With the new sponsorship application procedures streamlined, the immigration department has also revamped the documents needed for common law applications.
IF YOU ARE COMMON-LAW AND CURRENTLY LIVING TOGETHER (or have lived together for 12 full months), provide the following:
- Joint ownership of residential property or joint residential leases or joint rental agreements listing both of you as joint tenants/owners; (Minimum 1 document)
- Proof of joint utilities accounts (electricity, gas, telephone); (Minimum 1 document)
- Documents showing you both reside at the same address, such as government issued identification documents (driver’s licenses, insurance policies); (Minimum 1 document)
- Letters, printed text messages, emails or social media conversations showing your communication with each other (maximum of 10 pages);
- Proof of visits to see each other, such as airline tickets, boarding passes, photocopies of passport pages showing entry-exit stamps supporting visits;
- Photos of that demonstrate you are in a common-law relationship. Provide a maximum of 20 photographs to support your relationship (taken at different times and places). Write your name and date of birth on the back of each photo and provide a brief description of the context on the back of each photo;
- Proof of financial dependency on one another (e.g. a bank statement in both of your names sowing household expenses are being paid from the account); (Minimum 1 document)