Proof of living together help: Spouse sponsership/permanent residence

[KuroNeko26]

Hello! I was wondering what are some of the ways you've shown proof that you and your partner are actually living together and connected besides the same phone bill or joint bank accounts since I can't do those two quite yet. Thank you in advance

 

[Qwertypod]

Lease agreement, Hydro bills, tenant insurance (?), mail goes to the same address for both of you. The only ones I can think of right now.

 

[KuroNeko26]

Lease agreement, Hydro bills, tenant insurance (?), mail goes to the same address for both of you. The only ones I can think of right now.

Can the mail be literally anything or does it have to be bills and stuff like that?

 

[Hurlabrick]

Can the mail be literally anything or does it have to be bills and stuff like that?

From the manual used by CIC case officers:

What is cohabitation?
“Cohabitation” means “living together.” Two people who are cohabiting have combined their affairs and set up their household together in one dwelling. To be considered common-law partners, they must have cohabited for at least one year. This is the standard definition used across the federal government. It means continuous cohabitation for one year, not intermittent cohabitation adding up to one year. The continuous nature of the cohabitation is a universal understanding based on case law.

OP 2 Processing Members of the Family Class
While cohabitation means living together continuously, from time to time, one or the other partner may have left the home for work or business travel, family obligations, and so on. The separation must be temporary and short. The following is a list of indicators about the nature of the household that constitute evidence that a couple in a conjugal relationship is cohabiting:
 Joint bank accounts and/or credit cards;
 Joint ownership of residential property;
 Joint residential leases;
 Joint rental receipts;
 Joint utilities accounts (electricity, gas, telephone);
 Joint management of household expenditures;
 Evidence of joint purchases, especially for household items;
 Correspondence addressed to either or both parties at the same address;
 Important documents of both parties show the same address, e.g., identification documents, driver’s licenses, insurance polices, etc.;
 Shared responsibility for household management, household chores, etc.;
 Evidence of children of one or both partners residing with the couple;
 Telephone calls.
These elements may be present in varying degrees and not all are necessary to prove cohabitation. This list is not exhaustive; other evidence may be taken into consideration.

 

[KuroNeko26]

From the manual used by CIC case officers:

What is cohabitation?
“Cohabitation” means “living together.” Two people who are cohabiting have combined their affairs and set up their household together in one dwelling. To be considered common-law partners, they must have cohabited for at least one year. This is the standard definition used across the federal government. It means continuous cohabitation for one year, not intermittent cohabitation adding up to one year. The continuous nature of the cohabitation is a universal understanding based on case law.

OP 2 Processing Members of the Family Class
While cohabitation means living together continuously, from time to time, one or the other partner may have left the home for work or business travel, family obligations, and so on. The separation must be temporary and short. The following is a list of indicators about the nature of the household that constitute evidence that a couple in a conjugal relationship is cohabiting:
 Joint bank accounts and/or credit cards;
 Joint ownership of residential property;
 Joint residential leases;
 Joint rental receipts;
 Joint utilities accounts (electricity, gas, telephone);
 Joint management of household expenditures;
 Evidence of joint purchases, especially for household items;
 Correspondence addressed to either or both parties at the same address;
 Important documents of both parties show the same address, e.g., identification documents, driver’s licenses, insurance polices, etc.;
 Shared responsibility for household management, household chores, etc.;
 Evidence of children of one or both partners residing with the couple;
 Telephone calls.
These elements may be present in varying degrees and not all are necessary to prove cohabitation. This list is not exhaustive; other evidence may be taken into consideration.

Thank you so much!!

 

[saddlepatch]

That list is pretty to the point, if you're lacking anything though, you can have friends and family locally write letters stating you are living together. If you lack anything besides joint bills, etc, you could include other things that come in the mail like CC offers for example, but it doesn't really prove they're living with you so thats when you'd need back up evidence.

Is there anyway you can add her to the lease? If so, I would do so.

 

[KuroNeko26]

That list is pretty to the point, if you're lacking anything though, you can have friends and family locally write letters stating you are living together. If you lack anything besides joint bills, etc, you could include other things that come in the mail like CC offers for example, but it doesn't really prove they're living with you so thats when you'd need back up evidence.

Is there anyway you can add her to the lease? If so, I would do so.

Yes we're working on getting myself added to the lease currently we're just stuck on what else to add since we can't make a joint bank account or get jointed on any bills or anything yet since i don't work yet so we're really stuck

 

[saddlepatch]

Yes we're working on getting myself added to the lease currently we're just stuck on what else to add since we can't make a joint bank account or get jointed on any bills or anything yet since i don't work yet so we're really stuck

You could have them add you to their benefits (Life insurance, etc). CIC won't really care how recent if you have enough years/time and evidence of you being together (photos, chats, receipts from visiting one another etc). If you own a car together or share insurance policies, I'd include that too.

But if you lack evidence, just explain why in detail and add as much else as you can. In this case, I would definitely get friends/family to write letters for you. It won't hurt at all

Are you outland or inland?

 

[KuroNeko26]

You could have them add you to their benefits (Life insurance, etc). CIC won't really care how recent if you have enough years/time and evidence of you being together (photos, chats, receipts from visiting one another etc). If you own a car together or share insurance policies, I'd include that too.

But if you lack evidence, just explain why in detail and add as much else as you can. In this case, I would definitely get friends/family to write letters for you. It won't hurt at all

Are you outland or inland?

We're applying Inland! And yes we have lots of proof from the last three years of our relationship itself from chats, pictures, visits and stuff like that. I came here to move in June of last year and we got married in October and we didn't know we needed cohabitation proof until now otherwise we would have tried doing something sooner. I wanted to try and open a bank account for further proof but I don't have a SIN number to open an account with since we're applying for an Open work permit with the application as well.

 

[cara269]

After 10 months in our inland common law application IRCC requested additional cohabitation documents,things that we dint send originally help out greatly, Amazon online orders ,personnel whatsapp and iMessages "warning the officer about the contents" hey we are adults here", firstly my fiancé taught it was to personal , my old/ new work expired insurance certificate/benefits card and the new ones showing my fiancé as my spouse , updated pics With us enjoying Caribana 2018 ,both birthdays celebrations, new joint credit cards , bank statements showing purchases and E transfers, confirmed hotels bookings for small 3 days vacations we took, dental appointments paid 100% with my work benefits , we drove from Toronto to Florida during December holidays to spend some time with her in-laws for 3 weeks , I-94 boarder crossing showing same dates /times we crossed into the USA together,details prinited off the website. The application got approved just waiting for my landing now , do your research and send everything .

 

[KuroNeko26]

After 10 months in our inland common law application IRCC requested additional cohabitation documents,things that we dint send originally help out greatly, Amazon online orders ,personnel whatsapp and iMessages "warning the officer about the contents" hey we are adults here", firstly my fiancé taught it was to personal , my old/ new work expired insurance certificate/benefits card and the new ones showing my fiancé as my spouse , updated pics With us enjoying Caribana 2018 ,both birthdays celebrations, new joint credit cards , bank statements showing purchases and E transfers, confirmed hotels bookings for small 3 days vacations we took, dental appointments paid 100% with my work benefits , we drove from Toronto to Florida during December holidays to spend some time with her in-laws for 3 weeks , I-94 boarder crossing showing same dates /times we crossed into the USA together,details prinited off the website. The application got approved just waiting for my landing now , do your research and send everything .

Thank you so much for sharing your experience I'm researching as much as I can and trying not to overthink and stress out over every little thing haha thank you again for your input

 

[np08]

We're applying Inland! And yes we have lots of proof from the last three years of our relationship itself from chats, pictures, visits and stuff like that. I came here to move in June of last year and we got married in October and we didn't know we needed cohabitation proof until now otherwise we would have tried doing something sooner. I wanted to try and open a bank account for further proof but I don't have a SIN number to open an account with since we're applying for an Open work permit with the application as well.

Even if you can't open an account yourself, you can get added to your spouse's account as a supplementary user (so they issue you a supplementary credit card in your name). Even if you can't turn your utility bills into actual joint ones, you can have your name added in the address field for a lot of them so that the bills are addressed to you both (even though there's just one account holder). You can get added to a family phone plan (again, even if just one person is paying for it). There's a lot of things you can do. I was a visitor when we applied and in the end didn't send all the address proof cause we had too much (even silly stuff, random notices the city sends you, a letter from my doctor's office, etc) even though I didn't have a SIN and couldn't do the most straight forward things (joint accounts).

 

[KuroNeko26]

Even if you can't open an account yourself, you can get added to your spouse's account as a supplementary user (so they issue you a supplementary credit card in your name). Even if you can't turn your utility bills into actual joint ones, you can have your name added in the address field for a lot of them so that the bills are addressed to you both (even though there's just one account holder). You can get added to a family phone plan (again, even if just one person is paying for it). There's a lot of things you can do. I was a visitor when we applied and in the end didn't send all the address proof cause we had too much (even silly stuff, random notices the city sends you, a letter from my doctor's office, etc) even though I didn't have a SIN and couldn't do the most straight forward things (joint accounts).

Oh wow!! That's a big relief of news to me thank you so much!! I didn't know that i didn't need a sin number or not for all the bank stuff. Thank you so much again you're a huge help

 

[np08]

Oh wow!! That's a big relief of news to me thank you so much!! I didn't know that i didn't need a sin number or not for all the bank stuff. Thank you so much again you're a huge help

There are banks that will let visitors open accounts of their own without a SIN. Ours wouldn't so we went for the next best thing and made me a supplementary user. Anyone can be made one and a SIN isn't required for it.

And then that one thing serves as multiple types of proof. The fact that you have the card and that this can be seen on the bank statements can be proof of financial support (your spouse supporting you by giving you access to their bank accounts), proof of you combining your matters as much as possible, and even just that letter in which they send you the credit card that's addressed to you is, you guessed it, one of your address proofs.

So yeah, think outside the box and just take any opportunity you can to put your name somewhere, to have some mail sent to you, anything at all.

 

[KuroNeko26]

There are banks that will let visitors open accounts of their own without a SIN. Ours wouldn't so we went for the next best thing and made me a supplementary user. Anyone can be made one and a SIN isn't required for it.

And then that one thing serves as multiple types of proof. The fact that you have the card and that this can be seen on the bank statements can be proof of financial support (your spouse supporting you by giving you access to their bank accounts), proof of you combining your matters as much as possible, and even just that letter in which they send you the credit card that's addressed to you is, you guessed it, one of your address proofs.

So yeah, think outside the box and just take any opportunity you can to put your name somewhere, to have some mail sent to you, anything at all.

I'll take your advice to heart thank you The whole application process is daunting and I'm trying not to overthink and stress out about everything haha