Common-Law Question

[hello14hello14]

My boyfriend and I have been living together for 1+ year in Ontario, but we are financially independent, no joint lease (living in my place), no joint bank account...
We never declared common law and have not plan to get married yet.

I'm applying for Permanent Residence under CEC, in this case, can i still apply as single or i would have to declare as in a common-law relationship.

I believe in Ontario we have to live together for min 3 years to be considered as common law. Does that mean in my PR application i can choose single?

Thank you very much for any help!

 

[scylla]

My boyfriend and I have been living together for 1+ year in Ontario, but we are financially independent, no joint lease (living in my place), no joint bank account...
We never declared common law and have not plan to get married yet.

I'm applying for Permanent Residence under CEC, in this case, can i still apply as single or i would have to declare as in a common-law relationship.

I believe in Ontario we have to live together for min 3 years to be considered as common law. Does that mean in my PR application i can choose single?

Thank you very much for any help!

You need to declare yourself as common law.

For immigration purposes, once you have lived together for one full year, you are common law. The Ontario rule you are referring to does not apply to Canadian immigration processes.

You want to avoid misrepresenting information in your application since this can lead to significant issues. Declare you are common law and provide as much evidence as you can to support your common law status. If IRCC ultimately decides that there isn't enough evidence to prove common law status and removes your partner from the application, then they will have made this decision and you won't be at risk for misrepresentation / refusal.