Hey there, first time posting here! So I apologize for any mistakes I make. I met my partner in Japan during June of 2017, we were both travelling there and sparked a connection. I have been living with my partner who is a French citizen since August 2018. At first this was the time we planned on starting our one year cohabitation period. I had just discovered this forum and it had opened my eyes on a few things I wasn’t knowledgeable of. I’d like to blame the vague definitions of Canada immigration. Nonetheless, she first visited me in September 2017 but only for a month but she came back in April 2018 and during that time she was asked to have proof of leaving Canada so she bought a ticket to France for 2 weeks in July 2018. I ended up going with her and we came back together in Canada. We already planned on being together so we decided to organize our life together so she flew back to South Korea(where she used to live)to get her stuff, say goodbye to friends and close contracts. Sorry for the long explanation but my question would be is that would we still be considered common in law by April 2019? Or by August 2019?
Questions about time apart to establish Common in law
- Thread starter karlossig
- Start date
There's a great article on Canadian Immigration website that could help:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-common.html
For your timeline, you'll need to have proof of your continuous cohabitation, such as lease agreements or failing that letters from your family if you've stayed with them. If you have strong proof that you've continuously lived together since April 2018, then you can consider 12 months from that date as being your timeline. You always have the option of marriage too
Depends on how long her trip back to South Korea was and what evidence hard evidence you have to prove cohabitation dating back from April 2018. You'll need things like joint leases, joint bank accounts/credit card statements, joint utility bills, etc. Evidence like flight tickets are great to prove you are in a genuine relationship but don't prove cohabitation.
Thanks you for answering! The article was very informational. We are a young couple and we were hoping not to marry yet because of that but if worst comes to worst I will ask her to marry me. We don’t have a place of our own yet and j was wondering if that will make our case not that good? I don’t understand the part about the family letters would you mind explaining that again?There's a great article on Canadian Immigration website that could help:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-common.html
For your timeline, you'll need to have proof of your continuous cohabitation, such as lease agreements or failing that letters from your family if you've stayed with them. If you have strong proof that you've continuously lived together since April 2018, then you can consider 12 months from that date as being your timeline. You always have the option of marriage too
If you hadn't been cohabiting in a rental and had say lived at one of your parents house for a short time, you can use letters from your family or a lease agreement drawn up by them as supporting evidence. If you've not got anything like a lease agreement or proof you've lived together you'll really struggle to prove that you've established common law.
Thank you for replying but we are a young couple and we don’t have a place of our own yet. We only have one joint billing and that’s our phone line. I was wondering how can a French visitor have a joint bank account with a Canadian person? Oh and she was in Korea for 30 days
It's very easy for a foreigner to establish a joint bank account with a Canadian. Just visit your bank branch and ask. Many of us on this forum have done this in the past.
The 30 day trip to Korea was unfortunately too long and represents a break in continuous cohabitation. Once there's a break in continuous cohabitation - you have to start counting the year again from scratch. You don't say when she visited Korea, however you'll have to start counting the one year after that trip.