorship. Here are what we have so far:

• Partner's Canadian citizenship certificate (photocopy)
• Partner's Canadian passport (photocopy)
• My birth certificate (photocopy)
• My passport (photocopy)
• My police clearance (original)
• Photos of travels and activities together (We currently have 37 pages with two photos on each page. I'll be adding more. Is there a limit?)
• Photos of gifts and receipts (photocopy)
• Text and chat logs (We currently have over 100 pages with 6 screenshots per page from February 2015 to December 2015. I might add more because we sometimes chat too when we're outside. Is there a limit?)
• Receipts of movies (photocopy)
• Photocopy of joint savings account certificate and credit card (I have a supplementary card)
• My volunteer work certificates (photocopy)
• Will work on letter from the landlord saying that I’m staying here since December, 2015
• Will work on financial statements of my partner and a letter of employment from the company
• Photocopy of postcards from a common friend (We received 1 each.)
• Photocopy of package slip showing both our names from a friend
• Will work on the forms too

Please let me know if there are other things that we should add or missed out. Another quick question, how soon can we apply for the sponsorship? Can we apply 1 week before the date of 1-year cohabitation just to be sure to get the implied status?

I would also need to apply for another visa extension just to be sure that I have legal status to qualify for an open work permit. Can I apply 2 months before the expiry just in case they refuse me then I can apply again? Or if I apply 1 week before the date of expiry of my visa (also the completion of 1-year cohabitation requirement), I would still be legal within that week so can I use the receipt to apply for visa extension to show that our intention is good? Or I can also do that during the out of status period? Sorry for the questions, I'm just laying out the possible scenarios and what to do. Thanks!

 

[scylla]

You cannot submit the sponsorship application even a day early. You have to wait until you have lived together for a minimum of one full year before you will qualify as common law and can submit the application to CIC. Do not apply early.

Do you have any joint utility bills?

 

[Ponga]

You will also need at least two Statutory Declaration letters from family and/or friends attesting to your relationship. The author should mention that you are in a genuine relationship and that they are aware that you are living together. Remember, you have to prove two things:

1. You're in a genuine relationship

2. You are living together on the day that CIC receives the application(s).

 

[Rob_TO]

You will also need at least two Statutory Declaration letters from family and/or friends attesting to your relationship. The author should mention that you are in a genuine relationship and that they are aware that you are living together. Remember, you have to prove two things:

1. You're in a genuine relationship

2. You are living together on the day that CIC receives the application(s).

If they are applying INLAND, the 2 stat declaration are not actually mandatory, they are just listed as some of the possible proofs you can include if you want to.

However a few declarations from friends/family are definitely good to include anyways.

 

[redherring]

Thanks ponga and rob_to. We're doing inland application. Are there any other documents we could add to prove that the relationship is genuine?

My name is actually on the car insurance but I'm not yet sure if it's really there because last time I heard they couldn't add it they could just "note" it there because I don't have a Canadian driver's license. I'll try to see if I could get that in written form.

 

[redherring]

Hi scylla, thanks for the info. No unfortunately, it seems that it's not possible to have joint bills.

Does that mean we have to submit on the day we satisfy the 1 year? Or would that include the transit time for the documents, 2 days before perhaps? This means that the risk of going out of status is fairly high then. Does the statutory declaration of common-law union (IMM5409E) that we fill out has to be notarized or are there other similar form like this that we can get from the government?

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi scylla, thanks for the info. No unfortunately, it seems that it's not possible to have joint bills.

Does that mean we have to submit on the day we satisfy the 1 year? Or would that include the transit time for the documents, 2 days before perhaps? This means that the risk of going out of status is fairly high then. Does the statutory declaration of common-law union (IMM5409E) that we fill out has to be notarized or are there other similar form like this that we can get from the government?

You should mail the app the day after you become officially common-law to be safe. You should apply for a visitor status extension before you go out of status, and submit the inland app while you are on implied status.

The stat declaration of common-law union is not actually a required document, but can be included if you want to.

 

[redherring]

You should mail the app the day after you become officially common-law to be safe. You should apply for a visitor status extension before you go out of status, and submit the inland app while you are on implied status.

The stat declaration of common-law union is not actually a required document, but can be included if you want to.

Thanks for the info. I'll work on gathering the required documents first then. For the visa extension, should I include a cover letter that says that we'll apply for the sponsorship or say that we'll need the proof the I'm in status to include with the application to qualify for the work permit? Just in case they don't grant an extension, would it give me an implied status when they receive the application during the restoration of status period?