Maya60 said:
Hello,
I am Canadian citizen and will be marrying a US citizen soon.
Question 1:My partner is paying permanent alimony to his ex-wife, Can I still bring him to Canada?
Question 2: I know if I am bringing my partner, I must sponsor him financially in case he cannot find a job or so. So if he cannot find a job and cannot pay the alimony would I have to pay alimony to his ex-wife in this case?
Question 3: Would pre-nuptial agreements (in case I wanted to protect my assets and not get involved in the alimony to his ex) affect the sponsorship application?
Thanks!!
I'm also a Canadian citizen, and my husband is Polish. I sponsored him and he got PR in June 2016. His situation is a little similar, so to answer your questions:
- my husband is paying child support (but not alimony), and he was still able to come to Canada. Alimony payments should not be a barrier - there are many people on this site who are in similar situations. It was never even brought up as a question by CIC, and my husband went through an interview as well.
- the alimony support payments he has are between him and his ex-wife and are his responsibility entirely, not yours. If he doesn't find a job and can't pay for some reason, then that will be something that would have to be dealt with between them, not you. No different than if he was Canadian and was paying alimony, just because he marries you doesn't make his alimony payments your responsibility. Your financial responsibility is with the Canadian Government if he ends up on social assistance...and you would have to pay that back.
- a prenuptial agreement is between you and him only, to protect yourselves and your individual assets from each other, should the marriage breakdown. Has nothing to do with the alimony he has to pay. However, if your marriage were to break down before the 3 year time you are financially responsible for him, then you will still be responsible for him financially if he can't find a job - but NOT for his alimony.
The only financial responsibility you have is to the Cdn gov't. and that is only if he were to apply for social assistance. They just want to make sure that the marriage/relationship is genuine and an applicant isn't just going to land here to immediately go on welfare and use the system.
Hope that helps. Make sure you are completely confident and read all the paperwork really clearly in the application - there are serious responsibilities as a sponsor, its not something to be taken lightly.
And no, the fact that he is divorced and has to pay alimony does NOT impact his ability to be sponsored and move to Canada.
