How do you count the time as common law

[ronypete]

I have two questions:

1. If you would be living together with someone since like 2.5 years and dating for some more time, what would be the date that you officially became common law? How do you determine the date? Do you just take the day you moved in with each other?

2. Regarding the conditional Permanent Residency that is around since last year. Do you have to be living together for 1 year to become common law and after that you have to be living in common law for another 2 years to be not under the conditional Permanent Residency?

 

[marsiangal]

Hi there, Yes the day that you guys moved in is the first day of the common law relationship, as it is defined a 12months co-habitation etc. (and hopefully you have proof for it, lease, banks statements or bills in your names that shows the same address and stuff like that)

Yes you have to be living together for a year to be considered common law. Basically the conditional Pr just means that if you have been in the common law relationship for 2 years and can prove it, you are not covered by the conditional PR. if you were common law for less than 2 years you have to live together for 2 years after the PR has been approved otherwise your permanent residence may be questioned or revoked. I hope you get the explanation I am trying to give.

Examples. Lina and John been married for 3 years = No conditional PR.
Hannah and Rich common law for 1.5 yearsonly =Yes conditional PR
Jason and May common law for 2.5 years=No conditional PR.
Chase and Sarah married for 9 months only=Yes conditional PR.

LOL that is the easiest way to explain it I guess!


Cheers!

 

[Green Rose]

Hello!

I am planning to sponsor my husband. How much do I have to pay for the application? Do I have to pay for the landing fee even if I am a foreign contract worker in Canada?

Thanks

 

[marsiangal]

Hello!

I am planning to sponsor my husband. How much do I have to pay for the application? Do I have to pay for the landing fee even if I am a foreign contract worker in Canada?

Thanks

Are you a skilled worker? Wanting to get a owp for your spouse? That's different than actually being a sponsor. You should check the cic website for that. They also have the list of fees. Muh better to look at website cause it is more accurate than here. Cheers

 

[Sweden]

Hi there, Yes the day that you guys moved in is the first day of the common law relationship, as it is defined a 12months co-habitation etc. (and hopefully you have proof for it, lease, banks statements or bills in your names that shows the same address and stuff like that)

that's not correct. The day they became common-law is 12 months AFTER they moved in together, not the day they move in together. For the first 12 months they are living together, but do not qualify as Common Law. Once they have lived together for 12 months then they are common law.
So in the application, to the question "what date did you enter in a CL relationship" : it's the date they moved in together + 12 months.
Sweden

 

[marsiangal]

that's not correct. The day they became common-law is 12 months AFTER they moved in together, not the day they move in together. For the first 12 months they are living together, but do not qualify as Common Law. Once they have lived together for 12 months then they are common law.
So in the application, to the question "what date did you enter in a CL relationship" : it's the date they moved in together + 12 months.
Sweden

Hi LOL, I guess if you want to be technical that is the correct explanation. I just meant to say the first day you move in together is the beginning of what needs to be 12 months to be considered common law. Thanks for that much better explanation Sweden

 

[Sweden]

Hi LOL, I guess if you want to be technical that is the correct explanation. I just meant to say the first day you move in together is the beginning of what needs to be 12 months to be considered common law. Thanks for that much better explanation Sweden

it's one of the very common error for people applying for common-law, a lot of people put the date that they started living together, and it messes the whole counting....

 

[ronypete]

is it really like that?
I know a person who did the following:
They were going out for a couple months and than moved in with each other. They put the date they were moving in with each other as the starting date of their common law relationship (about a year ago). It was clear that they were moving in together at that date.
-They just got the notice that their partner is eligible for sponsoring. So it seemed alright??!?!

Example:
If you are going out for lets say 3 months and than move in with each other. You have to live together for 2 years to be able to sponsor a person???? 1 year to become common law and another year of living in the common law relationship to be able to sponsor?? that sounds kinda wrong.
A lot of people sponsor each other after being a couple for a bit more than a year. And they also do common law....

 

[kissa]

I put the date when we moved in together and it was very clear since that was the date when i arrived to Canada. We applied as a common law and my PR got approved two days ago.

 

[Harju]

For the sake of argument, I disagree with all of the above. You are common-law after living together for one year in a conjugal relationship (i.e. referring to a marriage like relationship not the "conjugal stream" which is for people in a conjugal relationship who cannot live together). Lots of people move in together because they do not want to make a marriage-like committment or they have the intent of seeing how the relationship works out before they make any committment.

I do not think CIC gets too worked up over the date you put down that the common-law relationship began as the proof you have to supply makes it clear whether or not you are eligible.

 

[Sweden]

indeed... when CIC asks when did you became CL : it's 1 year after you moved in together. So if you move in together 1st January 2012, you become CL 1st January 2013, and you can send your application 2nd January 2013. You don't need to wait another year. You don't need to be CL for 1 year before you can apply - you need to be living together for 1 year to be considered CL, and as soon as you qualify, you can apply.

It's a very common mistake, that's why people get approved even if they have put that in their application - CIC can see that they have been living together for at least 1 year, so they qualify. If you make a small mistake in the application but all the proofs are clear, then it's OK.

Sweden

 

[kissa]

Yeah Sweden you are right. I didn't even know... But I guess it wasn't a problem for us since we've been living together for 3 years.

 

[ronypete]

Ok I'm getting closer ^^ I'm just trying to figure this all out because there would be a difference for me with the new Conditional Permanent Residency. I'm also trying to figure out if its worth it to put in early date in and get all the old documents of proof which is much more difficult for the older dates as we did not keep much from the early time of the relationship...

(cic.gc.ca : Conditional Permanent Residency....which apply to spouses, common-law or conjugal partners in a relationship of two years or less with their sponsor and who have no children in common with their sponsor at the time they submit their sponsorship application.)

Would I be under Conditional Permanent Residency if we lived together for 2.5 years and relationship total of about 3 years? Or do we have to live under common law for more than 2 years to not be under conditional PR?

 

[Rob_TO]

Ok I'm getting closer ^^ I'm just trying to figure this all out because there would be a difference for me with the new Conditional Permanent Residency. I'm also trying to figure out if its worth it to put in early date in and get all the old documents of proof which is much more difficult for the older dates as we did not keep much from the early time of the relationship...

(cic.gc.ca : Conditional Permanent Residency....which apply to spouses, common-law or conjugal partners in a relationship of two years or less with their sponsor and who have no children in common with their sponsor at the time they submit their sponsorship application.)

Would I be under Conditional Permanent Residency if we lived together for 2.5 years and relationship total of about 3 years? Or do we have to live under common law for more than 2 years to not be under conditional PR?

Why do you care about conditional permanent residency? If you aren't planning on breaking up with your spouse after getting PR, whether a PR is conditional or not shouldn't matter whatsoever.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Ok I'm getting closer ^^ I'm just trying to figure this all out because there would be a difference for me with the new Conditional Permanent Residency. I'm also trying to figure out if its worth it to put in early date in and get all the old documents of proof which is much more difficult for the older dates as we did not keep much from the early time of the relationship...

Would I be under Conditional Permanent Residency if we lived together for 2.5 years and relationship total of about 3 years? Or do we have to live under common law for more than 2 years to not be under conditional PR?

Understand that there is no difference between PR and Conditional PR besides the requirement to live together for at least 2 years. If you are in a genuine relationship, it doesn't matter. The only reason to really try to avoid Conditional PR is if your relationship is NOT genuine and you intend to leave your spouse right after receiving PR.....

That being said, I am going to assume your relationship IS genuine, so stop worrying about avoiding Conditional PR.

You say you are "trying to figure out if its worth it to put in early date in"? There is only one possible common-law date and that is exactly one year from the first day that you moved in together. If you were to put any other date, it would be misrepresentation.