Statutory Declaration for Common Law Partnerships

[Jen85]

Hi everyone

We submitted our application in November and have the sponsorship approval but it appears we have made an error. The guide asks for two "statutory Declarations" from friends and family that can vouch for our relationship. I included about 7 letters but none of them were notorized and we have been common law for about 7 years now. My question is: has anyone else in a common law relationship received their permanent residence and not had reference letters notarized? Will our application fail or be delayed because of this? All of my friends and family put contact details on their letters so everyone of them can be contacted by immigration to prove they are genuine. Also one is from a University professor at a Nova Scotia university and he had the letter printed with his university letterhead.

Should I start panicking??

 

[Canooknic]

We sent 3 letters from friends, not notarised. We received the PPR from London last week.
We did, however, have very clear evidence of our relationship with lots of photos-particularly since my pregnancy and through the last 2 years since our twins were born...a very clear timeline of our relationship!!
Good luck!!

 

[Jen85]

Hi Canooknic

Thanks for that. We did send some strong other evidence such as beneficiaries on wills from a few years ago, shared bank account for 7 years, airline tickets for trips we have taken to visit my parents in Canada and lots of other things and tried to give them a clear view of our relationship so hopefully we won't have a problem. Guess we just have to wait and see. I do feel better knowing they do let some people through without being notarised. Thanks again!

 

[Canooknic]

I'm sure it will be fine. Are you Outland London too? They are working really quickly at the moment so I have my fingers crossed for you xx

 

[Jen85]

Yes, we are in the UK. How long did it take from when you sent in your application until receiving the passport request? Are you common law too? Glad to hear London is working quickly, although I expect Christmas will slow things down a bit. We so want to hear something positive by end of January, beginning of Feb so we have time to sell house etc before moving. Hope that isn't too much to ask of them!!! ;D

Hope you aren't in a part of the country that is being slammed with snow at the moment!!

 

[Canooknic]

We are just outside of Brighton and luckily all the snow melted on Friday night, perfect for me - my boys had a few days playing in it but not for so long that they got bored with it!! Where are you?

I sent my application 3rd September, it was sent to London on 7th October and London started processing on 22nd October so they had it for about 6 weeks before I got the PPR email. I was hoping to get it all done before Christmas and wrap up my fiance's passport as a present, but when I saw the email I got so excited that I screamed and ended up telling him!! Useless!!
I'm just finishing off a bit of decorating so we can put our place on the Market, we've booked our flights for 17th May....23 weeks!!!

 

[Jen85]

Wow, that is quick!!! Good for you!

We are just outside Reading and have not had that much snow really. Last January was enough for me...snowed in for three days! I come from Alberta but life continues over there, snow or not!! I think I read on another thread that you are moving to Stony Plain. My parents had an acerage just north of Stony Plain/Spruce Grove so I know it well. It was quite a small town when I left Canada...I bet it is bigger now! Hope I didn't get you confused with someone else...sorry if I did. We are off to NS as my parents are there now.

My other half has finally started decorating the house...after a lot of nagging from me!! I hope you sell your house quickly and you can go over in May with everything all done.

 

[Canooknic]

What a small world eh? I actually grew up somewhere even smaller than Stony called Evansburg - it's about 90km west of Edmonton. It didn't even have a supermarket when I lived there so we had to drive to Edmonton to get groceries!! It seems insane now!
Stony is still quite small but it's close enough to the city, similar to here & Brighton so it's perfect. We are staying with my sister & her family when we arrive, I don't know which of us is more excited!!

We never thought this process would be so fast so we had a new kitchen fitted a few months back and a huge deck in the summer!! What a waste, but at least it should make it easier to sell!! Unfortunately my fella is DIY-challenged (a polite way of saying he sucks!) so I'm having to sort everything whilst home with two 2yr olds...not easy!!

 

[MexiCana]

Clarification of what a statutory declaration is

Just to clarify, a statutory declaration is not the same as having your document notarized. Statutory declaration is a term from the Canada Evidence Act:

Canada Evidence Act
Statutory Declarations
Solemn declaration

41. Any judge, notary public, justice of the peace, provincial court judge, recorder, mayor or commissioner authorized to take affidavits to be used either in the provincial or federal courts, or any other functionary authorized by law to administer an oath in any matter, may receive the solemn declaration of any person voluntarily making the declaration before him, in the following form, in attestation of the execution of any writing, deed or instrument, or of the truth of any fact, or of any account rendered in writing:
I, ................, solemnly declare that (state the fact or facts declared to), and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing it to be true, and knowing that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath.

Declared before me .................... at .................... this .................... day of .................... 19.............

Notarization is different. I will skip the details but just say that in Canada it is a bit more formal, governed by a different piece of legislation, and involves putting the notary's seal on the document. The statutory declaration is similar to what in other circumstances is called an affidavit and can be sworn by anyone with the capacity to administer oaths.

Official letterhead or the provision of contact information on a letter is not a substitute for the statutory declaration. Making a statutory declaration is like giving evidence under oath, only in writing.


The risk of submitting an incomplete application -our experience

I am happy to hear that other common law applicants have submitted to your visa office without statutory declarations without trouble. I don't mean to be alarmist, but my partner had a similar realization with a part of our package (it involved the police certificates: he had one that gave all the information they needed but wasn't quite exactly in line with what they asked for). Without telling me, he decided that since it gave the same information we would be OK. Well it wasn't, and our processing office (Buffalo) asked for the exact form. We now face 3-6 (maybe more?) months additional delay waiting for that document. If he had obtained the document and submitted it as soon as he realized the error (or told me so I could insist on it), we would have PR right now.

It's true that this won't happen every time. For example, I messed up the Option C printout and just provided my Notice of Assessment as I thought they were the same document. I realized my error and ordered the Option C, but CIC Mississauga approved me as a sponsor before I received it. So we were lucky.

But although sometimes people are lucky, every time you submit something that you know to be incorrect you take the risk of the visa office asking for the correct document and possible substantial delay of the processing of your application. What you do is up to you, but coming from the position of someone who didn't get lucky and now faces months of delay, if I discovered I was missing even the most minor item I would obtain it and send it to the CIC office processing my claim as soon as possible. I don't think avoiding the inconvenience of obtaining the correct document is worth the risk if they decide to be picky.

Again, I don't mean to be alarmist. I only hope that others can learn from our mistake.

 

[Jen85]

Cool, I have heard of Evansburg but don't think I actually visited there. I grew up in St Albert and moved to Edmonton when I left home.

Any changes you make to your house will help you sell it. Now you have tickets booked it has to sell doesn't it! So it will be worth it. My other half is a really good handy man...except decorating. He hates it but as he is not working and I am...he is stuck with it!!

 

[Jen85]

MexiCana, thank you for sharing your experience. I am sorry to hear how things were so delayed for you and I completely understand what you are saying. I know it will be a risk if we leave it and hope for the best. I will have to seriously think about what we are going to do as we do not want a delay. You aren't an alarmist, you are a realist that has been burnt. I really appreciate your response. Maybe they do let through some letters from family and friends if the rest of the evidence is really strong. I would expect that they would be stricter with police certificates. But you are right, I might regret leaving it.

Thanks again and good luck to you!

 

[Canooknic]

How weird, we stopped in St Albert last summer on our way up to Slave Lake! The first chance I get I'm going up to Yellowknife, my brother has been up there for a few years now and every time I've been over he always comes down to me. It looks so beautiful up there, I feel that I should make the effort!!

 

[MexiCana]

I think a lot of it is the particular visa office. From everything I've read here and also from friends who applied there, London sounds pretty lax. Buffalo, not so much.

And thank you for the good wishes. Much appreciated. And of course I am hoping that London processes you as quickly and smoothly as they tend to.