visitor visa for my wife (proxy marriage)

[NewN]

I am currently studying in Canada ( study permit) and I need to apply for a visitor visa for my wife to come and stay with me for few months. I found that neither our marriage is recognized by the IRCC ( my wife was not physically present at the ceremony) nor the common-law requirement is satisfied (less than one year of cohabitation) .
My question: is there any chance she could visit me temporary with an invitation & expenses coverage from me, given the above mentioned situation?

I have read many posts suggesting to re-do the marriage in another country to fix the proxy issue, but this is not feasible, as it implies going through a divorce, which is not an option.

 

[canuck78]

I am currently studying in Canada ( study permit) and I need to apply for a visitor visa for my wife to come and stay with me for few months. I found that neither our marriage is recognized by the IRCC ( my wife was not physically present at the ceremony) nor the common-law requirement is satisfied (less than one year of cohabitation) .
My question: is there any chance she could visit me temporary with an invitation & expenses coverage from me, given the above mentioned situation?

I have read many posts suggesting to re-do the marriage in another country to fix the proxy issue, but this is not feasible, as it implies going through a divorce, which is not an option.

She can apply but won’t be considered married by CIC and would not meet travel restrictions to come to Canada.

 

[scylla]

I am currently studying in Canada ( study permit) and I need to apply for a visitor visa for my wife to come and stay with me for few months. I found that neither our marriage is recognized by the IRCC ( my wife was not physically present at the ceremony) nor the common-law requirement is satisfied (less than one year of cohabitation) .
My question: is there any chance she could visit me temporary with an invitation & expenses coverage from me, given the above mentioned situation?

I have read many posts suggesting to re-do the marriage in another country to fix the proxy issue, but this is not feasible, as it implies going through a divorce, which is not an option.

She can certainly apply for a visitor visa. You can mention the above situation however IRCC will not recognize her as your spouse or common law partner. For the TRV to be approved, she will want to show strong ties to her home country. If possible, it would be better if she can show funds to support her own trip.

As mentioned in the post above mine, right now there are travel restrictions in place preventing all but essential travel and her reasons for travel will not be classified as essential. Having said that, I would still go ahead and apply for the TRV with the plan to travel to Canada as a visitor once the travel restrictions are lifted.

If you eventually want to apply for a spousal open work permit or add your spouse to a future PR application, you will need to address the proxy marriage issue - either by getting remarried or by living together for a year to become common law.

 

[NewN]

She can certainly apply for a visitor visa. You can mention the above situation however IRCC will not recognize her as your spouse or common law partner. For the TRV to be approved, she will want to show strong ties to her home country. If possible, it would be better if she can show funds to support her own trip.

As mentioned in the post above mine, right now there are travel restrictions in place preventing all but essential travel and her reasons for travel will not be classified as essential. Having said that, I would still go ahead and apply for the TRV with the plan to travel to Canada as a visitor once the travel restrictions are lifted.

If you eventually want to apply for a spousal open work permit or add your spouse to a future PR application, you will need to address the proxy marriage issue - either by getting remarried or by living together for a year to become common law.

Thank you scylla. I understand she wont qualify for the ongoing travel exemptions.

Regarding the strong ties, she is doing a graduate study now (the reason we could not live together for a long time, as we both full time students at different countries and our vacations are limited) and has to go back for the thesis defense. Her study is also covered by a scholarship. I am wondering if these can be considered good ties. Other than that, we both are still students, so no jobs or immovable properties.

 

[mashulia_26]

She can apply but won’t be considered married by CIC and would not meet travel restrictions to come to Canada.

She wouldn't be exempt either if they were married since he's on a study permit.

 

[GandiBaat]

I am currently studying in Canada ( study permit) and I need to apply for a visitor visa for my wife to come and stay with me for few months. I found that neither our marriage is recognized by the IRCC ( my wife was not physically present at the ceremony) nor the common-law requirement is satisfied (less than one year of cohabitation) .
My question: is there any chance she could visit me temporary with an invitation & expenses coverage from me, given the above mentioned situation?

I have read many posts suggesting to re-do the marriage in another country to fix the proxy issue, but this is not feasible, as it implies going through a divorce, which is not an option.

There are very very few jurisdiction that allow proxy marriages. What you need to do is to get married by proxy in those jurisdiction, get a marriage certificate and then apply. I know some specific counties in USA allow that. Still for immigration purposes, it is likely that VO will find it suspicious to consider it a genuine marriage. The bar for a "genuine" marriage is high in IRCC.

 

[canuck78]

There are very very few jurisdiction that allow proxy marriages. What you need to do is to get married by proxy in those jurisdiction, get a marriage certificate and then apply. I know some specific counties in USA allow that. Still for immigration purposes, it is likely that VO will find it suspicious to consider it a genuine marriage. The bar for a "genuine" marriage is high in IRCC.

Canada won’t recognize the proxy marriage even if the ceremony took place in the Us and the marriage recognized in the US. Someone in Canada with a partner in the US discovered that somewhere like Kentucky allows proxy marriages so they got married thinking he could then gain admission to Canada. He was refused at the border.

 

[scylla]

There are very very few jurisdiction that allow proxy marriages. What you need to do is to get married by proxy in those jurisdiction, get a marriage certificate and then apply. I know some specific counties in USA allow that. Still for immigration purposes, it is likely that VO will find it suspicious to consider it a genuine marriage. The bar for a "genuine" marriage is high in IRCC.

Proxy marriages aren't recognized at all by IRCC. Doesn't matter where they happened. There is one exception and that is related to one of the partners being a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. Getting married in a US county that recognized proxy marriages won't fix this situation.

\https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1081&top=14

 

[GandiBaat]

Canada won’t recognize the proxy marriage even if the ceremony took place in the Us and the marriage recognized in the US. Someone in Canada with a partner in the US discovered that somewhere like Kentucky allows proxy marriages so they got married thinking he could then gain admission to Canada. He was refused at the border.

Its more a question of IRCC / CBPA not considering it a genuine marriage. If Kentucky issues a marriage certificate, it will hold legal value in Canadian court. Though, the "Border Protection Officer" or "Immigration Officer" will not be "satisfied" that the marriage is genuine.

The actual denial comes from IRPR :

5. For the purposes of these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered
(c) the spouse of a person if at the time the marriage ceremony was conducted either one of both of the spouses were not physically present unless the person was not physically present at the ceremony as a result of their service as a member of the Canadian Forces and the marriage is valid both under the laws of the jurisdiction where it took place and under Canadian law.

The keywords are "For the purposes of these Regulations"

 

[scylla]

Its more a question of IRCC / CBPA not considering it a genuine marriage. If Kentucky issues a marriage certificate, it will hold legal value in Canadian court. Though, the "Border Protection Officer" or "Immigration Officer" will not be "satisfied" that the marriage is genuine.

Again, IRCC will not recognize the marriage if it is by proxy. The marriage will not be regarded as valid for anything immigration / IRCC related. See the link I provided above. The rule used to be different pre-2015. Now IRCC simply does not recognize marriages by proxy. It's like it never happened in IRCC's eyes.

 

[GandiBaat]

Again, IRCC will not recognize the marriage if it is by proxy. The marriage will not be regarded as valid for anything immigration / IRCC related. See the link I provided above. The rule used to be different pre-2015. Now IRCC simply does not recognize marriages by proxy. It's like it never happened in IRCC's eyes.

You are right. IRCC does not consider proxy marriage as a marriage. It comes from IRPR. But thats the only issue. Only for immigration purposes. They can possibly claim to be husband and wife elsewhere on the laws that do not draw power from IRPR.