Thank you for your effort I appreciate it. The thing is i was sponsored by my father and we really did not know about this law, even the minister did not explain this to us. He was not declared as a family member since we did not live together for long periods of time. The only mistake here was us not getting a marriage license since we were told that everything will be processed for us, we agreed because my vacation was short and we wont be able to get everything done if my husband would wait for me to arrive before starting the process, we never really thought there would be a problem with our marriage certificate until we got that email. We can prove that our relationship is genuine because we have been together for morethan 5 years but we cannot say that we fall under common law category, i am thinking of sending them a letter explaining what happened. But i am wondering if they will consider us as conjugal partner if proven that we did not have any knowledge of the said article 34 prior to the marriage. Also we have the wedding video to prove that no explanation about anything regarding the article 34 took place before proceeding with the ceremony and it was quick because the minister was in a hurry I know we cannot send videos or anything like that so we are really lost here
Hi there! I am sorry to hear your predicament right now. You should sue the minister who officiated your marriage ceremony. But I know that is far from the topic at the moment.
Nonetheless, as replied by other concerned fellas here, your marriage is void ab initio. I suggest you write a letter to CIC explaining fully what happened, however, it will be difficult to prove that you not knowledgeable about the basic requirements for a valid marriage to take place in the Philippines since as responsible adults, performing an essential rite like this, demands that you do research on what are the things that you need to do. I suggest you also attach an affidavit executed by you and your "husband" to further strenthen your claim.
If this doesnt work, I think you just have to remarry (ensuring that all the needed requirements are complied with) and postponed your spousal application. If you are in Canada right now, you can ask your husband to apply for a tourist visa in the meantime and get married there, and once he is there, you can file for an inland application.
