IMM 5490 question makes no damn sense.

[SuiGeneris]

Question 27. Have you and your sponsor lived together? If no, explain why.

I checked no, and so far wrote this:

27.) We have only visited each other. We "live together" during visits. We don't legally live in the same place of residence. Sadly, we cannot legally live together on a temporary visitor visa.

I don't know how to answer this question without sounding like a smartass, what kind of a question is that? How can I answer this? We're applying for PR so that we CAN live together, I just don't get it.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

It doesn't matter what your status is, whether you are a visitor, worker, student or even illegal; if you are under the same roof, you are living together.

 

[scylla]

You can in fact legally live together as a visitor in Canada. If you're pretty much living together you should say so.

When I sponsored my husband we had gotten married but had lived together for almost two years before than in Canada (he was on visitor status the entire time). We answered this question as "yes" and said that my husband had been living with my in Canada since date x as a visitor in Canada. My husband wasn't spending all of his time in Canada with me. However he was here probably 11 months out of each year. That's living together.

It all comes down to how long your visits are and how much time you spend living together. If you're coming for a few weeks at a time - that's just visiting. If you're spending the majority of your time with each other - you can say you're living together. Many of us here have done that.

 

[SuiGeneris]

Well our longest visit was 3 1/2 months. I'm visiting him as we speak, I've been in his home for 1 1/2 months. So ok, I wasn't sure what was meant by "living together". Appreciate the responses very much. Thank you guys.

 

[Aquakitty]

We don't legally live in the same place of residence. Sadly, we cannot legally live together on a temporary visitor visa.

From your flag avatar it looks like one of you is American? You can live together legally as a visitor with no need for a visa, so I would not write that. Even if your country requires a visa you can still live together legally, it's just you or your spouses status is just "visitor". Just put what you just said, that you stay together for x amount of months at a time during visits but have not yet moved in together. As for why you could put something like you are not legally allowed to work in each others countries yet and both have jobs, or something along those lines.

For instance, my American boyfriend (now husband) lived with me in Canada for almost 9 whopping years as a visitor ( just kept crossing the border or renewing his visitor record).

 

[deweysmith]

I put no and explained the (essentially identical) situation and no one has raised a fuss. Yet.

 

[SuiGeneris]

Yeah, I'm Canadian, husband is American. I'll do that, I appreciate the posts guys. Thank you!

 

[truesmile]

Bear in mind, these forms have multiple purposes. This form is likely also in use for parental and for child sponsorship, and the case of either of these perhaps merits the request for an explanation.

 

[keesio]

It doesn't matter what your status is, whether you are a visitor, worker, student or even illegal; if you are under the same roof, you are living together.

Which is why this question, as worded, irritates me. Because we all know that when you are entering Canada to be with your spouse while you wait for your outland PR application to be processed, you never tell CBSA that you plan on "living" with your spouse while in Canada. Looks like CBSA and CIC have different definitions then.

 

[Morganhannah]

I put no and gave the reason why. I took the question as have you actually lived together (ie moved stuff in, on the bills etc) which I wasn't. We got approved no problem.

 

[SuiGeneris]

Thank you keesio, you expressed my thoughts. This is what I wrote (I decided to check no):

27.) I don't know what is defined as living together, so I will explain what transpired: We have only visited each other. We "live together" during visits, in that we share the same roof during visits. We don't legally live in the same place of residence. The reason is because (name of sponsor) and I had work and school and could not legally do such in one another's country. We will officially begin our lives together as soon as we're approved.

& Same here Morgan!

 

[Morganhannah]

Thank you keesio, you expressed my thoughts. This is what I wrote (I decided to check no):

27.) I don't know what is meant by living together, so I will explain what transpired: We have only visited each other. We "live together" during visits, in that we share the same roof during visits. We don't legally live in the same place of residence. The reason is because (name of sponsor) and I had work and school and could not legally do such in one another's country. We will officially begin our lives together as soon as we're approved.

& Same here Morgan!

That sounds good to me! Almost exactly what we wrote!

 

[SuiGeneris]

That sounds good to me! Almost exactly what we wrote!

Woohoo! 8) Man, I can't wait to be done with this paperwork. I'm going to take pictures of my app when I'm done to share it with y'all in this thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned-t92449.0.html

 

[bigredmoose]

Looks like CBSA and CIC have different definitions then.

Absolutely! Keep in mind they have different objectives.

 

[DanOCan]

I put no and gave the reason why. I took the question as have you actually lived together (ie moved stuff in, on the bills etc) which I wasn't. We got approved no problem.

That makes me feel a little better since I took the question in the same way -- not just staying in the same place while visiting, but actually combining households. In retrospect I wish we had put a longer explanation in, but all we put on the form was "I am only able to enter Canada as a visitor and I only have three weeks of vacation time per year."

Won't know if it's an issue until we reach DM stage, I guess.

I did make sure when we detailed all of our visits back and forth (Question 25) to mention we always stay together and provided hotel receipts for when we were travelling places other than one another's home.