Clueless! Getting married in Korea, coming back to Canada.

[jalee5225]

Hi Everyone, my first post here, so please bear with me. I've tried scouring the internet and the government's websites and such but I can't come up with a cohesive answer to my questions. Usually I'm pretty good at this, but I think immigration is an entirely different beast, especially considering the ramifications of it all.

So my girlfriend and I (well I suppose fiance now) are engaged, and planning to get married. After doing long distance for a year or so, we decided that we want to be together for the rest of our lives. As cheesy as it sounds, it's the truth lol. Now, after we get married later next year in Korea, she is going to have to come live with me in Canada. I've gathered that I need to sponsor her for permanent residency...but after that I am really clueless.

1. What do I need to do? (very broad, I know, but specifics would be appreciated!)
2. Can I get the immigration process started now, or do I have to wait until we legalize the marriage?
3. Can she come live with me right away after we get married, or does she have to wait?
4. How long does the process take?

Feel free to educated in me in these things, I feel like I have a lot to learn about this before I get married so we can make this process as smooth as possible.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi, are you guys common-law already (having lived together for 12 consecutive months anytime in the past)? If so you can apply right away. If not, you have to wait until you're married to mail in the PR application.

From Korea it's pretty easy (I got married there last month). You just get the affidavit from Canadian embassy saying you're single, and then register the marriage at the local government office. A few days later they issue the marriage certificate which you'll need to get officially translated to english and include in your application.

In the meantime, you can start gathering all the proofs and evidence of your relationship, and start going through all the CIC forms and filling them out. Collect proofs of when you were together in person, and how you've been maintaining the long distance relationship since. Then when you actually get married, you'll be ready to just add in the translated marriage certificate and pics of the wedding ceremony, and send in the application right away.

Most common way to apply for Korean is "outland", with processing through the Manila office. During this time your wife can come "visit" you in Canada and stay for 6 months. She would then need to renew her visitor status. Since Koreans are visa-exempt, it's usually pretty easy for them to come to Canada. However she can not "live" here, until she gets PR.

You are best to check out the Manila thread on this site, for how long current applications are taking. Ours was super quick at only 4 months, but that was through the now-closed Seoul office last year.

You can also do the "inland" way, if she visits Canada first. Although with this method, she should not leave the country at all for any reason during the entire processing time, which can be well over a year. But she would be able to stay in Canada with you the entire time.

 

[jalee5225]

Thanks!

So I need to get an affidavit from the Canadian Embassy in Korea saying I am single, and eligible to be married? Also, where can one get everything translated in Korea?

So once married, she can come with me to Canada, and just renew her visitor status through the Korean Embassy?

Also, once we are married, if we happen to come in at separate times, do you think there would be any barriers to entry at customs or anything like that?

Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

So I need to get an affidavit from the Canadian Embassy in Korea saying I am single, and eligible to be married?

The affidavit is to get married in general in Korea... not for the application. You have to go to the Canadian embassy during the morning hours for this (i think before noon), you just need your passport and it costs $50. You also have to get the affidavit translated from English to Korean... but since its just for the government office it doesn't need to be an official translation. So I think even a family member could do it.

Also, where can one get everything translated in Korea?

We did all our translations in Toronto so not sure about good places in Korea. Check out this thread, as there's lots of Korea-specific info and I think there's stuff about translations somewhere in the 48 pages: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/sponsoring-my-korean-wife-for-permanent-residency-t137874.0.html

So once married, she can come with me to Canada, and just renew her visitor status through the Korean Embassy?

Also, once we are married, if we happen to come in at separate times, do you think there would be any barriers to entry at customs or anything like that?

I believe Visitor status extensions are done through the CIC, not the individual countries embassies.

Typically for a Korean passport holder it's relatively easy to come as a visitor. If you've already started the application process you can also mention she has a PR app in progress. Main thing you need to show is a return airplane ticket back to Korea before the 6 months is up, and stress when you arrive that you are a visitor/tourist here in Canada. It's when people say they are moving or coming to live here, that they run into problems. Before the 6 months is up, you would then apply for the extension. If for some reason the extension was denied she could also try to enroll in some english ESL private school, and get a student visa instead. Or even just try exiting and re-entering the country.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Now, after we get married later next year in Korea, she is going to have to come live with me in Canada.

I'll just add that although you should definitely have a read through of all the forms, guides, checklists etc. and get familiar with the whole process, don't actually start filling out the forms until a month or so before you are going to send the app. CIC has a nasty little habit of changing or adding forms without warning. Some people have filled out the forms way ahead of time and then had their whole app sent back because they were using out-of-date forms or missing a form that had been recently added. Even one wrong form usually results in the entire app being returned.

 

[jalee5225]

Thanks for the answers!

Just wondering, aside from wedding photos, what else comprises of 'evidence'?

Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

Just wondering, aside from wedding photos, what else comprises of 'evidence'?

Everyday photos of you 2 just being together, with friends and family, and going on vacations together. Besides photos you can include written testimonials from friends/family, joint credit cards/bank accounts, and life insurance with each other listed as primary beneficiary.

Because you have been doing a long distance relationship, one of the most important proofs you need to provide is how you communicate and maintain the relationship while not being together. So this can be phone logs, chat program messages, facebook posts or messages, emails, gifts sent, upcoming airplane tickets etc etc. Of course you don't need to send everything, just samples from various times in the relationship.

 

[jalee5225]

Fantastic.

Thanks for the input!

Also, looking on the CIC website, I noticed there are two options for sponsoring her.
Would I select from within Canada, or out of Canada?

 

[Rob_TO]

Fantastic.

Thanks for the input!

Also, looking on the CIC website, I noticed there are two options for sponsoring her.
Would I select from within Canada, or out of Canada?

See what I said above about choosing "outland" (out of Canada) or "inland" (within Canada). If you want to get the process started from Korea right after you get married, then you would choose outland. This is the generally preferred choice for visa-exempt applicants.

For much more info on this choice, you can read the top thread in this forum.

 

[Korea2Canada]

OP:


1st - read the application guide a few times. Pay particulat attention to the document checklist and country specific guide.

2nd - search for a thread authored by CanNZ ( we covered the Korean spouse PR start to finish )

 

[jalee5225]

Ok, so I hate to drudge up an old topic, but I still have a couple questions. Many thanks in advance!

1. I'm heading to Korea late in January for a couple weeks. If we plan on registering our marriage at the local office there, can we kickstart the immigration process? Keep in mind after a couple weeks, I'll be heading back to Canada, and she'll remain in Korea, as we plan on having our wedding in the fall of 2014 in Korea. Or does this cause all kinds of logistical headaches, since we are technically married, but not together for a significant amount of time? We are doing this because that's when my family can go over, and we can have our proper wedding.

2. If the above is a problem, after we have our ceremony in the fall, I guess I can sponsor her as inland applicant? I think my only concern with this is that it would take time for her to become a PR, thereby limiting her options for school and work...? Am I correct in this understanding?

Thanks a million!!

 

[KTCYYZ]

1. I'm heading to Korea late in January for a couple weeks. If we plan on registering our marriage at the local office there, can we kickstart the immigration process? Keep in mind after a couple weeks, I'll be heading back to Canada, and she'll remain in Korea, as we plan on having our wedding in the fall of 2014 in Korea. Or does this cause all kinds of logistical headaches, since we are technically married, but not together for a significant amount of time? We are doing this because that's when my family can go over, and we can have our proper wedding.

2. If the above is a problem, after we have our ceremony in the fall, I guess I can sponsor her as inland applicant? I think my only concern with this is that it would take time for her to become a PR, thereby limiting her options for school and work...? Am I correct in this understanding?

1. You can only sponsor her when you have a marriage certificate so kickstarting now before the big korean ceremony will help you save time.

2. Korea is not as complicated as there is no visa requirement to entry the Canada with a Korean passport.
She could come to join you and initiate the process inland.
There is pro's and con's.
Pro's :
- start life together earlier
- you do not need to be evaluated as a sponsor. only the spouse PR application is reviewed

Con's :
- it takes more time to get approved

 

[Rob_TO]

1. I'm heading to Korea late in January for a couple weeks. If we plan on registering our marriage at the local office there, can we kickstart the immigration process? Keep in mind after a couple weeks, I'll be heading back to Canada, and she'll remain in Korea, as we plan on having our wedding in the fall of 2014 in Korea. Or does this cause all kinds of logistical headaches, since we are technically married, but not together for a significant amount of time? We are doing this because that's when my family can go over, and we can have our proper wedding.

Technically yes, as soon as you have your marriage certificate after registering the marriage, you could send the application.

HOWEVER this is often frowned upon by CIC, since it's pretty obvious that you would only be getting married for the sake of her applying for PR. So essentially it's a marriage of convenience. If it wasn't for the PR application, you wouldn't be getting married in January and you would be registering the wedding at the time of your actual wedding in the fall.

Will it cause CIC to reject your application? Probably not, but who really knows. It's up to the VO that will be reviewing your file. You should know though that one of the top ways they use to check if a marriage is real, is by the photos from the wedding and showing all the friends and family that attended. If you don't have a real wedding, then you better have a good explanation as to why not, and simply saying "we wanted to get the application in asap" will NOT be a valid reason!

IMO if you really want to register the wedding in January to apply, then have at least a small reception in Korea. Even if it's just a dinner with her friends and family. Showing there was some recognition of the event is big to CIC. You could state you plan to have a 2nd wedding later in Canada for your Canadian friends/family.

2. If the above is a problem, after we have our ceremony in the fall, I guess I can sponsor her as inland applicant? I think my only concern with this is that it would take time for her to become a PR, thereby limiting her options for school and work...? Am I correct in this understanding?

If you apply after fall wedding next year, you would have the choice to apply outland or inland.

If she comes to Canada as a visitor and you apply inland, it will take around 11 months to get stage 1 approval and her open work permit, and another 8 months to get her full PR. So that's around 19 months where she should plan to stay in Canada and not leave. If you apply outland the process is usually faster and she can leave or enter Canada during the processing.

 

[Rob_TO]

- you do not need to be evaluated as a sponsor. only the spouse PR application is reviewed

Not sure what you mean by this. No matter if you apply inland or outland, the sponsor must be evaluated in all cases for criminality, if they are on social assistance, and if they are eligible to sponsor in general, etc.

 

[jalee5225]

Ah good to know...I was afraid that might be the case. I don't want the marriage to start off with issues in immigration. That is my worst nightmare.

Hmm...maybe I need to start looking into inland...ugh, if she wants to attend an ESL school or whatever, I guess she would have to wait around the 11 month period before she can take advantage of not having to pay the international student rate at various places? From what I recall, i think even the ELSA programs locally require you to be a permanent resident.

Just as a side note, is it any easier doing it as an inland application?