Thought I would share my situation incase someone else is dealing with something similar:
My partner and I applied for sponsorship in March, 2018. Everything went well until January 2019. We were expecting a DM to come through but instead CIC have asked for more information to prove we were living together for a one year period prior to applying, and that they don't think we currently meet the requirements to be considered common-law in Canada. Their language implied that I most likely won't be able to immigrate to Canada unless we can supply more evidence.
Our challenge is we were living with my Canadian partner's parents during the year before we applied. So we didn't have a joint lease or bills. We did have bank accounts and many other documents and also originally supplied a letter from her mother stating we lived on the property throughout that period.
Originally that letter from her mother was not notarized so we had a new letter from her notarized as well as several other letters from government bodies that were in communication with us both from that address. We also found more evidence from that period in the form of invoices and contract agreements.
My partner and I also moved into an apartment together after we applied and presented new evidence that we now have our own lease and bills. We are also now engaged so presented evidence of that as well as a date for our wedding and evidence we had booked a venue and our families were traveling to the wedding.
My questions is:
Has anyone had experience when notarizing a letter from the home owner you were living with has made an impact?
And has showing continued evidence of cohabitation and a committed relationship after your application date had any affect on the outcome of an application?
We supplied a lot of new evidence but am wondering what other peoples experience has been when CIC request additional information and whether evidence that I have documented above impacts their decision making process?
Thanks for your time. Good luck all!