Canada Immigration...will they call my family to confirm we are married?!

[needadviceandhelp]

I've heard a few things about this recently. Apparently the government will sometimes "Call" your family members to confirm your marriage.

The thing is, my fiance and I are not going to tell either of our parents, because they have their heart set on a huge celebration and until that point we want to keep our private ceremony to US. We are going to have a couple of our best friends present but that's it. I don't want to hurt my family members if the government calls them and informs them that we're married (prior to our HUGE celebration that will take at least 2 years to save up for).

We are not planning on lying to the government, we are going to explain that we didn't tell our families and why on the forms - and we are using an immigration lawyer as well.

Does anybody have experience with this? What are your stories - did they call your parents, etc?

Thank you ... I owe everyone on this forum so much for your help and support! <3

 

[Shylox]

I've been wondering about this as well, we haven't told our parents for basically the same reasons and I'm afraid that they'll contact them and cause a huge drama fest by spilling the beans before we're ready.

Please update here if you find anything out, I will do the same =)

 

[Fencesitter]

The chances for them to contact family, friends, employers, etc is remote.

I wouldn't worry about it...I have yet to hear of them contacting family...perhaps an employer or two...but it's rare for them to do so.

Good luck!

FS

 

[needadviceandhelp]

Thank you!

Anybody else on this? Is it something I should be concerned about?

 

[KJG]

Thank you!

Anybody else on this? Is it something I should be concerned about?

no CIC will not contact your family to confirm your marriage.....however it will raise a flag if you don't explain fully in your application why your family is not aware of the marriage.......

 

[Shylox]

no CIC will not contact your family to confirm your marriage.....however it will raise a flag if you don't explain fully in your application why your family is not aware of the marriage.......

I made sure to explain everything, including why our families weren't at the wedding even though I had already explained that they don't know about it.

 

[canadianwoman]

I've read a few appeal cases where the visa officer did contact family members, and a couple where a visa officer actually went to someone's home. It is very very unusual, though. The cases I've seen were in China, India, and Vietnam, with one inland case in Canada. The visa officer would have to be very suspicious about something: they did not seem to be contacting family members just casually to check whether the couple was married.

However, your families not knowing about the marriage is a 'red flag'. Explain very carefully why you decided not to tell them.

 

[Shylox]

Do you think that this is cause enough for them to call for an interview? I'm from the US and I've read many times that it's very rare to be interviewed.

 

[canadianwoman]

One of the hallmarks of a genuine marriage or relationship is that your community knows about it and accepts you as a couple. So any time a relationship appears to be 'hidden' will make the visa officer wonder what is going on. That may not make him or her definitely call for an interview, though. If you have explained your reasons well, and have submitted lots of other evidence that your relationship is real, then no interview may be deemed necessary.

 

[Shylox]

One of the hallmarks of a genuine marriage or relationship is that your community knows about it and accepts you as a couple. So any time a relationship appears to be 'hidden' will make the visa officer wonder what is going on. That may not make him or her definitely call for an interview, though. If you have explained your reasons well, and have submitted lots of other evidence that your relationship is real, then no interview may be deemed necessary.

Well there were still a handful of people at the wedding, and literally all of our close friends know about it, it's only our parents who don't know right now. And honestly we're probably going to tell them before they even reach a decision on my application, we were only really waiting for the stress of getting it finished over with.

And we definitely have lots of evidence haha chats, emails, skype logs, letters, phone bills and other odds and ends like our joint lease agreement and joint bank account gathered over our 7 year relationship. That part I'm actually really confident about =)

Anyway, thanks for your input! I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed =)

 

[needadviceandhelp]

Hi all, thanks for your responses.

We are going to fully explain the reason why our families are not aware and were not present at our wedding. The reason being that our families are very against civil ceremonies and have their hearts set on a big religious celebration. We will explain that although we are planning to save up for a big ceremony to make our families happy in the future (when timing and funds are right), we married for our own happiness and our close friends are aware of our marriage.

We have evidence including:

-pictures of us with each other's families
-pictures of us out and about and with friends
-pictures of the engagement party (with family)
-pictures of our civil ceremony
-pictures of the tattoos we got (matching) of our wedding date
-skype, email, chat logs, phone history
-receipts for our rings, various gifts we've given each other
-copy of ring appraisal
-movie tickets (x 7 or so)
-sporting event tickets
-letters, cards
-5 signed letters from individuals who know about our marriage including best friends and one cousin
-gym memberships and joint bank account.

Do you feel they will still question it?

 

[truesmile]

I think that will be enough, there is a place on the forms for your spouse having met close friends. I am relying on that should the VO really want to call Canada from Manila. Somehow I doubt they will do so, what with the cost, time difference, etc. etc.

 

[Fencesitter]

That's what I was wondering about as well. The VO in HK and CIC-M did not contact my future employer in Canada. This is a big part of my proof of intention to return to Canada, so I am surprised no one has contacted them. The time difference between HK and Ontario would make it next to impossible to call..the only option I can see would be to e-mail, but that's not a very good method to confirm an important piece of information. Would the VO have CIC in Canada contact people in Canada on their behalf?

FS

 

[Shylox]

I think that will be enough, there is a place on the forms for your spouse having met close friends. I am relying on that should the VO really want to call Canada from Manila. Somehow I doubt they will do so, what with the cost, time difference, etc. etc.

I've tons of my wife's family and she has met all of mine as well, so it's not like we have hidden each other from our families, they just don't know we're married yet. So I'm hoping that information helps as well.

As for you lucky people with the big time difference, I also agree they probably wouldn't bother calling. But I'm from the US so they can easily do so =(