Sasquatch888

Hello,

I would be grateful for a little help. My partner and I are nearly finally ready to submit our profile for Express Entry - as of 1st of July we will be able to prove we have been living together for 12 months (I think) and will submit a joint application (we easily have enough CRS points). I have searched and searched for a definitive answer on this but can't find the specific thing I am looking for. We have compiled a bunch of documents, but some things I have read on websites and forums state that we would need to also submit a IMM 5409 form, some do not mention this document.

If someone could clarify it would be very much appreciated. We also have the following for proof of cohabitation:
Council Tax bills from 1/07/18
Separate car insurance documents with the other listed as a named driver at the same address from before 1/07/18
Separate mobile phone bills from before 1/07/18 (would actually need to confirm this one).
Gas bills in both names from Sept 18
Joint bank account from Oct 18
Can get letters / photos / emails to support

Again, if anyone could pass comment that would be great.

Many thanks

christmasoompa

You don't need any of that to apply to enter the pool, when you actually get an ITA you will get a precise checklist of documents that they require. Everybody's checklist is different, so that's why you may have seen different things for different people, but you'll be told if you do need to complete the IMM5409 or not (I would say unusual not to).

And your proof sounds good, although a lot of it is proof that housemates would have too, or anybody sharing a property. Do you have anything showing you're essentially husband and wife i.e. wills naming each other as beneficiaries, named on each others life insurance, pensions, etc? Do include those if you do.

Sasquatch888

Thank you so much for your reply. I guess I will await the checklist. But a couple of follow up questions please:

So, I was waiting to apply on 1st July as that's when the docs that prove 12 months together pass the 12 month mark. But could we apply before then? What if there is a draw before the 1st?

The only things we have that prove 12 months together is what was mentioned previously. We could easily take out life insurance policies but they would obviously only start from this month. Would this be worth doing? If not I am hoping joint bank account, correspondence and photos would be sufficient to prove we are in a relationship plus the signed imm 5409 if needed.

Again, many thanks

DigitalGhost

My former partner and I went through that same process a couple of years ago. The documents you have listed sound fine to me and are in some ways more than we had but crucially, unless the process has changed recently and as you've pointed out, you may need to accompany them with the IMM5409 form. That form is a legal affidavit and has to be attested. Lying on that form is considered a serious breach and could make you both inadmissable. As long as the relationship and documents are genuine though, you probably have little to worry about.

My previous partner and I did require 5409 and at that point we had been living together for several years, including some of that time in Canada.

Sasquatch888

Many, many thanks for this. I guess I will hold on for another few weeks to start our profile (what's another few weeks when we have been waiting a couple of years!). Still wondering if we should take out life insurance as so far, we only have a joint bank account that is one of the things listed specifically on the IMM 5409.

DigitalGhost

The past documentation isn't really the problem IMHO. My last partner and I shared less common accounts than you do. We had no shared bank accounts and only a common tenancy agreement and council tax bill in the UK and for our time in Canada we didn't even have the latter. Our small advantage over you I suppose was that we lived together for several years and built up a small catalogue of evidence over time.

The key thing with this is the 5409 since that is a legal declaration and it can only be completed after you have lived under what Canada considers a common-law arrangement (i.e. at least 12 months under the same roof akin to a married couple and with only very brief periods apart during that time). Again, this is just my opinion, but I'm not even sure if you can sign a 5409 until you have met that milestone.

Siouxie

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ationship.html