Limited Proof?

[NinaInOT]

Hey all! so I've posted on here a few times and have a few questions that I hope someone can answer/help me with.

So my common law spouse and I have very little proof that we've been living together consecutively for one year as far as "legally" goes when asked about shared things.

I was curious if CIC would consider a long detailed initial letter explaining a few things to include in our application.

Has anyone experienced having very little proof and still landing PR?
We can easily proof our relationship is genuine - but the problem lies within proving we've LIVED together. Besides having bank statements address to me here and some credit card bills... we don't really have anything else. I'm feeling a bit discouraged at the moment and I'm tired of not doing anything so waiting around to create more proof isn't really something I want to do.

Any advice, experience, etc... is very much welcomed!

 

[Decoy24601]

Can you have your landlord write up a statement saying both of you have lived there and for what amount of time? Can you have friends and family or neighbors attest to your being together for a year (or more)? You can't provide what you don't have, but focus on anything else you can add to strengthen your proof of cohabitation.

 

[Regina]

Rent agreement with both names on it. Notices of Assessment for 2015. Any bills on your names on the same address?

 

[NinaInOT]

Can you have your landlord write up a statement saying both of you have lived there and for what amount of time? Can you have friends and family or neighbors attest to your being together for a year (or more)? You can't provide what you don't have, but focus on anything else you can add to strengthen your proof of cohabitation.

Firstly - I'd like to apologize for all my grammatical errors! I just re-read my post and cringed. Secondly - I'd like to say thank you for saying: "focus on anything else you can add to strengthen your proof." I've been so busy focusing on what we don't have! So again, thank you.

We can try to get his landlord to attest... I'm not entirely sure how that will go because he and my boyfriend have experienced issues but I will try. As for friends and family, we can definitely do that! but would their testimonies have to be motorized? Would affidavits from his sons and EX wife be substantial proof that we've lived together? Both of his sons lived with us for the first few months of me being here with him and one son (who I'm extremely close to) continues to live with us. A lot of the proof we have of living together is all through correspondents through an app that we use to communicate. He works a lot so often times throughout the day we'd communicate on our app (Couple) we also used the app to communicate while we were in a LDR for two years. I can easily print out every conversation we've had through the app, but I just don't know if that would be too overwhelming for the IO who gets our application. But that is truly the most substantial evidence we have of not only our relationship being genuine but also of us living together for one consecutive year. In fact - I will have been here for nearly three years in October.

 

[NinaInOT]

Rent agreement with both names on it. Notices of Assessment for 2015. Any bills on your names on the same address?

We both have mail sent to the same address - but nothing with BOTH of our names on it.
We purchased a dog together in 2014 and she has my last name but he paid for her... could we also add that to our application? the bill of sale will have his information and address, but we have vet bills with our dogs name and address with my last name. I know it sounds pathetic but I'm really trying here.

 

[Decoy24601]

Firstly - I'd like to apologize for all my grammatical errors! I just re-read my post and cringed. Secondly - I'd like to say thank you for saying: "focus on anything else you can add to strengthen your proof." I've been so busy focusing on what we don't have! So again, thank you.

We can try to get his landlord to attest... I'm not entirely sure how that will go because he and my boyfriend have experienced issues but I will try. As for friends and family, we can definitely do that! but would their testimonies have to be motorized? Would affidavits from his sons and EX wife be substantial proof that we've lived together? Both of his sons lived with us for the first few months of me being here with him and one son (who I'm extremely close to) continues to live with us. A lot of the proof we have of living together is all through correspondents through an app that we use to communicate. He works a lot so often times throughout the day we'd communicate on our app (Couple) we also used the app to communicate while we were in a LDR for two years. I can easily print out every conversation we've had through the app, but I just don't know if that would be too overwhelming for the IO who gets our application. But that is truly the most substantial evidence we have of not only our relationship being genuine but also of us living together for one consecutive year. In fact - I will have been here for nearly three years in October.

It's not completely necessary to get any statements notarized, but you can do that if you want (personally, I would even though it's not required, but that's me). I can't say if what you can get together will be enough or not. At the end of the day it comes down to the specific person processing your case. Some people here have been given a rough time over not having enough proof and some have been approved with almost no proof. Usually it's about the quality of proof over quantity, but since you are having issues getting proof together, if you can think of something, add it. I think letters will end up being better proof than communication through apps.

The conversations between both of you would be better to prove your relationship rather than cohabitation.

In the end, don't send boxes upon boxes of proof, but in my opinion it's best to have them shred excess documents than doubt you and need to ask for more (which could cause a delay with your application).

 

[NinaInOT]

It's not completely necessary to get any statements notarized, but you can do that if you want (personally, I would even though it's not required, but that's me). I can't say if what you can get together will be enough or not. At the end of the day it comes down to the specific person processing your case. Some people here have been given a rough time over not having enough proof and some have been approved with almost no proof. Usually it's about the quality of proof over quantity, but since you are having issues getting proof together, if you can think of something, add it. I think letters will end up being better proof than communication through apps.

The conversations between both of you would be better to prove your relationship rather than cohabitation.

In the end, don't send boxes upon boxes of proof, but in my opinion it's best to have them shred excess documents than doubt you and need to ask for more (which could cause a delay with your application).

OK - so I'm going to have his two sons and EX wife have letters notarized. My question now is: Can I email them a transcript and have them print it out and then notarized? Or would they have to type up the letter themselves? Also, would you suggest the letter(s) to be long? I know I can have his oldest son type up a long letter but as for his ex wife and younger son it may be hard because I'm not too close to those two.

 

[Decoy24601]

OK - so I'm going to have his two sons and EX wife have letters notarized. My question now is: Can I email them a transcript and have them print it out and then notarized? Or would they have to type up the letter themselves? Also, would you suggest the letter(s) to be long? I know I can have his oldest son type up a long letter but as for his ex wife and younger son it may be hard because I'm not too close to those two.

They don't have to type it up. If you want to type up a transcript that's fine. They just have to look it over, agree, and sign/get it notarized. They don't have to be long either.

For my visitor extension request (which is now pointless since I'll be getting my COPR soon) I typed up a letter of support for my husband saying that he'll provide for me while I'm in Canada, printed it, and had him sign it. I didn't get that notarized.

It's alright if you can't get letters from everyone. As I said, just focus on what you can get.

 

[canadianwoman]

The dog can be used as proof. Not really great, but every little bit helps.

Letters addressed to just one of you, but at the same address, can be used.

You need things spanning a year showing you lived together. So evidence from the very beginning is important - the proof of communication does not have to include everything, but if you show a sampling from the whole span of your relationship, then say you have all the transcripts and can send them if the visa officer wants, that should be OK.

 

[kks87]

I'm not going to pretend to have any sort of expertise in the area of proving common-law, as I am sponsoring my husband and have to prove our relationship instead of co-habitation but I figured I could put in my two cents anyway. If you have any emails to friends or family talking to them about moving in together, that might be worth including, as it is date and time stamped from approximately one year or more ago. Also if you have random ongoing correspondence with them where you mention his son living with you, buying furniture together, etc. which shows ongoing mentions of living together. I included a fairly embarrassing email I sent to my husband just after we met to prove we liked each other way back years ago, and my representative thought it was a great addition to the app. Of course, this is not as concrete as rental agreements/mail, but you may need to get slightly creative. Good luck!

 

[NinaInOT]

I'm not going to pretend to have any sort of expertise in the area of proving common-law, as I am sponsoring my husband and have to prove our relationship instead of co-habitation but I figured I could put in my two cents anyway. If you have any emails to friends or family talking to them about moving in together, that might be worth including, as it is date and time stamped from approximately one year or more ago. Also if you have random ongoing correspondence with them where you mention his son living with you, buying furniture together, etc. which shows ongoing mentions of living together. I included a fairly embarrassing email I sent to my husband just after we met to prove we liked each other way back years ago, and my representative thought it was a great addition to the app. Of course, this is not as concrete as rental agreements/mail, but you may need to get slightly creative. Good luck!

Thank you so much!!!! I completely forgot I had proof of me talking to friends about my relationship with him and living together! I will definitely dig through my old Facebook messages and will print them out! thank you thank you thank you!

I also thought to include our exchanges right before I moved in with him. For example - when I last came to visit him before I finally moved in with him, we discussed on our app Couple about me moving in. We talked about me getting a job while still being in my home state and saving up until a year later which would be when I would finally move in. So I printed out that conversation we had back in 2012 in December when I got back home after my second visit to him. We missed each other so much we started discussing me moving to Ottawa to be with him. Right before the big move here to Ottawa we were messaging each other back and forth between my flights and layovers so I also printed that out. All of these messages are dated and shown on the print outs. I also printed out a ton of e-transfer emails that he would send me. Because I can't legally work he often sends me $200-300 every other week. I also have proof of him making major purchases for me like a laptop and iPhone etc... but again, most if not all of our communication is through text

 

[mjyeg]

Thank you so much!!!! I completely forgot I had proof of me talking to friends about my relationship with him and living together! I will definitely dig through my old Facebook messages and will print them out! thank you thank you thank you!

I also thought to include our exchanges right before I moved in with him. For example - when I last came to visit him before I finally moved in with him, we discussed on our app Couple about me moving in. We talked about me getting a job while still being in my home state and saving up until a year later which would be when I would finally move in. So I printed out that conversation we had back in 2012 in December when I got back home after my second visit to him. We missed each other so much we started discussing me moving to Ottawa to be with him. Right before the big move here to Ottawa we were messaging each other back and forth between my flights and layovers so I also printed that out. All of these messages are dated and shown on the print outs. I also printed out a ton of e-transfer emails that he would send me. Because I can't legally work he often sends me $200-300 every other week. I also have proof of him making major purchases for me like a laptop and iPhone etc... but again, most if not all of our communication is through text

hi, could you give an update as to what you sent and how it went for you? We just received an email to show more proof and we dont know how. We lived together within a couple months of meeting, however i was visiting Germany at the time. So we never had a rental agreement. I just moved in with him, and then after few months we moved in to my dads house. And withing 7 months of us doing that, he moved to canada to live with me, and we waited for a year to up of us living together, including time in Germany and sent our application. So since then we have even lived together in Canada for 1 year and 2 months and yet they want more evidence. PLEASE HELP

 

[smallcoffee]

hi, could you give an update as to what you sent and how it went for you? We just received an email to show more proof and we dont know how. We lived together within a couple months of meeting, however i was visiting Germany at the time. So we never had a rental agreement. I just moved in with him, and then after few months we moved in to my dads house. And withing 7 months of us doing that, he moved to canada to live with me, and we waited for a year to up of us living together, including time in Germany and sent our application. So since then we have even lived together in Canada for 1 year and 2 months and yet they want more evidence. PLEASE HELP

What did you send as proof exactly?

 

[mjyeg]

What did you send as proof exactly?

we send the following:
- copy of proof for joint account we opened in Canada
- we send pictures (only were allowed 20 pis as per application)
- letters from friends, 3 of them attesting to our relationship
- his phone bill showing my address on it
- chat copies from our initial convos, again they had limits as too how much we can send
- oh and also all the flight tickets as poof to attest to the timelines we were together.

I own my condo and cant really add him to the mortgage. We lived 7 months in Germany, I went back and forth and that portion we have nothing to show proof. I met him within 2 months stayed with him, then we moved together to my dads, in between I came back home once and he visited. And he moved here in October on visitor status. Now since 6 months he is even working, we are planning our wedding. But I have no idea what I can send from prior to proof we resided together. Ahhh I am freaking out

 

[smallcoffee]

If I understand correctly you lived 7 months together in Germany (this 7 months is included in your 1 year of common-law) and you have zero document proving this?