Question about the Common-Law Sponsorship

[jamsham12]

Quick question here, I am a U.S Citizen, my commonlaw partner is a Canadian Citizen. I was employed on a swap visa back in dec 2012 - dec 2013 which basically gave me an OWP in Canada, we stayed at the same residence, and have numerous amounts of mail addressed to the same address(bank statement, credit card statements, driver's licenses showing the same address), only thing I am worried about is, I submitted my family class sponsorship on friday. I am extremely worried I will be denied because we do not have a joint bank account, we have joint credit accounts both in Canada and the U.S where we listed each other an an authorized user. She listed me a beneficiary on her employer's group life insurance and I did the same when I was employed in Canada, we also have numerous letters from friends and family, photos, paypal receipts, travel plane tickets showing we went on vacation together. But i just can not get over the fact that we might get denied because we do not have a joint bank account. Any insights would be great and sorry for the essay length post. :'(

 

[rhcohen2014]

you are not going to be denied because you don't have a joint bank account. it is not a requirement to have a joint bank account to be in a commonlaw relationship nor to apply for spousal pr. it sounds like the proof you sent is pretty legit and shows you have comingled your lives like a normal commonlaw couple. relax and focus on a successful outcome, not on "mistakes" you may have made. trust me, what you think is a mistake probably won't even be noticed by CIC.

 

[jamsham12]

you are not going to be denied because you don't have a joint bank account. it is not a requirement to have a joint bank account to be in a commonlaw relationship nor to apply for spousal pr. it sounds like the proof you sent is pretty legit and shows you have comingled your lives like a normal commonlaw couple. relax and focus on a successful outcome, not on "mistakes" you may have made. trust me, what you think is a mistake probably won't even be noticed by CIC.

HAHA, thanks theres always the unknown but realy apperciate the insights.

 

[jamsham12]

Do all outland usa applications go thru ottawa for approval ?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Do all outland usa applications go thru ottawa for approval ?

yes, unless an interview is requested. at that point, it gets transferred to LA. 99% of applications are waived the interview.

 

[jamsham12]

So if it is straight forward case with clear medical and police clearance what are the current processing times, on the cic website it is stating almost 16 months :-X

 

[rhcohen2014]

So if it is straight forward case with clear medical and police clearance what are the current processing times, on the cic website it is stating almost 16 months :-X

pshh. lies, all lies! the stats online are not averages, and are very misleading. check out the ottawa spreadsheet (blue link in my signature below) and you will see the current trend is 6 months. currently july 2014 applicants are getting approved.

 

[jamsham12]

WOW :, hopefully by the time the calgary stampede rolls around, ill be approved then lol

 

[jamsham12]

If my commonlaw filed her cra under single would that be a cause of big concern to cic ?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

If my commonlaw filed her cra under single would that be a cause of big concern to cic ?

No, it won't be a concern for CIC. However, she should update her status with CRA so that she doesn't get caught down the line and have to pay money back.

 

[Rob_TO]

If my commonlaw filed her cra under single would that be a cause of big concern to cic ?

It could be. If you officially reached 12 months cohabitation and became common-law in Dec 2013, then legally both of you were supposed to change tax status with CRA from "single" to "common-law" at that time. And for each of your 2013 CRA tax returns, both of you should have filed it as a common-law couple and not 2 singles.

CIC "may" have an issue if they see that your partner didn't change her tax status for 2013. It could cast doubt if you were indeed common-law at that time as you are trying to show in your PR app. I can't recall if the Option C printout actually shows marital status on it. However as you've already submitted the app I wouldn't worry about it as CIC will give you a chance to explain if they really think it's an issue, and you have tons of other evidence that would show this was a simple mistake.

Also on another note, technically what you have done here is tax fraud. When you become common-law, legally you MUST change your tax status with CRA and file taxes accordingly. This is not a personal choice to do, it's mandatory. As of Dec 2013, CRA will use your combined "family" income (including any income you earned in the US) to calculate any benefits/tax credits. So if she had been receiving benefits over the past year as "single" that she wouldn't have been entitled to when combined with your income, she would need to pay all of that back (plus possibly some penalties) if CRA found out.

It may be good for you and her to do a re-assessment of your 2013 income tax returns, with change from single to common-law. Definitely make sure she files as common-law for upcoming 2014 tax return.

 

[jamsham12]

It could be. If you officially reached 12 months cohabitation and became common-law in Dec 2013, then legally both of you were supposed to change tax status with CRA from "single" to "common-law" at that time. And for each of your 2013 CRA tax returns, both of you should have filed it as a common-law couple and not 2 singles.

CIC "may" have an issue if they see that your partner didn't change her tax status for 2013. It could cast doubt if you were indeed common-law at that time as you are trying to show in your PR app. I can't recall if the Option C printout actually shows marital status on it. However as you've already submitted the app I wouldn't worry about it as CIC will give you a chance to explain if they really think it's an issue, and you have tons of other evidence that would show this was a simple mistake.

Also on another note, technically what you have done here is tax fraud. When you become common-law, legally you MUST change your tax status with CRA and file taxes accordingly. This is not a personal choice to do, it's mandatory. As of Dec 2013, CRA will use your combined "family" income (including any income you earned in the US) to calculate any benefits/tax credits. So if she had been receiving benefits over the past year as "single" that she wouldn't have been entitled to when combined with your income, she would need to pay all of that back (plus possibly some penalties) if CRA found out.

It may be good for you and her to do a re-assessment of your 2013 income tax returns, with change from single to common-law. Definitely make sure she files as common-law for upcoming 2014 tax return.

How does she go about refilling and change her status to Commonlaw for her 2013 tax return as we submitted that option c printout for the common-law sponsorship? Thanks.

 

[Rob_TO]

How does she go about refilling and change her status to Commonlaw for her 2013 tax return as we submitted that option c printout for the common-law sponsorship? Thanks.

Since you've already sent it, I wouldn't worry about it now for CIC purposes.

For CRA though, if she wants to make things right she (and you since I assume you filed taxes in Canada if you worked here) should do a re-assessment of her 2013 tax return. This can be done online via the CRA "my account" online feature, can do via tax software program, or by using an accounting company (like H&R block).

 

[jamsham12]

Since you've already sent it, I wouldn't worry about it now for CIC purposes.

For CRA though, if she wants to make things right she (and you since I assume you filed taxes in Canada if you worked here) should do a re-assessment of her 2013 tax return. This can be done online via the CRA "my account" online feature, can do via tax software program, or by using an accounting company (like H&R block).

Makes sense, thanks for the insight.

 

[jamsham12]

Since you've already sent it, I wouldn't worry about it now for CIC purposes.

For CRA though, if she wants to make things right she (and you since I assume you filed taxes in Canada if you worked here) should do a re-assessment of her 2013 tax return. This can be done online via the CRA "my account" online feature, can do via tax software program, or by using an accounting company (like H&R block).

I can do this, even if my Sin number has expired as it was only valid for 1 year which is the duration of my owp in canada?