A married couple can prove their relationship’s legal status with a marriage certificate. A common-law couple has no such paper. When you sponsor a common-law partner, you have to rebuild your shared life out of leases, bills, bank statements, insurance forms and the ordinary paperwork of two people living under one roof. Many couples realize only when they sit down to apply that nearly everything in their home is in one person’s name.
This is a common situation in Brampton, where a couple might have started out renting a basement apartment with the landlord’s cash receipts and no written lease, or lived in a partner’s family home where the utility bills name somebody’s parents. None of that means the relationship isn’t real. It does mean you will have to think carefully about how you prove it.
This post is general information, not legal advice. It focuses on proof of the common-law relationship, and it does not go over every step of a sponsorship application. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) can change forms and instructions at any time, so follow the current guide and document checklist for your application.
What IRCC Means by Common-Law
IRCC’s working definition of a common-law partner is someone who is not legally married to you, is at least 18 years old, can be of either sex, and has lived with you for at least 12 consecutive months. Time apart is acceptable only if it is brief and temporary, and for family obligations or for work or business travel.
Each piece of that matters.
Twelve consecutive months. Dating for three years and living together for ten months does not satisfy this. Nor does living together for several separate periods that add up to twelve. You need one continuous run of at least a year, and it can be in Canada or elsewhere.
Living together. Spending weekends at one another’s homes, or keeping most of your things at your partner’s place while paying rent somewhere else, is not the same as cohabiting. If you have two addresses, that will need explaining.
A conjugal relationship. Roommates who have shared an address for a year are not common-law partners. You will also need to show a real couple’s relationship, not just a shared lease.
Note too that Ontario’s family law uses its own tests for common-law spouses, with different time periods for different purposes such as support. Being treated as a spouse for one purpose under Ontario law does not settle the immigration question. The tax return is a separate matter too. If you have been filing as “single” for the same years you say you were common-law, you will need to deal with that inconsistency, since the Canada Revenue Agency’s records are something an officer can ask to see.
Pinpoint Your Start Date
Before gathering anything, agree on the date you began living together. It sounds easy, but couples are often unsure. Was it the day one of you first stayed over, the day the boxes arrived, or the date on the lease? Choose the date you actually began to live together as a couple, and be able to support it.
This date will appear on your forms and will be compared with your documents, your personal history forms, and any earlier immigration application. A partner who earlier told IRCC on a visitor or study application that they were “single” as of a date after your claimed start will face questions. So will a person whose address history shows a different home for the same months. Go through old applications if you can, and do not quietly change the story. If an earlier form was wrong, get advice about how to address it.
If you are less than twelve months into living together, the honest answer may be to wait. Another choice for some couples is marriage, which would change the category you apply under. Getting married for that reason alone isn’t a problem if the relationship is genuine, but it deserves careful thought. A couple who cannot live together because of real legal or immigration barriers may need to look at the conjugal partner category, which has its own strict test.
What IRCC Asks You to Show
IRCC’s instructions to officers describe common-law evidence in a few groups. Check your own document checklist as well, since it is the controlling list for your application. In general, you can expect to deal with the following.
The Statutory Declaration of Common-law Union (IMM 5409). This is a sworn statement by both partners. It must be properly declared in front of someone authorized to take it, such as a lawyer, notary public or commissioner for oaths. It is important, but on its own it is only your own statement.
The Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation questionnaire (IMM 5532). Here you set out your story: how you met, how your relationship developed, who knows about it. Each partner’s answers should match reality and one another.
Evidence that you live together. IRCC looks for documents from at least two categories, covering at least one year. Examples include a joint lease or property ownership, joint utility accounts or bank accounts, vehicle insurance showing both people at the same address, government identification showing the same address, and other mail or statements sent to the same address.
Evidence of the relationship itself. Photos are expected, along with documents from at least two categories such as records showing you are named as one another’s partner (for example, on workplace benefits or insurance), evidence of shared expenses or financial support, and proof of recognition by family and friends.
Paperwork from earlier relationships. If either of you has been married, you need proof that the marriage ended. If either of you was in an earlier common-law relationship, you may need a Statutory Declaration of Severance of Common-law Union (IMM 5519). A person who is still legally married to someone else can sometimes be in a common-law relationship with a new partner, but the timeline will need careful support and it is worth getting advice.
Children together. Long-form birth certificates or adoption records naming both parents are strong evidence of the relationship.
When the Paperwork Is All in One Name
Couples often worry about this more than anything else, and it can often be managed. Officers need to be satisfied about your relationship, and you are allowed to explain the circumstances. A thin paper trail does not automatically end an application, but you do need to replace the missing evidence with something real. Here are some typical problems and what might help.
The lease is in one name, or there isn’t one. Ask the landlord for a signed letter confirming that both of you have lived in the unit and for what dates. Add e-transfer records for rent, if any. Be careful with a landlord who took cash and may not be willing to confirm it, and never prepare a document that the landlord did not actually provide.
You live with parents. A letter from the homeowner, along with a copy of the property tax bill or a similar document showing that they own the home, can support the address. Mail addressed to both of you there will be useful.
One partner has no Ontario ID at the address. Update your driver’s licence or photo card if the address on it is out of date, and be ready to explain when you made the change and why. A last-minute update shows only that the address is current, so it needs other evidence behind it to support the earlier months.
Nothing joint in the early months. Evidence may become stronger as you go along. Use whatever exists from the start: pharmacy records, delivery slips, phone bills, school or daycare forms, employer records, or tax slips mailed to that address. A collection of ordinary mail spread across the full twelve months can be more convincing than one recent joint account.
Going forward, you can start now by adding one another to accounts and documents where it genuinely makes sense: tenant insurance, benefits, a joint account for household costs, and your wills or beneficiary forms. Do these for real reasons. An account opened the week before you apply and never used will not add much.
Family and Friends as Witnesses
Letters from people who know you can help, especially when your documents are thin. Useful letters are specific. They say who the writer is, how they know you, when they first saw you living together, and what they have seen firsthand, such as visits to your home or family events. Letters that all use the same wording can look coached, so let people write in their own words. Include the writer’s contact information.
In some families, the relationship is not openly known. For example, a couple may have kept their living arrangement from relatives because of cultural or religious expectations. If so, do not hide that fact or manufacture a public story. Explain it honestly in your forms, and look for other evidence. Officers can take such explanations into account, and an honest explanation is safer than one that falls apart in an interview.
If You Are Now Living Apart
Life can separate a couple after a common-law relationship has been established. A partner might have left Canada because a permit ended, or might be working abroad. IRCC treats these situations differently from couples currently living together.
Couples not presently living together must show that they lived together for at least one year in the past, and must also provide proof of contact, such as letters, texts, emails or social media messages (generally up to 10 pages), and proof of the sponsor’s visits, such as boarding passes or passport stamps. If there have been no visits, you need to explain why in the questionnaire. In addition, the longer a separation goes on, the more you will need to show that the relationship has continued.
The application class matters here as well. A person applying in the Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada class must be living with the sponsor. An applicant who has been removed or who left Canada and isn’t cohabiting with the sponsor when ready to receive permanent residence is not eligible in that class. If you and your partner are apart, or may soon be, discuss which class fits before you file.
What an Officer Is Looking For
Officers must be satisfied that the relationship is genuine, and the regulations rule out a relationship entered into primarily to get status or a privilege under the immigration law. A relationship that is ended in order to obtain status and later resumed is also excluded. If the evidence seems thin or inconsistent, an officer may ask for more information, may ask you to complete another form, or may interview you and your partner separately.
Interviews usually focus on ordinary details of daily life, the sort of thing people living together would naturally know: routines, who pays for what, where the bathroom is, what each of you did last weekend. Don’t rehearse a script. Do read through your application before an interview so that dates and addresses are fresh in your mind.
Avoid some common traps. Do not pad a shaky timeline by backdating your start date. Do not submit an altered lease or an invented letter. Officers are expected to check for fraud, and a misrepresentation finding can bar the applicant from Canada for five years, along with other consequences. A weak but truthful application can often be strengthened or refiled. A false one can do lasting damage.
Getting Your File Organized
Organize your evidence by month. A simple chart with the months down the side and document types across the top will quickly show where the gaps are. Label scanned files clearly, and follow the file format and page limits in the application instructions. Translate documents as required.
If you find an unexplained gap, an old application that contradicts your dates, or a tax or address record that does not match, talk to a lawyer about it before you submit. You can learn about our permanent residence services, or reach out to our Brampton office to arrange a consultation. Careful preparation will not decide your case, but it gives the officer a clear and accurate picture of your life together.