missmayej

Hi everyone,

My fiancé (UK citizen) and I (Canadian/Uk citizen) are in the process of completing common-law PR forms to move to Canada. I think we classify as Family Class because we are common-law partners living outside of Canada. The FAQ guide provided on this forum has been helpful. However I'm getting mixed up in the Supporting Documents for Sponsored Persons section as I can't always figure out what the Item No. refers to. For example, it says in Item 7, which is a long list:

"What should the letters say? How many should I provide?

The letters from your friends and family should contain the following information:"

etc...

But what are "The letters"? How do I know many I need? I have not yet found a section of either the Complete Guide, the Checklist or any of the forms that say that 5-10 friends and family need to write letters of this kind acknowledging the relationship, although the forum's FAQ say this is required for Item 7.

In the forms, I have only seen a request for a letter from a family member if you are planning to stay with them when you arrive; since we are staying with my mum when we first move to Canada, I have already asked her to write a letter confirming this.

Basically I want to ask the relevant friends and family ASAP so they're not rushed as they do us this favour, but I'm getting really mixed up about what types of letters are needed and I'm finding the government's Guides vague about what types of letters they're looking for, as well as which section of the forms these letters would correspond to. I know the required supporting documents vary for each application, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something when determining how supporting letters and other documents correspond with the forms.

I hope that makes sense. Many thanks!

christmasoompa

It's on page 6 of the document checklist, in the list of possible documents you can provide (where you have to provide 3 of the list of 6). So they're not essential, but it depends on how you've answered the questions above and what other evidence you have if needed.

HTH.

Antwerp_Belgian

In our application we included letters from family and friends. It's good to have several different kinds: family, your best friend, your partner's friend, a work colleague etc...
Every one of them was written by the person themselves so they sounded genuine. However, we did give them instructions on what they needed to include: how do we know eachother, how did you meet us as a couple for the first time and some general impressions on our relationship. Nothing too long, never more than half a page. Our spousal application was approved so they seemed to have done the trick. We are married however, so it wasn't common-law. Good luck!

ChrisBan

We included a letter from friends of both and a letter from each side parents, just explaining their understanding of our relationship etc

missmayej

Thanks everyone! Did you get any of these notarized?

Antwerp_Belgian

No it wasn't neccesary to notarize them. We did include contact info for all of them so they can be verified.