Question about when our 1 year common law can begin

[kil3ki]

Hello! My girlfriend and I have been together for a year. I am Canadian, she is Swedish. We met while she was on her working holiday visa in Canada. At the end of it, she wanted to go home to see her grandma who was ill and work for 2 months at a previous job to make some money. On October 4th we met each other in South East Asia to go backpacking and we are now living together in New Zealand as of November 25th.
My question is: does the time that we were backpacking in South East Asia together count as cohabitation? We stayed only in private room hotels together.
Previous to her going back to Sweden we had been living with each other for 4 months. Thanks!!!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hello! My girlfriend and I have been together for a year. I am Canadian, she is Swedish. We met while she was on her working holiday visa in Canada. At the end of it, she wanted to go home to see her grandma who was ill and work for 2 months at a previous job to make some money. On October 4th we met each other in South East Asia to go backpacking and we are now living together in New Zealand as of November 25th.
My question is: does the time that we were backpacking in South East Asia together count as cohabitation? We stayed only in private room hotels together.
Previous to her going back to Sweden we had been living with each other for 4 months. Thanks!!!

The travel time counts but if you were apart for 2 months, then any time cohabiting before that separation won't count.

 

[Erin Lynsay]

Maybe this can help you decide what you want to put on your application:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=346&top=14

Also think about what you can provide proof for:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=347&top=14

 

[charliev]

Hello! My girlfriend and I have been together for a year. I am Canadian, she is Swedish. We met while she was on her working holiday visa in Canada. At the end of it, she wanted to go home to see her grandma who was ill and work for 2 months at a previous job to make some money. On October 4th we met each other in South East Asia to go backpacking and we are now living together in New Zealand as of November 25th.
My question is: does the time that we were backpacking in South East Asia together count as cohabitation? We stayed only in private room hotels together.
Previous to her going back to Sweden we had been living with each other for 4 months. Thanks!!!

Hey kil3ki
We were in a similar situation. Our first 15 months living together were spent in hostels and campgrounds in New Zealand. I ended up emailing all the hostels, campgrounds, hotels we stayed at and asked them for proof/confirmation that we had stayed there, and asked them to specify in the email that we were staying in a private room. Ended up being a lot of paperwork to send in our package, but it worked.