INLAND or OUTLAND / common-law

[Saluma]

hi there,

first off i'm going to describe my situation as detailed as possible:

i'm from germany. my boyfriend is canadian citizen.
i first came to canada in august 2011 (work&holiday-visa). i met my boyfriend in october 2011 and we've been seeing each other ever since.
in june 2012 we moved in together. our rent contract is in our both names and we also have rent receipts for each months in our names.
in august 2012 i went home to germany for 5 weeks since my work&holiday visa expired and i didn't want to be illegal. at the beginning of september i returned on a visitor visa which i extended till september 2013.

i'm aware that we've to have lived together in a continuous period time of at least 12 months. the 5 weeks apart in august 2012 are probably considered a break, however september 2012 - september 2013 should be good, right?

i'm going to go home in september since my visitor visa is going to expire AND i'm also going to write some exams for my university from germany (i'm enrolled at a german university and do distance schooling).
my plan is to come back after 2 months the latest (going to visit family and friends when i'm already down there), then again on a visitor visa.
as soon as i'm back we want to start the sponsoring process under the common-law-class.

it seems that outland is the way to go since first stage approval takes approx. 1-2 months and second stage approval for my visa office (vienna) right now approx. 11 months so that best case i could be PR after a year where inland will take at least 1,5 years.
so let's say we're going with the outland application:

1. are we sending off both applications at the same time? meaning the application to be a sponsor (for my partner) to mississauga and my application to become PR to vienna? OR do we have to wait for first stage approval till we send my application to vienna?

2. i want to stay in canada for the processing time so i'll have to extend my visitor visa again. am i going to send an inland visitor visa extension with my partner's application to mississauga? or with my application to vienna? or separately with a copy or a note stating that we're in the sponsorship process to vegreville?

3. this medical exam thing i'll need to get done. can i do that for example as soon as i get back from germany at a canadian specified doctor and then send the results with my application OR will i've to do that at home in germany?

now some general questions to proofing that our relationship is genuine:

4. i've tons and tons of photos of us. how many should i send with our application. obviously different days/times of the year etc. but how many is good enough to proof that we're real?

5. also my boyfriend has a son who's right now living with us and who i'm very close with. should i also submit pictures of the 3 of us?

6. my dad and brother as well as my brother's girlfriend (who's also one of my friends) have met my boyfriend. i could get them to write a letter stating that they've met and our relationship is genuine.

7. we do have a joint banking account together. since july 2012 i believe. however, we're basically only using it for "run throughs" meaning that there's probably not much transaction on it since my boyfriend carries his cash more than he pays debit/credit

8. we have a joint fido plan. my boyfriend is the account holder but i'm somehow registered also and both our numbers are under his name (since i've no credit in canada yet and that was the only way for me to get a plan). our telus plan however is just under my boyfriends name, although i'm mostly paying the bills with my german credit card (my dad supports me monthly and sends money to my german account - that's why i'm using my german credit card). our bills record show that i paid.
is that also considered "joint affairs" even though i'm the only account holder BUT i pay for OUR bills?

9. i met all my boyfriends family. i'm very close with them as well as with most of his friends. i'm going to get them to write one or two letters too. maybe one by his mom and one of our best friend. is that good or too much?

10. i do have a bunch of mail that was sent to our both address. especially school books etc.
oh, and i'm also registered on my university's website as living abroad. so i could probably get a print out from that as well.
---> do you guys think we're good???


and now in general:
should we hire a lawyer or is it true that they can't really do much more for you?

thanks in advance for any kind of tips/advice etc.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

1. The ENTIRE APP, both your part and his, goes together to Mississauga.

2. Extending your visitor status is completely separate from the PR app. Easiest thing to do is just apply to extend it online a month before expiry of your current permit.

3. You can do the medical anywhere, as long as it is done by a CIC panel physician. It must be done before you submit your PR app.

4. Quality over quantity is best, choosing photos that highlight your relationship. So if you have 100 photos of a holiday, just pick around 4-5 of the best. Add another group of you guys meeting the families, celebrating the holidays etc. The VO isn't going to want to look through hundreds of photos of you guys.

5. Definitely.

6. As common-law, you will need 2 statutory declarations (notarized letters) from family or friends declaring your relationship to be genuine. Your dad and brother would be good. As well, it is always good to get extra letters from friends and other family members as additional proof (they don't need to be notarized though)

7. That's fine. Still submit copies of the bank statements showing you've had the account since July 2012.

8. Yes, that's definitely joint affairs.

9. As I said above, letters are good. Maybe get your 2 stat decs from your dad and his mom.

10. Mail to both is really good.


It sounds like you guys have more than enough proof. Really no need to hire a lawyer, waste of money in your case. You guys have a really straightforward situation, no issues.

 

[Saluma]

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Rob_TO]

Just to add a few extra comments:

the 5 weeks apart in august 2012 are probably considered a break, however september 2012 - september 2013 should be good, right?

Yes the 5 weeks would break the cohabitation, so your common-law qualifying would have to be from Sept 2012-2013.

'm going to go home in september since my visitor visa is going to expire AND i'm also going to write some exams for my university from germany (i'm enrolled at a german university and do distance schooling).
my plan is to come back after 2 months the latest (going to visit family and friends when i'm already down there), then again on a visitor visa.
as soon as i'm back we want to start the sponsoring process under the common-law-class.

You must make sure that your qualifying for common-law is a FULL year down to the very last day. So make sure that whatever day you returned from Germany in Sept 2012, you are leaving on that day +1 in 2013. If you are even a day short of 1 full year of cohabitation, your app could be rejected.

Also why can't you apply as soon as you become common-law in Sept 2013? Once you become common-law you are then allowed to break the cohabitation for brief periods for school or work, but in this case you would need to provide extra proofs that your relationship is continuing long-distance. It would be easier if you could get all the paperwork done, and then just submit the day you become common-law.

it seems that outland is the way to go since first stage approval takes approx. 1-2 months and second stage approval for my visa office (vienna) right now approx. 11 months so that best case i could be PR after a year where inland will take at least 1,5 years

The outland times posted on the CIC site are not average or best times... they are closer to worst-case times. So majority of people with straightforward outland apps can usually see times better than what's posted (though the current labour situation may affect that).

should we hire a lawyer or is it true that they can't really do much more for you?

No, your case sounds very straightforward, so do it yourself! Lawyers and consultants can't speed up anything and in fact often cause more delays if they are slow to respond to you. Plus you'll save thousands of dollars.

And in general, a few more proofs you can include for common-law are:
- having 1 spouse with a credit card, get a supplementary card in other persons name so both names will appear on bill
- get some spousal term life insurance with each other listed as beneficiary
- on the day you become common-law, have your bf change his status with Canada Revenue Agency to common-law for tax purposes. You can do this online at their "my account" website, and print out the page showing marital status for proof

 

[Saluma]

You must make sure that your qualifying for common-law is a FULL year down to the very last day. So make sure that whatever day you returned from Germany in Sept 2012, you are leaving on that day +1 in 2013. If you are even a day short of 1 full year of cohabitation, your app could be rejected.

oh shoot!!!

i came back last year september 7th, my return flight however is september 5th, 2013.

the thing is:
the ticket i purchased last year in germany to come back to canada (september 7th, 2012) included my return ticket already (since i have to have a return ticket to get a visitor visa). that ticket however is only valid for 1 year. meaning september 7th, 2012 - september 6th, 2013. due to time difference between canada and germany (germany +9 hours) i've to arrive in germany on the 6th in order for my ticket to not expire.
what do i do now?
i mean...i could get a new ticket which would cost me probably like 1000 dlr to take the plane home on september 7th. cause i can't be staying till september 8th since i'd overstay then.

is that reasonable? that'd be really a chunk of money for me considering i'm a student...

also...i found this on CIC:
"You may apply to sponsor a common-law partner, of the opposite sex or the same sex. If so, you have to prove you have been living with your partner for at least 12 consecutive months in a relationship like a marriage.

That means living together for one year without any long periods where you did not see each other. Either partner may have left the home for work or business travel, family obligations, and so on. However, that separation must have been temporary and short."

---> since neither of us has been absent since september 2012, couldn't those 2 days be considered our "short separation"??

OMG! this is freaking me out right now!

as to why i was thinking to file the application after i'm back:
i just thought that'd give me/us more time to gather proof. i was going to get my dad to write his letter while i'm home. i'd get my police certificate etc.
i don't want to rush an application and send it off half-finished. it has to be perfect!

oh geez...what do you think??

thanks so much!!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

couldn't those 2 days be considered our "short separation"??

oh geez...what do you think??

No, they wouldn't consider it a "short separation". They would consider that you stopped living together as of Sept 5th and therefore don't qualify as common-law. You will need to book a new flight after Sept 7th

 

[wowsers]

You no longer have to take the medical before you submit the application. see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/medical/medexams-perm.asp

 

[Rob_TO]

i came back last year september 7th, my return flight however is september 5th, 2013.

---> since neither of us has been absent since september 2012, couldn't those 2 days be considered our "short separation"??

My understanding is the definition of common-law is fact based. This means that you either qualify, or you don't. So anything less than 12 full months would not meet the factual definition.

There is a chance the VO could overlook this and allow 1 or 2 days less than the full year, but this would be taking a BIG risk. During the middle of the cohabitation the short breaks are allowed... but I don't think you can get away with not meeting the start or end dates for qualifying. Again though this is up to the VO that will be reviewing your file.

Your other options could be:
- Push your flight out by just 1 day, to leave Canada as late as possible on Sept 6. I think the definition of 12 months would mean if you started living together Sept 7, 2012, then you would be common-law after living together until Sept 6, 2013 (but not 100% sure here)
- Have your bf travel to Germany with you for a short trip. If you are travelling together, it still counts towards the cohabitation.

as to why i was thinking to file the application after i'm back:
i just thought that'd give me/us more time to gather proof. i was going to get my dad to write his letter while i'm home. i'd get my police certificate etc.
i don't want to rush an application and send it off half-finished. it has to be perfect!

It's completely fine to do the application later. As i said, you'd just need to provide some extra proofs that the relationship is still ongoing during the time you're long-distance. So make sure to keep records of phone records, chat logs and emails.

 

[Saluma]

My understanding is the definition of common-law is fact based. This means that you either qualify, or you don't. So anything less than 12 full months would not meet the factual definition.

There is a chance the VO could overlook this and allow 1 or 2 days less than the full year, but this would be taking a BIG risk. During the middle of the cohabitation the short breaks are allowed... but I don't think you can get away with not meeting the start or end dates for qualifying. Again though this is up to the VO that will be reviewing your file.

Your other options could be:
- Push your flight out by just 1 day, to leave Canada as late as possible on Sept 6. I think the definition of 12 months would mean if you started living together Sept 7, 2012, then you would be common-law after living together until Sept 6, 2013 (but not 100% sure here)
- Have your bf travel to Germany with you for a short trip. If you are travelling together, it still counts towards the cohabitation.

soooo...i just booked a new return flight for september 11th, 2013.

i guess that was the only right way to go since i don't want to take that risk and then end up having to proof another 12 months period if they in fact do reject our application.

now, we should be good right? it's gonna be 12 months plus 4 days! we better be good since i just "wasted" a completely fine return flight!

another thing:
my visitor visa expires september 7th, 2013. since i don't want to overstay "illegally" i was thinking to file a visitor visa extension later today, asking for those 4 extra days. i know that i probably won't hear back from then before i fly out anyway but at least i'm not gonna be illegal but have an "implied" status.
am i right?

thanks so much guys!!

 

[Rob_TO]

soooo...i just booked a new return flight for september 11th, 2013.

i guess that was the only right way to go since i don't want to take that risk and then end up having to proof another 12 months period if they in fact do reject our application.

now, we should be good right? it's gonna be 12 months plus 4 days! we better be good since i just "wasted" a completely fine return flight!

I think a Sept 7th flight would have been fine, which would have been Sept 7 2012 - Sept 7 2013, and no issue whatsoever for meeting common-law status. That sucks your airline couldn't push back the ticket 1 day without incurring big fees.

another thing:
my visitor visa expires september 7th, 2013. since i don't want to overstay "illegally" i was thinking to file a visitor visa extension later today, asking for those 4 extra days. i know that i probably won't hear back from then before i fly out anyway but at least i'm not gonna be illegal but have an "implied" status.
am i right?

Ya, while a request for extension is in progress, you are under implied status. It's probably best to wait closer to Sept, before you mail in the extension. Also you'll have to pay the extension fee (i think $75).

The only thing i'm not sure is how this will impact your status for returning back to Canada.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Ya, while a request for extension is in progress, you are under implied status. It's probably best to wait closer to Sept, before you mail in the extension. Also you'll have to pay the extension fee (i think $75).

The only thing i'm not sure is how this will impact your status for returning back to Canada.

It won't have any impact on the OP's status when they return to Canada. OP can enter as normal, as a visa-exempt visitor.

 

[Saluma]

Hello again!

i'm just filling out my visitor visa extension and there's a question about my relationship status, so I was going to say "common-law" although we're not yet common-law under the definition of cic (continuously 12 months period)...
as you guys know we did move in together june 1st, 2012...only thing is that there was a break in august 2012...

am i allowed to consider my boyfriend common-law now or not?
i consider us common-law...

or should i just say that i'm in a relationship with my "boyfriend" and answer the question about my relationship status with "single"?

what do you guys think?

thanks!!!

 

[little_apple]

I am German, too and wrote in my visa extension common-law although we weren't common-law at that time.
We moved in together on April 20th, 2012, I filled out the visa extension in February 2013 and we filed our sponsorship application in April 2013. I got the tourist visa without any problems.

But at that time I really thought our common-law started on April 20th, 2012, the day I moved in. My fault but CIC didn't care ;-)

Good luck with your applications