Sponsored Spouse Questionnaire. Info on your Common-law relationship

[Amanda1123]

Hello,

The section on this form has several questions which I'm sure how to answer:

a)
Information on your common-law partner relationship.
I selected NO for question 22: Was there a formal ceremony. It then asks to explain why? How is this supposed to be answered??
Then it asks if there was a reception. Do i just write "N/A"?

b)
Maintaining Contact.
Questions 24 & 25: Has your sponsor visited you during the period of your relationship? - We have never been in separate countries so do i write N/A? Unsure how to explain this one.. my partner is a canadian citizen but hasn't lived in canada at any time.

Many thanks in advance helpful people!
Laura

 

[canadianwoman]

For the formal ceremony, most people who are common-law do not have one, so it is OK. Just quickly explain you and your partner did not feel it was necessary, or whatever your reasons were.
For the reception, you can also just say you did not feel it was necessary. But think back. If you did have a party or something along those lines to celebrate moving in together, or for your one-year anniversay together (which is when CIC says you became common-law) then you could mention those parties.
For maintaining contact, just explain that you and your partner have been living together in country x since whenever.

 

[Rob_TO]

Information on your common-law partner relationship.
I selected NO for question 22: Was there a formal ceremony. It then asks to explain why? How is this supposed to be answered??
Then it asks if there was a reception. Do i just write "N/A"?

We just stated no, and then wrote something like a common-law ceremony is not normal or expected in society, and any ceremonies would wait until we eventually got married.

Maintaining Contact.
Questions 24 & 25: Has your sponsor visited you during the period of your relationship? - We have never been in separate countries so do i write N/A? Unsure how to explain this one.. my partner is a canadian citizen but hasn't lived in canada at any time.

We also saw each other or lived together during practically our entire relationship. So we answered YES, and just explained this as such in the box given to provide explanation. For the communication questions we stated that every day we communicated by simply talking to each other in person. Didn't include any phone, emails or other communication proof, since that is more required for long distance relationships.