Common Law

[Macan]

I became a permanent resident in early February 2009. My status was single at the time.

I met my girlfriend in Fall 2007 and we started dating in early 2008. We started living together in the same apartment (2BR) in April 2008. We made a mutual commitment and combined our affairs in Nov or Dec 2008. This included opening joint bank account, joint debit cards, etc. Before this she was paying her share of rent (1 room) and I was paying mine for the other room. Other than that, we had not done anything else.

Now she is in Canada on a study permit for which she declared her status as Single as she applied in July 2008 and according to our calculation from Dec 2009 we can call ourselves common-law partners. At this point we are planning to file a spousal sponsorship in Dec 2009.

My questions are:

Was my girlfriend my common-law partner at the time I landed as a PR? In other words, should I have included her in my application, my understanding is that I could not have as we had not lived together for one year in a conjugal relationship.

Based on the information when will my girlfriend become my common-law partner?

Was my girlfriend right in stating her status as Single on the study permit application? If not, what effect can this have on our sponsorship application?

Thanks !!!

[mitamata]

She became your common-law partner as soon as you joined your affairs, so Nov or Dec 2008. As such, she should've been declared by you prior to your landing.

She would not have qualified as a common-law partner for the sake of immigration, but she was your common-law partner.

Someone on another page explained this better:

However, another aspect of this is worth emphasizing: there is a distinction between having a "common-law partner" and having a "qualifying common-law partner relationship" for purposes of immigration. I am not sure, but I believe you can be in a common-law relationship even if that relationship does not qualify for immigration purposes, and in particular, I think that relationship begins when you enter into it, even if it will not satisfy the immigration process until after living together in such a committed relationship for a full year. (The fact that certain consequences would flow, including problems with your PR process with no recourse since the relationship would not be "qualifying," does not alter the status of your relationships nor your obligations to report them . . . even if it would undermine your PR entirely, well, you had an obligation to report it.)