Court Marriage in Canada and Hindu Ritual Marriage in India

[dhruvkhan]

Hi,

I'm a Canadian PR holder, my fiance is a classmate with me in university, she is currently on a student visa and will have 3 years work permit after graduating this summer.

We are planning to do a court wedding in Canada in March and a big Hindu ritual wedding in India in May. After which we plan to apply for her PR under spousal sponsorship.

1. Do you see any problems with this plan? Someone suggested not to mention the hindu ritual wedding in India, just mention the Canadian wedding.
2. Do we need to get the Canadian court wedding recognized by the Indian embassy?
3. We would not need to do another court wedding in India?

Thanks,
DK

 

[armoured]

Hi,

I'm a Canadian PR holder, my fiance is a classmate with me in university, she is currently on a student visa and will have 3 years work permit after graduating this summer.

We are planning to do a court wedding in Canada in March and a big Hindu ritual wedding in India in May. After which we plan to apply for her PR under spousal sponsorship.

1. Do you see any problems with this plan? Someone suggested not to mention the hindu ritual wedding in India, just mention the Canadian wedding.
2. Do we need to get the Canadian court wedding recognized by the Indian embassy?
3. We would not need to do another court wedding in India?

Thanks,
DK

I asked elsewhere whether you live together - this now has a bit more detail.

1) I would say yes, show the hindu wedding and photos etc IF you apply after that religious wedding. If you already live together, probably doesn't matter at all. The recommendation to not mention religious weddings is (generally) for those that want to do a court wedding to speed things up and have the religious one planned for much later, esp after applying for PR. (Simple version).
2) Not unless you need to do it for some reason in India. Canada doesn't care.
3) You should not have two legally binding weddings, generally, even to the same person. (There may be some exceptions, somewhere - it's a big world.)

 

[totalbatman]

Hi,

I'm a Canadian PR holder, my fiance is a classmate with me in university, she is currently on a student visa and will have 3 years work permit after graduating this summer.

We are planning to do a court wedding in Canada in March and a big Hindu ritual wedding in India in May. After which we plan to apply for her PR under spousal sponsorship.

1. Do you see any problems with this plan? Someone suggested not to mention the hindu ritual wedding in India, just mention the Canadian wedding.
2. Do we need to get the Canadian court wedding recognized by the Indian embassy?
3. We would not need to do another court wedding in India?

Thanks,
DK

To answer your Question,

I married in in Canada (Court marriage) as due to Covid it was uncertain whether we will be able to go for Indian wedding or no. I applied for my wife's PR with Canadian wedding. I didn't show Indian wedding as it was not a registered marriage and may account for more documentation and reasoning. Our all files are approved and the application is in last stage.

Suggestion: Try to keep it real in application as to why you are mentioning and why not. Be clear. Dont try to narrate unnecessary stories and things which may make your file a little fake and sometimes, suspicious.

 

[armoured]

I married in in Canada (Court marriage) as due to Covid it was uncertain whether we will be able to go for Indian wedding or no. I applied for my wife's PR with Canadian wedding. I didn't show Indian wedding as it was not a registered marriage and may account for more documentation and reasoning. Our all files are approved and the application is in last stage.

Suggestion: Try to keep it real in application as to why you are mentioning and why not. Be clear. Dont try to narrate unnecessary stories and things which may make your file a little fake and sometimes, suspicious.

I will reiterate my basic point: if one has a separate religious wedding (which is not uncommon and even the standard in many countries - and technically separate in Canada as well), it should only strengthen an application (if documented and supported with eg friends and family supporting), because it will (should) show it's a genuine relationship. (And if it doesn't strengthen the app, then there's something wrong...)

That said: you are right that it is not required - clearly not needed in your case - but may be strongly recommended in many cases (esp arranged marriages, and I'd go so far as to say basically required for them). For couples that live together for some time before marriage, probably not needed - for example.

And I reiterate the warning: for those who want to do court marriage to apply early and then have religious wedding later and esp after applying for spousal sponsorship, that's where I think it doesn't make sense. "We are planning to get married for real later" is not at all a credible addition to a spousal file, and if anything weakens the application.

 

[dhruvkhan]

Thanks all.

Per everyone's recommendations,

We will get the court marriage done in Canada in March.
Hindu ritual wedding in May.
Move in together in August. (apply for joint bank account, etc.)
Apply for spousal PR in Nov/Dec.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my queries.

 

[armoured]

Thanks all.

Per everyone's recommendations,

We will get the court marriage done in Canada in March.
Hindu ritual wedding in May.
Move in together in August. (apply for joint bank account, etc.)
Apply for spousal PR in Nov/Dec.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my queries.

Since your spouse will be eligible for the work permit after graduation, you don't have the time pressures many do. But spouse should still keep status current until the PR status finalized.