Hi guys,
I've been lurking in these forums for a few months and have gotten some great info here. My common-law partner and I are nearly ready to put in our application (outland, USA, 26 months living together). I just have a couple questions.
There is a line that asks about previous common law relationships on the checklist and in IMM 5532. After my wife and I split up I did live with somebody for over a year, but it was a bit of a rocky relationship and we had a few breakups and got back together in the 19 months we were together and theoretically living together. I can't be certain that we had an unbroken string of 12 months. I'm almost sure we didn't but it is possible. Added to that, I was married to someone else for that whole time, and divorced that person only after i broke up with the woman I was living with for the final time. Also, commitment was never discussed between us nor was it necessarily implied- certainly not at all like my current relationship, where we discuss our commitment and plan to be together forever.
My question is this: Am I to write down this failed relationship as a common law situation? My instinct at the outset was to say no: The intent, structure and details of that relationship differ significantly from an actual common law relationship in certain fundamental ways, whether or not the bare facts might seem like it was one: We lived together for quite a long time (possible 12 month string), we were in a relationship together, so lived "like man and wife", and commitment is likely quite subjective. Does the fact I was married to someone else negate the whole question?
Thanks in advance!
I've been lurking in these forums for a few months and have gotten some great info here. My common-law partner and I are nearly ready to put in our application (outland, USA, 26 months living together). I just have a couple questions.
There is a line that asks about previous common law relationships on the checklist and in IMM 5532. After my wife and I split up I did live with somebody for over a year, but it was a bit of a rocky relationship and we had a few breakups and got back together in the 19 months we were together and theoretically living together. I can't be certain that we had an unbroken string of 12 months. I'm almost sure we didn't but it is possible. Added to that, I was married to someone else for that whole time, and divorced that person only after i broke up with the woman I was living with for the final time. Also, commitment was never discussed between us nor was it necessarily implied- certainly not at all like my current relationship, where we discuss our commitment and plan to be together forever.
My question is this: Am I to write down this failed relationship as a common law situation? My instinct at the outset was to say no: The intent, structure and details of that relationship differ significantly from an actual common law relationship in certain fundamental ways, whether or not the bare facts might seem like it was one: We lived together for quite a long time (possible 12 month string), we were in a relationship together, so lived "like man and wife", and commitment is likely quite subjective. Does the fact I was married to someone else negate the whole question?
Thanks in advance!
