Common-law partnership of Backpackers

[shuba]

Hey guys,

So I'm an Australian and I met my girlfriend while backpacking across South America in June of 2019. I moved to Canada on a Visitor Visa in January 2020 and I have been living here since on extended visitor visas due to COVID-19 travel problems. My girlfriend and I bought a car when I arrived and it has been insured under both our names since, the thing is we have been traveling around the country since I arrived. We spent time living in our car, a couple months living with her folks, 5 months volunteering in Nelson on a farm and another 6 months volunteering on a farm in Williams Lake. We haven't left each other's side in 16 months but we have no real proof apart from the car, photos and the word of friends and family. My visa is going to expire soon and starting my life here in Canada is really important to me now so we are considering becoming common-law partners but I feel like the odds are against us. We have no rental papers, no utility bills, no driver's license with the same address. Do we even have a chance?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Riley Haas]

Well, I have some advice for you that you may not like: the simplest thing to do would be to get married.

That would solve the problem of trying to prove that you've been living together.