Conjugal Partner: "Explain why..."

[Baffled]

While filling out the application, Sponsored Spouse/Partner Questionnaire, they are asking the following question:

Explain why you were not able to live together continuously for one year. If possible, provide evidence - visa denials, for example - that you tried to live together but were unable to do so.

Now just a brief overview for some who have not read my threads:

We are applying using the outland application process. I have been in Canada for 1 year going on 7 months. I have two visitor extension documents proving I have been in Canada for a year. This however is not enough to prove we have been living together continuously, as they look for more than that, ie. insurance policies, wills, anything naming your partner as beneficiary, documents showing we traveled together, etc. Things we do not have, well simply because we didn't know to save documents and make records of this sort of stuff when deciding to apply for Family Sponsorship.

My question is, how does one explain this to them.

Thanks in advance for the advice,

Baffled

 

[SchnookoLoly]

You will not be approved as conjugal partners.

Conjugal applications are for couples who are legally UNABLE to live together... for example, a same-sex couple who lives in a country where homosexuality is illegal, or a couple who live in a country where there is no divorce so they cannot get married.

If you are both in Canada and living together, then there is nothing to stop you from getting married in Canada. In addition, you can apply for additional visa extensions to achieve one year of living together.

I would advise you strongly NOT to apply for conjugal. Your application will be rejected and you will be out the money.

Get married and applied as spouses, or wait until you can properly qualify for and prove one year of cohabitation.

 

[Ponga]

You're right; it's not enough.

You basically have to prove 3 things:

1. That you (and your partner/sponsor) have both been in the same Country/City for at least 12 full months.

2. That you have both been cohabiting under the same roof...for 12 months

3. That you are a genuine couple and have a real relationship.

So, the biggest burden of proof, will be for item #2, because that is the most critical piece of your puzzle. You would need (as already mentioned in your other thread(s)) things that can show that you were in fact living together. Things like the joint lease, mail that has been addressed and delivered to you both at that address, shared accounts (bank, cell phone, utilities, etc,).

You should have something that you can provide to show item #3, like photos together, txt msgs, emails, cards that you've given each other, etc. You will also need at least two letters from family, or friends, verifying your relationship. These letters must be notarized (or witnessed by a Commissioner of Oaths).

Since you would never qualify for a Conjugal Partner sponsorship, you MUST show that you have in fact lived together for at least 12 full months. This is critically important!

 

[Baffled]

Well, we can prove the relationship is genuine as we have over 200 emails, 4000+ Facebook messages dating as far back as 2010, and the same for the 2000+ gmail messages. She also has phone records that are several pages long. We also have lots of photos of us taking trips together both her in the US and me in Canada. We can also get two letters from family and friends verifying our relationship, at least 8 letters minimum if need be.

The only thing, and this is why we changed our minds and with OUTLAND application, is proving we were under the same roof for 12 months+. I mean sure I have two six month extensions, but is that enough?

EDIT: Okay, I think I see what is confusing me. It's the labeling of their questions:

20. Are you in a common-law relationship?
21. Are you in a congjual partner relationship?

The common-law relationship as they explain it in the question, Duh on my part:

20. Are you in a common-law relationship?
You are in a common-law relationship if you and your sponsor have lived together in a conjugal relationship* for a period of at least one yaer.
* Conjugal relationship refers to a commited and mutually interdependent relationship of some permanence where a couple has combined their affairs to the extent possible (marriage-like).

21. Are you in a congjual partner relationship?
You are a conjugal partner relationship if you and your sponsor have maintained a conjugal relationship* for a period of at least one year but cannot meet the definition of common-law partner, that is you have been unable to live together continuously for one year, usually because of an immigration barrier.
If you plan to marry your sponsor, you may not be considered a conjugal partner.

Now reading the options I should choose question '20', correct?

Thanks again,

Baffled

 

[Rob_TO]

Well, we can prove the relationship is genuine as we have over 200 emails, 4000+ Facebook messages dating as far back as 2010, and the same for the 2000+ gmail messages. She also has phone records that are several pages long. We also have lots of photos of us taking trips together both her in the US and me in Canada. We can also get two letters from family and friends verifying our relationship, at least 8 letters minimum if need be.

The only thing, and this is why we changed our minds and with OUTLAND application, is proving we were under the same roof for 12 months+. I mean sure I have two six month extensions, but is that enough?

Do not apply under conjugal class, it's almost a sure thing you will be rejected. There are no legal or immigration barriers at all preventing you from getting married or living together 12 months.

So to do an outland application you must either:
a) get married, or
b) live together under the same roof for 12 consecutive months to become common-law

To prove common-law, you will need joint lease/rent agreements, showing mail sent to same address, joint bank accts/credit cards, beneficiaries on insurance, will, etc... Photos, email, chate and letters are fine for proving relationship, but don't prove cohabitation.

 

[rhcohen2014]

Well, we can prove the relationship is genuine as we have over 200 emails, 4000+ Facebook messages dating as far back as 2010, and the same for the 2000+ gmail messages. She also has phone records that are several pages long. We also have lots of photos of us taking trips together both her in the US and me in Canada. We can also get two letters from family and friends verifying our relationship, at least 8 letters minimum if need be.

The only thing, and this is why we changed our minds and with OUTLAND application, is proving we were under the same roof for 12 months+. I mean sure I have two six month extensions, but is that enough?

the information you are providing is NOT going to prove a CONJUGAL relationship by CIC's standards. as everyone has told you over and over again, conjugal is hard to prove and is reserved for people who can not travel to see eachother or legally get married. neither one of these apply to you, so your ONLY choice to apply for spousal pr is to a) get married or b) continue extending the applicant's stay as a visitor to become commonlaw, which means you have cohabitated for a minimum of 365 CONSECUTIVE days.

 

[Baffled]

EDIT: Okay, I think I see what is confusing me. It's the labeling of their questions:

20. Are you in a common-law relationship?
21. Are you in a congjual partner relationship?

The common-law relationship as they explain it in the question, Duh on my part:

20. Are you in a common-law relationship?
You are in a common-law relationship if you and your sponsor have lived together in a conjugal relationship* for a period of at least one yaer.
* Conjugal relationship refers to a commited and mutually interdependent relationship of some permanence where a couple has combined their affairs to the extent possible (marriage-like).

21. Are you in a congjual partner relationship?
You are a conjugal partner relationship if you and your sponsor have maintained a conjugal relationship* for a period of at least one year but cannot meet the definition of common-law partner, that is you have been unable to live together continuously for one year, usually because of an immigration barrier.
If you plan to marry your sponsor, you may not be considered a conjugal partner.

Now reading the options I should choose question '20', correct?

Thanks again,

Baffled

Alright, so, sorry to be a nusience. Apply with the inland application instead of the outland application? I edited my response from earlier, as seen in the quote.

EDIT: Also to note both of my extensions are addressed to the same address we are both living at, total of 1 year.

 

[scylla]

Alright, so, sorry to be a nusience. Apply with the inland application instead of the outland application? I edited my response from earlier, as seen in the quote.

Regardless of whether you apply inland our outland, you must still either be married or common law (i.e. have already lived together for a minimum of one full year). Have you lived together continuously for at least one full year? I'm still not clear on the answer to that question.

 

[Rob_TO]

The only thing, and this is why we changed our minds and with OUTLAND application, is proving we were under the same roof for 12 months+. I mean sure I have two six month extensions, but is that enough?

OK so you are trying to prove common-law, and not conjugal.

To answer your question... no, just having status extenstions is not proof of cohabitation.
Where were you living with your partner for 12 months? If rented, get the landlord to write a back-dated lease agreement with your name, or write a statutory declaration stating that you lived there.
Did you not have any mail delivered to that address?
Go and open up a joint bank account, or get a supplementary credit card, showing both your names with a shared address.
Go and get a life insurance policy on each other.

You must have something that actually proves you were cohabiting. Visitor extensions, letters from friends, photos, etc do not prove this at all.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

This link has a useful bullet list for the kinds of thing they look at to prove cohabitation: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada#Scrutiny

 

[Baffled]

Regardless of whether you apply inland our outland, you must still either be married or common law (i.e. have already lived together for a minimum of one full year). Have you lived together continuously for at least one full year? I'm still not clear on the answer to that question.

Yes, we lived together for one year. I have two (six month) extensions to stay in Canada, both addressed to the same address we are living at now. They even tell me that I am not allowed another extension until I prove my PR application is being processed.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Yes, we lived together for one year. I have two (six month) extensions to stay in Canada, both addressed to the same address we are living at now. They even tell me that I am not allowed another extension until I prove my PR application is being processed.

As we have said quite a few times, that's not enough. Have a look at the link I just posted, they want to see a good chunk of that list.

 

[Baffled]

First, THANKS for everyone's responses and answers. Just want to make sure we do this right. Yeah sorry for the replies after some of you have answered my questions. The forum doesn't let me know if someone has replied already while I am typing and hitting "post".

But, anways....

If the sponsored spouse or partner is from a First World country, CIC will be more inclined to take a legal marriage at face value, all the more so if the couple have children in common. We have a child together. Our child has my last name.

joint bank accounts and/or credit cards (Tried, banks here won't let us.)
joint home ownership (Renting)
a joint residential lease joint rental payments (Will ask my girlfriend if she can get letters from the property management stating I have been living with her.)
joint utility bills (electricity, heat, water, telephone, etc) (Can't work cant provide assistance.)
sharing of household expenses (Can't work can't provide assistance.)
joint purchases of household items (Can't work can't provide assistance.)
correspondence addressed to either partner or both partners at a single address (I have some addressed envelopes from my parents and friends.)
an affidavit from familiy members attesting to the fact that your relationship is genuine (We can get her parents and possibly her sister and brother in law, etc. to do so)
insurance policies listing the other as a dependent and/or beneficiary (Unsure)
joint ownership of pets (I'll ask about how this is done.)
joint car ownership (Not possible. Having issues with vehicle stuff already.)
car insurance listing both people as insured (Will ask about this.)
If you are engaged when you apply, include details of the proposal and photocopies of any wedding plans you have in the works (registrar booking, hotel booking, etc); don't forget to email CIC if you get married while your application is still in process (We don't plan to get engaged or married anytime soon.)

If you are applying as common-law, you must provide declarations of your common-law relationship by friends and family members, and a minimum of two must be notarized. While some BE members have been successful in their applications without having these declarations notarized, it is strongly recommended that you do have a minimum of two notarized when you send in your application to avoid your application being returned for being incomplete. Notaries in the UK can only charge £5 per copy, so it is not a big expense. Notaries in Canada more commonly charge $50 or $60 for a copy. However, this is a smaller cost than having the application returned and/or rejected, so it is strongly recommended you ensure at least two declarations are notarized. (This can be done.)

I hope we can gather a lot of the above in a month's time. My extension expires May 15, 2015.

 

[rhcohen2014]

the fact you can't work isn't an excuse for why you don't have joint utility bills. you don't need a job to sign up for these bills. your partner can simply add your name to the account, and you both will be considered account holders (or primary/secondary account holders). you also don't need to be a pr or citizen to be able to sign up for utilities.

 

[Rob_TO]

joint bank accounts and/or credit cards (Tried, banks here won't let us.)

Does she already have a credit card? If so, she can simply add you as a supplementary card holder. They will issue you a card in your name, and show both your names on 1 monthly bill. All they need for this is your name, your immigration status should be irrelevant.

Also some banks allow you to open up a joint account while here as a visitor. Just need to ask around until you find one that will do it. I remember seeing other people successful with this but can't recall which bank they used.