Common law - do we have enough proof?

[sabir777]

Hello everyone,

My girlfriend and I have been living together for 12 months now, and we are planning to apply for common law sponsorship very soon. I am a Canadian citizen, and she is from Korea on a post graduation work permit in Canada that expires in a couple months. We’ve been together for 4 years now and this past year was our first year living together. This is the proof we have that we’ll be showing:

1. Joint bank account with statements dating back 12 months

2. We have been living at my parents house for the past 12 months so we don’t have a lease, but we plan to receive a notarized letter from them to send with the application saying that we stayed at their place for the past 12 months.

3. Tons of pictures, dating to even before the 12 months.

4. Pictures of our drivers licenses/health cards with the same address

5. Bills of us paying for shared Netflix and Spotify accounts

6. Pictures of hotel reservations and tickets from various places we’ve gone to (museums, etc.) throughout the past year.

7. Pictures of texts we’ve sent, dating back to 2016

8. Pictures of birthday/anniversary cards

If this is not enough, is there anything else we could provide to help strengthen our application? She only has a few months left on her work permit so this is essentially our last chance thank you everyone!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hello everyone,

My girlfriend and I have been living together for 12 months now, and we are planning to apply for common law sponsorship very soon. I am a Canadian citizen, and she is from Korea on a post graduation work permit in Canada that expires in a couple months. We’ve been together for 4 years now and this past year was our first year living together. This is the proof we have that we’ll be showing:

1. Joint bank account with statements dating back 12 months

2. We have been living at my parents house for the past 12 months so we don’t have a lease, but we plan to receive a notarized letter from them to send with the application saying that we stayed at their place for the past 12 months.

3. Tons of pictures, dating to even before the 12 months.

4. Pictures of our drivers licenses/health cards with the same address

5. Bills of us paying for shared Netflix and Spotify accounts

6. Pictures of hotel reservations and tickets from various places we’ve gone to (museums, etc.) throughout the past year.

7. Pictures of texts we’ve sent, dating back to 2016

8. Pictures of birthday/anniversary cards

If this is not enough, is there anything else we could provide to help strengthen our application? She only has a few months left on her work permit so this is essentially our last chance thank you everyone!

Hi

1. Good.

2. Good.

3. Not a common-law proof and as stated on the checklist, MAX 20 pics.

4. Good.

5. Not a common-law proof unless it lists the address.

6. Not a common-law proof.

7. Not a common-law proof and as stated on the checklist, communication proofs are only required for couples that are not living together.

8. Not a common-law proof.

Have you changed your marital status with CRA? Do either of you have any other mail at that address? Anything starting from day 1? Credit card statements? Payslips? Phone bills? Amazon receipts? Government/tax letters?

 

[sabir777]

Hi

1. Good.

2. Good.

3. Not a common-law proof and as stated on the checklist, MAX 20 pics.

4. Good.

5. Not a common-law proof unless it lists the address.

6. Not a common-law proof.

7. Not a common-law proof and as stated on the checklist, communication proofs are only required for couples that are not living together.

8. Not a common-law proof.

Have you changed your marital status with CRA? Do either of you have any other mail at that address? Anything starting from day 1? Credit card statements? Payslips? Phone bills? Amazon receipts? Government/tax letters?

Hi, thanks for the help! We haven't changed our status with the CRA, but I believe that now it has been 12 months, we're eligible to do so? If so, we'll do that! In terms of the other things you mentioned:

Yes, we have credit card statements, payslips (not from day 1 as she got a job later on and I am a student), We have phone bills that have the same address... BUT we pay those separately as I am under a family plan with my brother. We did order a couple things throughout the year via Amazon as well, so we have some receipts! I haven't looked around for any tax receipts, but I'm sure I can find some.

Assuming we do have proof for all of these things you listed, AND we change our marital status with the CRA to common-law, will all of this suffice for an approval? The only thing I am worried about is the lack of a lease as we've been living with my parents, but I'm hoping a notarized letter would be more than enough proof. Thanks again!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi, thanks for the help! We haven't changed our status with the CRA, but I believe that now it has been 12 months, we're eligible to do so? If so, we'll do that! In terms of the other things you mentioned:

Yes, we have credit card statements, payslips (not from day 1 as she got a job later on and I am a student), We have phone bills that have the same address... BUT we pay those separately as I am under a family plan with my brother. We did order a couple things throughout the year via Amazon as well, so we have some receipts! I haven't looked around for any tax receipts, but I'm sure I can find some.

Assuming we do have proof for all of these things you listed, AND we change our marital status with the CRA to common-law, will all of this suffice for an approval? The only thing I am worried about is the lack of a lease as we've been living with my parents, but I'm hoping a notarized letter would be more than enough proof. Thanks again!

Yes, change your status with CRA.

Separate is fine. It still shows you both living at the same address.

The letter from your parents is sufficient in place of a lease. It's a common situation.

 

[smallcoffee]

(Dont want to hijack the thread) What if there is a lease but only in the name of the sponsor. Would a legalized letter saying that we both lived together is enough? In France we have this thing called "attestation d'hébergement" which can be legalized.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

(Dont want to hijack the thread) What if there is a lease but only in the name of the sponsor. Would a legalized letter saying that we both lived together is enough? In France we have this thing called "attestation d'hébergement" which can be legalized.

Letter from the landlord? That should be fine.

 

[smallcoffee]

Letter from the landlord? That should be fine.

Not from the landlord, from the sponsor. Landlord lives overseas and no way to contact (rental was done via agency)