Some questions about common law sponsorship proof

[CanadianGirl593]

I have a few questions regarding proof for my common law sponsorship.

1. How can my boyfriend get identification in BC? Or what kind of identification can he get? I ask because he doesn't qualify for BC ID because he is a visitor and it's unclear if he can get a drivers license or not since it doesn't say on the ICBC website.

2. Should I edit the photos of him and I and put text on the images to give some background of what's happening in the photo? Or should I put them into a word document and put captions under the photos?

3. Do the letters of support from our family and friends have to be notarized? Also can a friend in another country write us a letter? We have a mutual friend who lives in the UK but we haven't met him in person before, but we have done multiple online activities with him, such as the 3 of us video calling together, gaming together, etc. We have known him for several years and we know each other very well, we just haven't met in person yet. So would he be allowed to write a letter? Or do only people who have spent time with us in person be allowed?

4. Can we write a personal statement about our relationship together? Or should we have individual personal statements?

5. Does my boyfriend have to get a police certificate from his country of residence?

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Wakki]

1. visitors can't get a govt issued drivers license....drivers license is not a mandatory....submit the documents as required in the checklist.

2. don't edit the photo's....you can write the context at the back.

3. does not have to be notarized, its not an official document.

4. its up to you...personal or individual

5. refer .....checklist

Police certificates
The principal applicant and each family member 18 or older (who are not already Canadian citizens or permanent residents), must submit police certificates from the following country or countries with the application:

• Current country of residence if you (or they) have lived there for six months or more.
  and
• The country where you (or they) resided for most of your (or their) life since the age of 18.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

1. visitors can't get a govt issued drivers license....drivers license is not a mandatory....submit the documents as required in the checklist.

2. don't edit the photo's....you can write the context at the back.

3. does not have to be notarized, its not an official document.

4. its up to you...personal or individual

5. refer .....checklist

Police certificates
The principal applicant and each family member 18 or older (who are not already Canadian citizens or permanent residents), must submit police certificates from the following country or countries with the application:

• Current country of residence if you (or they) have lived there for six months or more.
  and
• The country where you (or they) resided for most of your (or their) life since the age of 18.

1. Alright the drivers license was just an idea since the cic website suggest it under important documents with same address as me, but we seem to not be able to find what ID he can get and having an ID with my address on it is on the checklist. I know because I've read the checklist numerous times.

2. The photos are digital since I took them with my phone and I don't see a point in printing them and then re-scanning them to my computer since we are applying online. That's why I asked about editing or a word document.

5. As I said I've read the checklist multiple times. So I don't need to look at it again. I wouldn't be asking if I was sure so it would nice if people stopped telling me to look at the checklist. I've seen it, I've read it and now I have a few questions about it that I want answers to. That's the whole point of my post. So please don't reply if you're just going to tell me to check the checklist. I'm not stupid, I've already seen it. Also the police certificate isn't on the checklist, it was found somewhere else on the cic website and that's why I ask about it.

Checklist link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=347&top=14

Where we found the police certificate: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5525-basic-guide-sponsor-your-spouse-partner-child.html

 

[np08]

1. Alright the drivers license was just an idea since the cic website suggest it under important documents with same address as me, but we seem to not be able to find what ID he can get and having an ID with my address on it is on the checklist. I know because I've read the checklist numerous times.

2. The photos are digital since I took them with my phone and I don't see a point in printing them and then re-scanning them to my computer since we are applying online. That's why I asked about editing or a word document.

5. As I said I've read the checklist multiple times. So I don't need to look at it again. I wouldn't be asking if I was sure so it would nice if people stopped telling me to look at the checklist. I've seen it, I've read it and now I have a few questions about it that I want answers to. That's the whole point of my post. So please don't reply if you're just going to tell me to check the checklist. I'm not stupid, I've already seen it. Also the police certificate isn't on the checklist, it was found somewhere else on the cic website and that's why I ask about it.

Checklist link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=347&top=14

Where we found the police certificate: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5525-basic-guide-sponsor-your-spouse-partner-child.html

1. A Canadian government issued ID showing the common address isn't a requirement nor could it be as visitors generally can't get those.

2. You can't apply online. All of the forms, relationship proof, photos, etc - it must all be physical, put in an envelope and sent by mail to the immigration office. It's not possible to apply online. Later, once you get your AOR, you'll be able to link the application to your online profile.

So for photos, you can print photos as they normally are on photo paper and put names and descriptions in the back or you can arrange multiples in a word document with descriptions under/above/beside them and print that. Keep in mind the maximum is 20 photos.

5. You may have read the checklist, but you obviously haven't read the guide or gotten your application package. You can do that here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp?

Requirements, necessary forms and documents (including police checks - you can expect him to absolutely need one from his country of residence and usually any other country the applicant has resided in for 6 months or more, but again, refer to your application package), checklists, etc can differ based on the basic info asked in these few questions, especially based on the country the applicant is from. So start there and get your full package with all the forms and the checklist, and also make use of the included guide.

Also for your letter question, you can include letters from any family or friends, no need to worry about that. We included a letter from a friend that's never met either of us in person, among others.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

1. A Canadian government issued ID showing the common address isn't a requirement nor could it be as visitors generally can't get those.

2. You can't apply online. All of the forms, relationship proof, photos, etc - it must all be physical, put in an envelope and sent by mail to the immigration office. It's not possible to apply online. Later, once you get your AOR, you'll be able to link the application to your online profile.

So for photos, you can print photos as they normally are on photo paper and put names and descriptions in the back or you can arrange multiples in a word document with descriptions under/above/beside them and print that. Keep in mind the maximum is 20 photos.

5. You may have read the checklist, but you obviously haven't read the guide or gotten your application package. You can do that here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp?

Requirements, necessary forms and documents (including police checks - you can expect him to absolutely need one from his country of residence and usually any other country the applicant has resided in for 6 months or more, but again, refer to your application package), checklists, etc can differ based on the basic info asked in these few questions, especially based on the country the applicant is from. So start there and get your full package with all the forms and the checklist, and also make use of the included guide.

Also for your letter question, you can include letters from any family or friends, no need to worry about that. We included a letter from a friend that's never met either of us in person, among others.

Thank you for the information it was very useful.

One more question about the photos, do they have to be a specific size because I didn't see that anywhere. Also would it be okay if in the photos it's only my boyfriend and I. I know some people submit photos of them and their families and friends but I don't know anyone who will take photos with us.

 

[np08]

Thank you for the information it was very useful.

One more question about the photos, do they have to be a specific size because I didn't see that anywhere. Also would it be okay if in the photos it's only my boyfriend and I. I know some people submit photos of them and their families and friends but I don't know anyone who will take photos with us.

I don't recall any specific size instructions. I think most people just either use the standard photo paper size (4x6) or they just arrange however many photos they can fit on a piece of paper. I couldn't tell you how many as I didn't do that (we sent actual photos on photo paper), so you'd have to check and see how many you can fit where they're not too tiny, especially considering descriptions (I'd start with four and go from there).

If it's just you two in the photos, you'll need to write a letter of explanation explaining why there's no friends or family in them - whether it's because you/him haven't met anyone (explain why) or you were unable to take pics with anyone for some other reason.

 

[ruanp28]

I have a few questions regarding proof for my common law sponsorship.

1. How can my boyfriend get identification in BC? Or what kind of identification can he get? I ask because he doesn't qualify for BC ID because he is a visitor and it's unclear if he can get a drivers license or not since it doesn't say on the ICBC website.

2. Should I edit the photos of him and I and put text on the images to give some background of what's happening in the photo? Or should I put them into a word document and put captions under the photos?

3. Do the letters of support from our family and friends have to be notarized? Also can a friend in another country write us a letter? We have a mutual friend who lives in the UK but we haven't met him in person before, but we have done multiple online activities with him, such as the 3 of us video calling together, gaming together, etc. We have known him for several years and we know each other very well, we just haven't met in person yet. So would he be allowed to write a letter? Or do only people who have spent time with us in person be allowed?

4. Can we write a personal statement about our relationship together? Or should we have individual personal statements?

5. Does my boyfriend have to get a police certificate from his country of residence?

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi there. We also recently applied common law and we just received sponsor approval. I have a detailed post about common-law sponsorship that you can check out if you want, it might answer some questions.

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-we-compiled-our-spousal-sponsorship-application-2018.581810/

In terms of photos: We printed out 20 photos on normal photo paper (was also digital, from our phones etc.) - we made a word doc and typed details of each photo (who, where, when, occasion) and stuck it to the back of each photo with D-C-Fix.

In terms of letters of support. As far as I understand, two letters had to be notarized in the past. We could not see this requirement in the checklist but we decided to be safe and got a support letter from my father and sister notarized. The rest of our letters were not notarized. We had about 10 letters in total from closest friends and family (we also included these people in our 20 photos).

The relationship letter - in our case, the sponsor wrote the relationship personalized letter. Don't really think it matters, worst case scenario they will call you in for an interview - which you will ace if your relationship is not fraudulent so it should not really be a worry in my opinion.

Police clearance - exactly like Wakki stated above

 

[Innd]

As per photo ID. You can go to any Service Canada and get a photo card. The only thing though is if you have a driver's license they will cancel it. You can only have either a photo card or driver's license. This way you can have a photo card with the same address as you. It takes 4-6 weeks to be delivered by mail. It applies even your only hold a visitor visa. Hope this help your question.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

I don't recall any specific size instructions. I think most people just either use the standard photo paper size (4x6) or they just arrange however many photos they can fit on a piece of paper. I couldn't tell you how many as I didn't do that (we sent actual photos on photo paper), so you'd have to check and see how many you can fit where they're not too tiny, especially considering descriptions (I'd start with four and go from there).

If it's just you two in the photos, you'll need to write a letter of explanation explaining why there's no friends or family in them - whether it's because you/him haven't met anyone (explain why) or you were unable to take pics with anyone for some other reason.

Alright thank you. Do you think screenshots of us video calling with people would count since we're having troubles getting photos of us with others.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

Hi there. We also recently applied common law and we just received sponsor approval. I have a detailed post about common-law sponsorship that you can check out if you want, it might answer some questions.

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-we-compiled-our-spousal-sponsorship-application-2018.581810/

In terms of photos: We printed out 20 photos on normal photo paper (was also digital, from our phones etc.) - we made a word doc and typed details of each photo (who, where, when, occasion) and stuck it to the back of each photo with D-C-Fix.

In terms of letters of support. As far as I understand, two letters had to be notarized in the past. We could not see this requirement in the checklist but we decided to be safe and got a support letter from my father and sister notarized. The rest of our letters were not notarized. We had about 10 letters in total from closest friends and family (we also included these people in our 20 photos).

The relationship letter - in our case, the sponsor wrote the relationship personalized letter. Don't really think it matters, worst case scenario they will call you in for an interview - which you will ace if your relationship is not fraudulent so it should not really be a worry in my opinion.

Police clearance - exactly like Wakki stated above

Thank you for the help. Your link is very useful, we will definitely be using it for reference.

 

[CanadianGirl593]

As per photo ID. You can go to any Service Canada and get a photo card. The only thing though is if you have a driver's license they will cancel it. You can only have either a photo card or driver's license. This way you can have a photo card with the same address as you. It takes 4-6 weeks to be delivered by mail. It applies even your only hold a visitor visa. Hope this help your question.

Thank you it does help since we've been struggling to figure out how he can have an ID with my address on it.