Sponsoring my common-law girlfriend

[stone12m]

Hello everyone, I'm in desperate need of some advice. Forgive me but I want to give some background on my situation:

My GF is American, I'm Canadian. We met about 6 years ago while teaching together in Korea. We recently returned to North America this year in hopes of building a life here.

We were not adequately prepared. We saw a couple different lawyers who gave us overly optimistic advice, though in the end we didn't actually pay one. We were hoping to find her employment in Canada for a work visa so we could start processing a common law application but she could not find an employer willing to sponsor her. Now she will have to return home soon as her 6 months is about to run out.

I wish I could just support her while she applied in Canada, but its not really an option as I have struggled myself to find meaningful employment and cant see how I can support us on a single income for an entire year. We are considering moving back overseas for a year while processing a common law visa.

We have lived for over 3 years together, though in a foreign country. When we came back, she spent a few months at home while I attended some schooling, now she has been back living with me for 4 months.

my questions:

1. If we both went overseas to teach again, could we apply for her VISA from the US or another country and work for a year while the application is being processed?
2. would the fact she spent a few months at home disqualify us from applying for common law?
3. My parents could co-sign as a sponsor, would this be beneficial or necessary?
4. any other advice I'd really appreciate. I have no idea how to go forward. I've already turned down acceptance for advanced education because of our difficulties, I'm hoping we have some sort of a path forward so we can get on with our lives

Thanks

 

[Rob_TO]

1. If we both went overseas to teach again, could we apply for her VISA from the US or another country and work for a year while the application is being processed?

Since you are a Canadian citizen then yes, you can apply while you are both living outside of Canada. You would just need to show intent to return to Canada after PR is approved.

2. would the fact she spent a few months at home disqualify us from applying for common law?

As long as you have lived at some point in time for 12 continuous months, then you have established common-law status. Living apart after that for a few months here and there will not affect the common-law status as long as you can show you were still in a relationship during that time.

The hardest part with common-law, is proving cohabitation for at least 12 continuous months. This is even harder if you did it in a foreign country like Korea... so hoped you kept some lease agreements, mail delivered to same address, joint financial accounts, and stuff like that. If you can't prove it... CIC might not believe it.

3. My parents could co-sign as a sponsor, would this be beneficial or necessary?

No. You can't use a co-sponsor for spousal applications. There is no minimum income requirement you need to meet, you just need to show you have a general plan in place to support both of you. What your parents can do is write a letter saying how they will support you financially if needed until you both get full time work.

 

[saidtoday]

Hello, I also met my husband teaching in Korea. I'm the Canadian sponsoring him, an American.
My answers:

1. I knew of a Canadian who sponsored his Irish common-law girlfriend for permanent residency while they were teaching in Korea. They are now both happily living together in Calgary.

The rest of the questions I'm not too sure as to the answers, but in order to apply common-law you need a lot of proof of co-habitation for at least a year. So, joint accounts, mail addressed to you both on the same address, a lease with both your names. Etc etc...

Good luck!

 

[stone12m]

Thank you very much both!

Proving we lived together will be a risk I think. Stupidly, we didn't save any of our lease agreements from before so most of our evidence is circumstantial (pictures) so I'm hoping we can prove it other ways. Our stuff was all in Korean anyway, but in hindsight im really kicking myself for throwing out the lease and the bills. Any other suggestions on what works for proving co-hab? We have since started a joint bank account but not a year old

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you very much both!

Proving we lived together will be a risk I think. Stupidly, we didn't save any of our lease agreements from before so most of our evidence is circumstantial (pictures) so I'm hoping we can prove it other ways. Our stuff was all in Korean anyway, but in hindsight im really kicking myself for throwing out the lease and the bills. Any other suggestions on what works for proving co-hab? We have since started a joint bank account but not a year old

You lived together for 3 years, so try to concentrate efforts of getting proofs for the most recent 12-months of those 3 years. You need proofs from Korea since this is where the common-law status was established. When she returned home for a few months the co-habitation ended, so you need to convince CIC you reached 12-months continuous while living in Korea.

If you can't do this, then you'll need to establish 12-months continuous again from scratch, which is now at the 4 months mark so you'd need still 8 more months of living together.

Quite frankly, you could be in for a very hard time if all you have is pictures and your word. CIC needs actual proofs, and it sounds like that will be tough for you. Foreign proofs in Korean are fine, they just need to be translated. The most common proofs for common-law are things like:
- shared lease/rental agreement
- testimony from landlord stating you lived together
- testimonies from friends/family stating you lived together
- mail to each of you, delivered to same address
- showing any forms or data from your work/employer that shows same address
- shared or joint credit cards/bank account
- life insurance with each other listed as primary beneficiary
- change your status with Canada Revenue Agency to Common-law

 

[stone12m]

uggg.. ok thanks. we are trying our best to find a resolution to this. some of these things we can satisfy though not all. the other major issue we have, is that in the last five years we have lived in korea and thailand. Does she also need criminal record checks from both countries?

 

[Line.a]

uggg.. ok thanks. we are trying our best to find a resolution to this. some of these things we can satisfy though not all. the other major issue we have, is that in the last five years we have lived in korea and thailand. Does she also need criminal record checks from both countries?

Yes she would need a criminal check from each and every country she's lived in for more than 6 months I believe. I could be mistaken.

 

[bolt]

I know a friend from work tried to sponsor his girlfriend as common-law. They had lived together on and off (as she would stay some time in Canada and then return to Korea). They have been together for 5 years or so but their application was still rejected. They are getting married this fall. When they did the application they went through a lawyer and sent in a lot of supporting evidence. I think you'd need a pretty strong case to sponsor a common-law girlfriend but I am only basing this off of the once example that I know.

 

[wowsers]

The fact that you did not keep your lease is not necessarily an insurmountable problem. The landlord will have kept a counterpart and may be willing to supply a copy. But were you both tenants of the property (ie with both your names on the tenancy)? It sounds to me that you will need to boost your documentary evidence (including photographs) with a lot of sworn statements of evidence by friends and neighbours who knew that you were living together and are willing to depose to that fact.

 

[chala]

Thank you very much both!

Proving we lived together will be a risk I think. Stupidly, we didn't save any of our lease agreements from before so most of our evidence is circumstantial (pictures) so I'm hoping we can prove it other ways.

She does not have to leave Canada after 6 months, just apply online for a visitor Visa extension. My common law spouse did this while we applied for her PR. Approval is usually given in about 30 days for the extension, and she can legally stay in Canada during processing. It may be wiser to stay in Canada and work at a lower paying job during processing of her PR application. It's what we did, and sponsorship approval was granted. I think you have a better chance by staying here and cohabiting, if at all possible.

 

[Rob_TO]

uggg.. ok thanks. we are trying our best to find a resolution to this. some of these things we can satisfy though not all. the other major issue we have, is that in the last five years we have lived in korea and thailand. Does she also need criminal record checks from both countries?

You don't need to include all these items, but you do have to make a convincing case. IMO I really don't think pictures and letters from friends/family will be good enough.

In our common-law case, I already owned a home with a mortgage so during our time living together, my spouse was never on any lease/mortgage papers since it was already in my name, and there was no landlord testimony since I was the owner! So the main proofs we relied on to prove co-habitation were:
- my spouse being on my work benefits as common-law spouse, and designated as primary beneficiary for insurance
- official mail to her (cell phone bill, CRA statement) sent to the address
- having a shared credit card, with our address and both names listed on 1 bill
- showing my status with CRA was changed to common-law

... and that was pretty much it. Good luck with gathering info from Korea, as depending what kind of landlord you had getting them to cooperate with you now to send you previous lease agreements/testimonies may be impossible to do without you being there and pushing them!