To withdraw or not to withdraw, that is the question

[spikehades]

So I'm form the UK, my partner is from Canada (sponsor).

We have been living in Japan together for the last 1 year officially, and we have been unofficially co-habiting for a year before. We submitted our common law application only after we had around 3 months official cohabitation (Manila office) , ie joint tenancy, bills and letters to the same address.
I am worried that CIC will not accept our explantion for co-habitation and will refuse our application based on this technical issue.
Now, we have decided to get married in the next 2-3 months. CIC has just requested some more information, and we intend to send it with additional evidence of the progress of our relationship.

However, as we are getting married soon, one option is to withdraw our application and re-submit it as a married application, which should be more straight forward as we will have a large accumulation of evidence already and more going forward. Wedding certificate, pictures etc. The only reason we are continuing with this application is that on the chance it is accepted, we will not need to separate.

1. Should I withdraw and re-submit the application? And what are the pros and cons regarding this? ( Then new app will be outland in London)

2. Will withdrawing an application at this stage cause suspicions at CIC.

3. Should we tell them about our intention to marry, even though we haven't set a date and are still at the preliminary stages of planning?

 

[wowsers]

We have been living in Japan together for the last 1 year officially, and we have been unofficially co-habiting for a year before. We submitted our common law application only after we had around 3 months official cohabitation (Manila office) , ie joint tenancy, bills and letters to the same address.

Now, we have decided to get married in the next 2-3 months.

I am uncertain what you mean by 'living together officially', 'unofficially cohabiting' and 'official cohabiting', though my understanding of the last phrase is that you only have proof of 'joint tenancy, bills and letters to the same address' for that last period of only 3 months at the date of your application. I am sure you know already that CIC define a common law relationship as 'cohabiting in a conjugal relationship for at least one year' meaning one year as at the date your application is received by CIC. Sharing accommodation without being in a conjugal relationship (flat-sharing as students for example) would not satisfy the definition. It seems to me that to continue your present application might very well turn out to be a waste of time and that the best course would be to terminate it and file a fresh application once you have married. If however you want more precise advice, provide some more detail about what you mean by the terms I have quoted above. I do not think CIC will be in the least bit nterested in your reasons for withdrawing your present application or that they will hold the withdrawal against you when they come to consider a future application.

 

[spikehades]

First of all, thanks for replying.

You are right of course. CIC only received the app after we had had the same address - joint tenancy for 3 months. Before then we had been cohabiting in a conjugal relationship but, I did have my own address- which was issued by my employer. I didn't stay there.

We are trying to provide evidence that we have been cohabiting for more than a year before the application, through friends and family declarations and a statutory declaration of common law union.

The other thing is that I messed up the application, where it asked about my address history, I only put my UK ones. I'm worried that CIC may see this as misrepresentation especially because we are trying to prove cohabitation through unofficial documents.

We are planning to get married inn two to three months. Also, as i am still in japan for a week, i can get a police certificate easily, once i leave it will be harder. This is important because CIC has requested a police certificate from Japan. If I send this now and they just refuse the application , I will have wasted the police certificate on this application when I can save it for the spousal application in the future.

 

[Ellasg]

First of all, thanks for replying.

You are right of course. CIC only received the app after we had had the same address - joint tenancy for 3 months. Before then we had been cohabiting in a conjugal relationship but, I did have my own address- which was issued by my employer. I didn't stay there.

We are trying to provide evidence that we have been cohabiting for more than a year before the application, through friends and family declarations and a statutory declaration of common law union.

The other thing is that I messed up the application, where it asked about my address history, I only put my UK ones. I'm worried that CIC may see this as misrepresentation especially because we are trying to prove cohabitation through unofficial documents.

We are planning to get married inn two to three months. Also, as i am still in japan for a week, i can get a police certificate easily, once i leave it will be harder. This is important because CIC has requested a police certificate from Japan. If I send this now and they just refuse the application , I will have wasted the police certificate on this application when I can save it for the spousal application in the future.

I got my Police Certificate from Japan at the Consulate in Calgary. No fees and they're already translated in several languages (French and English included). It was kind of a hassle for us because we live in Saskatchewan and had to drive all the way to Calgary, but if you live close to a Japanese embassy or consulate, it isn't too hard to get it. We received it within 3 months.

 

[spikehades]

Im glad you were able to arrange it! In Japan it only takes 7 days! I guess I'll apply for one in Calgary as soon as I land. Im guessing that you are doing an inland application?

 

[Ellasg]

Im glad you were able to arrange it! In Japan it only takes 7 days! I guess I'll apply for one in Calgary as soon as I land. Im guessing that you are doing an inland application?

Oh is that so? I didn't know it was that fast.
No, I'm applying Outland through São Paulo, I'm not sure if it was a smart move! Hoping they don't ask for an interview (I'm back in Japan). We'll see. But I'm also applying as Common-Law so I feel your pain.
Have you ordered GCSM notes yet?

 

[wowsers]

First of all, thanks for replying.

You are right of course. CIC only received the app after we had had the same address - joint tenancy for 3 months. Before then we had been cohabiting in a conjugal relationship but, I did have my own address- which was issued by my employer. I didn't stay there.

We are trying to provide evidence that we have been cohabiting for more than a year before the application, through friends and family declarations and a statutory declaration of common law union.

The other thing is that I messed up the application, where it asked about my address history, I only put my UK ones. I'm worried that CIC may see this as misrepresentation especially because we are trying to prove cohabitation through unofficial documents.

We are planning to get married inn two to three months. Also, as i am still in japan for a week, i can get a police certificate easily, once i leave it will be harder. This is important because CIC has requested a police certificate from Japan. If I send this now and they just refuse the application , I will have wasted the police certificate on this application when I can save it for the spousal application in the future.

Thank you for the further information, but I am still uncertain what the facts are. First of all the 'joint tenancy for 3 months'. Do you mean that you agreed with the landlord that you would be granted a three month tenancy or that you agreed a joint tenancy and it had been in existence for 3 months by the date of your application? If the former, it will not be of much use to you. If the latter we can forget about those 3 months, in respect of which you can show some proof, and concentrate on the previous 9 months. If I understand you correctly, during that period (the whole of it?) you had accommodation supplied by your employer but lived somewhere else, with your CL partner, presumably in accommodation provided by her? I further understand that the VO knows nothing at present of these complexities because the addresses you have supplied are UK addresses? I think it is a bit of a toss-up what you do next. You must, as you are clearly aware, do something because if you do nothing there will have been a clear misrepresentation as well as non-disclosure. My own inclination if I were in your position would be to withdraw the application and start again after marrying, by which time you will have a much stronger case not only because you will have been cohabiting for longer but also because of the marriage commitment. I do not know whether when you next apply the VO will pay much intention to the present application, but there are chances that it will not be read in detail. The alternative (not the one I favour) would be to come clean now and explain, in better detail than you have explained it in your post, the facts and how you came to set them out in your application incorrectly. I think that that will be inviting trouble and at the very least a grilling at an interview, which as I understand it would be in Japan. I hope that someone with more experience will in due course express an opinion; so wait a few days to see whether any further advice is given by a senior member of the forum. I am signing out for the time being: off to Canada first thing Tuesday morning!

 

[spikehades]

im really worried aboit being classes as misrepresenting ourselves. what should i do?

1. send them the info they requested and give them the updated data and continue the application.

2. . send them the info they requested and give them the updated data and withdraw the application?

3. Just withdraw the application?

I want to avoid being accused of misrepresentation. What is the safest way?

 

[steerpike]

As i understand it, while you were common-law for more than 1 year, you didn't ( or weren't able to) submit very convincing evidence. If the evidence does not clearly show 1 year co-habitation, then i think you should withdraw. The VO is just going to be looking at the evidence you sent, after all.

I think it would be tricky to try to "up-date" your application from common-law to marriage, because it would require redoing so many of the forms, submitting new evidence (wedding photos, marriage license, etc) and the VO would basically have to start at square one anyway. And you're not even married yet, so it going to take you a few months to get married and get the documentation ready, so its not like you can send them more info tomorrow that will fix your application. Usually when they ask for more info they put a deadline on it.

My opinion (and i'm not a layer) is to withdraw. Get married, and resubmit as a married couple.