Would living with BF's parents conflict with Common Law status/PR?

[Charliesaurus]

Hey,

So I'm looking for some information on gaining PR. I'm going to be going down the Common Law status route - me and my boyfriend are hopefully going to be together for 365 days from September 2015. However, we are going to be living together under his parents house.

Now I've read on CIC that to prove your common law status, there are several different options you can give them listed below;

"Common-law partner
You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or the same sex—if:
you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in an ongoing 12-month period (you are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons).
You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together. This can be in the form of proof of:
joint bank accounts or credit cards.
joint ownership of a home.
joint residential leases.
joint rental receipts,
joint registration or payment of utilities (electricity, gas, telephone),
joint management of household expenses,
joint purchases, especially of household items, or
mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address."

So, as a non-citizen, and a visitor on a British passport... there are few ways (I believe) in what I can give evidence for. I've learn bank accounts are feasible for us. However, the rest doesn't look promising without citizenship or a permit of some description? Can anyone help?

We can't really afford a property of our own - and thus are living with his parents. Would this effect attempting to gain common law status?

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[Rob_TO]

It is fine to get common-law status while living with his parents. You will need things like:
- MOST IMPORTANT: A formal lease/rental agreement from his parents that states both you and your bf are "renting" from them. It doesn't matter if you don't actually pay rent, you still need the formal agreement. It should be certified/notarized to make it official
- show mail going to both of you, addressed to same place, preferably dating back to around the day you first started living together
- get a joint bank account, and/or if one of you has a credit card just get a 2nd supplementary card in other persons name so both names show up on 1 bill showing the address
- show if each of you contribute to any household expenses
- get some cheap term life insurance on each other
- after you reach 12 months cohabitation, your bf should change his status immediately with CRA from single to common-law for tax purposes. Do this through the CRA online "my account" service (he should sign up if he hasn't already)
- if he gets health benefits at work, have him add you as a beneficiary/dependent after you get common-law status

 

[screech339]

- if he gets health benefits at work, have him add you as a beneficiary/dependent after you get common-law status

I am assuming you meant that she will be listed as beneficiary of boyfriend's work asset only, and not adding her to get boyfriend's work benefits like dental, drug coverage.

Screech339

 

[Rob_TO]

I am assuming you meant that she will be listed as beneficiary of boyfriend's work asset only, and not adding her to get boyfriend's work benefits like dental, drug coverage.

Whatever she qualifies for. Simply showing you changed status with your employer from single to common-law in your HR employee profile is also sufficient, not even considering any health benefits.

 

[Charliesaurus]

He's a business proprietor D: he doesn't have any benefits etc - he's not on a pay roll.

 

[Awesomeg]

Hey,

So I'm looking for some information on gaining PR. I'm going to be going down the Common Law status route - me and my boyfriend are hopefully going to be together for 365 days from September 2015. However, we are going to be living together under his parents house.

Now I've read on CIC that to prove your common law status, there are several different options you can give them listed below;

"Common-law partner
You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or the same sex—if:
you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in an ongoing 12-month period (you are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons).
You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together. This can be in the form of proof of:
joint bank accounts or credit cards.
joint ownership of a home.
joint residential leases.
joint rental receipts,
joint registration or payment of utilities (electricity, gas, telephone),
joint management of household expenses,
joint purchases, especially of household items, or
mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address."

So, as a non-citizen, and a visitor on a British passport... there are few ways (I believe) in what I can give evidence for. I've learn bank accounts are feasible for us. However, the rest doesn't look promising without citizenship or a permit of some description? Can anyone help?

We can't really afford a property of our own - and thus are living with his parents. Would this effect attempting to gain common law status?

Thanks a lot guys!

Common law partners normally have the most difficult getting the PR,
gets complicated...
and also Common law partners are the most likely to split apart after arriving to Canada,
And that affect the way that Immigration evaluates Common law...
Not the best option when you want a process that is more likely to pass...
But ours is not common law, maybe people that are at the end of the common law experience
can tell how was the process for them.....

 

[Charliesaurus]

Common law partners normally have the most difficult getting the PR,
gets complicated...
and also Common law partners are the most likely to split apart after arriving to Canada,
And that affect the way that Immigration evaluates Common law...
Not the best option when you want a process that is more likely to pass...
But ours is not common law, maybe people that are at the end of the common law experience
can tell how was the process for them.....

... Not at all disheartening... *Sarcasm* haha.

 

[little_apple]

... Not at all disheartening... *Sarcasm* haha.

I was approved as common-law but I was in Canada on a Working Holiday and Young Professional visa so having a joint bank account, mortgage, insurance etc. wasn't a problem...

- joint rental agreement is the most important thing
- try to add him to your bank account. This should be possible as well
- joint life insurance
- add him to your health insurance if possible. Provincial and employer benefits
- very important: mail to the same address. Whatever it is: keep every single piece of mail you get in your names to the same address. You will need it
- at least 2 statutory declarations from friends and family stating that your common-law relationship is genuine and you live together. They should refer to you as common-law spouses/partners not as boyfriend and girlfriend
- get pictures together with your part of the family and his part of the family, same with friends
- pictures, greeting cards, gifts etc.

You have to prove that you are a genuine couple and that you lived together for 365 consecutive days.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

... Not at all disheartening... *Sarcasm* haha.

Ignore that poster. Completely wrong, no idea what he is talking about.

The others have given some great advice and you should have no trouble proving common-law status.

 

[Charliesaurus]

I was approved as common-law but I was in Canada on a Working Holiday and Young Professional visa so having a joint bank account, mortgage, insurance etc. wasn't a problem...

- joint rental agreement is the most important thing
- try to add him to your bank account. This should be possible as well
- joint life insurance
- add him to your health insurance if possible. Provincial and employer benefits
- very important: mail to the same address. Whatever it is: keep every single piece of mail you get in your names to the same address. You will need it
- at least 2 statutory declarations from friends and family stating that your common-law relationship is genuine and you live together. They should refer to you as common-law spouses/partners not as boyfriend and girlfriend
- get pictures together with your part of the family and his part of the family, same with friends
- pictures, greeting cards, gifts etc.

You have to prove that you are a genuine couple and that you lived together for 365 consecutive days.

This is great, was just wondering how I would get the whole "rental" side of things though - that's what I was mainly asking... We're living with his parents and can't afford to rent our own place - so... how?

 

[turntopage47]

As above:

It is fine to get common-law status while living with his parents. You will need things like:
- MOST IMPORTANT: A formal lease/rental agreement from his parents that states both you and your bf are "renting" from them. It doesn't matter if you don't actually pay rent, you still need the formal agreement. It should be certified/notarized to make it official

It's good advice.

 

[Charliesaurus]

It is fine to get common-law status while living with his parents. You will need things like:
- MOST IMPORTANT: A formal lease/rental agreement from his parents that states both you and your bf are "renting" from them. It doesn't matter if you don't actually pay rent, you still need the formal agreement. It should be certified/notarized to make it official

Just wondering - how are these constructed? Do we need to do it via a housing company or something? Or do they just write a formal letter which we both sign etc?
Wouldn't I be asked to show bank statements from payments etc?

 

[tink23]

Just wondering - how are these constructed? Do we need to do it via a housing company or something? Or do they just write a formal letter which we both sign etc?
Wouldn't I be asked to show bank statements from payments etc?

They don't care about how much you're paying to live, just that you will have proof of living together continually for at least 12 months.

 

[Rob_TO]

Ignore that poster. Completely wrong, no idea what he is talking about.

Seconded. Ignore that particular poster as he is usually wrong.

Common-law isn't that hard to prove, if you just have a few important documents and proofs. We did common-law and had zero issues.
Also since you are from a visa-exempt country that makes the whole process that much easier.

Just wondering - how are these constructed? Do we need to do it via a housing company or something? Or do they just write a formal letter which we both sign etc?
Wouldn't I be asked to show bank statements from payments etc?

As mentioned, CIC doesn't care if you're paying rent or not. They just want to see the official rental agreement.

Just google something like "sample rent lease agreement ontario" (or whatever province you're in) and tons of templates will pop up that you can use. Here is just 1 as an example: http://www.freeottawainfo.com/ResidentialLease.pdf
There is no standard format. As long as the basic info is there like names of landlords (parents), renters (you and your bf), address, dates of residency, etc etc and everyone signs it and you get it certified/notarized... that should be sufficient.

 

[Charliesaurus]

Seconded. Ignore that particular poster as he is usually wrong.

Common-law isn't that hard to prove, if you just have a few important documents and proofs. We did common-law and had zero issues.
Also since you are from a visa-exempt country that makes the whole process that much easier.


As mentioned, CIC doesn't care if you're paying rent or not. They just want to see the official rental agreement.

Just google something like "sample rent lease agreement ontario" (or whatever province you're in) and tons of templates will pop up that you can use. Here is just 1 as an example: http://www.freeottawainfo.com/ResidentialLease.pdf
There is no standard format. As long as the basic info is there like names of landlords (parents), renters (you and your bf), address, dates of residency, etc etc and everyone signs it and you get it certified/notarized... that should be sufficient.

Where would we get that certified/notarised?