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kjantz

Member
Jun 15, 2017
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Hi!

So my soon to be husband and I are reviewing all of the spousal application requirements and are concerned about some of the requirements for proof of our relationship. We are applying for the inland sponsorship.

We have been together for 3 years and throughout that period have gone back and forth between Iceland (where he's from) and Canada among other trips. We have tons of pictures and family and friends providing letters, however given that neither of us have ever been more than a visitor in each other's countries, we don't have any sort of documentation of us sharing joint ownership of anything or financial support. We have lived together in an apartment in Canada since May and both of our names are own the lease agreement, but aside from that there is nothing else.

Do you have any advice? We will most definitely explain the situation and why it hasn't allowed us to create joint accounts and what not.
I would love to hear what people in a similar situation did to truly prove that they are co-habitual.

Thank you
 
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Hi!

So my soon to be husband and I are reviewing all of the spousal application requirements and are concerned about some of the requirements for proof of our relationship. We are applying for the inland sponsorship.

We have been together for 3 years and throughout that period have gone back and forth between Iceland (where he's from) and Canada among other trips. We have tons of pictures and family and friends providing letters, however given that neither of us have ever been more than a visitor in each other's countries, we don't have any sort of documentation of us sharing joint ownership of anything or financial support. We have lived together in an apartment in Canada since May and both of our names are own the lease agreement, but aside from that there is nothing else.

Do you have any advice? We will most definitely explain the situation and why it hasn't allowed us to create joint accounts and what not.
I would love to hear what people in a similar situation did to truly prove that they are co-habitual.

Thank you
Since your names are both on the lease, and I assume you have tenant insurance, why not add his name to that? And also, its really easy to open a joint account, and just add him to one of your Canadian bank accounts. That's what we did - oh and also added him to my credit card account as well, which sends a card in his name only to his address.

Before becoming a PR, its harder to add your husband to stuff, but this is what we did and it worked for us...to prove that we lived together.

Hope that helps!!
 
Since your names are both on the lease, and I assume you have tenant insurance, why not add his name to that? And also, its really easy to open a joint account, and just add him to one of your Canadian bank accounts. That's what we did - oh and also added him to my credit card account as well, which sends a card in his name only to his address.

Before becoming a PR, its harder to add your husband to stuff, but this is what we did and it worked for us...to prove that we lived together.

Hope that helps!!
Thank you for the advice! That is helpful.
 
Hi!

So my soon to be husband and I are reviewing all of the spousal application requirements and are concerned about some of the requirements for proof of our relationship. We are applying for the inland sponsorship.

We have been together for 3 years and throughout that period have gone back and forth between Iceland (where he's from) and Canada among other trips. We have tons of pictures and family and friends providing letters, however given that neither of us have ever been more than a visitor in each other's countries, we don't have any sort of documentation of us sharing joint ownership of anything or financial support. We have lived together in an apartment in Canada since May and both of our names are own the lease agreement, but aside from that there is nothing else.

Do you have any advice? We will most definitely explain the situation and why it hasn't allowed us to create joint accounts and what not.
I would love to hear what people in a similar situation did to truly prove that they are co-habitual.

Thank you

If you are working full time you can add him to your benefits
 
Thank you for the advice! That is helpful.
No worries, just add him to whatever you can, and explain it well in your application in terms of how long you've been together, why there is minimal proof of living together in one place (so far). So give a history of what you've been up to, and then something along the lines of "we have now settled in Canada, are leasing an apartment together and have started joining our lives together..." and attach the proof of the joint account, insurance etc...Just be very clear and very detailed, you will be fine! :-) Honesty is the best policy and they appreciate that.

If it makes you feel better, my husband travelled for 10 years, with no job in that time, so trust me overcoming obstacles is possible. And we were lucky enough to go from start to finish in less than 4 months, despite I'm sure what would be seen as many red flags. We had an interview too...:-) But we just celebrated his landing as a PR exactly one year ago yesterday.

Our case I'm sure was unique, however we were upfront, honest and explained absolutely everything!!!
 
No worries, just add him to whatever you can, and explain it well in your application in terms of how long you've been together, why there is minimal proof of living together in one place (so far). So give a history of what you've been up to, and then something along the lines of "we have now settled in Canada, are leasing an apartment together and have started joining our lives together..." and attach the proof of the joint account, insurance etc...Just be very clear and very detailed, you will be fine! :) Honesty is the best policy and they appreciate that.

If it makes you feel better, my husband travelled for 10 years, with no job in that time, so trust me overcoming obstacles is possible. And we were lucky enough to go from start to finish in less than 4 months, despite I'm sure what would be seen as many red flags. We had an interview too...:) But we just celebrated his landing as a PR exactly one year ago yesterday.

Our case I'm sure was unique, however we were upfront, honest and explained absolutely everything!!!

Wow that is awesome! Congratulations to you two, what a crazy journey! Those have been my thoughts as well, just explain everything, be completely honest and hope for the best. :)
 
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Wow that is awesome! Congratulations to you two, what a crazy journey! Those have been my thoughts as well, just explain everything, be completely honest and hope for the best. :)
You'll be fine...have some faith because CIC is used to bs stories - even if what you say isn't what you think they want to hear, they actually prefer to deal with people who are totally upfront and honest. My husband's interview lasted 7 minutes (he timed it because he was freaking out...lol) and they gave him PR on the spot. We had every red flag possible too - so hang in there, it can happen! And with him being from Eastern Europe, being married less than 3 months before applying for spousal, we were successful. Not sure if it was a fluke, but in reality we do believe that being totally honest helped a lot...no, he hasn't worked in 10 years, yes he was divorced and me too, yes, we haven't been married for years...but we chose to be completely upfront and not feed them the bs they are used to hearing.

I think they like the honesty...shows you have nothing to hide and are genuine.
 
If you are working full time you can add him to your benefits

I am working full time with benefits, however I had assumed that since he does not have a Manitoba health card that he wouldn't be entitled to join. But I may be wrong, I will have to look into that. Thanks for your response :)
 
I am working full time with benefits, however I had assumed that since he does not have a Manitoba health card that he wouldn't be entitled to join. But I may be wrong, I will have to look into that. Thanks for your response :)

hello im in ontario and I was able to add because benefit is private not covered under health card. my benefit with sunlife so I logged in and add him if you currently have single plan then you have to upgrade to a family plan
 
Hi!

So my soon to be husband and I are reviewing all of the spousal application requirements and are concerned about some of the requirements for proof of our relationship. We are applying for the inland sponsorship.

We have been together for 3 years and throughout that period have gone back and forth between Iceland (where he's from) and Canada among other trips. We have tons of pictures and family and friends providing letters, however given that neither of us have ever been more than a visitor in each other's countries, we don't have any sort of documentation of us sharing joint ownership of anything or financial support. We have lived together in an apartment in Canada since May and both of our names are own the lease agreement, but aside from that there is nothing else.

Do you have any advice? We will most definitely explain the situation and why it hasn't allowed us to create joint accounts and what not.
I would love to hear what people in a similar situation did to truly prove that they are co-habitual.

Thank you

May be someone else had already said this suggestion, but what my wife did is add me as beneficiary to her insurance and we submitted that to CIC. I really think that helped my case (among other things). Good luck :)
 
I sponsored my husband this year, and we got a positive decision made in 5 months. We didn't have any joint accounts and didn't even explain why we didn't. We did send screenshots of him sending money to my account as some of the relationship proof.

Disclaimer: This was our own experience.
 
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hello im in ontario and I was able to add because benefit is private not covered under health card. my benefit with sunlife so I logged in and add him if you currently have single plan then you have to upgrade to a family plan

Note that the majority of insurance companies require people to first have provincial coverage; employer health plans are generally a top-up on provincial coverage.

You should confirm directly with the insurance underwriters that they will actually cover your spouse without provincial healthcare or you may be on the hook to pay back any claims made.
 
Note that the majority of insurance companies require people to first have provincial coverage; employer health plans are generally a top-up on provincial coverage.

You should confirm directly with the insurance underwriters that they will actually cover your spouse without provincial healthcare or you may be on the hook to pay back any claims made.

that might be the case however im not concerned about the coverage i add as pr
 
Note that the majority of insurance companies require people to first have provincial coverage; employer health plans are generally a top-up on provincial coverage.

You should confirm directly with the insurance underwriters that they will actually cover your spouse without provincial healthcare or you may be on the hook to pay back any claims made.
It depends on the type of insurance you are looking to add your spouse to. If its work benefits that cover prescriptions, dental etc then yes be absolutely sure to double check. With life insurance, that is not through a company, but private, you can add who you want to. This is what we did as well. The very important point that Canuck in UK points out is to make absolutely sure before you add. If its private you could add someone you don't know as a beneficiary on your life insurance. With work benefits, that's a completely different ball game.
 
I sponsored my husband this year, and we got a positive decision made in 5 months. We didn't have any joint accounts and didn't even explain why we didn't.

This was our experience, too. I wrote a 4-page letter detailing the timeline of our relationship, included photos of our wedding and a couple of holidays at relatives' houses, and a bunch of screenshots of anniversary posts and everyday chatty posts from Facebook. I also included a letter from a family member. They seemed fine with that. We've been together for six years and married for three. That probably worked in our favour as well.