What is a common law-relationship exactly and how can I prove it?

Question

The definition on the Canada Immigration website confuses me a bit. It says: "You have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in a continuous 12-month period that was not interrupted. (You are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons, however.)" What does it mean by conjugal relationship? I'm confused because the site defines a conjugal relationship as one where you can't get married? Also what ways can I prove a common-law relationship? I've also heard that common-law relationship applications are often refused, if this is true, why is that? Soon we will have lived together for a year while hes gone to school here, and we would both like him to move here to Canada with me. I just want him to stay with me, and just want to know what will make our application successful. Thanks in advance, just really overwhelmed.

Answer 1

Conjugal = sexual.  In other words, you had to have lived in an intimate romantic relationship as if married.  

Common law marriage is a similar concept that assumes that a couple living together for an extended period of time is considered to be married.  This is an old concept and is rare in today's American society.  To prove it, I expect you would have to show documentation of a cohabitation such as lease, real estate contract, bills, etc.

Answer 2

comonlaw is where you have lived together as a couple - including the s*x - but without the vows.

you need to have lived together for a minimum of 12 months,

You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together. This can be in the form of:

joint bank accounts or credit cards

joint ownership of a home

joint residential leases

joint rental receipts

joint utilities (electricity, gas, telephone)

joint management of household expenses

proof of joint purchases, especially for household items or

mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address.

Commonlaw is a lot harder to prove.

Its not recognized in USA, but it is in UK, Canada.

Conjugal is where you cannot get married - the most common example is for a g*y couple - where g*y marriage is not recognized - such as USA.

Common-law is where you CAN get married but you choose not to.

Answer 3

Common-law marriages are not recognized in all jurisdictions, so just because you have lived together for over a year does not mean you have a common-law marriage.  It has to be adjudicated a common-law marriage to be valid for Canadian immigation.  This is quite rare in the US, so you probably have to forget it and get married for real.

Answer 4

Common-law relationship is something adopted from English common law.You could say that common law is customary law,as opposed to statute law that is passed by governments.Recently, this term is being used by governments that have passed laws giving unmarried couples similar rights to married ones. This includes almost all European countries as well as Canada,Australia,and New Zealand. It is much harder to prove a  common-law relationship, because the first question that arises is always why have they not married? Especially these days when divorce is also easy.If one of the couple is an alien, there is an immediate and often correct suspicion that it might be an attempt to get round immigration laws,just as it can be with fake marriages of convenience. Some countries are notorious for the large number of their citizens who routinely try all sorts of methods to illegally get into other countries, so if your bf is from one of those countries they will look VERY carefully at any application. Those countries are just about everywhere in Asia, other than Japan,Singapore and Brunei,Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria,Rumania, and a few more of the ex-Soviet republics, and most of Africa, Central and South America, and the Caribbean! Especially everywhere on the the Indian Sub-continent, and all the Muslim countries. Wow!

As for proof.Dqted photographs together are good. Statements from a joint bank account for a year or more,joint names on a lease or rental agreement.joint names on utility accounts are all good. So are letters from 'respected persons' such as a priest, or a college professor who is willing to certify in writing on official mpaper, or testify before a public notary that they personally know you have been co-habiting for ..x..number of months is also good. Of course, he will be the applicant and it is him,not you, that will have to do the convincing, and he will probably have to return home and apply from there. However, you should also make a sworn staement before a public notary, confirming your relationship and how long it has existed, and give it to your bf to support his application. At some time he will be interviewed and one of the qustions he will be asked is why he wants to live with you. His answer should be because he loves you.. He will probably be asked why you are not marrying.If there is any suggestion that it is because he is not sure he can get his Canada residence, that could result in a big NO, becaue it shows a lack of sincerity.He will also be asked why you are not joining HIM in HIS country, as it is much more common for ladies to go to the man,and not the other way round. That is a deliberately tricky question. Any suggestion that it would be better for prospects or for financial reasons would not be good. There is a good way round that question. He should get all the necessary papers from his Embassy, to apply for you to go to live in his country, then he can give the BEST answer to that question. He can say that you would prefer to stay in Canada, but if he is not given permission to stay in Canada,you weil.l both be ging to his countruy and he has already started the process,as one way or another you intend to be together, and he has the papers with him ready to submit if his Canadian application fails. They love that type of answer because it indicates sincerity, and that being together is more important than where.That is almost certain to get a big smile and approval.

By the way,as he is studying in college,I assume you are aware of the skilled migrant programme which operates on a points system. He might be able to get onto that programme more easily, especially if he could get a firm job offer. Some more points would be added for you too. I will give you some web pages below. The first is all about the scheme. The second explains the skills groups referred to in the scheme,you can find them about one third down that second web page.

Best of luck.