Enough proof for our common-law inland sponsoring?

[frankyfix]

Hi there,

first of all thanks for the opportunity to ask experienced people! That helps a lot...

My girlfriend already has her PR and she wants to sponsor me via the common-law inland sponsorship. I am on a working holiday visa until June next year. We live together since nearly 12 month (1 month missing). We are currently preparing the inland application kit.

We travelled the last 11 month across South America and Canada. In South America we visited her parents. Means, we never signed a rental agreement, we stayed 100% in airbnbs. On all our airbnb bills there are both names on it. Does CIC accept that since its not really a contract?

Other than that we have pictures of how I met her parents and how we travelled together. We do have no gov documents, car insurance or other official documents where we have the same address on it. We shared groceries etc. but how can we proof that the food I bought was also for my girlfriend? We do have some passport stamps with the same date on it and airplane tickets. My girlfried is pregnant (I am the biological father) in case that has a positiv effect on it.

Thank you for your help and ideas!

 

[21Goose]

If you're on a working visa till next year, why not wait 8-10 months and then apply? You'll be able to build stronger proof - as it stands, you have some proof, but it would be much easier when you've been living at the same address in Canada for almost a year.

 

[frankyfix]

Good point! Makes totally sense. The only thing is that our living situation will not change. We will have another 4 month airbnb from now on and then we travel half a year in South America...Its not planned to move into a house and pay monthly rent since we both love and enjoy this lifestyle...

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Good point! Makes totally sense. The only thing is that our living situation will not change. We will have another 4 month airbnb from now on and then we travel half a year in South America...Its not planned to move into a house and pay monthly rent since we both love and enjoy this lifestyle...

You can't apply inland if you are leaving Canada for 6 months during the process. You can't even apply outland because your partner is required to be IN Canada for the entire sponsorship process.

Time to start re-thinking the lifestyle if you want to immigrate.

 

[LinkinMark]

Yes inland sponsorship means IN land. In Canada.
Only Canadian citizens can sponsor outside of Canada

 

[frankyfix]

Thanks for your reply and support! As you can imagine we were both kind of sad when we read your answer. But we are willing to make it possible.

Lets say we do not leave Canada and travel within Canada, would it be possible to work with the airbnb bills as a proof or do we have to have rental agreements? Thank you!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks for your reply and support! As you can imagine we were both kind of sad when we read your answer. But we are willing to make it possible.

Lets say we do not leave Canada and travel within Canada, would it be possible to work with the airbnb bills as a proof or do we have to have rental agreements? Thank you!

It depends on your other proofs. Qualifying as common-law means solidly proving one year of continuous cohabitation. The Airbnb receipts can be a proof but must be supported by other proofs.

 

[frankyfix]

Thank you canuck_in_uk.

We were just sitting together and thinking of what we have:
* airbnb receipts of the last 7 month (both names)
* one rental agreement with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* an upcoming airbnb with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* we transfered many times money between our bank accounts
* we have many travel pictures together
* I went to Argentinia to meet my girlfriends parents (airplane tickets, pictures)
* We have statements from friends
* I talk to my girlfriends mother in whatsapp
* We have a baby together
* My girlfriends health insurance address and my driver license address is the same
* We have the same stamps in our passport because of our travel
* We have a very long whatsapp history, nearly one near
* We have some facebook activities
* We have a statement from my girlfriends parents that we lived there together

We could do the following things
* put the car insurance on both of our names
* we could open a common bank account
* we could change the address from both our bank accounts to the address where we currently live

Does that look more solide now? I think it really makes sense to wait to to end of my working holiday to collect more proofing-things.

Thank you!

 

[maxim88]

having a joint bank acc and/or a joint credit card acc for 12 months minimum is like top of the list of proofs you should be looking for to prove common law relationship.
(while those 2 things are note essential,it helps alot I think).

 

[21Goose]

Thank you canuck_in_uk.

We were just sitting together and thinking of what we have:
* airbnb receipts of the last 7 month (both names)
* one rental agreement with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* an upcoming airbnb with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* we transfered many times money between our bank accounts
* we have many travel pictures together
* I went to Argentinia to meet my girlfriends parents (airplane tickets, pictures)
* We have statements from friends
* I talk to my girlfriends mother in whatsapp
* We have a baby together
* My girlfriends health insurance address and my driver license address is the same
* We have the same stamps in our passport because of our travel
* We have a very long whatsapp history, nearly one near
* We have some facebook activities
* We have a statement from my girlfriends parents that we lived there together

We could do the following things
* put the car insurance on both of our names
* we could open a common bank account
* we could change the address from both our bank accounts to the address where we currently live

Does that look more solide now? I think it really makes sense to wait to to end of my working holiday to collect more proofing-things.

Thank you!

Your proof is weak. Common-law requires one year of cohabitation in a marriage-like relationship, as you know. Your Whatsapp history is "nearly" one year; you haven't lived together for long; you don't have any financial documents together; etc. Having a baby together doesn't strengthen the application. How long have you been dating?

I don't think it's impossible, but given your circumstances, your relationship doesn't necessarily feel "marriage-like". Your lifestyle is non-traditional, so your burden of proof will be higher than a couple who live together in one house and are married in everything but the legal sense.

Are you planning to get married? If you do get married this summer, and then apply next year, it will help a lot.

In addition, if your girlfriend is a PR and is routinely leaving Canada for six+ months, is she maintaining her Residency Obligation?

You should go talk to a professional and get a plan together for the next year. You weren't aware that sponsorships require the PR to be in Canada; there may be other things that you're not aware off that are impacted by your peripatetic lifestyle.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you canuck_in_uk.

We were just sitting together and thinking of what we have:
* airbnb receipts of the last 7 month (both names)
* one rental agreement with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* an upcoming airbnb with a lengh of 4 month (both names)
* we transfered many times money between our bank accounts
* we have many travel pictures together
* I went to Argentinia to meet my girlfriends parents (airplane tickets, pictures)
* We have statements from friends
* I talk to my girlfriends mother in whatsapp
* We have a baby together
* My girlfriends health insurance address and my driver license address is the same
* We have the same stamps in our passport because of our travel
* We have a very long whatsapp history, nearly one near
* We have some facebook activities
* We have a statement from my girlfriends parents that we lived there together

We could do the following things
* put the car insurance on both of our names
* we could open a common bank account
* we could change the address from both our bank accounts to the address where we currently live

Does that look more solide now? I think it really makes sense to wait to to end of my working holiday to collect more proofing-things.

Thank you!

No, it doesn't look solid. The majority of that is not common-law proof. The Airbnb receipts and lease are pretty much it, with the health insurance, DL and parent letter supporting.

 

[frankyfix]

Thank you for all your answers and thoughts. Very helpful to get a better impression. We do have an appointment with a professional today to talk about our case.

I totally get the point. And yes, we are very non-traditionel.

Our dating phase was 2 month. From there we travelled together non-stop. Yes, my girlfriend is taking care of her PR obligations. We are hippies, but not that careless

In terms of financial support: I try to understand what that means, since I believe we supported each other a lot. We shared everything, for example this last month my girlfriend payed airbnb, this month I am the one who payed airbnb, same when we had our lease, on the bank statements you can see that we changed between her bank account and mine and its obvious that the money went to our landlord or to airbnb. Is that a proof?

I also sent her money over the past 11 month to buy groceries or to pay other stuff. And she did the same to me, we just had no joint bank account. But in general we transfered money to each other. Is that a proof?

Thank you and have a great day...

EDIT: in terms of a marriage, we would only get married for the spousal sponsoring, there is no other reason for us to do it (our personal opinion). And as far as we understood that is exactly something you should not do only for immigration reasons.

 

[21Goose]

Thank you for all your answers and thoughts. Very helpful to get a better impression. We do have an appointment with a professional today to talk about our case.

I totally get the point. And yes, we are very non-traditionel.

Our dating phase was 2 month. From there we travelled together non-stop. Yes, my girlfriend is taking care of her PR obligations. We are hippies, but not that careless

In terms of financial support: I try to understand what that means, since I believe we supported each other a lot. We shared everything, for example this last month my girlfriend payed airbnb, this month I am the one who payed airbnb, same when we had our lease, on the bank statements you can see that we changed between her bank account and mine and its obvious that the money went to our landlord or to airbnb. Is that a proof?

I also sent her money over the past 11 month to buy groceries or to pay other stuff. And she did the same to me, we just had no joint bank account. But in general we transfered money to each other. Is that a proof?

Thank you and have a great day...

EDIT: in terms of a marriage, we would only get married for the spousal sponsoring, there is no other reason for us to do it (our personal opinion). And as far as we understood that is exactly something you should not do only for immigration reasons.

No, none of this is proof. The same could easily be said of two friends travelling together for a year - I've travelled with a friend for a few months and we split bills, transferred money to each other, shared hotel bills. But we weren't living in a marriage-like relationship in any way.

Again, you should go talk to an immigration lawyer - your lifestyle doesn't fit a traditional mould and you should get advice that is specific to your unique situation.

 

[frankyfix]

Thanks for your comment 21Goose. I just talked to my immigration consultant and discussed our case. He said the same what you guys just said.

Thank you very much for all the input, we solved this request within 24hours We now go the way with our consultant to built an accurate proof.

 

[Garry21]

Hello everyone maybe someone can help me please I’m in big problem

Me and my gf are living together from last 2 years. She got nominated through pnp and applied her pr but during this process i was not knowing about this common law category in canada . So now her medical is almost complete and she is in time frame of 13 months of federal file. Also we are getting married next month.

1-She can add me now in her application as a common law or wait and add next month as a spouse.?

2- is there any problem in application if she add new now as its long time we are in relationship as we were bot aware about this before


Thanks for your replies