spousal sponsorship inland ONLY LEGAL MARRIAGE

[jacques92]

Hi all,

I appreciate all of your help.

I am marrying my girlfriend of 4 years this month. We do want to have a religious marriage and grand reception, proposal, nice ring, the whole shabang but cannot afford it.

So we have decided to get legally married for now as that is our end game (now as in January 2020).
We are having a formal engagement in August with extended relatives (conservative families so it is not accepted to only have a civil marriage) and formal wedding + reception in 2020.

We are genuinely getting married. She is a Canadian citizen, I am an international student. (both internationally trained doctors who need to get their career off the ground).

In the sponsorship application, it mentions if we have had receptions or any formal parties. If i state we are having an engagement party in the summer, will that not be acceptable? That is the honest truth, we are doing a legal marriage and "properly having a wedding" slower. Should I mention this engagement or not? I also need to sponsor my parents for them to attend our engagement, will it be weird after we are legally "married"? We have cultural customs that we would like to preform in this engagement. I plan to "propose" next year with a ring and we want to get married "grandly" in 2020. We are living together and plan to continue living together (since september 2019). My student permit expires in april and it does not make sense to apply for another program which I do not need. My intention is to marry my girlfriend and have a future with her as a doctor. We do want to have the cultural ceremonies but cannot afford them all although we will eventually do them (engagement-ring-religious wedding-reception-honeymoon). We have photo proof of our relationship and her parents can attest to the fact that I live in their house. Extended relatives (because we are from a more conservative culture) think I am renting --which is why we also need to have the ceremonies at some point, but her immediate family and close friends know.

Please suggest!!

Thank you!

 

[canuck78]

Hi all,

I appreciate all of your help.

I am marrying my girlfriend of 4 years this month. We do want to have a religious marriage and grand reception, proposal, nice ring, the whole shabang but cannot afford it.

So we have decided to get legally married for now as that is our end game (now as in January 2020).
We are having a formal engagement in August with extended relatives (conservative families so it is not accepted to only have a civil marriage) and formal wedding + reception in 2020.

We are genuinely getting married. She is a Canadian citizen, I am an international student. (both internationally trained doctors who need to get their career off the ground).

In the sponsorship application, it mentions if we have had receptions or any formal parties. If i state we are having an engagement party in the summer, will that not be acceptable? That is the honest truth, we are doing a legal marriage and "properly having a wedding" slower. Should I mention this engagement or not? I also need to sponsor my parents for them to attend our engagement, will it be weird after we are legally "married"? We have cultural customs that we would like to preform in this engagement. I plan to "propose" next year with a ring and we want to get married "grandly" in 2020.

Please suggest!!

Thank you!

Unless your wedding follows the typical traditions the marriage is often rejected. Are you living together now? Is this an arranged marriage or a have you spent the last 4 years spending a lot of time together and have a lot of proof of your time together dating. Have you lived together? It does seems like you are getting married to start the visa process and then have the traditional ceremony after. Will you be living together as husband and wife (in all senses) after the court marriage? Sure the Canadian spouse realizes how difficult it is as an IMG to get licensed in Canada especially if there are 2 of you. Hopefully your title means you speak French because that could help your odds and so would a specialty in pathology, psychiatry or being a GP.

 

[jacques92]

Thank you for your response! We have lived together from September 2019 to now (5th month is January). It is not arranged, we fell in love in medical school, we have photos together and with friends from our time in med school. We will be living together (continue to) after the court marriage. My Canadian spouse-to-be is almost licensed and I am still in the process.

We want to have a traditional marriage but we cannot afford it right now (it is expensive to become a doctor). We do want to follow the steps but slowly (for the extended relatives and our pocket's sake). I am "proposing" next year. My student permit is expiring, we are living together and we want to be married, which is why we thought-why not just get married? It is not expensive to have a civil marriage which is why we are doing it first.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you for your response! We have lived together from September 2019 to now (5th month is January). It is not arranged, we fell in love in medical school, we have photos together and with friends from our time in med school. We will be living together (continue to) after the court marriage. My Canadian spouse-to-be is almost licensed and I am still in the process.

We want to have a traditional marriage but we cannot afford it right now (it is expensive to become a doctor). We do want to follow the steps but slowly (for the extended relatives and our pocket's sake). I am "proposing" next year. My student permit is expiring, we are living together and we want to be married, which is why we thought-why not just get married? It is not expensive to have a civil marriage which is why we are doing it first.

For some cultures, civil marriages without the proper ceremonies can indicate a Marriage of Convenience. However, the fact that you are living together is very important and will likely overcome any concerns about an MOC. The financial aspect is also important to mention.

Make sure your have family and friends at the civil wedding and have a reception/party afterwards.

 

[k.h.p.]

Your question is essentially:

If i state we are having an engagement party in the summer, will that not be acceptable?

If you're applying before you've had this engagement party and wedding, it won't count for the kinds of ceremonies and events that are expected to prove a genuine marriage, but it may be considered as part of future plans.

You can't use future events that haven't happened yet to prove a marriage.

 

[zt2018]

It sounds like you are concerned about your study permit expiring and want to start your sponsorship application early because of it.

Have you thought about applying for a post graduate work permit? Are you eligible for it?

If you can receive PGWP, you do not need to rush with your PR application now and you'll be able to apply as common-law in Sept 2020, when you live together with your partner for 12 months or as soon as you do all things related to engagement-wedding-reception etc in the order they should be according to your country of origin traditions.

Simple civil marriage done in Canada in accordance with Canadian laws is an absolutely normal thing and a lot of people do it, however it is ok if you do not care about traditions (engagement, reception with 500 guests etc) and can prove it to the immigration officer. But it sounds like you do care about the traditions and you are thinking about getting married now just to be able to apply for PR, so it might be considered to be a marriage of convenience

 

[canuck_in_uk]

It sounds like you are concerned about your study permit expiring and want to start your sponsorship application early because of it.

Have you thought about applying for a post graduate work permit? Are you eligible for it?

If you can receive PGWP, you do not need to rush with your PR application now and you'll be able to apply as common-law in Sept 2020, when you live together with your partner for 12 months or as soon as you do all things related to engagement-wedding-reception etc in the order they should be according to your country of origin traditions.

Simple civil marriage done in Canada in accordance with Canadian laws is an absolutely normal thing and a lot of people do it, however it is ok if you do not care about traditions (engagement, reception with 500 guests etc) and can prove it to the immigration officer. But it sounds like you do care about the traditions and you are thinking about getting married now just to be able to apply for PR, so it might be considered to be a marriage of convenience

OP doesn't qualify for a PGWP.

With a 4 year relationship and the fact that they live together, it will not be considered a Marriage of Convenience.

 

[zt2018]

When somebody is getting married in a rush for immigration purposes it is a marriage of convenience by definition, however you are right 4 year relationship is a very positive thing here, so OP will just need to prove to the immigration officers that they disregarded traditions and their personal wishes regarding how their wedding must be because they are madly in love and wanted to get married asap (expiry date of the study permit has nothing to do with it )

 

[canuck_in_uk]

When somebody is getting married in a rush for immigration purposes it is a marriage of convenience by definition, however you are right 4 year relationship is a very positive thing here, so OP will just need to prove to the immigration officers that they disregarded traditions and their personal wishes regarding how their wedding must be because they are madly in love and wanted to get married asap (expiry date of the study permit has nothing to do with it )

A determination of an MOC depends on various factors. In this situation, it is not an MOC. They've been together for 4 years and living together for 5 months, so they aren't getting married in a rush.

 

[akbarz]

I was in a similar situation myself. My husband lives in UK (spanish national), I was finishing my degree in Kelowna so I couldn’t live with him after the wedding. Both of us come from Pakistani backgrounds so traditional weddings are quite large affairs. However we ended up eloping and when it came time to filling our application, we struggled alot with how to convey this to the reader.
I ended up explaining on one of the forms, our story from top to end. Our families while they are traditional were not okay with our relationship and wedding so a grand wedding was out of the question. I also mentioned that we are not close with some of our immediate family members so they were never invited And as for choosing a civil marriage over a traditional religious ceremony, I wrote about how we both belong to different sects of the religion and that no Imam(officiant) would be willing to perform the ceremony, and to keep it neutral we decided to have a civil ceremony. We had planned on having the few family and friends there, but my grandfather passed so close to the date we ended up doing an elopement with our witnesses. My mother in law also needed a visa to enter Canada, so i described all these details. I also mentioned that for myself and him we had been in 3 year relationship, travelled and stayed together and in typical muslim marriages and culture none of this was okay or normal. This was to show that while we try to respect our parents and families wishes, we were not a traditional couple and that a small ceremony was what we had wanted. I also showed a lot of proof through photos, receipts for tickets and hotels and letters from my mother and friends. I still worry that they might pull the whole well its not traditional, but I explained our circumstances as best as I could.
And in case they ask for more proof, I saved all my emails and texts between my vendors and friends leading up to the wedding day, explaining that because of my grandfathers passing there may be a chance we cancel (my mother ended up asking us to do it quietly out of respect to those grieving instead of cancelling).

My friends still ask us if we are going to throw a party/reception and we might but we did not mention this in the application because it was not a sure thing and it was a future plan that didn't provide support of our marriage.

 

[canuck78]

Are you currently studying? You said you are an international student so PGWP should be an option. The big issue is that you will be having an engagement and wedding at the end of this year so will you be declaring to friends and family that you eloped?

 

[jacques92]

Are you currently studying? You said you are an international student so PGWP should be an option. The big issue is that you will be having an engagement and wedding at the end of this year so will you be declaring to friends and family that you eloped?

I can't get a PWOP because it is a private college. Our close friends and family know about the marriage. The "wedding" for extended friends and family will be when we can afford to do it.

 

[jacques92]

When somebody is getting married in a rush for immigration purposes it is a marriage of convenience by definition, however you are right 4 year relationship is a very positive thing here, so OP will just need to prove to the immigration officers that they disregarded traditions and their personal wishes regarding how their wedding must be because they are madly in love and wanted to get married asap (expiry date of the study permit has nothing to do with it )

We do want to be married, we would do it the traditional way but it is quite expensive which is why we want to get married and do those things later when we have money. That is why we are not having a religious wedding because we want it to be bigger and we cannot afford it right now... We have been dating since 2016 and have pictures alone + with friends. We don't have whatsapp messages anymore from then because we both changed numbers and phones (and we didn't think this far back then)! Everyone knows we are dating but only a few know about the marriage. Court marriage or civil marriage is frowned upon and we want to have a traditional wedding in a few years when we can afford it. Only those close to us will know.

 

[canuck78]

I can't get a PWOP because it is a private college. Our close friends and family know about the marriage. The "wedding" for extended friends and family will be when we can afford to do it.

You can try and see what happens.