Common-Law lack of documents for Proof of Relationship

[Haruy]

Hi there!
I am applying for family class, common-law partner, in-land. I firstly applied the documents on the 28th of August, 2019. I had finished medical check on the 2nd of September 2020. I heard that the medical check would be the last event for the application, but suddenly after the medical check, Canadian government requested additional information concerning my proof of relationship. We have provided the maximum 20 photos dating back to 2014, letters from our mutual friends, personal conversation, cohabitation, phone and insurance statement since me and my partner moved to Canada from Japan in 2019. However, we do not have rental, phone or other utility bills with both of our names on them before the year 2019. This is where we have a problem, we have been requested to provide additional documentations for proof of relationship before 08/2018.

From 2016 to 2019 we were living together in Japan, but since my partner joined me after I had found an apartment, made a cell phone contract and other things, we ended having no utility statements with both of our names on them. We tried to provide them other documents where the address was the same for both of us, but this doesn't seem to be good enough.

We tried once to explain this to them, but were told to provide documents and this would be our last consideration. They seem to specifically ask for joint billing, lease agreement, or any other document that is dated before 08/2018.

We thought that we could provide them plane tickets and some hotels invoices that have both of our names on them, but we are uncertain if this is good enough for them. We have only 3 or 4 of such invoices dating from 2014 to 2018.

Is there any other type of documents or invoices that would be good enough for Proof of Relationship? We want to make sure we have the best chances when sending our last email to them concerning this matter.

Thank you very much!

 

[scylla]

Hi there!
I am applying for family class, common-law partner, in-land. I firstly applied the documents on the 28th of August, 2019. I had finished medical check on the 2nd of September 2020. I heard that the medical check would be the last event for the application, but suddenly after the medical check, Canadian government requested additional information concerning my proof of relationship. We have provided the maximum 20 photos dating back to 2014, letters from our mutual friends, personal conversation, cohabitation, phone and insurance statement since me and my partner moved to Canada from Japan in 2019. However, we do not have rental, phone or other utility bills with both of our names on them before the year 2019. This is where we have a problem, we have been requested to provide additional documentations for proof of relationship before 08/2018.

From 2016 to 2019 we were living together in Japan, but since my partner joined me after I had found an apartment, made a cell phone contract and other things, we ended having no utility statements with both of our names on them. We tried to provide them other documents where the address was the same for both of us, but this doesn't seem to be good enough.

We tried once to explain this to them, but were told to provide documents and this would be our last consideration. They seem to specifically ask for joint billing, lease agreement, or any other document that is dated before 08/2018.

We thought that we could provide them plane tickets and some hotels invoices that have both of our names on them, but we are uncertain if this is good enough for them. We have only 3 or 4 of such invoices dating from 2014 to 2018.

Is there any other type of documents or invoices that would be good enough for Proof of Relationship? We want to make sure we have the best chances when sending our last email to them concerning this matter.

Thank you very much!

Plane tickets and hotel invoices don't prove common law. All they prove is that you are in a relationship. You need evidence that proves you have continuously cohabitated for at least one full year. This is why IRCC is needs to see leases, joint bank accounts, joint utility bills and similar evidence. You need to continue to focus on evidence that shows a joint address / the same address for the period they have requested.

Probably a stretch, but can you get an affidavit from your landlord from that period stating you lived together? Do you have any employment documents or pay slips that show the same address for that period? What about school documents if you were attending school? Did you file taxes as a common law couple? Think creatively about evidence like that.

 

[Haruy]

Thank you for the information concerning the tickets.

We did provide them a translated Tax return for me, and my partner provided a translated version of his Japanese resident card(visa) with our address on it. We are not sure if these were not good, not good enough, or if they just did not check them. This gave us the impression we absolutely had to have both of our names on the same document.

We do have a few documents written in Japanese with the same address on them. We will see which one is the best and look into having them translated by asserted people.

How many documents do you believe should be enough? We really want to finish this correctly after going through Quebec acceptance and working on this for more than a year.

Thank you,

 

[scylla]

Thank you for the information concerning the tickets.

We did provide them a translated Tax return for me, and my partner provided a translated version of his Japanese resident card(visa) with our address on it. We are not sure if these were not good, not good enough, or if they just did not check them. This gave us the impression we absolutely had to have both of our names on the same document.

We do have a few documents written in Japanese with the same address on them. We will see which one is the best and look into having them translated by asserted people.

How many documents do you believe should be enough? We really want to finish this correctly after going through Quebec acceptance and working on this for more than a year.

Thank you,

It's really hard to answer the question about what is enough. The challenge you face is that you are missing a number of the documents that people normally provide and which stand as the strongest proof that you are common law (e.g. joint leases, joint utilities, etc.). So I would provide as much as you can since you don't have the expected / strongest evidence.

 

[Joeydocs]

Thank you for the information concerning the tickets.

We did provide them a translated Tax return for me, and my partner provided a translated version of his Japanese resident card(visa) with our address on it. We are not sure if these were not good, not good enough, or if they just did not check them. This gave us the impression we absolutely had to have both of our names on the same document.

We do have a few documents written in Japanese with the same address on them. We will see which one is the best and look into having them translated by asserted people.

How many documents do you believe should be enough? We really want to finish this correctly after going through Quebec acceptance and working on this for more than a year.

Thank you,

Hi so as Scylla said above you need documents covering a span of atleast a year. In your case submit individual bank statements credit card statements, common law tax info which you should’ve done if you’re common law, amazon shipping receipts showing address etc.