Roommate to common law

[MYYC]

I am so confused about the common law. I moved in with my roommate that time (he is my landlord and same sex) in 2016 and it is a 2 bedroom condos. we have leased agreement and he is the landlord. I etransfer money to him every month for rent. I applied my PR in 2016 and landed in 2019. my application I put single. After couple years now we are into each other and become partner. this happened in 2021 this year. If I apply citizenship or renew my PR. would it make IRCC think I was misrepresented myself during my PR application.? ( he is Canadian I am not sponsoring him ) We were not in common-law that time. we don't have any joint account , bills anything. I have banking transction showing I pay rents ( some times I paid cash or partial cash so no banking transaction and some months showing different amount) but like the bank statement shows 7-8 months a year I transferee him money .

Thanks a lot

 

[armoured]

I applied my PR in 2016 and landed in 2019. my application I put single. After couple years now we are into each other and become partner. this happened in 2021 this year. If I apply citizenship or renew my PR. would it make IRCC think I was misrepresented myself during my PR application.?

Yes, it is a set of facts that would likely make IRCC look closely and quite possibly (even likely) decide that you did not declare your common-law spouse, and therefore ineligible for you to sponsor that spouse, forever. One can obviously attempt to make the case that factually you were not in a relationship other than sharing housing, although that can be quite difficult.

But:

( he is Canadian I am not sponsoring him )

If he is Canadian, there's no question of sponsoring whatsoever anyway, so it's moot.

The point being: IRCC would only look at the question of 'misrepresentation' if there is some reason to do so. (This would most likely apply to other parts of government as well but I'm not going to claim to know how any of them would approach.)

Or put differently: misrepresentation (with the sanctions against the individual) has to have some component of relevancy where the misrepresentation (even if an omission) influenced the IRCC decision improperly. If there's no harm, there's no foul (massive simplifcation and I'm sure an actual lawyer would dispute this statement, but in simple terms). And in your case here, I do not see how you qualifying as PR on your own would be affected by you having (hypothetically) a Canadian spouse you neglected to declare. You didn't get any benefit - from IRCC perspective - of not saying you had a Canadian spouse when you applied under whatever economic program you qualified under..

So: no-one can tell you if this might be an issue in some way without knowing what issue you are referring to. There may be conceivably some circumstances where it would, but none come to mind - with massive caveat tht I know nothing about your specific case apart from what you wrote above.

 

[MYYC]

Yes, it is a set of facts that would likely make IRCC look closely and quite possibly (even likely) decide that you did not declare your common-law spouse, and therefore ineligible for you to sponsor that spouse, forever. One can obviously attempt to make the case that factually you were not in a relationship other than sharing housing, although that can be quite difficult.

But:


If he is Canadian, there's no question of sponsoring whatsoever anyway, so it's moot.

The point being: IRCC would only look at the question of 'misrepresentation' if there is some reason to do so. (This would most likely apply to other parts of government as well but I'm not going to claim to know how any of them would approach.)

Or put differently: misrepresentation (with the sanctions against the individual) has to have some component of relevancy where the misrepresentation (even if an omission) influenced the IRCC decision improperly. If there's no harm, there's no foul (massive simplifcation and I'm sure an actual lawyer would dispute this statement, but in simple terms). And in your case here, I do not see how you qualifying as PR on your own would be affected by you having (hypothetically) a Canadian spouse you neglected to declare. You didn't get any benefit - from IRCC perspective - of not saying you had a Canadian spouse when you applied under whatever economic program you qualified under..

So: no-one can tell you if this might be an issue in some way without knowing what issue you are referring to. There may be conceivably some circumstances where it would, but none come to mind - with massive caveat tht I know nothing about your specific case apart from what you wrote above.

Thanks for your quick response. But I am not sponsoring him. He is Canadian citizen. I am just worried if I put down his name as common law in the future will jeopardize my PR status.( like apply citizen or renew my Pr card)

 

[armoured]

Thanks for your quick response. But I am not sponsoring him. He is Canadian citizen. I am just worried if I put down his name as common law in the future will jeopardize my PR status.( like apply citizen or renew my Pr card)

That is precisely my point: I cannot see why misrepresentation would come up, because you received no benefit by not declaring your spouse at the time. So even if you declare and they discover information they believe was omitted, it's irrelevant.

To give a different example: let's say they decide that you intentionally misrepresented your height - they can't come back later and decide it was misrepresentation, because height is irrelevant to your PR application, that information would not have misled IRCC into making a different decision about your application. (This is not a perfect example because citizen-spouse is relevant - but in most cases having the citizen-spouse would have helped not hurt your application, so also not subject to punishment)

Side note: I don't recall whether they formally sanction not declaring a spouse as misrepresentation - but the 'punishment' is typically limited to ('just') making that spouse ineligible for sponsorship for life; a punishment that's irrelevant to your case anyway.

Short form: I don't see how this could be an issue. I don't see how it would come up at either PR card renewal or citizenship stage.

 

[MYYC]

That is precisely my point: I cannot see why misrepresentation would come up, because you received no benefit by not declaring your spouse at the time. So even if you declare and they discover information they believe was omitted, it's irrelevant.

To give a different example: let's say they decide that you intentionally misrepresented your height - they can't come back later and decide it was misrepresentation, because height is irrelevant to your PR application, that information would not have misled IRCC into making a different decision about your application. (This is not a perfect example because citizen-spouse is relevant - but in most cases having the citizen-spouse would have helped not hurt your application, so also not subject to punishment)

Side note: I don't recall whether they formally sanction not declaring a spouse as misrepresentation - but the 'punishment' is typically limited to ('just') making that spouse ineligible for sponsorship for life; a punishment that's irrelevant to your case anyway.

Short form: I don't see how this could be an issue. I don't see how it would come up at either PR card renewal or citizenship stage.

thanks a lot! It stresses me out so much because I was not trying to hide. I know is hard to prove that we were not common law if we live under same roof. Just don’t want to take the risk they think I was trying to hide. Thanks a lot!

 

[armoured]

thanks a lot! It stresses me out so much because I was not trying to hide. I know is hard to prove that we were not common law if we live under same roof. Just don’t want to take the risk they think I was trying to hide. Thanks a lot!

Again, without trying to complicate - you couldn't really have been hiding it because there was no advantage to hiding it. (Had there been some advantage, it would be much more difficult...)

 

[MYYC]

Again, without trying to complicate - you couldn't really have been hiding it because there was no advantage to hiding it. (Had there been some advantage, it would be much more difficult...)

Thanks for your clarification! !

 

[Diana1993]

Not declaring a spouse/common-law partner is considered misrepresentation. It doesn't matter if he/she would give you any benefit. There is a lot of information and jurisprudence about it.

However, this fact should not impact any of your further dealing with IRCC because it does not apply to you. Just sharing a flat does not mean that you were in a common-law relationship. Being in a common-law relationship means living with someone continuously for 12 months in a committed relationship, as in a marriage-like relationship. What does it actually mean? It means that you were in a romantic relationship with your partner, you were committed to each other (as in did not see, date, sleep with other people), living for at least 12 months continuously, were involved with families of one another, trips together, etc., I can go on and on. The list is long.

You said that you were renting the apartment from him, so this does not mean you were in a common-law, even if you were romantically involved (dating). For immigration purposes, you were single at the time you submitted app, waited and landed as a PR. If you just started to be fully committed in 2021, you should declare him as your partner in your next application.

If you are not sure about it seek a piece of qualified legal advice. While I respect @armoured for being active and trying to help as much as he/she can, in this particular matter he/she is mistaken to the extent that it is not misrep if someone is qualified on their own and not declared a spouse.

 

[MYYC]

Not declaring a spouse/common-law partner is considered misrepresentation. It doesn't matter if he/she would give you any benefit. There is a lot of information and jurisprudence about it.

However, this fact should not impact any of your further dealing with IRCC because it does not apply to you. Just sharing a flat does not mean that you were in a common-law relationship. Being in a common-law relationship means living with someone continuously for 12 months in a committed relationship, as in a marriage-like relationship. What does it actually mean? It means that you were in a romantic relationship with your partner, you were committed to each other (as in did not see, date, sleep with other people), living for at least 12 months continuously, were involved with families of one another, trips together, etc., I can go on and on. The list is long.

You said that you were renting the apartment from him, so this does not mean you were in a common-law, even if you were romantically involved (dating). For immigration purposes, you were single at the time you submitted app, waited and landed as a PR. If you just started to be fully committed in 2021, you should declare him as your partner in your next application.

If you are not sure about it seek a piece of qualified legal advice. While I respect @armoured for being active and trying to help as much as he/she can, in this particular matter he/she is mistaken to the extent that it is not misrep if someone is qualified on their own and not declared a spouse.

Thanks for your response. But if I apply citizenship in the future and I put his name as common law partner from 2021. Will they ask my partner to file any documents such as address history . If that’s the case , They May notice we lived together during my Pr application. Then they could think I misrepresented myslef being single. Also as other people mentioned in forum it is hard to prove we were not in common law. That’s my concern.

thanks

 

[Diana1993]

I see.

I don't know if they ask for the address history of your partner. You can check on their website in the guide for citizenship application.

It is not necessarily they will think that, but if they do, they will seek clarification. In your situation is actually easy to prove that you were not a common-law. 1st is your lease agreement. This shows that you were renting from him the room, in a common-law arrangement this would be very odd. 2nd you don't have a joint bank account, bills etc, which is an indication that you weren't together as a couple. 3rd I am pretty sure you were seeing other people, you and him, and if you can show that you had any encounters with other people that will be another solid indication that you were not in a relationship. 4th, if you can show some of the conversations that you had with him when he was just your landlord, which I am pretty sure were about payment and stuff like that, that also would show the nature of your relationship at the time.

What you can do, is to write a letter ahead, addressing the fact that you lived in the same apartment but you were not in a common-law relationship for the reasons that I stated above.

Again, if you are concerned, go to a lawyer, they will give you a detailed response. Many people on this forum, (including me perhaps) don't understand fully the process and misguide people who seek help, just because they read one thing and think it applies to the whole process.

 

[DimT44]

Thanks for your response. But if I apply citizenship in the future and I put his name as common law partner from 2021. Will they ask my partner to file any documents such as address history . If that’s the case , They May notice we lived together during my Pr application. Then they could think I misrepresented myslef being single. Also as other people mentioned in forum it is hard to prove we were not in common law. That’s my concern.

thanks

If I'm not mistaken, citizenship application does not ask about partner details or your partner's address history. Anyway, if it does come up where you provide that information in the future, I think you should preemptively explain this, and not wait for IRCC to flag it on their end. I believe this will give more credibility to your situation. But again, I don't think that info will be needed in your citizenship application since you will be applying alone for that not as a family.

 

[Michael Aymeric Jouvain M]

Est-ce obligatoire de voyagé avec votre conjoint ?
SI les possibilités ne sont favorables pour deux

 

[MYYC]

Thanks for advise. The encounters parts is hard to prove I did have sex with someone met online but was like hookup and no evidence for that. In terms of messages changed phone couple times and also we became friends during the years. He doesn’t really message me for rent since I transfer him automatically. Sometime I give cash but I did do e transfer to him sometimes for rent I would say half of the year I sent him money through e transfer.

he did call an immigration lawyer today and the lawyer told him that this is not material. what it means is basically even visa officer thinks we were in common law during Pr application that’s not affect my case since there is no benefit for claiming single. The lawyer said if the common law partner is not Pr or Canadian citizen then this factor will become material.

sorry I am not quite sure about material too technical

 

[DimT44]

sorry I am not quite sure about material too technical

What the lawyer means by material is what Armoured explained to you earlier in the thread about obtaining an advantage with IRCC by misrepresenting. Which is why the lawyer says basically that it doesn't make a difference (no advantage) in your situation since your partner is already a citizen.

 

[DimT44]

Est-ce obligatoire de voyagé avec votre conjoint ?
SI les possibilités ne sont favorables pour deux

Voyager avec votre conjoint où?