How to ensure you are seen as common law, not roommates?!

[waitingintz]

Hi Dishy

We've also now received provisional approval (waiting on outstanding checks etc) and we did NOT have joint bank accounts or bills, no wills and no evidence of communication with eachother since we live together. All we submitted were lease in both our names, good statements, photos, a few cards/emails from eachothers family and friends to both of us, a relationship timeline/summary.

So as long as you submit strong evidence it really doesn't matter if you have the exact items they ask for or not. Don't worry about what you don't have... just submit everything you do have and make up for the gaps with strong statements, etc.

 

[dishy_max]

Thanks everybody SOOO much! We've got a lot of good evidence but the lawyer we had review our forms had mentioned that they saw one prior to ours which got rejected but the couple was engaged which was a downfall as apparently they were told to re-apply as a married couple!

After hearing horror stories about people getting rejected, the amount of time and money they spend getting it all sorted etc and knowing how in love my boyfriend and I are and how much we want to be together in Vancouver - I just want to get it right.

Very frustrating! But thanks again guys, lots of really helpful comments and advice which I will put to good use!!

Dishy.

 

[BeShoo]

Thanks everybody SOOO much! We've got a lot of good evidence but the lawyer we had review our forms had mentioned that they saw one prior to ours which got rejected but the couple was engaged which was a downfall as apparently they were told to re-apply as a married couple!

They specifically say that they are not in the business of assessing future relationships. The question is whether you are currently in a marriage-like relationship. The idea that you intend to be in the future is an obvious red flag.

 

[waitingintz]

Dishy - I'm willing to bet that the couple was counting on their engagement to pull through their application because it wasn't strong enough on it's own. I think this is where Immigration is really cracking down now - relationships will be assessed on the strength of the evidence of a genuine long term relationship, things like marriage certificates and wedding plans will count but showing a history of time spent together as a couple and interconnecting your lives will be the key criteria for assessing all relationships. People used to count on marraige as the definitive evidence but I don't think it's being assessed that way anymore.

Good luck

 

[BeShoo]

Well, marriages are good because they have already happened. Plans to get married are not so good because plans can change. Also, it kind of indicates to them that you are not yet fully committed, which is bad.

Ever since the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was passed in 2001, it has been important to show that you are indeed already in a committed, permanent (or at least very long-term) relationship. It's great if you're legally married, but that's not actually quite enough. Not only must your marriage be legal, it must also be "genuine." Intent is somehow more important in some ways that simple legality.

 

[buddhadimple]

Thanks everybody SOOO much! We've got a lot of good evidence but the lawyer we had review our forms had mentioned that they saw one prior to ours which got rejected but the couple was engaged which was a downfall as apparently they were told to re-apply as a married couple!

After hearing horror stories about people getting rejected, the amount of time and money they spend getting it all sorted etc and knowing how in love my boyfriend and I are and how much we want to be together in Vancouver - I just want to get it right.

Very frustrating! But thanks again guys, lots of really helpful comments and advice which I will put to good use!!

Dishy.

Yeah I heard that as well, which is why on our application when it asks why you're not married (or something along those lines), I put that I don't believe in marriage personally and he put his own reason which was that he did not NOT believe in marriage but that he doesn't believe in marriage but that it wasn't right for him at this point in his life. We were careful to word it so as it didn't come across as a lack of commitment but that it accurately described our personal feelings about marriage.

The other thing I'd mention is to be careful of lawyers. I've heard stories that they can sometimes purposely delay things or do things to cause a situation where they need more money from you. My own mother is a lawyer so I have to say that this isn't ALL lawyers, obviously. We did our Common Law Application without any legal help (just the advice from this forum). My other half has handed his passport to the London Embassy and we're collecting it with the Visa in it soon. Ours took 2 months and 3 weeks to get approved from Mississauga to finish at the London Office.