Seeking opinions on `supporting evidence' proof of Common Law relationship

[Ponga]

Hello everyone,

We are assembling our supporting evidence and have found some very helpful suggestions from reading numerous posts here, for which we are very grateful.

We have what seems to be an ample amount of pictures, text messages, emails, etc., but are admittedly 2 of the probably 17 people world-wide that don't communicate via Facebook (or any other social media site). For us, face-to-face, phone, text and email work for us just fine (I'm especially fond of the face-to-face). :-*

1)
Some here have posted that having joint life insurance policies is a good idea. We don't have that, and if we rush out to buy a policy now...would that seem odd to CIC? It's almost as though it could raise a red flag and do more harm than good, but I'd like to hear feedback from this audience, please.

2)
Are letters from friends and family typically notarized?


Our most cherished `evidence', is our WEEKLY celebration of our first meeting. We met on a Friday ( over 6 years ago) and began our relationship on that wonderful Winter's day. We have been exchanging `Anniversary' cards every week since! We love sharing our story, and [some] people think we're crazy...which we are; crazy in love! We even applied to the Guiness Book of World Records people and made it past their initial screening stage, only to be told that most of their readers wouldn't find it entertaining. C'est La vie! We're hoping to find that email `rejection' letter from them, from a couple of years ago, but suspect that it died with an old Hotmail account that we no longer have.

Again, we thank this wonderful community for the wealth of information that is available to people like us.

 

[mikeymyke]

Re: Seeking opinions on `supporting evidence' proof of CL relationship

1) When I tried to do the joint insurance thing, all the Canadian companies I called refused to do it for a foreign national who is not a permanent resident of Canada, so I don't know how so many people here were able to do it. Same thing with joint bank accounts, many banks won't let me add a foreign national.

2) Letters don't need be notarized, except when they are translated to English/French, the translator has to be certified and put his stamp on the document.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Re: Seeking opinions on `supporting evidence' proof of CL relationship

1)
Some here have posted that having joint life insurance policies is a good idea. We don't have that, and if we rush out to buy a policy now...would that seem odd to CIC? It's almost as though it could raise a red flag and do more harm than good, but I'd like to hear feedback from this audience, please.

2)
Are letters from friends and family typically notarized?

1) Most people don't have one.

2) Reading your previous posts, I cannot see if you are common-law or married. If you are common-law, you need to have 2 statutory declarations from family or friends attesting to your genuine relationship. If you are married, you do not need stat decs.

Just curious about why you said in a few posts that you "have" to apply inland?

 

[Ponga]

Re: Seeking opinions on `supporting evidence' proof of CL relationship

1) Most people don't have one.

2) Reading your previous posts, I cannot see if you are common-law or married. If you are common-law, you need to have 2 statutory declarations from family or friends attesting to your genuine relationship. If you are married, you do not need stat decs.

Just curious about why you said in a few posts that you "have" to apply inland?

We are common-law, so I see that we need to fill out IMM5409 and take it to a commissioner of oaths (and provide 2 witnesses) for each document (a bit more than a notary I see)?


Our decision to apply via inland, is because of the only obvious reason...status issue of applicant.

Thanks

 

[Rob_TO]

1)
Some here have posted that having joint life insurance policies is a good idea. We don't have that, and if we rush out to buy a policy now...would that seem odd to CIC? It's almost as though it could raise a red flag and do more harm than good, but I'd like to hear feedback from this audience, please.

Pictures and emails are all well and good, but you should also have some tangible evidence of a joint household. So this would include things like joint lease/rental agreement, joint life insurance, joint bank account, supplemental credit cards, adding spouse to work benefits, changing status with CRA to common-law, etc.

You should be able to get a cheap life insurance policy no problem, even if it's just the sponsor getting policy with applicant as beneficiary. When you print out the main details page as proof, just leave out anything that would show the date the insurance was put in force. So CIC would't even know the date you got the policy.

Other than that, the supplementary credit card is another easy thing to get, and will put both your names on 1 financial bill.

2)
Are letters from friends and family typically notarized?

It's up to you. Inland guide states you can include statutory letters, but doesn't specify how many you require. So I think at least a couple should be statutory (notarized), and some can be regular ones.

We are common-law, so I see that we need to fill out IMM5409 and take it to a commissioner of oaths (and provide 2 witnesses) for each document (a bit more than a notary I see)?

Where in the entire Inland guide do you see you need to fill out that declaration form?? It doesn't appear anywhere.

Typically that declaration is only for cases of non-spousal family sponsorship, where a co-sponsor is involved.

 

[Ponga]

Where in the entire Inland guide do you see you need to fill out that declaration form?? It doesn't appear anywhere.

Typically that declaration is only for cases of non-spousal family sponsorship, where a co-sponsor is involved.

That's what seems to only add to the confusion. I don't see it in the Inland guide, yet there are several posts here discussing this topic.
Even other sites that cover Common-Law sponsorship seem to reinforce this:

"The Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union Form Number IMM5409 is typically used in spousal sponsorship applications where the applicants are not married.

A common-law couple must have lived together for at least one year, and also have intermingled financial or other affairs.

This form is required as part of the application and requires the couple to swear (or affirm) that they are in fact a common-law couple. However, you should not include only this form as evidence of your common-law status. You should include as many pieces of evidence as you can to show that you are in a committed, marriage-like relationship".

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to include it, just in case??

We do have a joint lease, bank account, cell phone account, etc.

Thanks again.

 

[Rob_TO]

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to include it, just in case??

We do have a joint lease, bank account, cell phone account, etc.

Since the Inland CIC guide doesn't mention it, you don't need to include it. However you're right that it doesn't hurt at all to include it if it will give you peace of mind, as long as you don't mind the effort/cost required to get the stat declaration done.

Joint lease, bank and cell phone sounds like plenty of proof to me. Joint lease is your #1 main proof, and anything after that is just supporting. The other easy one you can do that i mentioned, is for the sponsor to change official status with CRA to common-law. You can do this on the CRA "my account" website, and then just print off the page that shows marital status.

 

[canadianwoman]

I agree with the above. You do not need to include it, but it will not hurt. Some overseas visa offices have asked for it, even though again technically people applying to sponsor a common-law spouse do not need it.

 

[little_apple]

We have a joint life insurance with Manulife. It was not a problem at all to get it without beeing PR.
But it took a few weeks to get it because of a personal interview, a phone interview and a medical check

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Re: Seeking opinions on `supporting evidence' proof of CL relationship

Our decision to apply via inland, is because of the only obvious reason...status issue of applicant.

Are you currently out of status? If you are, applying inland won't legalize your status.

If you are referring to maintaining your status, it is quite simple to extend your stay as a visitor while an outland app processes.

 

[Ponga]

I understand that, but applying Inland would allow me to remain until Stage 1 has been completed.