Court Marriage - Spouse Sponsership

[Kyreith]

Hi,
I am currently a permanent resident, I had to come back to India due to death of my Mother. Due to sudden tough situations at home, I decided to go through Court marriage instead of traditional Indian wedding and we did hold a reception ceremony on the same evening. It's an arranged marriage, and she was picked by my late mother. We have been talking to each other for a year now. We do have a joint bank account, some photos of us going on outings and stuff. I have two questions

1) Is the sponsorship file going to be affected since it's not a traditional wedding?
2) I had to resign from my job after the death of my mom, I am getting back the same job in July. Is that factor also going to affect the process?

Sorry if it's been asked a lot of times on this forum about court marriages, going through some weird tough times.

 

[armoured]

Hi,
I am currently a permanent resident, I had to come back to India due to death of my Mother. Due to sudden tough situations at home, I decided to go through Court marriage instead of traditional Indian wedding and we did hold a reception ceremony on the same evening. It's an arranged marriage, and she was picked by my late mother. We have been talking to each other for a year now. We do have a joint bank account, some photos of us going on outings and stuff. I have two questions

1) Is the sponsorship file going to be affected since it's not a traditional wedding?

Possibly. You can certainly explain why you went with the court marriage (circumstances). You will need to show extensively information abuot the relationship, communications, who attended the reception, etc. You did not say when you returned, but document as much as you can (photographs, bills, etc) you living together with spouse and activities after marriage - as varied as possible, and with other people, family members, etc. Everything you can.

In your case, living together for longer will strengthen your evidence.

You may want to apply for TRV for spouse - although chances of approval might be low, it's zero if you do not apply.

2) I had to resign from my job after the death of my mom, I am getting back the same job in July. Is that factor also going to affect the process?

You will have to apply to sponsor only when you are back in Canada - therefore likely you will already be working and this shouldn't affect things.

 

[canuck78]

Hi,
I am currently a permanent resident, I had to come back to India due to death of my Mother. Due to sudden tough situations at home, I decided to go through Court marriage instead of traditional Indian wedding and we did hold a reception ceremony on the same evening. It's an arranged marriage, and she was picked by my late mother. We have been talking to each other for a year now. We do have a joint bank account, some photos of us going on outings and stuff. I have two questions

1) Is the sponsorship file going to be affected since it's not a traditional wedding?
2) I had to resign from my job after the death of my mom, I am getting back the same job in July. Is that factor also going to affect the process?

Sorry if it's been asked a lot of times on this forum about court marriages, going through some weird tough times.

Would really suggest you have a traditional ceremony even if it is a small one. For arranged marriages not having a culturally appropriate marriage is usually a red flag. How bug was the reception? If you had a reception why didn’t you get married at the reception. Do you intend to live together until July? That would help. In many cases court marriages are performed so sponsorship can start while planning for a traditional ceremony later on. With covid IRCC may be more flexible but in general with arranged marriages IRCC wants to see that you follow the traditional ceremonies as well.

 

[Kyreith]

Would really suggest you have a traditional ceremony even if it is a small one. For arranged marriages not having a culturally appropriate marriage is usually a red flag. How bug was the reception? If you had a reception why didn’t you get married at the reception. Do you intend to live together until July? That would help. In many cases court marriages are performed so sponsorship can start while planning for a traditional ceremony later on. With covid IRCC may be more flexible but in general with arranged marriages IRCC wants to see that you follow the traditional ceremonies as well.

The reception was around 100 people due to covid restrictions and the family situation.

 

[Kyreith]

Possibly. You can certainly explain why you went with the court marriage (circumstances). You will need to show extensively information abuot the relationship, communications, who attended the reception, etc. You did not say when you returned, but document as much as you can (photographs, bills, etc) you living together with spouse and activities after marriage - as varied as possible, and with other people, family members, etc. Everything you can.

In your case, living together for longer will strengthen your evidence.

You may want to apply for TRV for spouse - although chances of approval might be low, it's zero if you do not apply.



You will have to apply to sponsor only when you are back in Canada - therefore likely you will already be working and this shouldn't affect things.

I had to return in start of December, and the court marriage was around end of February. I know the duration is short, but my father is a dementia and a cancer survivor. It is really hard to manage household alone. Hence, the rest of the family decided to go through with it as simple as possible

 

[armoured]

I had to return in start of December, and the court marriage was around end of February. I know the duration is short, but my father is a dementia and a cancer survivor. It is really hard to manage household alone. Hence, the rest of the family decided to go through with it as simple as possible

I would pay attention to canuck78's comments, I do not know that much about Indian wedding traditions. You did at least have a substantial reception but I can't compare meaningfully to expectations or what the usual traditional requiremts would be. You can certainly mention the exigent circumstances and eg covid issues, if any relevant to your travel etc.

I am not clear from your timeline (presumably you also spent time together between december and the wedding as well?) but my general statements unchanged: explain what you can, strengthen with other info, if you are residing together since the wedding, emphasize that as well. If feasible to do other events per canuck78's suggestions, that too.

 

[canuck78]

I had to return in start of December, and the court marriage was around end of February. I know the duration is short, but my father is a dementia and a cancer survivor. It is really hard to manage household alone. Hence, the rest of the family decided to go through with it as simple as possible

Still unclear exactly when you were in Canada and how much time you spent living together. The fact that you had a reception for 100 is good but I’m still confused as to why your marriage wasn’t completed in front of your guests in a more traditional fashion. Given that you had a reception it seems odd that you didn’t get married in front of your guests.