Statement of declaration/affadavit for Common Law sponsorship - what do I need and how should I structure it?

[banraykern]

Hi everyone!

Me and my partner are getting close to being ready to submit our application for my permanent residence, and we have hit a bit of a wall. Due to us not being married, as I understand it we need two notarised statements of declaration or affidavits from people we know for our application. We have lots of letters from friends and family for our supporting evidence, but with these we are struggling to understand how to format them and which option of the two is best suited for what we need, as I get the impression that they have to be formatted very specifically.

Basically, due to us not having our names on the lease of the place we have lived in for the last 18 months or so, our lead tenant is going to do one of these for us, and outline the nature of her rental agreement with the landlord to justify why we don't have a lease. We are also asking a friend of ours to write the other.

My question is, out of a statement of declaration and an affidavit, which of the two is best suited for our needs? And is there a specific format that we need to follow, like a provincial standard affidavit for example, or can we write it whatever way we wish? I just want to get this right when we get to the notary, as of course we need to bring my housemate and my friend with us to get them notarised and I don't want to waste their time...

We are in BC and are planning to go to the notary as quickly as possible to get these and our declaration of common law partnership notarised. Any help would be amazing, everyone on here has already been a MASSIVE help to us so I appreciate you all immensely! Thanks everyone and I hope the new year is treating everyone well

 

[thanhtam23]

Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union (IMM 5409) is a must
other support letters are nice to have and just follow the checklist

 

[armoured]

My question is, out of a statement of declaration and an affidavit, which of the two is best suited for our needs? And is there a specific format that we need to follow, like a provincial standard affidavit for example, or can we write it whatever way we wish?

You can do the statutory declaration of common law in front of a notary. The rest are just letters, have them sign them and put their contact info. No standard form, just factual and tell the truth.

[I wonder how this is easier than just getting married, but to each their own]

 

[alnimisogutuyorum]

Hi, you can do the declaration they mentioned and notarized it. If you want to go solid, you can also get reference letters notarized. Besides those, only reason I wanted to comment was I see you a bit anxious. If your relationship is genuine, do not worry much. We submitted the declaration, 3 reference letters, 20 photos and honeymoon/family meeting arrangement documents (hotels and flights) and it worked for us. We did not have both our names on lease like you, instead we submitted mutual account/savings info and any other mutually paid bills (like phone, subscriptions, etc.). Don't worry, if the relationship is genuine, you do not need to overdue it.

 

[banraykern]

Hi, you can do the declaration they mentioned and notarized it. If you want to go solid, you can also get reference letters notarized. Besides those, only reason I wanted to comment was I see you a bit anxious. If your relationship is genuine, do not worry much. We submitted the declaration, 3 reference letters, 20 photos and honeymoon/family meeting arrangement documents (hotels and flights) and it worked for us. We did not have both our names on lease like you, instead we submitted mutual account/savings info and any other mutually paid bills (like phone, subscriptions, etc.). Don't worry, if the relationship is genuine, you do not need to overdue it.

Thank you so much for your comment, I am indeed very anxious about the whole thing! Our relationship is very much genuine, and if we had the resources I'd marry her tomorrow

That's great news to hear, we have lots of evidence that supports the application so I think we will be okay. I'm just nervous in case it doesn't work before my current visa expires, but I should have more faith. Thank you so much again <3