Common Law Sponsorship

Common Law Sponsorship

The First step to any sponsorship application is ensuring that you are eligible to sponsor. In order to qualify as a sponsor, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age;
• Be a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident;
• Agree to provide financial support to the person they are sponsoring;

Facts about Common Law Sponsorship

In order to sponsor a common law partner, or be considered in a common law relation, you must:

• Exists in a “marriage like” commitment
• Be interdependent and have combined affairs
• Cohabitate for at least 12 months

If you are in a relationship as indicated above, you may qualify to sponsor your common law partner. You should also note that as of October 25, 2012, sponsored spouses and common law partners must live with their sponsor for two years from the time they receive their permanent resident status in Canada.

This applies to you if:

• You have been in a relationship with your partner for less than two years
• You have no children in common
• Your application was submitted on or after this rule came into effect

Cohabitation

Cohabitation means that you and your foreign spouse are living together. Cohabitation for the purposes of immigration means continuous living together for one year, not sporadic or intermittent cohabitation. In order to be considered as cohabiting, you and your foreign partner must have combined your affairs and set up your household together in one house.

If you are sponsoring your Common-law partner, you must provide proof relating to the nature of your joint household to demonstrate that you and your partner are cohabitating in a conjugal relationship. Some of the types of evidence you can include in your relationship include the following:

• Joint bank accounts and credit cards;
• Joint ownership of residential property;
• Joint residential leases; and
• Joint rental receipts.

Demonstrating Your Relationship

The following are key components that officer may use to identify legitimacy of the common law:

• Financial aspect of the relationship such as joint bank records or joint credit cards etc.
• Social aspect of the relationship that shows you presented the evidence of the relationship to the government bodies, commercial or public organization.
• Physical and emotional aspect of the relationship where both partners must have knowledge of other’s personal circumstances, backgrounds and family situation, also shared values and interests