Help with common law sponsorship please.
 

Hey all , i was wondering if i could clear a few things up and maybe get some advice from someone who has been in the same situation as me and wanting to be sponsord as a common law partner .


I landed in canada 30th september i lived with my girlfriend for 5 months 18 days as a "visitor " , no work as i was applying for a twp , my work permit was approved and i went back to england to visit my family before reuturning to activate my work permit . (ive read that "short periods of time to be out of canada are allowed to visit family etc etc. In total i was out of canada for 5 weeks.Now im back and working and this september we will of been living together for a year .

in terms of evidence we have plane tickets to and from eachothers countries .letters .emails . pictures together . we have met eachothers familys etc etc , but right now we dont have shared billls because we live with her parents . will this be a problem for terms of proof ? anyways
i hope someone can give me more advice and help me along the way.

regards , Ian

Re: Help with common law sponsorship please.
 

I was common-law at the time my wife (Canadian Citizen) sponsored me. We had been together for a couple of years, but were not married, but had just got engaged. Evidence we supplied were bills in each of our names but to the same address, a rental agreement in both our names, and photos of trips we had taken, both in Canada and in the UK.

I'd have thought if you have bills showing same address that would count towards something. You could also get a letter from her parents stating they are aware of the ongoing and common law relationship, so it doesn't look like you are just room-mates (as in the bill addresses are the same).

Re: Help with common law sponsorship please.
 

Common-law relationship is specifically defined as a 'marriage-like' relationship - basically living as husband and wife, without the marriage certificate. Just having letters, emails, and pictures isn't enough - that might prove you're in a relationship, but it doesn't prove that you're living in a marriage-like relationship.

It's fair enough that you're living with your girlfriend's parents, so that will explain why you don't have any shared bills... but you need more 'official' evidence. A few examples:

-joint insurance policies naming each other as beneficiaries, or at least covered under each other's insurance policies as a partner
-joint bank account
-evidence of large purchases together (furniture, car, pet, etc)
-joint travel insurance policies

It would also help getting her parents to write you a letter (and preferably having it notarised, but that's not required) stating that you have been living with them, and while you haven't been paying rent, you have been helping with household chores, contributing to expenses (groceries, utilities, etc), that sort of thing.

The other thing you'll have you prove is that you have been living together as long as you say you have been, and for CIC to believe that you ACTUALLY have been living together during that time, which is hard to do if you don't have a lease.

One way to do this would be to get dated mail sent to each of you at that address - a bank statement from October 2011, for example, sent to each of you and your girlfriend (and joint would be better).

So, have a think about all that. At the end of the day, you have to convince CIC that you're not just roommates, or just friends, and that you have been living together in a marriage-like relationship for at least a year.

Hope that helps... feel free to ask more questions as you go through the application process - guaranteed there will be more! :)

Re: Help with common law sponsorship please.
 

I think our joint rental agreement probably helped a lot, as we did not have anything else jointly held at that time. Have to say I was concerned at the time about that.

Pretty sure I did not send any joint insurance policies. I was a beneficiary on my wife's policy, but I did not have any benefits / life insurance at that point so couldn't show that anyway.

One thing I would say is do NOT suddenly decide to get engaged or married, that could be seen as it being a marriage on convince, ie; to get PR.

My girlfriend, as she was at the time, thought getting married would simplify the PR process somehow, give me instant PR and I'd pointed out it would not, and that getting married when going the sponsorship route could look somewhat dodgy to CIC. Then again, if you have been living together for a while, it could just be seen as a natural step.