Hi all,
I'm from the US and my common law partner (Canadian citizen) is sponsoring me. We were on the cusp of submitting our application when the checklist and new requirements came out and now we are unsure about submitting because on the checklist they specifically ask for this:
Provide documentation from 2 of the 3 sets of options for evidence of current cohabitation (for a minimum of 12 months):
-Joint ownership of residential property or joint residential leases or joint rental agreements listing both the sponsor and the principal applicant (Minimum 1 document)
-Proof of joint utilities accounts (Electricity, Gas, Telephone) (Minimum 1 Document)
Important documents for you and your sponsor showing the same address, such as copies of government issued identification documents: driver's licenses, insurance policies, etc. (Minimum 1 Document)
Our situation is a little complicated. We've been living together since September 2015. At first we lived with my CL partner's family at their home, then we moved into our own apartment May 2016. We have pretty good evidence since May 2016 because of our new apartment, but the issue is still with those months before we'd moved out of our first address. Here is what we have that's relevant to this part:
-Lease with both names and utilities from May 2016 (so not a full 12 months yet)
-Stat Declaration of Common law union
-Letter from Credit card company stating we have been on same account and has both addresses. Date goes from Feb 2016 to Feb 2017, so we do have a full year for that.
-Notarized letter from CL partner's mother stating we lived at her home for x months and states we are common law and have a genuine relationship
-Notarized letter from my mother stating when I moved out of her home and address I moved to & genuine relationship stuff
-Mail sent to both of us at both addresses for most months of our time living together
-Tax documents showing we are common law since he just did his taxes
We have other evidence, too, and plenty of relationship proof. I'm just worried because I know they've updated requirements and now it seems that there is less focus on the overall package and more on the specific things they are asking for above.
I apologize to those who have seen my topics before because I know I have made one that's kind of similar to this in the past, but I feel that an updated one is warranted because of the updated requirements and because we worked on getting new evidence that we didn't have before to list. But I just want to check our options with you guys because you've already helped us out so much throughout our relationship and we value the input of this board. I know others have lived with family before and have received PR on that basis, so I figured it would be okay since we have extra proof like a lease now even if it's not for the full 12 months yet. But now that I've seen this new checklist, I am worried.
So what do you guys think? I'm guessing I'll probably get advice to just wait until the lease can cover the full 12 months, but how will that affect things if we do? Will we have to re-date the forms? I assume we can't send forms with February dates on them.
Thanks so much for reading this long post and for any responses. We greatly appreciate what this forum does and would really value any advice.
I'm from the US and my common law partner (Canadian citizen) is sponsoring me. We were on the cusp of submitting our application when the checklist and new requirements came out and now we are unsure about submitting because on the checklist they specifically ask for this:
Provide documentation from 2 of the 3 sets of options for evidence of current cohabitation (for a minimum of 12 months):
-Joint ownership of residential property or joint residential leases or joint rental agreements listing both the sponsor and the principal applicant (Minimum 1 document)
-Proof of joint utilities accounts (Electricity, Gas, Telephone) (Minimum 1 Document)
Important documents for you and your sponsor showing the same address, such as copies of government issued identification documents: driver's licenses, insurance policies, etc. (Minimum 1 Document)
Our situation is a little complicated. We've been living together since September 2015. At first we lived with my CL partner's family at their home, then we moved into our own apartment May 2016. We have pretty good evidence since May 2016 because of our new apartment, but the issue is still with those months before we'd moved out of our first address. Here is what we have that's relevant to this part:
-Lease with both names and utilities from May 2016 (so not a full 12 months yet)
-Stat Declaration of Common law union
-Letter from Credit card company stating we have been on same account and has both addresses. Date goes from Feb 2016 to Feb 2017, so we do have a full year for that.
-Notarized letter from CL partner's mother stating we lived at her home for x months and states we are common law and have a genuine relationship
-Notarized letter from my mother stating when I moved out of her home and address I moved to & genuine relationship stuff
-Mail sent to both of us at both addresses for most months of our time living together
-Tax documents showing we are common law since he just did his taxes
We have other evidence, too, and plenty of relationship proof. I'm just worried because I know they've updated requirements and now it seems that there is less focus on the overall package and more on the specific things they are asking for above.
I apologize to those who have seen my topics before because I know I have made one that's kind of similar to this in the past, but I feel that an updated one is warranted because of the updated requirements and because we worked on getting new evidence that we didn't have before to list. But I just want to check our options with you guys because you've already helped us out so much throughout our relationship and we value the input of this board. I know others have lived with family before and have received PR on that basis, so I figured it would be okay since we have extra proof like a lease now even if it's not for the full 12 months yet. But now that I've seen this new checklist, I am worried.
So what do you guys think? I'm guessing I'll probably get advice to just wait until the lease can cover the full 12 months, but how will that affect things if we do? Will we have to re-date the forms? I assume we can't send forms with February dates on them.
Thanks so much for reading this long post and for any responses. We greatly appreciate what this forum does and would really value any advice.
