Need help proving cohabitation - obvious methods do not apply...

[ksin86]

Hi all,

I'm sponsoring my common-law partner with whom I've cohabited with for over a year. Unfortunately, we are in a bit of a pickle as we cannot come up much evidence to prove this.

For starters, we did not sign a rental/lease agreement with our landlord so no luck there. On top of that our mailing address is different from where we live; all our mail gets sent to my parents' home, just a few minutes away from us. We did this out of convenience and for security reasons. As a result of this, both our driver's licenses and other important documents all do not show our physical residential address where we cohabitate, just our mailing address.

On another note, we don't support each other much financially as we're both quite independent.

Other than pictorial evidence (difficult since we are only limited to 20) and a long written explanation explaining why, does anyone have any bright ideas out there as to how we can get around this?

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

Hi all,

I'm sponsoring my common-law partner with whom I've cohabited with for over a year. Unfortunately, we are in a bit of a pickle as we cannot come up much evidence to prove this.

For starters, we did not sign a rental/lease agreement with our landlord so no luck there. On top of that our mailing address is different from where we live; all our mail gets sent to my parents' home, just a few minutes away from us. We did this out of convenience and for security reasons. As a result of this, both our driver's licenses and other important documents all do not show our physical residential address where we cohabitate, just our mailing address.

On another note, we don't support each other much financially as we're both quite independent.

Other than pictorial evidence (difficult since we are only limited to 20) and a long written explanation explaining why, does anyone have any bright ideas out there as to how we can get around this?

Thanks!

To prove common law, it's critical that you be able to prove cohabitation. Pictures and a long written explanation aren't evidence of this unfortunately.

Do you have any joint utility bills for your common address? Is your landlord willing to get an affidavit done stating you live together at this address? What about joint bank accounts or credit cards showing this address? What address do your tax returns from last year show? It's a shame you routed all of your mail to your parents' address. But what's done is done.

 

[ksin86]

To prove common law, it's critical that you be able to prove cohabitation. Pictures and a long written explanation aren't evidence of this unfortunately.

Do you have any joint utility bills for your common address? Is your landlord willing to get an affidavit done stating you live together at this address? What about joint bank accounts or credit cards showing this address? What address do your tax returns from last year show? It's a shame you routed all of your mail to your parents' address. But what's done is done.

Thank you scylla for your response. Unfortunately our utilities are included in the rent. Bank accounts, credit cards as well as our tax returns all show my parent's address unfortunately. Asking our landlord to complete an affidavit seems like our best bet. If you or anyone else has any other ideas, please let us know!

Thanks.

 

[ksin86]

In addition to my previous response, is the IRCC looking for old proof of utility bills or documents coming to our residential address? Would it be a problem if I were to change all our addresses now and then wait a month until they come in? Another issue is most of our bills are paperless as we check them online.

 

[scylla]

In addition to my previous response, is the IRCC looking for old proof of utility bills or documents coming to our residential address? Would it be a problem if I were to change all our addresses now and then wait a month until they come in? Another issue is most of our bills are paperless as we check them online.

Changing the address now doesn't really help. IRCC is looking for evidence that proves a full year of cohabitation. However I guess you might as well go ahead and change your address now.

As for the paperless bills, they still show an address.

I don't think the affidavit from the landlord alone will be enough. I think you will need to dig up additional evidence that proves a full year of cohabitation to successfully apply as common law.

 

[ksin86]

Changing the address now doesn't really help. IRCC is looking for evidence that proves a full year of cohabitation. However I guess you might as well go ahead and change your address now.

As for the paperless bills, they still show an address.

I don't think the affidavit from the landlord alone will be enough. I think you will need to dig up additional evidence that proves a full year of cohabitation to successfully apply as common law.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks again.