Currently waiting for an LMIA for a TWP. I'm planning on moving to Canada with my common-law spouse. The idea is to apply at POE and for me to get a work permit and her an open work permit tied to mine. We've lived together for about 3 1/2 years.
We are living in Germany, I had some questions about the proof needed to demonstrate we are a legit common-law couple.
My main concern is the following:
Thing is, she moved in after I rented the apartment so her name is not on the lease. We will probably get a notarized declaration from the landlord confirming that we lived together for x years to make up for that. Utility bills are all under my name because we never thought to change it. She does pay her part of the bills, and payment is made from our joint bank account, but the bill only states my name. Will that be an issue you think? We do have bills from my landlord for additional costs in connection to the apartment (for maintenance fees, housekeeping, gardening services etc.) but electricity/water/gas is all under my name. :S
In terms of other evidence, so far we have amassed:
- Photo album of our 4 years together. We have A LOT of pictures. Everything from summer afternoons in the beer garden to photos from vacations, nights out with mutual friends and so on. We also have pictures of us together with both of our families. We got all these printed and will stick them in an album, with a description below each photo, and where available, other physical evidence of the location the picture was taken at (restaurant receipts, airline boarding passes, train tickets, etc.)
- joint bank account from which rent is paid every month. She keeps a separate account on which she receives her salary, she transfers me half of rent/utilities every month + any other expenses. When we buy groceries I usually pay from our joint account and she transfers half the money to it from her "salary account". We can demonstrate this with bank statements
- will get a notarized declaration of common-law union (see question about that further down)
- letters to both of us sent to the same address
- this is going to sound cheesy haha, but we sometimes leave notes for eachother at home when one of us is working a different shift. I'm talking scraps of paper with cute stuff written on them for the other person, I've kept a couple handful of them so I was thinking of adding these to our pile of "evidence" as well.
- pay stubs from work (we work for the same company), again showing our names and proving we live at the same address.
- in Germany you have to register your place of residence with the Government, so we'll get a certificate from the city office which will state how long each of us have lived at our shared address.
- hoping to get a notarized letter from our landlord when my LMIA is through that states we have lived at the address for so-and-so-long.
- going to collect notarized statements from friends/family/neighbors/co-workers (currently aiming at 4 notarized statements and maybe 2-3 more that won't be notarized) describing our relationship and how they know us, etc.
- a written relationship history. Basically, the idea is to write a 1-2 page letter describing how we met, how our relationship started and evolved, what we mean to eachother, describe our vacations and trips we went on together, etc.
- photographs of our door bell and mailbox with both our names on them.
- hotel reservations, airline tickets, train tickets. Some of them paid by her, some paid from joint account or under my name.
That's it so far. Do you think this is enough? As I said, I'm worried about her not being on the lease or on the utility bills (we weren't really planning on moving to Canada until I was offered a job in November so never got her name added). Hoping landlord will be cooperative in signing the statement.
*****Some questions***** (sorry if this is long):We are going to apply for the TWP at POE once I get the LMIA
Bank statements: do we have to get each single bank statement translated? If we need to prove minimum 12 months of joint expenses, that would mean at least 12 nearly identical looking bank statements. The only difference from statement to statement would be the transactions. Would it suffice to translate one statement so the officer understands what he's looking at and then just bring the remaining months in the original language (German)? Also, do I need to show all transactions for each month or only maybe a page from each month showing that it's a continuous thing?
Receipts and bills: we have some restaurant receipts, hotel & flight reservations, and bills that are in languages other than English or French. Some restaurant receipts are kind of faded by now and are literally like "1 coffee, 1 tea, two slices of cake". Would these all have to be translated? Some airline boarding passes are in German, because they were printed from German websites. It is obvious from looking at them that they are boarding passes, would you I need to get all this translated?
And a couple final questions about filling out the declaration of common law union:
- point 1b) "jointly own property other than our residence" We do not really own any property together, we bought a couple of book cases at IKEA together but no longer have receipts, we bought a toaster, no receipt kept, some other random stuff with no receipts kept. I would like to answers "yes" to as many questions as possible but since I had purchased most of my household items prior to my partner moving in with me I am having some trouble with this.
- point 1d) on the form: "have declared common-law union under Canadian income tax act". As we are outside of Canada is this even doable for us? How would we go about doing this/is this required?
- point 2) "I have life insurance which names my common-law partner as beneficiary". I just signed a beneficiary designation form for life insurance that my soon-to-be employer emailed me. I listed her as beneficiary. I have a "plan contract number" but not "plan member certificate number" yet, as I'm still in Germany. Could I check the "yes" box here? I have attached the form to this email.
So that's it pretty much. I'm unsure how much of what I have should be translated. If I have to get every single bill and bank statement page translated that might be very costly, so I'm hoping somebody can help me with this. I'm also unsure if the evidence i have would be enough. I want an airtight case because applying at POE is kind of an all-or-nothing situation.
THANK YOU!!!
We are living in Germany, I had some questions about the proof needed to demonstrate we are a legit common-law couple.
My main concern is the following:
Thing is, she moved in after I rented the apartment so her name is not on the lease. We will probably get a notarized declaration from the landlord confirming that we lived together for x years to make up for that. Utility bills are all under my name because we never thought to change it. She does pay her part of the bills, and payment is made from our joint bank account, but the bill only states my name. Will that be an issue you think? We do have bills from my landlord for additional costs in connection to the apartment (for maintenance fees, housekeeping, gardening services etc.) but electricity/water/gas is all under my name. :S
In terms of other evidence, so far we have amassed:
- Photo album of our 4 years together. We have A LOT of pictures. Everything from summer afternoons in the beer garden to photos from vacations, nights out with mutual friends and so on. We also have pictures of us together with both of our families. We got all these printed and will stick them in an album, with a description below each photo, and where available, other physical evidence of the location the picture was taken at (restaurant receipts, airline boarding passes, train tickets, etc.)
- joint bank account from which rent is paid every month. She keeps a separate account on which she receives her salary, she transfers me half of rent/utilities every month + any other expenses. When we buy groceries I usually pay from our joint account and she transfers half the money to it from her "salary account". We can demonstrate this with bank statements
- will get a notarized declaration of common-law union (see question about that further down)
- letters to both of us sent to the same address
- this is going to sound cheesy haha, but we sometimes leave notes for eachother at home when one of us is working a different shift. I'm talking scraps of paper with cute stuff written on them for the other person, I've kept a couple handful of them so I was thinking of adding these to our pile of "evidence" as well.
- pay stubs from work (we work for the same company), again showing our names and proving we live at the same address.
- in Germany you have to register your place of residence with the Government, so we'll get a certificate from the city office which will state how long each of us have lived at our shared address.
- hoping to get a notarized letter from our landlord when my LMIA is through that states we have lived at the address for so-and-so-long.
- going to collect notarized statements from friends/family/neighbors/co-workers (currently aiming at 4 notarized statements and maybe 2-3 more that won't be notarized) describing our relationship and how they know us, etc.
- a written relationship history. Basically, the idea is to write a 1-2 page letter describing how we met, how our relationship started and evolved, what we mean to eachother, describe our vacations and trips we went on together, etc.
- photographs of our door bell and mailbox with both our names on them.
- hotel reservations, airline tickets, train tickets. Some of them paid by her, some paid from joint account or under my name.
That's it so far. Do you think this is enough? As I said, I'm worried about her not being on the lease or on the utility bills (we weren't really planning on moving to Canada until I was offered a job in November so never got her name added). Hoping landlord will be cooperative in signing the statement.
*****Some questions***** (sorry if this is long):We are going to apply for the TWP at POE once I get the LMIA
Bank statements: do we have to get each single bank statement translated? If we need to prove minimum 12 months of joint expenses, that would mean at least 12 nearly identical looking bank statements. The only difference from statement to statement would be the transactions. Would it suffice to translate one statement so the officer understands what he's looking at and then just bring the remaining months in the original language (German)? Also, do I need to show all transactions for each month or only maybe a page from each month showing that it's a continuous thing?
Receipts and bills: we have some restaurant receipts, hotel & flight reservations, and bills that are in languages other than English or French. Some restaurant receipts are kind of faded by now and are literally like "1 coffee, 1 tea, two slices of cake". Would these all have to be translated? Some airline boarding passes are in German, because they were printed from German websites. It is obvious from looking at them that they are boarding passes, would you I need to get all this translated?
And a couple final questions about filling out the declaration of common law union:
- point 1b) "jointly own property other than our residence" We do not really own any property together, we bought a couple of book cases at IKEA together but no longer have receipts, we bought a toaster, no receipt kept, some other random stuff with no receipts kept. I would like to answers "yes" to as many questions as possible but since I had purchased most of my household items prior to my partner moving in with me I am having some trouble with this.
- point 1d) on the form: "have declared common-law union under Canadian income tax act". As we are outside of Canada is this even doable for us? How would we go about doing this/is this required?
- point 2) "I have life insurance which names my common-law partner as beneficiary". I just signed a beneficiary designation form for life insurance that my soon-to-be employer emailed me. I listed her as beneficiary. I have a "plan contract number" but not "plan member certificate number" yet, as I'm still in Germany. Could I check the "yes" box here? I have attached the form to this email.
So that's it pretty much. I'm unsure how much of what I have should be translated. If I have to get every single bill and bank statement page translated that might be very costly, so I'm hoping somebody can help me with this. I'm also unsure if the evidence i have would be enough. I want an airtight case because applying at POE is kind of an all-or-nothing situation.
THANK YOU!!!
