Hi there!
I was wondering whether you could offer some guidance on our situation!
Context: My partner (from Canada) and I (from Spain, on a Young Professionals visa) are working towards common law. We have lived together in BC since March this year, sharing a lease agreement, a joint bank account, car insurance, driver's license address, phone bills address, etc. We also work together for the same employer, both of us being on the payroll. Prior to this, we met in September 2022 and we've been together since. For the most part, however, this was travelling around the world so even though we do have photos (including with my family) as well as flight tickets together etc, we cannot prove cohabitation.
The problem: We intend to go travelling in November for three months (part of the trip to India to do a course, part of the trip to Spain with my family over Christmas) - and this is where our question arises:
Are we required to keep paying our rent during those three months as a means to prove cohabitation, or is it sufficient to show proof that we are travelling together (i.e. flights, course registration, family photos etc)? The reason is obvious, rent in BC is staggeringly expensive and we would rather not have to pay rent plus the travelling expenses.
In terms of our address for our bank account etc, we would likely be able to keep our current one even if we are not paying rent, or else we could change our address to my partner's family home. We are just worried about jeopardising our common-law process by skipping 3 months of rent payments!
Hope this all makes sense, thanks a lot for your help as always!!
Fernando
I was wondering whether you could offer some guidance on our situation!
Context: My partner (from Canada) and I (from Spain, on a Young Professionals visa) are working towards common law. We have lived together in BC since March this year, sharing a lease agreement, a joint bank account, car insurance, driver's license address, phone bills address, etc. We also work together for the same employer, both of us being on the payroll. Prior to this, we met in September 2022 and we've been together since. For the most part, however, this was travelling around the world so even though we do have photos (including with my family) as well as flight tickets together etc, we cannot prove cohabitation.
The problem: We intend to go travelling in November for three months (part of the trip to India to do a course, part of the trip to Spain with my family over Christmas) - and this is where our question arises:
Are we required to keep paying our rent during those three months as a means to prove cohabitation, or is it sufficient to show proof that we are travelling together (i.e. flights, course registration, family photos etc)? The reason is obvious, rent in BC is staggeringly expensive and we would rather not have to pay rent plus the travelling expenses.
In terms of our address for our bank account etc, we would likely be able to keep our current one even if we are not paying rent, or else we could change our address to my partner's family home. We are just worried about jeopardising our common-law process by skipping 3 months of rent payments!
Hope this all makes sense, thanks a lot for your help as always!!
Fernando
