Common-law Sponsorship common law sponosrship Common-inlaw

Common Law Sponsorship

Family unification is a fundamental aspect of the Canadian Immigration System and as such, Canadian Permanent Residents and Citizens have the ability to sponsor members of the Family Class for Permanent Residence in Canada.

As Canada considers many different relationships, you also have the ability to sponsor a Common Law Partner. A Common Law Partner is someone whom you have or continue to cohabitate with for a period of at least twelve months in a marriage like committed relationship.

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

What You will Need

As Citizenship and Immigration Canada takes into account all different types of relationships, Common Law Partners qualify to be sponsored. In order to be considered in a Common Law relationship, you will need to have lived with your sponsor for a minimum of 12 months. You will also need to sign a Statutory Declaration of Common Law Union, which is a sworn attestation of your relationship.

How We Can Help

When sponsoring a member of the Family Class, aside from the basic documentation like your identity documents or status documents, you will need to strongly demonstrate the genuineness of your relationship. In addition to this, you will need to provide documentation that attests to your cohabitation.

We will assist you:

  • Draft the necessary forms;
  • Draft appropriate supporting documentation like employment reference letters as applicable;
  • Assist you with gathering documents that demonstrate cohabitation;
  • Help draft letters and personal statements of support;
  • Outline and assist you in compiling documents that reflect the genuineness of your relationship;
  • Compile the strongest possible case as per your unique situation;
  • Prepare you for an interview should one be required; and
  • Of course, be with you every step of the way.

For more information on Common Law Sponsorship, feel free to browse our vast collection of information on the subject or contact us directly at 1-877-622-8182 or 416 477 2570. You can also email at Info@ToImmigrate.com.,

This video outlines how you can sponsor your common-law partner to Canada and important spousal sponsorship documents you need to include with your application. Watch our video below to find out whether you can sponsor your common-law partner and how you can sponsor them to Canada.

How to Sponsor Your Common-Law Partner

In Canada, family unification is extremely important and is a fundamental aspect of life, as well as the Canadian Immigration System. Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada have the opportunity to sponsor members of the Family Class, in this case their common-law partner, for permanent residence in Canada. In order to sponsor your common-law partner, you must qualify as a common-law union.

In order to begin the process of sponsoring your common-law partner, you must first determine whether you are eligible to sponsor. There are simple eligibility requirements you must abide by in order to do so, which include things such as, being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada, being at least 18 years old, living in Canada or showing an intent to live in Canada once the application is approved, and providing evidence that you have sufficient income to support your common-law partner once they arrive in Canada.

Additionally, in common-law relationships, you must prove that you have been cohabitating for at least one year, continuously. You must show that you have combined affairs and that you share a household together. This is an extremely important aspect of the common-law partner sponsorship, as if you cannot prove this, they may refuse your application. It is also extremely essential to provide proof of the genuineness of your relationship. The Immigration officer must obverse and recognize sufficient evidence proving that the two partners indeed are in a "marriage-like" commitment.

If like to sponsor your common-law partner to Canada but are unsure what documents to include with your application or how to get started then please don’t hesitate to contact us at 416-477-2545. Our immigration experts will be glad to assist you with your immigration matter.

With Akrami & Associates there is always a way!!

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For more information on Common-Law Partner Sponsorships and many other immigration matters, check out our site:

https://thevisa.ca/family-class-sponsorship/

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Email: Info@thevisa.ca

If you are interested in sponsoring your Common Law Partner, there are a few things you need to consider before you endeavour to proceed with your application. The first thing you need to consider is whether or not you are eligible to sponsor.

Common-law Sponsorship Requirements

  • You must be at least 18 years old
  • · You must be a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident
  • · You must live in Canada or intend to reside in Canada when your partner received their Permanent Resident status
  • · You and your spouse or common-law partner must sign an agreement that you understand your obligations and responsibilities to each other and Canada
  • · You must sign an undertaking that is basically the sponsor’s commitment to be financially responsible for their sponsored partner for a set time
  • · You must demonstrate that you have sufficient finances to be able to support your common law partner

Once you have determined that you are eligible and agree to the your requirements as the sponsor, the second thing you will need to consider is whether or not your relationship qualifies as being Common Law. Simply because you live with someone does not make them a Common Law Spouse. Being in a Common Law relationship does have a residency requirement, but it is more than that. Those who qualify as a Common Law relationship not only live together, but are codependent and exist in a marriage like commitment.

Demonstrating your Common-law Relationship

This means that you have shared assets and responsibilities and are mutually exclusive to one another. Essentially, you are “married” in spirit, without having a formal ceremony or legalizing the relationship formally and you have existed in this way, together, for at least 12 months.

In order to demonstrate the genuineness of this relationship, you will need to satisfy Citizenship and Immigration Canada of the above. Demonstrating the genuineness of your Common Law relationship is essential to be approved. An Immigration Officer reviewing your application will need to be convinced that you are in a bona fide relationship and not one solely for the purposes of immigration to Canada.

You will need to provide proof of the above. A couple examples of documentation you can provide to demonstrate cohabitation as well as the genuineness of your relationship would be”

  • Proof of joint accounts
  • Proof of Joint bills
  • Proof of address with both your names on it
  • Rental Agreements with both your names on it
  • Proof of ownership with both your names on it

When sponsoring your Common Law Partner for PR in Canada, there are two ways to sponsor:

  • Inland common law sponsorship
  • Overseas common law sponsorship

Depending on your situation, either of these options have pros and cons that you should be aware of prior to proceeding with your application. Before submitting your application to sponsor your common law partner, you should assess your goals and understand the differences in sponsoring your partner before deciding on how you wish to submit the application.

When considering processing times, the overseas common law partner sponsorship, or sponsoring your partner from outside of Canada can have a much faster processing time. Sponsorship applications from inside Canada can take up to two years. Overseas sponsorship processing time depends on the Visa Office the application is submitted to and most typically do not take this long.

With an inland application, your partner would have the possibility of obtaining an Open Work permit based on receiving Approval after the first stage of processing. This is known as Approval in Principle and it happens at the end of the first stage when your inland application is assessed. The first stage essentially assesses the sponsor and determines their eligibility to sponsor. This is not an option for overseas sponsorship.

A downside of sponsoring your partner from inside Canada is that the inland application does not have the Right of Appeal. This means that if your application has a negative decision or has been refused, you can not dispute the decision and your partner must exit Canada as soon as possible. People who submit overseas applications do have the Right of Appeal and can dispute the negative decision and hopefully have it overturned.

When an inland application is filed, your wife should remain in Canada until a decision is made. If she exits Canada, her application may be considered abandoned. If this happens, you will need to resubmit a new application. With the overseas sponsorship category, your wife is obviously abroad but can come and go from Canada with the right status.

If you are a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident and you want to Sponsor your foreign Common-law partner to Canada, you must ensure that you meet the requirements of your Sponsorship category.

As Common-law partners you must have to fit the definition of a Common-law relationship. Cohabitation is a critical part of being considered a Common-law couple. However, in some cases, due to unforeseen circumstances or inevitable circumstances you and your common-law partner may be forced to live apart. Not to worry! This does not mean your Sponsorship application is doomed. Given that you meet certain other requirements, you may still be able to Sponsor your Common-law partner who is not cohabiting with you currently.

Sponsoring A Common-Law Partner From Outside

Generally to be considered a common-law partner, you and your partner should be cohabiting. However, after cohabiting for one year, you and your common-law partner can live apart for periods of time without legally breaking the required cohabitation. For example, you and your common-law partner may have separated for the following reasons:

  • Armed conflict
  • Illness of a family member
  • Employment or education-related reasons

For the above reasons and similar reasons, you and your common-law partner may not cohabit at the present time.

Even if there has been a break in cohabitation, you and your common-law partner are considered to still be in a common-law relationship, if you have cohabited continuously in a conjugal relationship in the past for at least one year and the two of you intend to do so again as soon as it is possible.

If circumstances have caused you and your common-law partner to be apart for some time, then your Sponsorship application will need to include documentation that proves that you and your common-law partner are continuing your relationship long-distance. Such documentation can include:

  • Proof of visits
  • Proof of correspondence
  • Telephone calls

It is important to keep in mind that for common-law relationships, and even for marriages where the spouses are living separately, the longer the partners are separated without cohabiting, the more difficult it will be to establish that a common-law relationship or a marriage exists. This is why you and your partner must have the intention to cohabit once again as soon as possible, and you must follow through with this intention.

At Akrami & Associates, our team of legal professionals has the skills, expertise, and knowledge to put together a strong application for you that will give you the highest chance of success.