Bainesy

Hi All,

I am getting so close to the end of my journey now!

I applied under Express Entry and completed everything and I just got my Ready for Visa e-mail yay! However, on the first of March my girlfriend (non-canadian on a Student visa) and myself will have been living together 1 year and will then be common law. Do I need to send them an e-mail letting them know this? We are possibly going to do a common law PR application for her down the line but didn't want to screw anything up now by giving the wrong information.

The way I read the e-mail is I only have to respond if my situation changed to common law (it doesn't until March 1) so I should just send off my Passport and continue?

Also - as a UK citizen living in Canada for the past 6 years, do I need to send my passport off? Or just the photocopies?

Many thanks!

christmasoompa

If you become common-law before you 'land' to activate PR, then you absolutely need to tell CIC - if not then you'll risk losing your PR due to misrepresentation, and would also never be able to sponsor your GF. If you land before 1st March then you don't need to tell them, but personally I'd make sure you have plenty of records to prove you weren't common-law at the time of landing, so keep all texts/emails relating to the date you actually moved in together.

HTH.

Bainesy

Thanks for the response!

We are actually worried that we won't have enough proof that we are common law! (She's not on the lease, it's my rental - though we do have a joint bank account set-up) so that might be another thing altogether.

When you say 'land' does that mean I have to flagpole again? I.e go to the border to get my PR?

Thanks!

christmasoompa

Yep, you don't actually have PR until you've done that.

HTH.

Bainesy

Okay thanks for the info!

If I tell them I'm nearly common law, they won't delay my application / deny it right? It's just a question of me making sure I'm giving them the correct information and not misrepresenting myself?

Thanks so much for all the help and sorry for all the questions!

christmasoompa

You don't need to tell them you're nearly common-law, you just need to tell them when you do actually have a common-law spouse. The huge advantage though would be that she could then be added to your app so you'd not have to sponsor her in the future - would save time and money further down the line!

Bainesy

Gotcha, kinda annoying because if they hadn't been so quick with my application we'd have hit common law before I got this e-mail!

I bet I'm the only person to ever complain about getting my e-mail so quickly lol

Snowy560

In my opinion you need to be telling IRCC you will meet the definition of common law in just over two weeks. Personally I would not be landing without so doing..

christmasoompa

Why is that annoying? It's a good thing, because you now have the option of adding her to your application - if it had taken longer she wouldn't be your common-law spouse when you land, so you'd then have to sponsor her. It does mean your processing will take longer, but at least this way you both get PR and save some time/money too.

Snowy560

Correction to my post just to be clear. In my opinion you should be telling IRCC now of the date you'll meet common law. Don't land without declaring the existence of your partner. It's not an option you should even be considering.