Hi everyone,
Was hoping to get some advice on my current situation and how I could reduce the impact of some of the red flags that will be inevitably displayed on my inland spousal sponsorship application.
Long story short: I'm from the U.S. and have been with my Canadian partner for 7 years. The first three years of our relationship were long distance-ish (i.e., we lived within an hours driving distance, but with an international border between us. Visited each other every week). At the three year mark, I got into a Canadian university, moved here on a study permit, and have been here for the last four years. Where it gets dicey is that I was in a serious accident and ended up having to withdraw from my studies early, which effectively rendered me out of status (I fully acknowledge that I could've done more to maintain my status and I take full responsibility for letting my status expire).
Well, he recently proposed, and we have decided on either eloping or having a courthouse wedding within the next few weeks and then sending in our sponsorship application as soon as our marriage certificate arrives. A big motivating factor for moving quickly with the wedding is so that we can apply for spousal sponsorship sooner, which I know is also highly frowned upon, but I am mainly thinking it of a "timing of convenience" and not a "marriage of convenience" since we have been together for so long. Another motivating factor for a small wedding is that both of our immediate and extended families are scattered across the world, which means that no matter where we have it, the vast majority of our loved ones would have to travel a significant distance. At the very least, my partner's parents would be there as our witnesses; my parents do not have passports, so they would not be able to attend. We could easily spin the story as a "we wanted to save money on the wedding so that we could travel to see everyone over the next 2 years".
Is there anything I can do/say in my application to reduce the impact of some of these red flags? There are definitely a lot of green flags on our application -- we've been together for 7 years, we have been on vacations together (mostly pre-pandemic) and have photos together on those vacations, I'm from the U.S. and have a graduate-level degree with strong employment prospects, he proposed with a diamond ring, happy to share our future "wedding kiss" photo if that's something they really care about, etc. Also not sure if this is a red or green flag: I spent my first several years in Canada living alone because I wanted to be self-sufficient, but we have since been living together for nearly a year and have combined expenses and a signed lease agreement in both of our names.
So, does the strength of our "green flags" offset the red flags, or should we consider doing more to strengthen our application? (e.g., take out life insurance policies or something). Thanks in advance!
Was hoping to get some advice on my current situation and how I could reduce the impact of some of the red flags that will be inevitably displayed on my inland spousal sponsorship application.
Long story short: I'm from the U.S. and have been with my Canadian partner for 7 years. The first three years of our relationship were long distance-ish (i.e., we lived within an hours driving distance, but with an international border between us. Visited each other every week). At the three year mark, I got into a Canadian university, moved here on a study permit, and have been here for the last four years. Where it gets dicey is that I was in a serious accident and ended up having to withdraw from my studies early, which effectively rendered me out of status (I fully acknowledge that I could've done more to maintain my status and I take full responsibility for letting my status expire).
Well, he recently proposed, and we have decided on either eloping or having a courthouse wedding within the next few weeks and then sending in our sponsorship application as soon as our marriage certificate arrives. A big motivating factor for moving quickly with the wedding is so that we can apply for spousal sponsorship sooner, which I know is also highly frowned upon, but I am mainly thinking it of a "timing of convenience" and not a "marriage of convenience" since we have been together for so long. Another motivating factor for a small wedding is that both of our immediate and extended families are scattered across the world, which means that no matter where we have it, the vast majority of our loved ones would have to travel a significant distance. At the very least, my partner's parents would be there as our witnesses; my parents do not have passports, so they would not be able to attend. We could easily spin the story as a "we wanted to save money on the wedding so that we could travel to see everyone over the next 2 years".
Is there anything I can do/say in my application to reduce the impact of some of these red flags? There are definitely a lot of green flags on our application -- we've been together for 7 years, we have been on vacations together (mostly pre-pandemic) and have photos together on those vacations, I'm from the U.S. and have a graduate-level degree with strong employment prospects, he proposed with a diamond ring, happy to share our future "wedding kiss" photo if that's something they really care about, etc. Also not sure if this is a red or green flag: I spent my first several years in Canada living alone because I wanted to be self-sufficient, but we have since been living together for nearly a year and have combined expenses and a signed lease agreement in both of our names.
So, does the strength of our "green flags" offset the red flags, or should we consider doing more to strengthen our application? (e.g., take out life insurance policies or something). Thanks in advance!