Common law sponsor travel.

[sush123]

Hi everyone, hope you are well and safe.

I have been living with my common law partner since February 2018. However we have had a few breaks due to his travel which reset the clock and hence the delay in applying for the common law sponsorship.

Starting December 2019 to December 2020 we finally have almost 13 months of continuous living which makes us eligible for applying for the common law sponsorship. But he left to his home country on December 30th 2020 because of family obligations and won’t back till February 28 2021. This is basically 2 months break at the moment. Will this break affect our sponsorship process? We haven’t applied yet and are thinking of applying once he is back.

i can attach the call logs and everything if needed as we talk at least twice everyday. Is it enough? Or does it reset the clock again. Please advice.

thankyou

 

[armoured]

Hi everyone, hope you are well and safe.

I have been living with my common law partner since February 2018. However we have had a few breaks due to his travel which reset the clock and hence the delay in applying for the common law sponsorship.

Starting December 2019 to December 2020 we finally have almost 13 months of continuous living which makes us eligible for applying for the common law sponsorship. But he left to his home country on December 30th 2020 because of family obligations and won’t back till February 28 2021. This is basically 2 months break at the moment. Will this break affect our sponsorship process? We haven’t applied yet and are thinking of applying once he is back.

In principle it does not but I would focus your efforts more on the strength of the documentary proof you have of your joint household from the beginning. Have his other 'breaks due to travel' also been equally long? Since you have resided together since Feb 2018 you should have considerable evidence, but be sure to also document and specify which continuous twelve month period you are specifying.

This sounds a bit more complicated and you seem to have had some restoration of status/out of status periods. You may be able to simplify this somewhat by actually getting married - and to avoid any technical issues of your documentation/precise 12 month period catching you up.

 

[sush123]

In principle it does not but I would focus your efforts more on the strength of the documentary proof you have of your joint household from the beginning. Have his other 'breaks due to travel' also been equally long? Since you have resided together since Feb 2018 you should have considerable evidence, but be sure to also document and specify which continuous twelve month period you are specifying.

This sounds a bit more complicated and you seem to have had some restoration of status/out of status periods. You may be able to simplify this somewhat by actually getting married - and to avoid any technical issues of your documentation/precise 12 month period catching you up.

The previous travel was 1 month in January 2019 because of death in family and 1 month in November 2019 to visit family again for the memorial.

Starting December 2019 to December 31 2020 he was in Canada at all times. He went again now on the night of December 31, 2020 because his dad was having surgery and he is 65+ and he wanted to be there.

we do have a lot of proof but we are set back because of the reset in cohabitation time.

 

[k.h.p.]

The advice from @armoured is good - if your relationship is strong enough to be claiming common-law marriage, just get civil married in Canada and don't worry about breaks here and there. Legally, it's more or less the same thing.

 

[armoured]

The previous travel was 1 month in January 2019 because of death in family and 1 month in November 2019 to visit family again for the memorial.

Starting December 2019 to December 31 2020 he was in Canada at all times. He went again now on the night of December 31, 2020 because his dad was having surgery and he is 65+ and he wanted to be there.

we do have a lot of proof but we are set back because of the reset in cohabitation time.

I dont' know enough of the specifics of your cohabitation etc, but based on what you've shared:

-If you get married legally, you should have quite strong supporting documentation of the genuineness of your relationship (having lived together for most of the last three years).

-In contrast, applying common law, you do have some risk of getting caught up on a technicality or insufficient documentation to prove you meet the common law test.

To some degree, this reverses the 'burden of proof' to your sponsorship app (although I'm NOT using burden-of-proof here in a strict legal sense - perhaps 'balance of evidence' is a better phrasing).

Since you are together so long and the legal difference is not large, and particularly if you also have/have had some status issues, I do not see why you would not take the step to just get a civil marriage.

(It is of course a personal decision and up to you, I understand some couples have cultural or other reasons, but if you've been living together for three years, it's a bit hard to see those as compelling...but beyond these comments, it's none of my business)

 

[sush123]

I dont' know enough of the specifics of your cohabitation etc, but based on what you've shared:

-If you get married legally, you should have quite strong supporting documentation of the genuineness of your relationship (having lived together for most of the last three years).

-In contrast, applying common law, you do have some risk of getting caught up on a technicality or insufficient documentation to prove you meet the common law test.

To some degree, this reverses the 'burden of proof' to your sponsorship app (although I'm NOT using burden-of-proof here in a strict legal sense - perhaps 'balance of evidence' is a better phrasing).

Since you are together so long and the legal difference is not large, and particularly if you also have/have had some status issues, I do not see why you would not take the step to just get a civil marriage.

(It is of course a personal decision and up to you, I understand some couples have cultural or other reasons, but if you've been living together for three years, it's a bit hard to see those as compelling...but beyond these comments, it's none of my business)

we don’t want to get married for at least another year. So common law of the only option for now to get me back to have a status. I hope these breaks don’t affect our application.

 

[armoured]

we don’t want to get married for at least another year. So common law of the only option for now to get me back to have a status. I hope these breaks don’t affect our application.

Your choice, your risk. It can affect your application.

I don't think it makes sense as "common law" in broad terms means "common law marriage." You've just chosen one type of marriage over another.

But it's entirely up to you.

 

[canuck78]

we don’t want to get married for at least another year. So common law of the only option for now to get me back to have a status. I hope these breaks don’t affect our application.

Would make sure you are gathering proof of the exact 12 months of cohabitation between December 2019-2020.

 

[sush123]

Would make sure you are gathering proof of the exact 12 months of cohabitation between December 2019-2020.

yes I do have lots of proof from December 2019 to 2020 so far. He unfortunately had to leave country due to family obligations.

Jan 2019 due to death of his brother (1 month)

Nov 2019 for the memorial of his brother (1 month)

Dec 31 2020 - mid March 2021 as his mom was very sick and his dad had a surgery 2 days ago. And also because his passport was expiring this month end and he is waiting for it to arrive.

my question is will these breaks affect our application even though it was taken because of family emergency?

 

[canuck78]

yes I do have lots of proof from December 2019 to 2020 so far. He unfortunately had to leave country due to family obligations.

Jan 2019 due to death of his brother (1 month)

Nov 2019 for the memorial of his brother (1 month)

Dec 31 2020 - mid March 2021 as his mom was very sick and his dad had a surgery 2 days ago. And also because his passport was expiring this month end and he is waiting for it to arrive.

my question is will these breaks affect our application even though it was taken because of family emergency?

Yes the breaks will be an issue which is why I said you will need to prove that you lived together for 365 days from December 2019-2020.

 

[sush123]

Yes the breaks will be an issue which is why I said you will need to prove that you lived together for 365 days from December 2019-2020.

Can do that Thankyou. We will provide the necessary proof for his travel as well if necessary

 

[ConfusedJ]

Can do that Thankyou. We will provide the necessary proof for his travel as well if necessary

That is exactly what you need to do, provide documentation that shows it was travel due to family matters and not because of a break in the relationship