Some questions before we send our application

[midnighter92]

Hello all,

We are around 97% ready to send in our application but I just wanted to clarify a few things before we send it. I was originally going to send an inland application since I've been living in Canada for just over 3 years now. I am originally from the UK and went to Canada on IEC where I met my common-law partner. We were starting to get our application together last year and I and I was granted a one year visitor extension which will expire April 2015. I also paid all my PR fees last year even though we didn't end up sending our application then (total $1050 dated February 2014)
We've been taking our sweet time putting the application together since we moved to Toronto and have been caught up with settling down and tracking down supporting letters from friends and family and documents for our file.

Checking around the forum, I've read in several places that it would be more beneficial for me to send an outland application even though I've been living in Canada. If this is the case:

1) Is it still ok to put my residential address as the one in Canada?
2) If not, should my partner still be considered my Common Law Partner?
3) If I apply for another visitor extension online, am I permitted to leave the country and come back? My current one implies that I cannot re-enter the country...
4) Should I send my application to London (UK) or Mississauga or Ottawa?
5) In the Country Specifications, it says I need 8 identical photos for each member of my family; does that include my partner (the sponsor?) (I'm the only applicant, no dependents)
6) In our personal statements, we wrote mainly about the development of our relationship and that we want to stay together, do we need to include any long term plans? We're kinda scrappy and a lot of the things we are working out right now (in terms of careers, marriage etc.) so we didn't really push on those issues but we focused more on staying together.
7) We've been together for nearly 3 years and living together for more than 2. We've honestly hardly been apart so our supporting documents feel somewhat lacking to others that I've read on the forum. I've included 15 pages of various photos of us with my partners family and some friends but most are "selfies" from different places - most I remember, some I just found our phones! In terms of communication, we've included some screenshots of conversations but again, since we mostly talk in person or at home, we don't have an awful lot of hard evidence. We do have a joint chequing account though so should we include a bank statement and other payments we've made together eg. hydro, internet, groceries?


Any feedback would be really fantastic. Thank you!

 

[RajaJi]

Hello all,

1) Is it still ok to put my residential address as the one in Canada?

Yes.

2) If not, should my partner still be considered my Common Law Partner?

Why not? If you plan on staying in Canada, I will suggest put that address. It is not neccessary though. You will be considered a Common Law Partner as long as you meet the requirements.

3) If I apply for another visitor extension online, am I permitted to leave the country and come back? My current one implies that I cannot re-enter the country...

You can leave anytime you want. Re-entry is not guaranteed. Though there is low chance of not being allowed to re-enter.

4) Should I send my application to London (UK) or Mississauga or Ottawa?

Mississauga

5) In the Country Specifications, it says I need 8 identical photos for each member of my family; does that include my partner (the sponsor?) (I'm the only applicant, no dependents)

Just you.

6) In our personal statements, we wrote mainly about the development of our relationship and that we want to stay together, do we need to include any long term plans? We're kinda scrappy and a lot of the things we are working out right now (in terms of careers, marriage etc.) so we didn't really push on those issues but we focused more on staying together.
7) We've been together for nearly 3 years and living together for more than 2. We've honestly hardly been apart so our supporting documents feel somewhat lacking to others that I've read on the forum. I've included 15 pages of various photos of us with my partners family and some friends but most are "selfies" from different places - most I remember, some I just found our phones! In terms of communication, we've included some screenshots of conversations but again, since we mostly talk in person or at home, we don't have an awful lot of hard evidence. We do have a joint chequing account though so should we include a bank statement and other payments we've made together eg. hydro, internet, groceries?

Include as much as evidence, which demonstrate your relationship. Include letters from relatives/friends.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

7) We've been together for nearly 3 years and living together for more than 2. We've honestly hardly been apart so our supporting documents feel somewhat lacking to others that I've read on the forum. I've included 15 pages of various photos of us with my partners family and some friends but most are "selfies" from different places - most I remember, some I just found our phones! In terms of communication, we've included some screenshots of conversations but again, since we mostly talk in person or at home, we don't have an awful lot of hard evidence. We do have a joint chequing account though so should we include a bank statement and other payments we've made together eg. hydro, internet, groceries?

Don't bother including any communication evidence; for any of the communication questions in the app, "We live together" is a sufficient answer. That requirement is more for couples who have been apart, not for those living together. Include the joint account statements, as this is good evidence of common-law.

What other common-law evidence do you have?

 

[midnighter92]

Thank you for your answers!


For our supporting evidence we have photos (some with friends and family, some on trips but most of the ones we took together are of our faces..), we have supporting letters from friends and family. My partner hasn't met my dad in person but they've spoken over Skype so my parents mentioned that in the letter. To be honest, their letter is a little stale (limited English) but we have plenty of other heartfelt ones from other members of my family.

We've also included a statement from our joint bank account (and a void cheque which has both our names printed on it), a former lease from our previous apartment which we lived in for just over a year as well as a letter from a former roommate/friend who we both lived with. I found some old receipts from things that we've done together too eg. hotel stays, megabus tickets..even a review from air bnb which mentions us.

We have some grocery receipts laying around too; should I include those?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

We've also included a statement from our joint bank account (and a void cheque which has both our names printed on it), a former lease from our previous apartment which we lived in for just over a year as well as a letter from a former roommate/friend who we both lived with. I found some old receipts from things that we've done together too eg. hotel stays, megabus tickets..even a review from air bnb which mentions us.

We have some grocery receipts laying around too; should I include those?

Your relationship evidence is fine.

Your common-law evidence looks a bit thin. Do you have a current lease with both names on it? Do you have any other mail sent to the same address in both names or individually? Payslips with your address? Joint utility bills? Bank statements covering at least a year? IDs with the same address? Any form of insurance together?

 

[midnighter92]

We have a common law declaration form signed and notarized in 2014, a letter from my uncle (who's also our landlord of our current place), mail sent to same address (but not both names), utilities are in my uncle's name but we pay it from our joint account. Oh I have a letter from the person who did our taxes which we did under common law but that was last year's.

Should I ask my uncle to draw a lease for us?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

We have a common law declaration form signed and notarized in 2014, a letter from my uncle (who's also our landlord of our current place), mail sent to same address (but not both names), utilities are in my uncle's name but we pay it from our joint account. Oh I have a letter from the person who did our taxes which we did under common law but that was last year's.

Should I ask my uncle to draw a lease for us?

In the absence of a current lease, I suggest you have the letter from your uncle notarized. Mail at the same address in individual names is good; try to include a sampling covering at least a year. You could ask for copies of some of the utility bills from your uncle since you've lived there and show the corresponding payments on your joint statements. Showing you've declared common-law on your tax statements is good, so include that.