Common Law Sponsorship Advice

[angelajae]

Hello everyone,

I'm from Malaysia and my partner is Canadian citizen. We plan to apply Common Law Partnership on June after gathering all the document and the problem is me and my boyfriend not staying together for 12 consecutive month.

Our relationship begin on 9th May 2016 and my bf move to my place in the middle of May 2016 until Sept 2016 but my landlord didn't know my bf is living with me so we don't have any proof of living together other than pictures during this few months. And then we move to a new place (with lease) on Oct 2016 until May 2017 but I went back to Malaysia for visiting my family around 11 days on April 2017. Then, we move to a new place again (with lease) on May 2017 until March 2018 and I left canada on 27th March because my study permit expired on 28th .

As I know, we have to live together for 12 consecutive months to achieve common law requirement but we're 11 days short of the 12 months living together. Is it still possible to apply for the common law application? Will this be a issue ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you

 

[ashpash22]

So you're saying you have lived together (in two different places with two different leases) since October 2016 and the only time you haven't been together was an 11 day trip? (And you've actually lived together since May 2016 but you just don't have proofs for it)
Sounds like you can definitely apply for common-law to me. Taking a relatively short trip doesn't mean you're not in the common law relationship anymore. Have you got joint bills or a bank account or other things together?

 

[angelajae]

So you're saying you have lived together (in two different places with two different leases) since October 2016 and the only time you haven't been together was an 11 day trip? (And you've actually lived together since May 2016 but you just don't have proofs for it)
Sounds like you can definitely apply for common-law to me. Taking a relatively short trip doesn't mean you're not in the common law relationship anymore. Have you got joint bills or a bank account or other things together?

We don't have any joint bill as everything is included in the rent and we don't have a bank account. But we do have many picture and a few of tickets during our trip and family & friend's letters and picture taken together.

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

We don't have any joint bill as everything is included in the rent and we don't have a bank account. But we do have many picture and a few of tickets during our trip and family & friend's letters and picture taken together.

Suggest you go through the application checklist as this has all the elements you will have to supply.

Not having joint bills isnt necessarily an issue. We pay an all inclusive rent too so we have no joint bills. Its just matter of satisfying their requirements in other ways.

The checklist is the place to start.

 

[Buletruck]

Agreed. We didn’t have joint bills and leases, but provided other proof (coinciding flight ticket, etc). We also include explanations why we couldn’t provide other proof, but visits with family and friends as proof of the relationship.

 

[angelajae]

Agreed. We didn’t have joint bills and leases, but provided other proof (coinciding flight ticket, etc). We also include explanations why we couldn’t provide other proof, but visits with family and friends as proof of the relationship.

Thanks for replying. We lived together for 23 months but we don't have the proof for the first 5 months. We moved to 2 different places having 2 leases on Oct 2016 to March 2018 but we did not stay together 12 consecutive month because I went back to my country for 11 days on April 2017. We're worrying the 11 days of separation would be an issue for the application. Can we still apply for the common law sponsorship?

Thank you

 

[Buletruck]

11 days won’t be an issue over 23 months. You’re fine.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

We don't have any joint bill as everything is included in the rent and we don't have a bank account. But we do have many picture and a few of tickets during our trip and family & friend's letters and picture taken together.

Pictures and trip tickets are not common-law proofs. Letters are good but they are supplementary to the actual address proofs. There are many threads regarding common-law proofs that you should have a look at.

 

[Buletruck]

Pictures and travel tickets (itineraries) certainly worked for our application, so saying they aren’t is misleading. We were in a similar situation where it wasn’t possible to supply address proof (she couldn’t get a resident visa for Thailand) so our travel date corresponded with each other in and out of the country.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Pictures and travel tickets (itineraries) certainly worked for our application, so saying they aren’t is misleading. We were in a similar situation where it wasn’t possible to supply address proof (she couldn’t get a resident visa for Thailand) so our travel date corresponded with each other in and out of the country.

They don't prove common-law, so if you were accepted with just that, you were lucky.

 

[Buletruck]

Doubt it was luck. No interview, done in 6 months.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Doubt it was luck. No interview, done in 6 months.

If all you had was pics and tickets to prove common-law, then it was definitely luck in getting a VO who didn't know how to do their job or didn't care.