boaz said:
Hi again... one more question.
Can we use this form "IMM 5409" as 'affidavits attesting to the fact that we're leaving together' ? as the immigrant checklist ask for? on other post somone suggest it but it seems quite confusing because I should use it just if i have a co-signer as we agreed above?
So if then, what kind of form can we use to this 'affidavits attesting to the fact that you have been living together
and representing yourself to your community as living in a conjugal
relationship for at least one year' (Appendix A from the country specific section)
Thanks in advance...
Hi Boaz
So, I took a look at the visa office specific form at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3911e.pdf and I don't believe the affidavits in the following section refer to Form 5409 (let me know if you're looking somewhere else too):
"Common-Law
Proof of this relationship through documents
such as:
• joint bank accounts
• joint lease or mortgage or home ownership deed
• affidavits attesting to the fact that you have been living together and representing yourself to your community as living in a conjugal relationship for at least one year"
(bolding mine)
The way I read this is that they want proof that you have been living in a common-law relationship and as an example of what they will accept they include affidavits from other people saying that you have been acting as if you are in a common-law relationship for at least one year.
I understand that it probably gets extra confusing because 2 pages down they say:
"If you are a common-law or conjugal partner, also provide;
•evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing,
•has existed for at least 12 months prior to your application,
•details of the history of your relationship,
•at least two statutory declarations from individuals with personal knowledge of your relationship supporting your claim that the relationship is genuine and continuing,
•any other evidence of your relationship and communication."
HOWEVER, in having seen CIC documents evolve before during periods of intense change of instructions and as they have consolidated the forms from VO specific to regional requirements and the confusing documents that result, I believe that this is just confusion stemming from collating varying documents written by various people in varying visa offices without realizing the confusion they created by copying/pasting and using different vocabulary.
I do not think they are referring to the affidavit Form 5409 based on the general instructions to all applicants and on the Middle East visa office specific checklist. Further, I don't believe form 5409 are the 'affidavits' they are referring to because Form 5409 would be completed by you and not by other people attesting to how you represent yourself to the community. Instead, I think they are referring to letters like the statutory declarations they are asking for two pages down as potential proof (second quote above). Instead of paying too much attention to the 3 bullets, I would look at section 5.25 of OP-2 (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf) which lists the characteristics of conjugal relationships and the 'factors that are used to determine whether a couple is in a conjugal relationship are described in court decisions' and the following section,5.23, which spells out specific types of evidence to that are used by CIC as of proof of interdependency.
Boaz - you seem like a really logical, rigourous person which is good for the application because you will be detail-oriented and get it right (or at least that's how I choose to look at it). The pitfall is that you can get yourself stuck at times with their specifics - like this Form - because they have been increasingly moving to standardize instructions and forms across offices and application types. Therefore, I find it usually helpful to go back to the basic principles of what are they looking for and not try to parse out CIC's words. In general, CIC tends to be very transparent with their goals and specifics of what they are looking to assess but miss some of the details (e.g., forget to update a form when the instructions change, don't have consistent vocabulary) and it will keep you much more sane - given that you are rigorous and meticulous in your thinking - to ask yourself if you are meeting their goal of how they will assess your application (based on OP2, IP2, etc). I am happy to keep answering your questions ... just thought this perspective may help you keep your sanity a bit as you go through the long process
