Civil wedding

[Beverly26]

Hi good day i have a question...im a permanent residence here in canada and i have a partner, she is currently working in saudi arabia as a OR staff (nurse). Once she got approved her tourist visa is it posible to marry here in canada? Is that allowed... Just a civil wedding?

Thank you for the answer

 

[starnaenae]

It is. If a civil marriage does not follow your cultural traditions though, this may pose an issue

 

[canuck78]

Assume she may be from the Philippines. It may be very hard for her to secure a TRV.

 

[keesio]

A civil wedding only will invite more scrutiny to the application. But if the rest of the relationship proof is strong, then it can be ok (depending on "cultural norms" as starnaenae alluded to).

 

[andrew3081]

A civil wedding only will invite more scrutiny to the application. But if the rest of the relationship proof is strong, then it can be ok (depending on "cultural norms" as starnaenae alluded to).

How does a civic wedding invite more scrutiny? Not everyone want to get married in a church or with a religion.

 

[YVR123]

How does a civic wedding invite more scrutiny? Not everyone want to get married in a church or with a religion.

It won't if that's a cultural norm (e.g. North American). It would be if people in that area/culture usually have large weddings that last for days.

 

[akbarz]

How does a civic wedding invite more scrutiny? Not everyone want to get married in a church or with a religion.

Unfortunately, that is the feedback I've received when I was submitting my application. We only had a civil ceremony in Canada as my husband can enter visa free. We had numerous reasons for not having a traditional or religious wedding which we explained throughly (as possible) in the form. Give as much proof of your relationship prior to civil, reasons for choosing a civil ceremony over religous and if you choose to not have a big wedding or a lot of family that needs to be explained too. Unfortunately thats the system and they kind of paint certain ethnicities or cultures with one brush so be clear as you can.

 

[Jets13]

How does a civic wedding invite more scrutiny? Not everyone want to get married in a church or with a religion.

It certainly will depending on where the applicant is from. If lets say she's Canadian and the spouse is American then likely not an issue lots of people get married that way. If lets say one is Indian for example then that will raise red flags. Think about it, if you were to do marriage for just the purposes of immigration you wouldn't want to go all out and draw attention to all your family, friends and the community, you would just do a civil ceremony. So it just makes it a little harder because it opens you up to questioning "why was your family not there?" "why were friends not there", "its normal in your culture to do ceremony xyz….why didn't you do it?" So that is inviting more scrutiny.

Remember that you don't just have to prove your marriage is legal for spousal sponsorship...that's easy.....you also have to prove your relationship is genuine.

 

[keesio]

It certainly will depending on where the applicant is from. If lets say she's Canadian and the spouse is American then likely not an issue lots of people get married that way. If lets say one is Indian for example then that will raise red flags. Think about it, if you were to do marriage for just the purposes of immigration you wouldn't want to go all out and draw attention to all your family, friends and the community, you would just do a civil ceremony. So it just makes it a little harder because it opens you up to questioning "why was your family not there?" "why were friends not there", "its normal in your culture to do ceremony xyz….why didn't you do it?" So that is inviting more scrutiny.

Remember that you don't just have to prove your marriage is legal for spousal sponsorship...that's easy.....you also have to prove your relationship is genuine.

Yes, IRCC certainly will expect south asians to have a big wedding since that is the stereotype and "cultural norm"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/south-asian-bridal-show-trends-toronto-1.3944957

A western couple could get married in a small civil ceremony and not have an issue.

But it works both ways. For example, an arranged marriage by a south asian couple is viewed as totally acceptable by IRCC. But not for a western couple (unless they are from an ethnic background where it is common). A western couple married that way would get scrutinized by IRCC much more heavily.