In preparing our common law PR application (I'm the sponsor, partner is the applicant) we used this site a lot especially to try and figure out how to organize our application. I am Canadian and sponsored my partner who is Australian. Everyone has their own way of organizing their applications - here is what we did in case it is helpful for anyone...
Timeline - outland application via Sydney, Australia VO
Application received by CIC in Miss. 24 January 2014
Sponsorship application approved 24 February 2014 (although it took 2 months to receive the letter…)
PR application started processing at VO 26 April 2014
Decision made 28 April 2014
COPR letter received in mail 12 May 2014
Landed 18 May 2014
Envelope 1 - Sponsorship Application Contents
1. Barcode Page
2. Document Checklist - Sponsor
3. IMM 1344
4. IMM 5481
5. Copy 2 of receipt of payment
6. IMM 5540 + additional pages
7. Photocopy of passport
8. Photocopy of birth certificate
11. Option C print out
12. Original letter from current employer
Envelope 2 - Immigration forms
1. Barcode Page
2. Document Checklist - Applicant
3. IMM 0008
4. IMM 5669
5. IMM 5406
6. IMM 5490 + additional pages
7. Photocopy of birth certificate
8. Photocopy of passport
9. Original police certificate
10. Proof of medical exam (recommend doing before you submit so that they don't have to request it…)
11. Immigration photos
Envelope 3 - Supporting Evidence: Proof of Genuine Relationship - Throughout both the sponsorship and applicant applications we simply referenced them to specific appendices to avoid redundancy - that way everything stayed together in one area. The list below is pretty standard - I would think all applications need this as a minimum. We included probably at least 5 other appendices not listed below that were specific to our situation (i.e. proof of joint health insurances, listed as beneficiaries etc.) but they might not be applicable to all.
- Statutory Declaration of Common-Law partnership signed by notary public (not necessary in all situations, but it's can't hurt…)
- Personal letters (from each the applicant and sponsor)
- Letters of support from parents etc.
- Notarized statutory declarations from a few close friends etc.
- Proof of cohabitation (e.g copies residential lease, of tenant insurance, a selection of mail addressed to both etc.)
- Proof of shared finances
- Proof of travel together
- Photos of relationship (used Microsoft Word to insert 2 photos per page with a caption on who is in the photo, where it was taken, and when)
- Evidence showing how we stayed in touch when we were doing long distance
- Correspondence between applicant and sponsor's family and vica versa
Ideally, when you have everything together in one place you should look at your application objectively and ask 'if I didn't know these people, and I had to judge whether this relationship was real based on what is in front of me, would I be convinced that these two are in a real, loving, ongoing relationships?'. The easier you make it for the officers, the easier a decision should be for them.
Good luck!
Timeline - outland application via Sydney, Australia VO
Application received by CIC in Miss. 24 January 2014
Sponsorship application approved 24 February 2014 (although it took 2 months to receive the letter…)
PR application started processing at VO 26 April 2014
Decision made 28 April 2014
COPR letter received in mail 12 May 2014
Landed 18 May 2014
Envelope 1 - Sponsorship Application Contents
1. Barcode Page
2. Document Checklist - Sponsor
3. IMM 1344
4. IMM 5481
5. Copy 2 of receipt of payment
6. IMM 5540 + additional pages
7. Photocopy of passport
8. Photocopy of birth certificate
11. Option C print out
12. Original letter from current employer
Envelope 2 - Immigration forms
1. Barcode Page
2. Document Checklist - Applicant
3. IMM 0008
4. IMM 5669
5. IMM 5406
6. IMM 5490 + additional pages
7. Photocopy of birth certificate
8. Photocopy of passport
9. Original police certificate
10. Proof of medical exam (recommend doing before you submit so that they don't have to request it…)
11. Immigration photos
Envelope 3 - Supporting Evidence: Proof of Genuine Relationship - Throughout both the sponsorship and applicant applications we simply referenced them to specific appendices to avoid redundancy - that way everything stayed together in one area. The list below is pretty standard - I would think all applications need this as a minimum. We included probably at least 5 other appendices not listed below that were specific to our situation (i.e. proof of joint health insurances, listed as beneficiaries etc.) but they might not be applicable to all.
- Statutory Declaration of Common-Law partnership signed by notary public (not necessary in all situations, but it's can't hurt…)
- Personal letters (from each the applicant and sponsor)
- Letters of support from parents etc.
- Notarized statutory declarations from a few close friends etc.
- Proof of cohabitation (e.g copies residential lease, of tenant insurance, a selection of mail addressed to both etc.)
- Proof of shared finances
- Proof of travel together
- Photos of relationship (used Microsoft Word to insert 2 photos per page with a caption on who is in the photo, where it was taken, and when)
- Evidence showing how we stayed in touch when we were doing long distance
- Correspondence between applicant and sponsor's family and vica versa
Ideally, when you have everything together in one place you should look at your application objectively and ask 'if I didn't know these people, and I had to judge whether this relationship was real based on what is in front of me, would I be convinced that these two are in a real, loving, ongoing relationships?'. The easier you make it for the officers, the easier a decision should be for them.
Good luck!
