Applying for family class visa immediately after marriage

[zimgirl]

ok. thanks
anyone going through Pretoria?

 

[Beaverdiva]

I suggest looking on this part of the forum for a thread or timeline for your country/ visa office

 

[wetjetter]

It's what works out best for you both at the end of the day. Being apart is horrible but definitely worth considering in my opinion. Only you can decide how soon you want to settle in Canada but bear in mind that if you apply ahead of 2018 and it IS processed quickly there's a deadline given to land as a PR so you/your partner need to be ready because CIC won't extend the deadline.

Hope that's given you something to consider

Hi beaverdiva,

Thanks for all of your input. It's nice to hear of some positive stories from those who have been through this process. And congrats on being granted your PR status.

I've actually never been keen on having a formal wedding or reception, whether my spouse be Canadian or otherwise. But I feel for the sake of our future in Canada, we probably should have one, so it doesn't appear to be a marriage of convenience. We have loads of photos together from the last few years, photos of us with my partner's family in Malaysia and mine in Canada, evidence of travels taken together, etc etc, but I'm still paranoid the CIC could suspect it was a marriage of convenience without a formal ceremony, as we wouldn't have a good reason for an intimate and private ceremony as you did, aside from my statement that I had never been interested in having a wedding period!

I just realised I got our timeline wrong. I'm currently waiting for approval of a new contract for my project and while not yet official, it would likely end in the fall of 2017, not 2018. Huge difference! Anyhow, in this case, I think we'd apply in early 2017 and hope that the visa will come through within 5-6 months, as yours did, and we could depart for Canada together.

I followed your earlier advice and printed out all of the guides, checklists and IMMI forms. Wow, just wow. It's enough to keep us busy over the next year! I already have a zillion questions based on these forms, but I'll try to seek out the answers on previous threads before starting a new one.

 

[Beaverdiva]

I'm glad to be of help and yes! Looking at the guidelines and forms is really mind-blowing but I'm sure you'll be fine.
At one point we considered appointing a lawyer to help us but after reading posts on here for 12 months prior to applying and doing a lot of research we realised we could do it ourselves. You'll be an expert before too long! Good luck with your plans and forthcoming wedding! Believe me, time will fly!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I've actually never been keen on having a formal wedding or reception, whether my spouse be Canadian or otherwise. But I feel for the sake of our future in Canada, we probably should have one, so it doesn't appear to be a marriage of convenience. We have loads of photos together from the last few years, photos of us with my partner's family in Malaysia and mine in Canada, evidence of travels taken together, etc etc, but I'm still paranoid the CIC could suspect it was a marriage of convenience without a formal ceremony, as we wouldn't have a good reason for an intimate and private ceremony as you did, aside from my statement that I had never been interested in having a wedding period!

As you are common-law, there is no need to have a wedding. A joint lease is not required to show common-law and given the fact that it is actually illegal to live together in Malaysia, it is perfectly explainable as to why you don't have one.

There are many other proofs that you can use. You said you already have mail in your names at the address; provided it covers at least a year, that is strong proof. You will need at least 2 notarized letters from family or friends confirming you are in a genuine common-law country. You can also get more regular letters as well. You can show matching addresses on your IDs, get letters from employers/schools/banks/etc. confirming your addresses on file, ask your neighbors for letters if they are comfortable with it.

Get creative with your proofs and use anything you can think of.

If you do decide to go ahead with the wedding, there is no need to have a big one. There is also no need to worry about CIC seeing it as a Marriage of Convenience. An MOC is suspected when the marriage happens WITHOUT the relationship to back it up; as you have lived together for years, CIC will not have issue with the marriage.

 

[wetjetter]

There are many other proofs that you can use. You said you already have mail in your names at the address; provided it covers at least a year, that is strong proof. You will need at least 2 notarized letters from family or friends confirming you are in a genuine common-law country. You can also get more regular letters as well. You can show matching addresses on your IDs, get letters from employers/schools/banks/etc. confirming your addresses on file, ask your neighbors for letters if they are comfortable with it.

If you do decide to go ahead with the wedding, there is no need to have a big one. There is also no need to worry about CIC seeing it as a Marriage of Convenience. An MOC is suspected when the marriage happens WITHOUT the relationship to back it up; as you have lived together for years, CIC will not have issue with the marriage.

Thank you canuck_in_uk! You've given me some more great ideas. We could definitely change the address on our ID cards, and get letters from our banks and employers acknowledging our address - I hadn't thought of that.

As for getting notarized letters from friends and family confirming we are in a genuine common-law relationship, I'm not sure if that would be possible in Malaysia. I also wouldn't dare ask my neighbours ... we don't know them well at all, due to the fact that we try to keep our heads down in the building and not draw attention to ourselves. I worry about legal repercussions ... it would be as if we were hanging our own nooses by legally confirming we live together and are not married. If caught, we could both technically serve time in jail and/or have to pay hefty fines. :'(

You're right, we should have enough evidence to prove to the CIC that we were in a genuine relationship before getting married. If I had my way, we would get married at City Hall in Canada - in and out. To get married in Malaysia, it's a bit of a nightmare ... lots of paperwork, mandatory marriage courses to take, and I must convert to the religion of the majority (despite being agnostic.) Marriages performed outside of Malaysia are not recognised. I'm paranoid about NOT having a proper wedding in either country due to all of the questions the IMMI forms ask:

Did you have an engagement party? Formal wedding? Reception? Did your parents attend? Did you go on a honeymoon? Provide photo evidence, if available. If we don't have any evidence of a more formal wedding, plus proving our case for previous common-law status is a bit weak, I'd really worry about our chances of being approved. Our strongest evidence at this point, are photos of us over the years together, ticket stubs from travels we've taken, the fact we've visited Canada and my family and friends there, and I've been included in my partner's family holidays in Malaysia.

 

[Buletruck]

I also wouldn't dare ask my neighbours ... we don't know them well at all, due to the fact that we try to keep our heads down in the building and not draw attention to ourselves.

Completely understand your concern. We applied outland (Indonesian) and faced similar scrutiny from everyone (neighbors, employers, landlords....you name it). We had, what I would call, sketchy proof, no joint bank accounts, the house leased under the company name, etc. and our common law relationship was based primarily on time living together after I left Indonesia to work in Thailand. She had no visa for Thailand, but a multiple entry for Canada, so every 30 days she had to leave Thailand and return or we would travel back to Canada on my rotation. Our proof was primarily some pictures with family and friends (specifically the Canadian ones), 2 brief letters from the same friends and family and a huge file of travel itineraries, tickets and matching passport stamps. It was all good, so yours shouldn't be a problem.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you canuck_in_uk! You've given me some more great ideas. We could definitely change the address on our ID cards, and get letters from our banks and employers acknowledging our address - I hadn't thought of that.

As for getting notarized letters from friends and family confirming we are in a genuine common-law relationship, I'm not sure if that would be possible in Malaysia.

I'm paranoid about NOT having a proper wedding in either country due to all of the questions the IMMI forms ask:

Did you have an engagement party? Formal wedding? Reception? Did your parents attend.....

Ask your friends and family in Canada for the notarized letters. The ones from Malaysia can just be regular letters.

Understand that the forms are generic, meant to cover MANY different situations, common-law, marriage, arranged marriage, conjugal. There is absolutely no requirement to be married; CIC does not look at common-law as anything less.

 

[wetjetter]

Completely understand your concern. We applied outland (Indonesian) and faced similar scrutiny from everyone (neighbors, employers, landlords....you name it). We had, what I would call, sketchy proof, no joint bank accounts, the house leased under the company name, etc. and our common law relationship was based primarily on time living together after I left Indonesia to work in Thailand. She had no visa for Thailand, but a multiple entry for Canada, so every 30 days she had to leave Thailand and return or we would travel back to Canada on my rotation. Our proof was primarily some pictures with family and friends (specifically the Canadian ones), 2 brief letters from the same friends and family and a huge file of travel itineraries, tickets and matching passport stamps. It was all good, so yours shouldn't be a problem.

Wow, thanks for the inspiring story, Buletruck! I'm beginning to realise that I might be stressing out over nothing, at least I hope that's the case. Since we are a legitimate couple, we hopefully shouldn't have issues. I might be a little paranoid because securing my partner's TRV was so difficult ... we eventually got lucky on our third try. As always, CIC sent back a generic form ticking off (what I felt were inane reasons) for not admitting my partner. When I ordered the GCMS notes, the VO said they didn't believe it was a bonafide relationship. The second time, they ticked off "purpose of visit" which we made crystal clear - to visit my family and friends over Christmas! As well, we included 600 pages of our communication via whatsapp, numerous photos, etc but it still wasn't good enough. When we reapplied shortly after, we changed our application only slightly, and listed ourselves as common law and explained that it was tough to prove coming from Malaysia and voila - it worked!

 

[wetjetter]

Ask your friends and family in Canada for the notarized letters. The ones from Malaysia can just be regular letters.

Understand that the forms are generic, meant to cover MANY different situations, common-law, marriage, arranged marriage, conjugal. There is absolutely no requirement to be married; CIC does not look at common-law as anything less.

Thank you canuck_in_uk ... You're absolutely right about the forms being generic. I just want our application to be rock solid and no suspicions to be aroused! There seems to be a lot of posters on here who have been invited to interviews ... I would hate for that to happen. I want our application to be perfect, but it's probably not logical to hold a huge wedding just to satisfy the CIC.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you canuck_in_uk ... You're absolutely right about the forms being generic. I just want our application to be rock solid and no suspicions to be aroused! There seems to be a lot of posters on here who have been invited to interviews ... I would hate for that to happen. I want our application to be perfect, but it's probably not logical to hold a huge wedding just to satisfy the CIC.

The majority of applicants aren't called for interviews. Interviews are for when CIC thinks it's a Marriage of Convenience or when there are serious complications such as criminality. For obvious reasons, common-law apps aren't really an MOC risk; in my few years on this forum, I've only seen a few common-law applicants called for interview and there were serious extenuating circumstances in each case.

 

[Drkdd]

I don't know that CIC cares if you are working contract or not. There emphasis will be on whether you intend to settle in Canada after your wife/spouse gets her PR. You'll need to show you intend to resettle. I wouldn't hold any information from them, as it could be misconstrued as misrepresentation if they dig into it. Your evidence seems pretty solid, so there should be any complications, so why risk it.

We applied outland from Canada once I got settled here and she just came in on the TRV we got her and waited for the results. Made sure we had everything ready before we left (documents, police certificates, notarized translations) and popped them in the mail as soon as she arrived. We had done the medical in Canada on a previous trip here about a month earlier.

Hello,

Just wanted a guidance. We have applied for the Outland PR and our application is reached CIC on 12 th January. Can I visit my husband Before I get the UCI number ??? Or should I wait for the UCI ?? Please do guide