Proof of common-law relationship

[elvissebastian]

Hi
My girlfriend and I are working on getting me resident status. I arrived in Canada a little over a year ago and we have been living together ever since, I am on visitor status right now.

So, we're looking for things to verify our relationship and cohabitation. Problem is, I am not on the lease in our apartment, only my girlfriend is and I just pay her my half in cash, since I don't have a bank account in Canada it's been the easiest way. However the landlord of our building knows me by now and is aware we're living together, so I wonder if I should ask her to sign a letter confirming us both living in the same apartment. Would that make any difference?

We don't have a shared bank account, insurance policies, a car or anything like that either.

Also I have this terrible habit of throwing out any mail envelopes, ticket stubs, receipts and so forth, so I don't think we have a lot of that sort of stuff laying around.
There are a few things we do have that I would like your opinion on.
* An email receipt for plane tickets with both our names from when we took a vacation together
* Amazon (and other online stores) invoices, showing my name and billing address, shipped to our apartment
* Lots of photos of the two of us over the past year, not sure how many exactly I should send
* Text messages between us
* We could get our familes to write confirmation letters for us. Would emails be ok or would they need to be signed/notarized?

Anything else we could do to improve our chances?

Thanks a lot in advance for any advise. We really want to make sure everything is in order before sending it in, really don't want to risk the application getting rejected and have to start the whole process over again.

 

[Ponga]

You should definitely ask her to write a letter. Make sure she has it notarized.

For a Common-Law application you are required to have at least two statutory letters from family/friends.


The list of items that you plan to include, may help, but the only thing that would speak to proving that you have lived together, would be the Amazon invoices...but it's not strong proof.


Lastly...are you aware that even though you are in Canada you can (and perhaps should) submit an Outland application? Outland applicants generally complete the process much faster.

 

[km9203]

Hi
My girlfriend and I are working on getting me resident status. I arrived in Canada a little over a year ago and we have been living together ever since, I am on visitor status right now.

So, we're looking for things to verify our relationship and cohabitation. Problem is, I am not on the lease in our apartment, only my girlfriend is and I just pay her my half in cash, since I don't have a bank account in Canada it's been the easiest way. However the landlord of our building knows me by now and is aware we're living together, so I wonder if I should ask her to sign a letter confirming us both living in the same apartment. Would that make any difference?

We don't have a shared bank account, insurance policies, a car or anything like that either.

Also I have this terrible habit of throwing out any mail envelopes, ticket stubs, receipts and so forth, so I don't think we have a lot of that sort of stuff laying around.
There are a few things we do have that I would like your opinion on.
* An email receipt for plane tickets with both our names from when we took a vacation together
* Amazon (and other online stores) invoices, showing my name and billing address, shipped to our apartment
* Lots of photos of the two of us over the past year, not sure how many exactly I should send
* Text messages between us
* We could get our familes to write confirmation letters for us. Would emails be ok or would they need to be signed/notarized?

Anything else we could do to improve our chances?

Thanks a lot in advance for any advise. We really want to make sure everything is in order before sending it in, really don't want to risk the application getting rejected and have to start the whole process over again.

- Joint bank account
- Get your name added to the bills (electricity, internet etc)
- Have her add you as her beneficiary if possible
- If you are renting, a lease with both of your names on
- Joint phone bill (mobile phone)

They want to see you are a couple and committed to each other, not just 'room-mate' so amazon bills won't be strong enough by themselves.