Marry or Common Law

[jmomcc]

Hi, I asked some questions in other threads but I have a more specific question so I made a new one. I am Irish and my fiance is Canadian. We live in Korea.

We are planning at the moment to do a common law application but I'm starting to think we lack evidence to show it. We have lived together for a year and 3 months currently. We don't have:

- The lease under both our names (It's under my name - just because my elderly Korean real estate agent insisted out of convenience)
- Bills under both names (They come to my name - actually they come to a basterdized spelling of my first and middle name)
- Joint bank accounts/Joint insurance policies
- Much documentary evidence for her - we have like one official govt letter mailed to her here

We do have:

- We can get a letter from our landlord/testimonial letters
- It would be tricky, but we do have bank records that show she sent me half the amount of rent every month and also originally for key money (deposit - common in korea) but there would be a lot of investigation, translation involved in this - also sometimes she would combine rent with other money she owed me so it would not always be exact
- We have both been registered at the same address with korean immigration for a year and three months (this seems strong to me but not sure how much weight it has outside country)

Do we have enough evidence for co-habitation?

We also have another problem, in that we are planning to get married in December in Bali. Do we mention that in our common law application?

Would it be easier to marry legally here first and do a spousal application? Is it considered suspicious to get married directly before applying? Would we include our plans for wedding ceremony? We would rather make our wedding in Indonesia.

We have a ton of evidence for a real relationship (visited each others countries/families, photos, text, letters, cards and testimonials) so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

[QuebecOkie]

I can't really speak with any authority or personal experience on the cohabitation proof issue, but it seems to me that your evidence shows you've been cohabitating. Testimonials, letter from landlord, and having the same address on file with immigration sounds like a good bit of proof to me.

I do know getting married and then applying quickly isn't much of an issue. We married in May and submitted our app (the first time, haha, took us two tries) in August. You say you have lots of proof to show your relationship is real, so the timing of the marriage wouldn't be an issue.

If you do decide to apply common-law, yes, do tell them of your plan to marry. Most people write up a sort of timeline/history of their relationship to include with their proofs. Just tell the real story of your relationship, when and where you plan to marry, etc.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Don't worry about your app being outright rejected if CIC has any doubts about your cohabitation; they will always request more evidence first.

The letter from the landlord, family/friend/co-worker testimonials and the Korean immigration registration are good proofs. The bank statements showing the transfers are also good proof. You don't need to have them officially translated and notarized; you can do it yourselves, including a copy of the original along with the translation. I wouldn't include all of them; we sent 4 of our monthly bank statements from the previous year, one from every 3 months.

Does she have any other mail received at that address? It doesn't have to be something official from the government. Envelopes from anything sent to her from her family or an employer?

Would your employers write a little letter confirming the address that they have on file for you and for how long? Are you guys registered at that address with any other agency or office, such as a doctor? Any IDs with the address?

 

[little_apple]

The letter from the landlord has to be notarized. You can ask him to write you payment receipts for every month, too. With both of your names on them, of course

 

[jmomcc]

Don't worry about your app being outright rejected if CIC has any doubts about your cohabitation; they will always request more evidence first.

The letter from the landlord, family/friend/co-worker testimonials and the Korean immigration registration are good proofs. The bank statements showing the transfers are also good proof. You don't need to have them officially translated and notarized; you can do it yourselves, including a copy of the original along with the translation. I wouldn't include all of them; we sent 4 of our monthly bank statements from the previous year, one from every 3 months.

Does she have any other mail received at that address? It doesn't have to be something official from the government. Envelopes from anything sent to her from her family or an employer?

Would your employers write a little letter confirming the address that they have on file for you and for how long? Are you guys registered at that address with any other agency or office, such as a doctor? Any IDs with the address?

That's awesome about the bank statements as I foresaw the translation aspect being hard. She doesn't have much mail to our address. We got packages from her mom but we threw those out and she also got some stuff delivered to her work, as we are not at home at postage times. The govt letter is really the only letter we kept. You don't really register with a doctor, you just use your national id.

Her driving license and national id have our address on it. Mine both date back to a previous address and have my current address written on the back in smudged permanent marker(that's how they do it!) I could always get new cards but the date of issuance would be on them so it might look dodgy. I think we can go to immigration and get the records of where we lived. I'm not sure if that is an official document or not though. My and her employers could write a letter confirming our addresses, I think.

I'm realizing too, photos of us moving in would be evidence, right? A testimonial from our new neighbor who helped us move?

I think in the end, we have enough evidence but its just frustrating as with a few minor changes like insisting that her name was on the lease would make it easier.

 

[jmomcc]

The letter from the landlord has to be notarized. You can ask him to write you payment receipts for every month, too. With both of your names on them, of course

Yea, I have to get all testimonials notarized too? I can get some neighbors to write letters too.

As far as the payment reciepts, I paid through my account so would that still work? We have records of her sending money to me but not her to them.

 

[canadianwoman]

- We can get a letter from our landlord/testimonial letters
- It would be tricky, but we do have bank records that show she sent me half the amount of rent every month and also originally for key money (deposit - common in korea) but there would be a lot of investigation, translation involved in this - also sometimes she would combine rent with other money she owed me so it would not always be exact
- We have both been registered at the same address with korean immigration for a year and three months (this seems strong to me but not sure how much weight it has outside country)

An affidavit from your landlord will help, as will other testimonial letters. The proof she gave you money will help - it shows she was contributing to your household expenses (i.e., that would be the most reasonable explanation of monthly transfers of money from her to you.) If you can get proof from immigration that you have both been at the same address for more than a year, this would be enough proof for cohabitation.

However, there is another consideration. Your application will not have been finalized by the time you get married in December, so you could gather up a lot of evidence of the wedding ceremony and send this to be added to your file after the marriage. They are supposed to consider whether applications that don't qualify under one type (for eg., common law) might qualify under another (for eg., married spouses).

All of the testimonials do not have to be notarized, but two of them do.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Her driving license and national id have our address on it. Mine both date back to a previous address and have my current address written on the back in smudged permanent marker(that's how they do it!) I could always get new cards but the date of issuance would be on them so it might look dodgy.

You seem to have more than enough proof that you live at the address, so I wouldn't bother to include your IDs. Her IDs are great proof that she lives there as well.

 

[Rob_TO]

I'm realizing too, photos of us moving in would be evidence, right? A testimonial from our new neighbor who helped us move?

In general if you have to ask the question "would this be good proof", the answer is practically always YES. If you think something will help prove you lived together or are a genuine couple, then just include it. Worst case the visa officer will just dismiss it if it's not relevant to them, but best case is they give you a quick approval due to lots of relevant proof.

 

[little_apple]

Yea, I have to get all testimonials notarized too? I can get some neighbors to write letters too.

As far as the payment reciepts, I paid through my account so would that still work? We have records of her sending money to me but not her to them.

My common-law partner was the only one on the lease and he paid cash.
The landlord wrote us a letter when I moved in but we didn't get it notarized so it wasn't accepted by CIC.
Afterwards we wrote rent payment receipts with both of our names on them and the landlord signed them. According to the GCMS notes these saved our application because every other proof started 6 weeks after moving in together and these receipts were the only proof for living together the whole time.

 

[steerpike]

also sometimes she would combine rent with other money she owed me so it would not always be exact

This sounds more like a roommate arrangement to me. Why would your commonlaw partner "owe" you money? Are your finances separate or are they together? You say you have a joint bank account, but clearly you aren't using it.

Probably not a big deal but I thought I wouldn't point that out as it kind of jumped out at me.

Have a good marriage in Bali! We got engaged there, its an amazing place! Can't wait to go back.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

This sounds more like a roommate arrangement to me. Why would your commonlaw partner "owe" you money? Are your finances separate or are they together? You say you have a joint bank account, but clearly you aren't using it.

Many couples these days share expenses but keep separate accounts with their own money, which usually results in one person owing the other money at the end of the month. My partner and I didn't have a joint account for the first several years of our relationship. Most of our bills came out of my bank account and I usually did the food shopping and paid for any outings, so at the end of the month, he always owed me money. Even now, with a joint account, my partner ends up owing me money sometimes because I pay for big expenses on my Visa (like a recent $1400 plane ticket purchase), which is paid off from my personal account.

Also, if you read the first post, they don't actually have a joint account.

 

[jmomcc]

This sounds more like a roommate arrangement to me. Why would your commonlaw partner "owe" you money? Are your finances separate or are they together? You say you have a joint bank account, but clearly you aren't using it.

Probably not a big deal but I thought I wouldn't point that out as it kind of jumped out at me.

Have a good marriage in Bali! We got engaged there, its an amazing place! Can't wait to go back.

I'm only getting back to this now!

We don't have a joint bank account. I pay the rent in full and I usually do the shopping etc (as I have a more flexible schedule) and she gives me her half at the start of every month.

 

[jmomcc]

My common-law partner was the only one on the lease and he paid cash.
The landlord wrote us a letter when I moved in but we didn't get it notarized so it wasn't accepted by CIC.
Afterwards we wrote rent payment receipts with both of our names on them and the landlord signed them. According to the GCMS notes these saved our application because every other proof started 6 weeks after moving in together and these receipts were the only proof for living together the whole time.

Do you know what the official way to get a letter from the landlord notarized is?

 

[little_apple]

Do you know what the official way to get a letter from the landlord notarized is?

Go to a Notary Public, Commissioner For Oaths or a lawyer and get it notarized. They know what to do exactly