Sponsorship soon denied - PLEASE HELP US -

[steph-alex]

Hi everyone,

We are Stéphanie (Belgian) and Alexandre (Canadian permanent resident), a young couple of 23 and 24 years old, together for almost 3 years.
We applied for a sponsorship under the commun law class in march, 2009.
We just received a letter saying we havent given enough informations to prove that we have been in a commun law union.

LONG STORY SHORT: We lived in belgium (at his moms apartment and at my parents house) from octobre 2007 and july 2008 then moved to Victoria BC, when i got my one year working permit (work and holiday program).
We settled down in Vic at his family house until now but I have been without a work permit and the possibility to work since july 2009.

We have proved by pictures, declarations (family, friends, doctor, police officer), use of my boyfriends credit card for our expenses (mostly travel as its our passion) that we have been in a commun law relationship.
We also had a commun account from july 2008 to july 2009 (cancelled due to the fact that i am now just a visitor in canada)

They are still asking more informations (like commun life insurance, commun mortage) but we are so young and have been spending money on travels... we dont know what to do, what to provide!!
We dont know how to process but we are more than devastated by their answer.



Is there a chance that anyone could help us or give us advices, please?


We have a month and a half to find a solution



We are waiting to finally start a normal life under good conditions but it seems impossible. I want to start a career in BC and finally settle down with my boyfriend but how to do it?

Thank you for your time everyone, we are waiting to hear from you guys

Stéph and Alex

 

[Swede]

You could try to get letters from friends and family, describing your relationship and explaining why they don't think it's a sham. It would also be helpful if you rented an apartment together. I can't see why you cancelled the account you had together - I've been a visitor for almost a year and I've kept mine...

As a last resort you should consider marriage. Sponsoring a spouse is legally a more binding undertaking than marrying that person, so the CIC assumes that you will marry if need be.

 

[Leon]

Get letters from your parents as well stating that you have lived together at their houses and during what time. Every little bit helps. Get the letters signed by a witness to make them more authentic.

 

[chelley]

i'm with the prevoius poster... you'd probably not have much issue proving your case if you were married...

 

[steph-alex]

First of all, thank you all

* We have considered marriage but we would rather do it on our own terms, not just because it is needed to be done right now...
Moreover, don't we have to apply again under a different categorie then? Which means a long time before i can be with my boyfriend
and new application fees?

* And i did send letters with both our names with the same address, my parents have written and signed a declaration explaining everything, our friend have written declarations of genuine relationship...

We are so lost... and so upset not to be able to prove our situation!


- Any advice or experience is more than appreciated -

Thanks again

 

[racoon]

hey,
totally understand you feelings, we also don't want to get married just for PR =)) it is quite disturbing to say the least.
Get the letters other people indicated above (from your parents and friends... as many as you can get). Send some more pictures, we also sent invitations we got to our friend's wedding so might be helpful. Also you might think of getting a life insurance and naming each other beneficiaries (it is not hard to do, and does not take a lot of time =)). I also wrote cover letters explaining certain thing to the immigration, (in your case you can write why you lived with you parents), it just gives them an explanation so they know what's going on, so might also help.
I don;t know if you sent your boarding passes (from flights when you traveled together), if you still have them, send them or flight itenenaries.

PS: the letter from your friends and family should contain their contact information (not that they are going to call them, just makes your letters more authentic =))

Good luck, Raccoon

 

[Siouxie]

You don't say whether you are applying "inland" or "outland" and so my references will be for both.

I believe they are asking for proof of your common law relationship. Not whether the relationship is genuine but whether you can prove the length of time that you have been in a common law relationship as according to the regulations.

If you didn't live together continuously for a period exceeding 12 months before the date of your application then you will not qualify as common law.

You say that you stayed at his apartment / your parents house from October 2007 to July 08 (9 months) and then moved to Victoria. Did you move directly to Victoria or were you apart for any length of time? The requirement for common law is to have lived together continuously for a period exceeding 12 months.

When you put your application in, in March 2009, had you lived together continuously for 12 months or more? Can you prove this? You will either need proof as in joint tenancies or letters from parents etc confirming that you lived together at that address. Did you have mail delivered or have utility or cell phone bills together? All this is proof.

The manuals have a lot of information in it with regards to what they are looking for as proof -

For Inland applications: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip08-eng.pdf

For Outland applications: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf

Hope that this will help.



edit: incorrect links

 

[RobsLuv]

Best thing to do is read through the list of proofs of common-law qualification provided in Section 5.34-5.35 of the OP2 Processing Manual for ideas about what types of things you can send to them. Remember, when applying as common-law partners you have to prove you meet the definition. Having established a common-law partnership (or being married) is what makes you eligible to be sponsored as a member of the family class. So you either have to provide them with sufficient proof that you actually have established a common-law partnership as it is recognized under federal law, or you have to be married.

It's certainly within your rights to get married "on your own terms" - but, as CIC puts it, marriage is a relationship established in law, a common-law relationship must be established in each individual case based on the facts of the relationship. When you aren't married you give them the power and discretion to say you don't meet the criteria for qualification.