adding common law partner after receiving Medical Request and RPRFP

[stas88]

Hello everyone.
I am November 2012 applicant. I would like to ask a second set of eyes to have a look into my situation and possibly advise on any potential roadblocks.
I applied for PR under CEC in november of 2012. Lived with a girl since February 2012. At the time of application i did not declare a common law relationship as I knew that we had to live for a year at least. Now i received Medical request and RPRFP (490$ payment request) where it asked if my marital status changed. It changed since February 2013 but i did not know that i could add spouse at that stage of an application. Anyways, with this email i decided to add my common law partner to the application and informed the cic about it.
So here are the questions :

1. Proof of common law. Would life insurance from my company stating that we are in common law relationship be sufficient along with bank statements showing the same address (but 2 different accounts)???
The start date of the insurance is Feb, 2013, meaning that we lived together since Feb, 2012.

2. Would it not be weird that I am claiming common law only now?

3. In case of a positive outcome - receipt of PR for both of us - would we both get a standard PR or would we receive conditional PR?

Please, advise if you foresee any roadblocks here.
Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[stas88]

Also, if there is not enough prove of common law relationship would I get my CEC application rejected? If so, would i be able to reapply?
Thanks

 

[lpc19800]

Hello everyone.
I am November 2012 applicant. I would like to ask a second set of eyes to have a look into my situation and possibly advise on any potential roadblocks.
I applied for PR under CEC in november of 2012. Lived with a girl since February 2012. At the time of application i did not declare a common law relationship as I knew that we had to live for a year at least. Now i received Medical request and RPRFP (490$ payment request) where it asked if my marital status changed. It changed since February 2013 but i did not know that i could add spouse at that stage of an application. Anyways, with this email i decided to add my common law partner to the application and informed the cic about it.
So here are the questions :

1. Proof of common law. Would life insurance from my company stating that we are in common law relationship be sufficient along with bank statements showing the same address (but 2 different accounts)???
The start date of the insurance is Feb, 2013, meaning that we lived together since Feb, 2012.

2. Would it not be weird that I am claiming common law only now?

3. In case of a positive outcome - receipt of PR for both of us - would we both get a standard PR or would we receive conditional PR?

Please, advise if you foresee any roadblocks here.
Any comments would be appreciated.

Do you have anything else that shows you're common law? Lease agreements, bills in both names etc? While you can prove you live at the same address, I'm not sure if it proves you're in a common law relationship.

While I don't think it would impact your application negatively, it will add on time for her criminality, security etc to be done.

I'd wait for other opinions but I'd push on with your application and then look at whether you want to sponsor her

 

[stas88]

Do you have anything else that shows you're common law? Lease agreements, bills in both names etc? While you can prove you live at the same address, I'm not sure if it proves you're in a common law relationship.

While I don't think it would impact your application negatively, it will add on time for her criminality, security etc to be done.

I'd wait for other opinions but I'd push on with your application and then look at whether you want to sponsor her

Thank you very much for your valuable advises.
1. Unfortunately I don't have any other documents. All bills are paid by myself. Do you think facebook pictures with dates would help?

2. In case if there is no sufficient prove for the above, what are the chances that main applicant's application will be refused?

3. I would opt out from the sponsorship option as it seems to be a much longer process.

Once again thank you Sir.

 

[stas88]

Does anyone else have opinions on the matter described above?
The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. Your input is highly appreciated.

 

[jes_ON]

To not inform CIC of your common-law relationship would be misrepresentation.

Have you looked at the document you have to fill out? Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union? This should give you some idea of what you need - relax, you don't need everything on here.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5409E.pdf

The life insurance is actually a really good start. Another really important one is Declaring the common-law union to the CRA - fill this out and submit it now (of course, scan it or save a few copies!!!)

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/rc65/README.html

If you don't already have a joint bank account, do it now.

 

[iam_toby]

Little off topic, but maybe someone can help me out here.
What exactly is common-law? And how long does one have to live together to
be in a common-law relationship?
I moved in with my girlfriend in April 2013, she is Canadian citizen. I filed my application
for PR under the CEC class in September 2013.
I'm living in BC, and read somewhere that one is considered common-law after 2 years, however
more often I read here that it's 1 year?

Come April 2014, do I need to inform CIC about the change ( in case it's after 1 year ), or do I not
have to declare my partner, as she is Canadian citizen ( born and raised in BC ).

 

[jsm0085]

Little off topic, but maybe someone can help me out here.
What exactly is common-law? And how long does one have to live together to
be in a common-law relationship?
I moved in with my girlfriend in April 2013, she is Canadian citizen. I filed my application
for PR under the CEC class in September 2013.
I'm living in BC, and read somewhere that one is considered common-law after 2 years, however
more often I read here that it's 1 year?

Come April 2014, do I need to inform CIC about the change ( in case it's after 1 year ), or do I not
have to declare my partner, as she is Canadian citizen ( born and raised in BC ).

1 year.

You probably should, but as she is a Canadian citizen - I don't really see what difference it makes. Unless your CEC app is rejected and you need to take another route.

 

[iam_toby]

1 year.

You probably should, but as she is a Canadian citizen - I don't really see what difference it makes. Unless your CEC app is rejected and you need to take another route.

And that's where I got confused, as this website reads:

B.C.'s Family Law Act

3 (1) A person is a spouse for the purposes of this Act if the person

(a) is married to another person, or

(b) has lived with another person in a marriage-like relationship, and

(i) has done so for a continuous period of at least 2 years, or ...

[ Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/common-law-couples-as-good-as-married-in-b-c-1.1413551 ]

 

[jsm0085]

CIC have their own definition: -

Common-law partner
You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or the same sex—if:

you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in an ongoing 12-month period (you are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons).
You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together. This can be in the form of proof of:

joint bank accounts or credit cards.
joint ownership of a home.
joint residential leases.
joint rental receipts,
joint registration or payment of utilities (electricity, gas, telephone),
joint management of household expenses,
joint purchases, especially of household items, or
mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse-apply-who.asp