“Physically present at the wedding ceremony” - What if we got married WITHOUT a ceremony?

[thirdcup]

We got married outside of Canada, where getting married is a simple registration process that takes around 30 mins.
During this registration, of course we were both present. However, the imm5707e form is asking us to tick "I was physically present at the wedding ceremony". We don't have a wedding ceremony.

Now we face a dilemma:

- If we tick "Not phycially present" to that question, we could get automatically rejected. (IRCC does not recognize proxy weddings and they use this question to filter eligible applications.)
- If we tick "Yes" to that question, we're facing the risk of misrepresentation and 5 years of entry ban.

We think this could be a common problem, since in many countries wedding ceremony is not required and not a legal process. But we couldn't find the answer anywhere.

What should we do?

 

[armoured]

We got married outside of Canada, where getting married is a simple registration process that takes around 30 mins.
During this registration, of course we were both present. However, the imm5707e form is asking us to tick "I was physically present at the wedding ceremony". We don't have a wedding ceremony.

Now we face a dilemma:

- If we tick "Not phycially present" to that question, we could get automatically rejected. (IRCC does not recognize proxy weddings and they use this question to filter eligible applications.)
- If we tick "Yes" to that question, we're facing the risk of misrepresentation and 5 years of entry ban.

We think this could be a common problem, since in many countries wedding ceremony is not required and not a legal process. But we couldn't find the answer anywhere.

What should we do?

The court-type marriage is the ceremony for this purpose, so you should answer yes. (In fact it's a bit ambiguously written in the IRCC regs - for countries where the legal/civil and ceremonial/religious are separate, like much of Europe and Canada/USA*, the one that's important for answering the physical presence requirement is the legal/civil wedding. (In such countries, any other ceremonies are legal nullities)

*USA/Canada in many cases are effectively combined but that's because the officiants - e.g. religious officiants - are deputized/acting on behalf of the civil authorities; technically they're distinct procedures.

 

[rafat shah]

Salam every one
My wife got the visa after 4 years finally ALLHAMDULLILAH, I have a question at the time of collect the passport From VFS global islamabad they didn't have us COPR ,after that I tried to contact IRCC and London office through web form but didn't get any reply yet.
What can I do some one told me that COPR is important and mandatory enter to Canada first time If any one share the detail that will be appreciated Thanks

 

[armoured]

Salam every one
My wife got the visa after 4 years finally ALLHAMDULLILAH, I have a question at the time of collect the passport From VFS global islamabad they didn't have us COPR ,after that I tried to contact IRCC and London office through web form but didn't get any reply yet.
What can I do some one told me that COPR is important and mandatory enter to Canada first time If any one share the detail that will be appreciated Thanks

Thread hijacking, nothing to do with this thread. Post in a relevant thread, or start a new one.

 

[canuck78]

We got married outside of Canada, where getting married is a simple registration process that takes around 30 mins.
During this registration, of course we were both present. However, the imm5707e form is asking us to tick "I was physically present at the wedding ceremony". We don't have a wedding ceremony.

Now we face a dilemma:

- If we tick "Not phycially present" to that question, we could get automatically rejected. (IRCC does not recognize proxy weddings and they use this question to filter eligible applications.)
- If we tick "Yes" to that question, we're facing the risk of misrepresentation and 5 years of entry ban.

We think this could be a common problem, since in many countries wedding ceremony is not required and not a legal process. But we couldn't find the answer anywhere.

What should we do?

Do you have a long in person dating history? What are your citizenships? Not having any form of wedding ceremony since you can have people in attendance at a court ceremony and make a court wedding into a ceremony versus just signing a few papers. Did you have any form of reception. Even if it very small and inexpensive that will be extremely helpful if you are sponsoring your spouse.

 

[armoured]

Do you have a long in person dating history? What are your citizenships? Not having any form of wedding ceremony since you can have people in attendance at a court ceremony and make a court wedding into a ceremony versus just signing a few papers. Did you have any form of reception. Even if it very small and inexpensive that will be extremely helpful if you are sponsoring your spouse.

These are valid QUESTIONS, but they are NOT answers to the question posed by the OP about the physical presence issue on the application form.

If you don't wish to answer the question but instead to just jump in and lecture applicants on aspects of their application, perhaps have the courtesy to indicate that your contribution has nothing to do with the question they posed?

 

[thirdcup]

Do you have a long in person dating history? What are your citizenships? Not having any form of wedding ceremony since you can have people in attendance at a court ceremony and make a court wedding into a ceremony versus just signing a few papers. Did you have any form of reception. Even if it very small and inexpensive that will be extremely helpful if you are sponsoring your spouse.

Yes, we've been together for almost ten years and have sufficient proof materials for that. But it does not help with our dilemma when answering this question.

Your suggestion makes sense though. In our home country, wedding ceremony is not a legal procedure, so we can actually define anything as a ceremony, even if it's just a dinner we're having with our parents. We might as well just hold a small ceremony just like that before filling this form.

 

[thirdcup]

The court-type marriage is the ceremony for this purpose, so you should answer yes. (In fact it's a bit ambiguously written in the IRCC regs - for countries where the legal/civil and ceremonial/religious are separate, like much of Europe and Canada/USA*, the one that's important for answering the physical presence requirement is the legal/civil wedding. (In such countries, any other ceremonies are legal nullities)

*USA/Canada in many cases are effectively combined but that's because the officiants - e.g. religious officiants - are deputized/acting on behalf of the civil authorities; technically they're distinct procedures.

Thanks a lot for your answer! Yes, I believe what they're trying to ask is the registration and not the ceremony. They just have an iffy form. But still the concerns of misrepresentation are real...

 

[armoured]

Thanks a lot for your answer! Yes, I believe what they're trying to ask is the registration and not the ceremony. They just have an iffy form. But still the concerns of misrepresentation are real...

No reason to worry. Again, the 'ceremony' is the legal wedding for physical presence purposes

 

[armoured]

Yes, we've been together for almost ten years and have sufficient proof materials for that. But it does not help with our dilemma when answering this question.

Your suggestion makes sense though. In our home country, wedding ceremony is not a legal procedure, so we can actually define anything as a ceremony, even if it's just a dinner we're having with our parents. We might as well just hold a small ceremony just like that before filling this form.

If you've been married for some time already, no need to hold any additional ceremony now.

 

[Xilikon]

In South Korea, the way to get married is just to get an affidavit of no marriage from the embassy and then go to "gu office" which is a cityhall. In the gu office, you see an agent at a counter, ask for a marriage form, fill it out then bring it back with both signatures and the witness's signatures (if you have the stamps from them, they don't even come with us). Then, stamped and you are married; it is just a 15-minute marriage. In our case, the "ceremony" is a family dinner.

I agree with armoured this is what it means as in a legal registration and you can confirm you are physically present.

 

[armoured]

Then, stamped and you are married; it is just a 15-minute marriage. In our case, the "ceremony" is a family dinner.

I agree with armoured this is what it means as in a legal registration and you can confirm you are physically present.

Agree but I want to emphasize again: the 'physically present' part refers to the LEGAL ceremony; in your case here, the family dinner is not the relevant ceremony.

In some countries where religious/traditional marriages ARE the legal marriage, the question is about that (esp as some jurisdictions do recognize marriage-by-proxy for these marriages). In jurisdictions where the 'marriage' is eg a filing at city hall with witnesses or the equivalent, that's what the question is about.

It doesn't matter that it doesn't feel like a 'ceremony.'

[Caveat that's not difficult about places where they are technically distinct but can happen at the same time or event - like in Canada - don't overthink it. The ceremony that matters is the legal one.]

 

[Xilikon]

Agree but I want to emphasize again: the 'physically present' part refers to the LEGAL ceremony; in your case here, the family dinner is not the relevant ceremony.

In some countries where religious/traditional marriages ARE the legal marriage, the question is about that (esp as some jurisdictions do recognize marriage-by-proxy for these marriages). In jurisdictions where the 'marriage' is eg a filing at city hall with witnesses or the equivalent, that's what the question is about.

It doesn't matter that it doesn't feel like a 'ceremony.'

[Caveat that's not difficult about places where they are technically distinct but can happen at the same time or event - like in Canada - don't overthink it. The ceremony that matters is the legal one.]

I know it, it's just a data point from a previous experience. I agree that in some countries, those ceremonies play a big part whether a wedding is legitimate or not like in India.

I agree not to overthink too much and if you have a legal marriage certificate, this is what matter the most unless you are from certain countries like India.

 

[armoured]

I know it, it's just a data point from a previous experience. I agree that in some countries, those ceremonies play a big part whether a wedding is legitimate or not like in India.

I agree not to overthink too much and if you have a legal marriage certificate, this is what matter the most unless you are from certain countries like India.

Both are decent points but nothing to do with the question.