We had other proofs of cohabitation. We sent my emergency insurance that we paid for, we have taxes, we had stuff from his work showing my living here for insurance benefits. Our family phone plan. Many letters from friends and family. Facebook screenshots / picture screen shots / location screenshots.
The only thing we didn’t have was a lease / utilities!
We did reach out to the landlord. It’s a company and they would not add me to the lease without an SIN and background check. I don’t have a SIN
I must say I do find it interesting that they didn't accept these.
I myself applied inland after getting married. I've been here for eight months now. I just got my work permit three weeks ago. Up until then, I couldn't get a SIN, I couldn't get a driver's license (I forgot to get an international driver's license in my country so I have to go from scratch in Canada), couldn't open a bank account (alone or joint), couldn't have joint utilities, etc. So thinking about it now, it's a catch 22.
In my case, I was added to our house title so I co-own it, I'm also the beneficiary of spouse's insurance policies, I was given supplementary cards to my spouse's bank accounts (which is the closest you can get to a joint account in a situation where you can't open an account of your own), and we added my name to some utilities. There's an option on some of them to just add your name so that when they send you the bill it has both your names on it and your address. It's not an actual joint utility bill, but it's the best we could do.
What I'm trying to say is that, as a visitor, most normal venues of proving cohabitation are already closed. No SIN, no bank accounts which means you can't have a joint mortgage or loan or anything like that, etc etc. I feel like you've provided as much as you could as a visitor. If I had to prove cohabitation for the past 8 months, I'd also be unable to give them some of the things they ask for. But you'd think they'd get why.
