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bluestocking View Drop Down
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Joined: 14 Mar 2011
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    Posted: 14 Mar 2011 at 11:51pm

My common-law partner and I have started living together since February 2010.  We have been living together for a year now.  From my understanding, we have now met the 12 months continuous cohabitation required to apply for sponsorship under common law.  

My problem is this -- it was a very short 'courtship'.  We met at work December 2009.  Started dating January 2010, and come February, we're living in the same house.  However, I do not believe I have sufficient proof to substantiate our living together since February.  As in most cases, everything happened gradually.  And I'm not sure I can prove that we're living 'common-law' since Feb.  Although we are.  Matter of fact, his name is also in the lease agreement.  

What didn't help was that we moved to another place on August 2010.  I threw everything I thought back then was 'insignificant'.  Paid bills, receipts, some notes... I now have nothing.  Me and my partner are also 'camera-shy'.  We have pictures but not a lot. Mostly pictures taken from my celfone.

In terms of proof, I believe I might have enough to prove CL since maybe August 2010.  But, my fear is they might ask for more proof of CL since February.  I don't have much.  

Here's what I have starting February:

- Lease agreement
- Rental Receipts
- Bills in his name
- Some letters in my name
- Text messages (I have gazillions as we text everyday.  We used to work together so we see each other almost 24/7 and the only times we're apart is when we work different shifts)
- Some pictures, cards, notes

Here's what I have starting August

- lease agreement, receipts
-bills in his name
- cards, notes, pictures (from each other, from friends)
- hotel reservations
- joint chequing account
- receipts for household items purchased together
- credit card (him as authorized user), can't get Joint Credit as I'm a temporary resident and his credit is not so good. 
- life insurance under his name
- vehicle insurance
- my name under his medical insurance
- his name under mine

Who knows what else we come up with from now until August 2011?  :)


So, what do you guys think? Should I maybe put start date of common law as August instead of Feb?  Can I actually do that?

I have two red flags going:  He's younger by 7 years and I am not from a first world country.  

Thank you for any insight.  
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mfeq View Drop Down
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Points: 92 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mfeq Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2011 at 11:37am
Looks like you have everything you need to file an application.  If the lease agreement back in February 2010 indicate both of you as renters, sounds like you should be fine to start as February being your first month as common law.  When I sponsored my then common law partner, we also had all sorts of circumstances which I felt would be red flags but given that we provided a complete and strong evidence, our application was approved and he was granted permanent resident status.  No in person interview was ever requested.
 
When we filed the sponsorship application, my husband at that time still have not received grant of his divorce and he already received a refusal decision on his refugee claim.  On top of that, he was 13 years younger than myself and we are of different ethnic background.  And to add more to all these which we felt might work against our application, he also had a record as an illegal alien in the US prior to coming to Canada. 
 
Our timeline was that we met in February 2006.  In our application, we started June 2006 as our first month of living together when he gave up his own apartment and moved in with me.  We opened joint bank and credit card accounts in September 2006 when we moved into a new apartment.  We filed our application in July 2007 even though I was out of the country for 6 weeks shortly after he moved in with me in June 2006.  We consulted with a lawyer if we could still use June 2006 as beginning of our living together and the lawyer advised us that CIC will likely not have a problem with the 6 weeks gap.
 
The list you provided is very good.  However, if you feel that you'd like to play it overly safe, then go with August.  Better safe than be sorry.
 
Good luck.
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bluestocking View Drop Down
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Thank you for the kind reply, mfeq, and for sharing your immigration summary.  You inspire me Smile

I guess, in the end it's all about faith in your partner and believing in your relationship to get you through the nitty-gritty of immigration, eh?

We would probably wait until August.  I am thinking of filing outland.  And the option of being called for an interview is not an option at all.  I am too far away from home.

Again, thank you so much.
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newsom View Drop Down
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Points: 89 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote newsom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2011 at 3:04pm
Hi Blue,
 
Your situation sounds similar to mine. My partner and I met in December 2008, and started dating right away (we were introduced by my old roommate). Around February we started talking about moving in together and by March we were officially shacked up! We moved to England in May of '09 for 6 months and I started collecting EVERYTHING I could. Lease agreements, joint bank account statements, letters from both of our parents attesting to our relationship, our Renters Insurance statement showing both of us insured etc etc. We have been back in Canada since October 2009. It never really occured to me that someone might question the length of the relationship before we moved in together because it seemed to us like everything was, and continues to move along as it should, and it feels very natural. I guess when you know, you know, right? :-)
 
We filed inland because we feel our application is solid and he has the luxury of now having his OWP. Also, we can't really afford to go to England at a moment's notice should they call him for an interview. So, inland it was for us. I hope everything goes well with your application! :)
Application Rec'd - May 3, 2010
Started Processing - July 14, 2010
"Decision Made" - February 11, 2011
OWP - February 15, 2011
"Decision Made" - March 28, 2011
Landed! - May 6, 2011
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bluestocking View Drop Down
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"...and it feels very natural. I guess when you know, you know, right? :-) --->  Truer words have never been spoken Clap I have been in relationships before that lasted years but this one's just different.  

I wish I knew back then that I will be going through this route.  Had I known, I would have collected stuff like crazy.  *Sigh*  I guess what made me not really pay attention to Family Class Sponsorship is the fact that my boss is urging me to go through the Canadian Experience route.  I have been working in Canada for (nearly)4 years now and I've always thought I will apply CEC for my PR.  Maybe it's fate Tongue

Primarily, I also thought of applying Inland for the privilege of OWP, but the timeline is frustrating to say the least.  I want to put together a solid application so I won't be called for an interview.  It's going to be tough.  

Thank you, newsom! Regards to your partner Smile
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valy79 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by bluestocking bluestocking wrote:

I wish I knew back then that I will be going through this route.  Had I known, I would have collected stuff like crazy.  *Sigh*  I guess what made me not really pay attention to Family Class Sponsorship is the fact that my boss is urging me to go through the Canadian Experience route.  I have been working in Canada for (nearly)4 years now and I've always thought I will apply CEC for my PR.  Maybe it's fate Tongue


Haha, sounds familiar....applying through CEC was what I had in plan for the longest time too (even when I realized that we could apply through Family Class). But at some time point I realized that Family Class was the way to go...

Your situation is also fairly similar to ours in other ways - we moved in together fairly quickly as well (after dating for about half a year) and are applying common-law.
I think your evidence should be good enough (that's about all of the evidence we have....but I guess I am not sure yet if it will be sufficient because we don't know the outcome of our application yet). We still don't have any joint bank accounts (and I am not sure we ever will...), no joint properties or anything like that either.
Application received CIC Mississauga 10/11/09
Sponsor approved 10/12/07
Buffalo Processing 11/01/27
AOR 11/02/07
Initial assessment 11/03/16
PPR 11/04/13
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From our perspective, we moved in together in February 2007 and applied for common law sponsorship in April 2008. From the outset we had a joint account, although no other joint bills or correspondence until May or June 2007. There was no rental agreement, since she owned her own home. We had a lack of postmarked mail for the first three months of the common law cohabitation, but that didn't prove a stumbling block in any way.

What we did have however were photos that we could tie together as a narrative thread into the story of our year of cohabitation (and a bit about the relationship beforehand). I found that going through my bank statements was a good reminder of what events transpired each month that we could match to the photos; trips to the countryside or visits to family, matching flight stubs from a trip abroad, a night at the theatre, that sort of thing.

We did have an interview, but the immigration officer didn't once question the legitimacy of our relationship, which I attribute to putting together a coherent and conclusive story arc of our year of cohabitation as best we could. There is an age difference and an ethnic difference between my partner and I also, and neither of these things were called into question (we speak the same language at home, have similar religions).

I even went to Canada on my own for a week to land as a Permanent Resident for my skilled worker application during the middle of our year of cohabitation.

Hopefully some of your cellphone images show the passage of time together, and also show domestic life together? Some common law applicants put together a diary of their twelve months of cohabitation, maybe splitting it into monthly intervals.

You have an advantage in the thread of your text messages to one another also, which can form the basis of your narrative for your twelve months of cohabitation, to mix with whatever external confirmations of your living together under the same roof you can provide.
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ootnaboot View Drop Down
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Hi
I'm curius for more information on this subject. My partner and I have been living together for 3 years. We want to get maried end of june. My work permit ran out and he has a child from a different relationship that is with family maintenance inforcement. He's a student so he hasn't been making payments. I am a nanny/house keeper.

What are our chances for me to become a citizen?
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bluestocking View Drop Down
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Thank you valy79 and EnglishMuffin for your input.  Appreciated :)

I am willing to wait until August just to be safe.  As mentioned, I would like to avoid that interview as much as possible.  

Won't it be a problem though, if I put down August as a start date of common-law?  I mean, even if we have a joint lease since February and our communication points clearly to our living together since then?  

@ootnaboot:  Have you tried combing through www.cic.gc.ca? Sorry, I don't have much to say as I am fairly new to this whole immigration process as well.  I wish you goodluck though Smile
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valy79 View Drop Down
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Points: 111 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote valy79 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2011 at 11:16am
Originally posted by bluestocking bluestocking wrote:


Won't it be a problem though, if I put down August as a start date of common-law?  I mean, even if we have a joint lease since February and our communication points clearly to our living together since then? 


I think you should definitely put down February as the start date if both of your names are on the lease.
Just because you are waiting for August to be more safe doesn't mean you have to put August as the start date of your common-law relationship Wink If you apply in August and put down February you'll still be safe, because if CIC comes to the conclusion it started in February you are safe and if they think it only started in August you'll be safe as well.
Application received CIC Mississauga 10/11/09
Sponsor approved 10/12/07
Buffalo Processing 11/01/27
AOR 11/02/07
Initial assessment 11/03/16
PPR 11/04/13
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