Spousal Visa Refusal for not doing hindu marriage but register

[kiraganth89]

Hi People,

My husband is a PR of Canada and I am an Indian Citizen. We are in a relationship since 2012 and got married in 2019, I was invited for visa interview, as soon as the interview started she started asking about where we met, then she asked to show the original marriage certificate provided. Then she proceeded to ask why our family was not involved - my husband's family is not approving our marriage because of our community differences and that's why we registered our marriage. Then she asked "Why you did not do a hindu marriage - as both of us are hindu" I told her since our families were not involved we only proceeded with the register marriage. Long story short - after a long talk the case officer refused my visa saying "My marriage is NOT VALID - as there is NO HINDU ritual done". Though I have submitted all possible documents of our more than 10 years relationship, she was very particular about our Hindu rituals, WHY? we are not religious also how can a legally registered marriage be INVALID just cause we didn't do what she did in her marriage(or the rituals google shows - she did mention if you google it shows these rituals)

Question:
1. Is immigration so particular about Religious rituals
2. Even if our families are involved we never do all the rituals she listed as we are south Indians and the case officer was a North Indian - is it right to impose her personal expectation on what should have been done if its a HINDU marriage
3. We are yet to received the refusal letter - once we receive we are planning to appeal - On what grounds should the appeal be done
4. Is it possible to file a complaint or let IRCC know about the case officer who has been super judgmental and rude and doing a marriage counselling instead of a formal interview (Ex: she asked if our husband's family is causing any physical threat answer was no -her reply was then you can easily convince them why was this not done I do not see any issues here - if there is no physical threat doesn't mean its easy to convince - how judgmental

Any insight on this appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Ch-et]

Hey, came across your post today. We are in similar situation. Did your interview happen in New Delhi? Then I believe it was the same officer. Our officer was also super interested in my marriage rituals and stuff, marriage outfits, and so on. She just ignored all other proofs that we had with us.

 

[Ch-et]

Hi People,

My husband is a PR of Canada and I am an Indian Citizen. We are in a relationship since 2012 and got married in 2019, I was invited for visa interview, as soon as the interview started she started asking about where we met, then she asked to show the original marriage certificate provided. Then she proceeded to ask why our family was not involved - my husband's family is not approving our marriage because of our community differences and that's why we registered our marriage. Then she asked "Why you did not do a hindu marriage - as both of us are hindu" I told her since our families were not involved we only proceeded with the register marriage. Long story short - after a long talk the case officer refused my visa saying "My marriage is NOT VALID - as there is NO HINDU ritual done". Though I have submitted all possible documents of our more than 10 years relationship, she was very particular about our Hindu rituals, WHY? we are not religious also how can a legally registered marriage be INVALID just cause we didn't do what she did in her marriage(or the rituals google shows - she did mention if you google it shows these rituals)

Question:
1. Is immigration so particular about Religious rituals
2. Even if our families are involved we never do all the rituals she listed as we are south Indians and the case officer was a North Indian - is it right to impose her personal expectation on what should have been done if its a HINDU marriage
3. We are yet to received the refusal letter - once we receive we are planning to appeal - On what grounds should the appeal be done
4. Is it possible to file a complaint or let IRCC know about the case officer who has been super judgmental and rude and doing a marriage counselling instead of a formal interview (Ex: she asked if our husband's family is causing any physical threat answer was no -her reply was then you can easily convince them why was this not done I do not see any issues here - if there is no physical threat doesn't mean its easy to convince - how judgmental

Any insight on this appreciated. Thank you!

What’s your situation now?
Did you appeal or reapply?

 

[canuck78]

especially if this was an arranged marriage or you had minimal time in person before getting married IRCC knows that people get legally married to apply for SOWP with plans to have their true wedding at a later date. IRCC wants proof that you are considered married by all your family and friends and not just a court marriage to apply for a permit. Also there are concerns about immigration fraud if you have minimal time in a relationship and you have not done all typical marriage rituals.

 

[kiraganth89]

especially if this was an arranged marriage or you had minimal time in person before getting married IRCC knows that people get legally married to apply for SOWP with plans to have their true wedding at a later date. IRCC wants proof that you are considered married by all your family and friends and not just a court marriage to apply for a permit. Also there are concerns about immigration fraud if you have minimal time in a relationship and you have not done all typical marriage rituals.

Mine wasn't arranged marriage we've been together for 7 years before marriage I submitted proofs from the day 1 we started dating.. Still the lady present there was very much interested in religious superstitious rituals..

 

[kiraganth89]

What’s your situation now?
Did you appeal or reapply?

Yea I can relate to your situation. I am yet to even receive my rejection letter my interview happened in Jan. No update nothing. What's your situation did you get your rejection letter or u r just done with the interview?

 

[canuck78]

Mine wasn't arranged marriage we've been together for 7 years before marriage I submitted proofs from the day 1 we started dating.. Still the lady present there was very much interested in religious superstitious rituals..

Was that all in person dating for 7 years?

 

[kiraganth89]

Was that all in person dating for 7 years?

We've been together since 2012, my partner moved to Canada in 2017 we got married in 2019. We registered our marriage but did not have any family religious kinda ritual. I submitted proofs since our first date till today more than a decade old proofs. Still the only question the officer asked was "I see you you guys were together for a longer period but since u r hindus the marriage is not valid unless you follow the hindu ritual" how could a visa officer call my marriage not valid when its registered under our Indian government act. The whole interview was a mess don't even get me started about it. And now I have no clue what's where as I never got any update even after 5 months of the officer telling on my face your visa is refused as your marriage is "NOT VALID"

 

[armoured]

We registered our marriage but did not have any family religious kinda ritual. "... but since u r hindus the marriage is not valid unless you follow the hindu ritual" how could a visa officer call my marriage not valid when its registered under our Indian government act.

This may be why:
https://scroll.in/latest/1067352/rites-and-ceremonies-must-be-performed-for-hindu-marriage-to-be-valid-says-supreme-court

I'm not Indian, not an expert, not a lawyer, so not arguing the point - just saying that I've heard of this and can understand that this would seem to put in question your point.

 

[canuck78]

We've been together since 2012, my partner moved to Canada in 2017 we got married in 2019. We registered our marriage but did not have any family religious kinda ritual. I submitted proofs since our first date till today more than a decade old proofs. Still the only question the officer asked was "I see you you guys were together for a longer period but since u r hindus the marriage is not valid unless you follow the hindu ritual" how could a visa officer call my marriage not valid when its registered under our Indian government act. The whole interview was a mess don't even get me started about it. And now I have no clue what's where as I never got any update even after 5 months of the officer telling on my face your visa is refused as your marriage is "NOT VALID"

Has your spouse been in Canada since 2019? If so that is likely a major concern since you have spent the past 6-7 away from each other and you did not file for sponsorship soon after the wedding which is unusual. How much time have you spent living together since you got married in 2019? Why did it take so long to sponsor you?

 

[Ch-et]

Yea I can relate to your situation. I am yet to even receive my rejection letter my interview happened in Jan. No update nothing. What's your situation did you get your rejection letter or u r just done with the interview?

My husband had his interview last month. I also accompanied him as I was in India then. Officer said she will be refusing us because we didn’t have a grand wedding. We are yet to receive a refusal letter. I didn’t know it can take this long. Did you try to call ircc or raise webform? Are they not replying at all?

 

[armoured]

My husband had his interview last month. I also accompanied him as I was in India then. Officer said she will be refusing us because we didn’t have a grand wedding. We are yet to receive a refusal letter. I didn’t know it can take this long. Did you try to call ircc or raise webform? Are they not replying at all?

This might be similar to the other case in this thread or not. The claim above seemed to be that the officer said the marriage was not valid. Your case of 'because it was not a grand marriage ' would almost certainly not be ircc wording - sounds like they don't believe the relationship is genuine, and that's a very different basis from the above point of not a valid marriage.

Not enough information in either case to be certain, however.

 

[Pindimurree]

Did any of you receive pre-arrival or remedical request or any update after the interview?

 

[kiraganth89]

Has your spouse been in Canada since 2019? If so that is likely a major concern since you have spent the past 6-7 away from each other and you did not file for sponsorship soon after the wedding which is unusual. How much time have you spent living together since you got married in 2019? Why did it take so long to sponsor you?

We've been together in 2019 the whole year he was here in India, once he left we filed visa application but it was returned for missing some country specific doc.. Then pandemic came up my spouse lost his job visa criteria requests the spouse to have a decent job to proceed with visa filing.. He was in India in 2022 so they said can't file when he's outside Canada and we filed in 2023

 

[kiraganth89]

My husband had his interview last month. I also accompanied him as I was in India then. Officer said she will be refusing us because we didn’t have a grand wedding. We are yet to receive a refusal letter. I didn’t know it can take this long. Did you try to call ircc or raise webform? Are they not replying at all?

Yes I raised webform twice with no luck.. I don't know it's just too frustrating we stayed away enough for the sake of visa and the worst part is I cannot go for anyother category on visa as my spouse is a PR. All we're doing right now is just playing the waiting game