When can I apply for spousal sponsorship (outland) after marriage certificate in hand?

[cc31]

Hello fellow members,

I am a Canadian PR with Indian Citizenship. I and my fiance were planning to get married early next year. However, due to the long processing time of outland spousal applications, we are now planning to get married very soon (maybe this December) and register our marriage in India to get the marriage certificate, and do the rituals around originally planned timelines. In this case, I will be the sponsor for outland spousal application.

I have heard that sponsors need to wait for some time (~2 months) after marriage registration is done so that IRCC does not deem the marriage as untruthful or fraud (only for the outland spouse to get PR). Is this true? I would like to start my outland spousal application within a week after marriage registration.

Please share your experiences or someone else you know who have gone through this.

Thank you.

 

[bluffmaster88]

Hello fellow members,

I am a Canadian PR with Indian Citizenship. I and my fiance were planning to get married early next year. However, due to the long processing time of outland spousal applications, we are now planning to get married very soon (maybe this December) and register our marriage in India to get the marriage certificate, and do the rituals around originally planned timelines. In this case, I will be the sponsor for outland spousal application.

I have heard that sponsors need to wait for some time (~2 months) after marriage registration is done so that IRCC does not deem the marriage as untruthful or fraud (only for the outland spouse to get PR). Is this true? I would like to start my outland spousal application within a week after marriage registration.

Please share your experiences or someone else you know who have gone through this.

Thank you.

Since you are planning to apply for sponsorship just with the marriage certificate, it would be more scrutinized. Personally, I would suggest to wait for ceremonies to be done and then send a strong application.

Try to get TRV for your fiance before your marriage. In that way, you can bring her to Canada after marriage and then start inland sponsorship.

 

[cc31]

Since you are planning to apply for sponsorship just with the marriage certificate, it would be more scrutinized. Personally, I would suggest to wait for ceremonies to be done and then send a strong application.

Try to get TRV for your fiance before your marriage. In that way, you can bring her to Canada after marriage and then start inland sponsorship.

Thank you for your response.

The TRV timeline is almost 8 months now for India. If she applies for her TRV by January 2021, the soonest she will get TRV and can come to Canada would be Sept 2021. And if we get married in Feb 2021, I will have to wait until Sept 2021 (presumably) to start inland application. Or choose to start outland application by Feb-March 2021.

 

[bluffmaster88]

Thank you for your response.

The TRV timeline is almost 8 months now for India. If she applies for her TRV by January 2021, the soonest she will get TRV and can come to Canada would be Sept 2021. And if we get married in Feb 2021, I will have to wait until Sept 2021 (presumably) to start inland application. Or choose to start outland application by Feb-March 2021.

Then it would be best to go with original timeline and go for outland application.

 

[cc31]

Another scenario: Apply for TRV in Jan 2021, apply for outland sponsorship by March 2021. Will get spouse to Canada whichever gets accepted first.

I have 2 questions though:
Will TRV get cancelled after outland application is submitted?
If no, what are chances to get TRV (have job ties with India)?

 

[bluffmaster88]

Another scenario: Apply for TRV in Jan 2021, apply for outland sponsorship by March 2021. Will get spouse to Canada whichever gets accepted first.

I have 2 questions though:
Will TRV get cancelled after outland application is submitted?
If no, what are chances to get TRV (have job ties with India)?

Your TRV application will not be canceled. During the application process, you need to update IRCC about your marital status. Once you get married, she become to have more ties to Canada. That could be avoided if she gets TRV before marriage.

You still can try this by submitting documents demonstrating other ties.

 

[armoured]

I have heard that sponsors need to wait for some time (~2 months) after marriage registration is done so that IRCC does not deem the marriage as untruthful or fraud (only for the outland spouse to get PR). Is this true? I would like to start my outland spousal application within a week after marriage registration.

It will get more scrutiny to be sure. But how much may depend on other aspects - is it an arranged marriage, how much you've known each other before, did you live together before/after at all, etc.

If it is an arranged marriage and similar characteristics, it really may be better to wait and build up a more solid file first.

 

[cc31]

Your TRV application will not be canceled. During the application process, you need to update IRCC about your marital status. Once you get married, she become to have more ties to Canada. That could be avoided if she gets TRV before marriage.

You still can try this by submitting documents demonstrating other ties.

I agree and I like your idea of getting TRV and then do inland once she is here. However, I suspect she will get TRV before we get married in Feb-Mar 2021 because of 8 months processing time. I will still have her apply for it within a couple of weeks.

One strong tie she has with home country is her job that she is doing since 5 years now.

 

[cc31]

It will get more scrutiny to be sure. But how much may depend on other aspects - is it an arranged marriage, how much you've known each other before, did you live together before/after at all, etc.

If it is an arranged marriage and similar characteristics, it really may be better to wait and build up a more solid file first.

It will be a love marriage and we have been in a long distance relationship since 6 years now. We have not lived together (as in live-in relationship) but have traveled domestically to few places within India. Do you think I should still wait for ~2 months in case I plan to go with outland application?

 

[armoured]

It will be a love marriage and we have been in a long distance relationship since 6 years now. We have not lived together (as in live-in relationship) but have traveled domestically to few places within India. Do you think I should still wait for ~2 months in case I plan to go with outland application?

I'm going to defer to those with better knowledge of applications from India. Covid may change the way this is looked at a bit - in that I believe applicants from many countries have had to cancel or delay plans for traditional marriages/rituals and there is at least good reason for that. (Hard to say unfortuantely how they are looking at this issue because since all applications delayed, timeline comparisons pre/post covid not necessarily valid).

But what you can do while you consider and do research about how you wish to proceed is look carefully for what you can document about your long-term relationship, and your travel together, communications, etc (look for quality and hard documentation over the period, not just sheer quantity). Photographs not just together but with friends and family over time and in recognisably different locations better than e.g. twenty pictures of you both with sunset wearing the same clothes. Several trips of a month together are going to be more convincing than two trips of just one night.

And then you can make a decision about how to proceed based on whether it looks like a strong file (try to look at it iwth a skeptical eye).

It will still help (I think) if you reside together for some period of time after marriage, even if short. Small family ceremonies - even if non-traditional - can help establish credibility.

(One small point, if you do decide to apply before doing the other customary rituals, I wouldn't spend a lot of time or effort writing or showing that you plan to do the full show in the future - nothing easier to fake or less convincing than 'oh yeah we'll have a real marriage sometime later.' I'm not saying don't mention it, but this is what I mean by looking at it with a skeptical eye - you want to show you are married and everyone esp you see current situation as being married)

 

[cc31]

I'm going to defer to those with better knowledge of applications from India. Covid may change the way this is looked at a bit - in that I believe applicants from many countries have had to cancel or delay plans for traditional marriages/rituals and there is at least good reason for that. (Hard to say unfortuantely how they are looking at this issue because since all applications delayed, timeline comparisons pre/post covid not necessarily valid).

But what you can do while you consider and do research about how you wish to proceed is look carefully for what you can document about your long-term relationship, and your travel together, communications, etc (look for quality and hard documentation over the period, not just sheer quantity). Photographs not just together but with friends and family over time and in recognisably different locations better than e.g. twenty pictures of you both with sunset wearing the same clothes. Several trips of a month together are going to be more convincing than two trips of just one night.

And then you can make a decision about how to proceed based on whether it looks like a strong file (try to look at it iwth a skeptical eye).

It will still help (I think) if you reside together for some period of time after marriage, even if short. Small family ceremonies - even if non-traditional - can help establish credibility.

(One small point, if you do decide to apply before doing the other customary rituals, I wouldn't spend a lot of time or effort writing or showing that you plan to do the full show in the future - nothing easier to fake or less convincing than 'oh yeah we'll have a real marriage sometime later.' I'm not saying don't mention it, but this is what I mean by looking at it with a skeptical eye - you want to show you are married and everyone esp you see current situation as being married)

Thank you for the tips and for the detailed response. I agree with the points that you made.

Residing together is going to be a problem as I won't get a long vacation from my employer + 14 days of mandatory quarantining adds more to the problem. I am expecting to change my job around New Year and not sure how the new employer is managing their employees (whether work from office or home).

I agree, that I should start with the documentation.

Just recently the "HC for Canada to India" tweeted that VACs will re-open in a phased manner. I hope the processing timelines get better. 8 months for a TRV is insane (can't expect much from 2020 anyway).

 

[Ram89]

I am in a similar situation,

Please update this thread once you decide on the plan. It may help others like me

 

[cc31]

I am in a similar situation,

Please update this thread once you decide on the plan. It may help others like me

Sure. Will update here if anything changes on my end.