Hi I am wondering if anyone can answer the question I have been stressing about. My girlfriend lives in the U.S. and I live in Canada I am wondering if we would qualify as common law for the spousal sponsorship if we have lived together for 12 consecutive months? We just got engaged and she mostly visits me in Canada, however there is a 6 month limit for visitors, so when this time is up I travel to the states to visit her so technically we havent left each others side. Would this qualify as common law or conjugal?
Spousal sponsorship
- Thread starter Taylorcrawford98
- Start date
Hi
You are common-law. There is no requirement for the one year of cohabitation to be in the same place. You must be able to prove it.
Thank you for your response! That helps me a lot. Do I have to provide a written explanation to prove we’ve co-habituated together? And is a photo copy of passport stamps enough proof? It also requires proof of joint bank accounts, etc. How do I prove that or explain that my girlfriend still has most of her documents in the U.S. so I won’t be able to prove financial statements
A written explanation does not prove common-law. The stamps would be good to show that you continued the cohabitation but are not proof of it.
You need to prove you both lived at the same addresses for at least one continuous year.
Okay. I still live with my parents, and she does too, would a piece of mail from them or a written explanation from our parents be okay? I’m not sure what else I can use to prove this when we aren’t paying bills for our own place
You can get letters from your parents but will still need address proofs. Phone bills, bank/credit card statements, payslips, tax documents, immigration documents, IDs, doctor/dentist/medical bills etc.
Credit card statements, etc. from our parents or myself? Also, how would a phone bill prove we are both at the same address? Do they need a paper copy of these bills?
IRCC doesn't care where your parents live...
A phone bill is one proof. You need more. Yes, you need paper copies, as it all must be mailed with the app.
How does a phone bill prove you’ve been at the same address though? And they want my credit card statements but it won’t prove anything about being at an address. All it will show is payments for gas, insurance, etc.
A phone bill doesn't, hence why IRCC requires multiple forms of proof showing the same address over a continuous one year period.
Thank you for clarifying that for me. last question. Does my fiance need bills showing her address in California?
You both need to show proof of address for wherever you lived during your one year of cohabitation.
Will it help if there is more proof of our addresses? Should we have a minimum of two pieces of bills each, etc. ?
You need to look at the checklist to see what is required. You need common-law proofs for all addresses you lived at during the qualifying time.
It says not to include P.O box addresses on part of the form do I just leave it blank?