Proving cohabitation without joint lease/bills for a same-sex couple outside Canada

[Fine_Ice802]

Hi everyone,
My spouse (Canadian citizen) and I are preparing our Outland spousal sponsorship application and are running into a hurdle with proving cohabitation (IMM5533, Part B, Q7a). We’d be really grateful for feedback from anyone who’s faced a similar issue.

Our Situation

• We’re a same-sex couple, legally married in Canada last year.
• We’ve been together for almost 10 years.
• We currently live together outside Canada, in a country where same-sex marriage, civil unions, or same-sex partnerships aren't legally recognized. Institutions in general are not LGBT friendly and our relationship is not publicly known outside of our closest friend circle.
• Because of this, we can’t have joint bank accounts (this does not exist in our country), joint leases, or shared utility bills.
• My spouse (the sponsor) owns the apartment we live in, so there’s no lease, and all bills are in his name.
• My official registered address is still in my city where I previously lived before moving in with my spouse - changing it would require updating my passport. While this wouldn’t invalidate my valid Canadian TRV (visitor visa), it could cause airport delays or complications when travelling, so I’ve postponed it for now.

Planned Proof of Cohabitation

We’re preparing a Letter of Explanation (LoE) detailing these legal and administrative limitations. Alongside it, we plan to include:

• Furniture and delivery receipts (e.g., IKEA) showing my name and our shared address
• Gym memberships or similar memberships registered to that address
• Letters from friends and neighbours confirming that we live together

Our Questions

1. For couples in similar circumstances (especially LGBTQ+ applicants from countries without legal recognition and formal documents of cohabitation), was this type of alternative evidence accepted by IRCC when paired with a strong LoE?
2. Has anyone successfully been approved without a joint lease or bills, and what types of documents seemed to carry the most weight? We have around 10 letters that in various ways confirm and support our relationship as genuine, do we need more than that? We also have documented pictures living together, traveling together and hanging out with friends throughout the 10 years of our relationship.

This cohabitation proof feels like the trickiest part of our application. Any experiences or advice would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks so much for your time and input!

 

[armoured]

I think you'll be fine - your approach is well-organized and if anything you probably have more than needed (but not excessive). Since you are married it's not that critical to demonstrate you are living together. I presume you have info from the relationship (photos etc) and a bit from the wedding.

One thing, presumably addressed separately, it will also be important to show that you have plans to move to Canada (required for citizens sponsoring while residing abroad). If you approach that in as organised and straightforward way as you have above, you should also be well situated. Minor point, after submitting, continue to prepare and keep info about that, as IRCC sometimes (more often recently) requests info on preps and more credible to submit an update about preps.

 

[Fine_Ice802]

Thank you very much for your response! Makes us feel a bit easier about that requirement for cohabitation. We have a lot of photos, including from our wedding and letters of support from family and friends regarding our relationship and confirming also that we have been living together.

Just wanted to follow up on the showing plans on moving back to Canada - my husband (the sponsor) plans to submit several job applications that he made, LinkedIn alerts he has set for the province we want to move to, as well as a copy of his provincial health care card (since we want to move to the city he used to live in before) and his old driver's license, which confirms he used to reside at the same address we want to move in (the home owned by his mom), plus a letter from his mother welcoming us to the home and confirming we will be living there rent free for the first year as we settle in. Will this be enough to show intent and a connection he has to Canada?

 

[armoured]

Thank you very much for your response! Makes us feel a bit easier about that requirement for cohabitation. We have a lot of photos, including from our wedding and letters of support from family and friends regarding our relationship and confirming also that we have been living together.

Just wanted to follow up on the showing plans on moving back to Canada - my husband (the sponsor) plans to submit several job applications that he made, LinkedIn alerts he has set for the province we want to move to, as well as a copy of his provincial health care card (since we want to move to the city he used to live in before) and his old driver's license, which confirms he used to reside at the same address we want to move in (the home owned by his mom), plus a letter from his mother welcoming us to the home and confirming we will be living there rent free for the first year as we settle in. Will this be enough to show intent and a connection he has to Canada?

I can't say whether that will be enough or not. It's a good start - continue to prep etc.

Other things would include preps that cover you, physical moving preparations (info gathering / correspondence), etc.

 

[SkyEarth]

So I can at least speak to my experience proving cohabitation.

For context, the timeline of my husband and my relationship/cohabitation looks like this:
Oct 2022 - Publicly announced our relationship.
Dec 2022 - Got engaged.
June 2023 - Moved in together.
Aug 2023 - Got married.
Nov 2023 - Applied for spousal sponsorship.

Now, as you can see, at the time we applied for PR, we had been publicly in a relationship for 1 year, cohabitating for 5 months, and only been married for 3 months -- and yes, this is a wicked fast timeline for us, too, lol. Tbh, we had intended to wait to apply for PR for a bit longer because we knew we weren't quite ready yet and were still working on meeting some criteria, but the border officers forced us to apply as a condition of permitting me into Canada at one point (unnecessarily imo, but here we are).

Because we had been living separately (in separate countries), and therefore didn't have joint accounts, we were able to show bank statements and Paypal statements to support how we were providing funds to one another and what those funds were for. Paypal, especially, was great for documenting what the money was intended for (groceries, bills, daily expenses, etc.) and showed how were were supporting each other with our everyday living in two separate locations. We provided a detailed explanation of why it was not possible for us to be together sooner, but how we were exhibiting the same financial and social structure of any cohabitating couple. And because our financial support for one another predated even our relationship's public announcement, we were able to use the everyday financing as a means of proving cohabitation.

Obviously I don't know if that would work in your situation, but it was something that worked for us. (idk if it's relevant, but we also applied Inland - Quebec) Good luck! It seems like you're doing all the right things!

 

[canuck78]

Thank you very much for your response! Makes us feel a bit easier about that requirement for cohabitation. We have a lot of photos, including from our wedding and letters of support from family and friends regarding our relationship and confirming also that we have been living together.

Just wanted to follow up on the showing plans on moving back to Canada - my husband (the sponsor) plans to submit several job applications that he made, LinkedIn alerts he has set for the province we want to move to, as well as a copy of his provincial health care card (since we want to move to the city he used to live in before) and his old driver's license, which confirms he used to reside at the same address we want to move in (the home owned by his mom), plus a letter from his mother welcoming us to the home and confirming we will be living there rent free for the first year as we settle in. Will this be enough to show intent and a connection he has to Canada?

Doesn’t sound like he may have met the residency period to qualify for provincial health card and if he doesn’t probably wouldn’t include it.