Documents Required for Marriage & Sponsorship with Foreigner

[nebulous]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding getting married and sponsoring my future spouse. I am a Canadian citizen, and he is from Poland. He is currently here on Working Holiday, and he will be here on Working Holiday until the beginning of March.

1. Which documents are required to get married in Ontario (for both of us)? Will we need to send/get any documents to/from Poland?
2. Will we be required to get single status certifications?
3. Will we need an agreement from Poland in order to get married?
4. Which documents are required to sponsor a spouse?
5. We would like to use the program which offers "work permits for spouses and common-law partners applying for permanent residence from within Canada" (which is available until December 22, 2016). What are the chances of the application being accepted, and do you think we would have enough time to apply before the deadline?
6. In our situation, would you recommend inland or outland sponsorship?

Thank you.

 

[COPRQuestion]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding getting married and sponsoring my future spouse. I am a Canadian citizen, and he is from Poland. He is currently here on Working Holiday, and he will be here on Working Holiday until the beginning of March.

1. Which documents are required to get married in Ontario (for both of us)? Will we need to send/get any documents to/from Poland?
2. Will we be required to get single status certifications?
3. Will we need an agreement from Poland in order to get married?
4. Which documents are required to sponsor a spouse?
5. We would like to use the program which offers "work permits for spouses and common-law partners applying for permanent residence from within Canada" (which is available until December 22, 2016). What are the chances of the application being accepted, and do you think we would have enough time to apply before the deadline?
6. In our situation, would you recommend inland or outland sponsorship?

Thank you.

I'm afraid I can't answer too many of your questions as they are really specific for your situation. Do people from Poland require a visa for Canada or just an ETA? The question I can answer is.

4. what documents you need are all outlined here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse.asp this is the page you need to sponsor a spouse

6. I don't know what the best option is but having read through a lot of this forum people seem to suggest that an outland process is quicker. speaking from my own experience the whole process took just about 4.5 months for an outland sponsorship (neither myself of my spouse are currently in Canada)

 

[danawhitaker]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding getting married and sponsoring my future spouse. I am a Canadian citizen, and he is from Poland. He is currently here on Working Holiday, and he will be here on Working Holiday until the beginning of March.

1. Which documents are required to get married in Ontario (for both of us)? Will we need to send/get any documents to/from Poland?
2. Will we be required to get single status certifications?
3. Will we need an agreement from Poland in order to get married?
4. Which documents are required to sponsor a spouse?
5. We would like to use the program which offers "work permits for spouses and common-law partners applying for permanent residence from within Canada" (which is available until December 22, 2016). What are the chances of the application being accepted, and do you think we would have enough time to apply before the deadline?
6. In our situation, would you recommend inland or outland sponsorship?

Thank you.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/getting-married

That link should answer the first few questions. I'd check with the specific office you plan to get your marriage license at to make sure they don't have more specific document requirements.

At the Zorra Township office I used my passport and my birth certificate. My husband used his passport and driver's license. We did not have to have anything that certified our status as single.

 

[just a square]

6. In our situation, would you recommend inland or outland sponsorship?

I'd say outland. Warsaw is a relatively fast visa office. If you apply inland, it takes four months to get open work permit. Outland applications for visa exempt countries are likely to be processed in, give or take, half a year. Having red flags will likely take it longer. There are Polish applicants from 2016 who got their applications done in four months.
He can stay in Canada even if you apply outland, however then he won't get a work permit.
I don't really see many advantages of inland, besides having a possibility to start legally working a few months sooner. It's advised not to leave Canada while inland application is in process (which takes over 20 months I believe) because if he's denied at the border, your file goes down the toilet. And you can't appeal.

 

[CaroM8]

We just got married this past May in Ontario and here is what we needed for the marriage license: Both of our passports and birth certificates. That's basically it.
We Went to small town Service Ontario office and I think the people there were not used to doing this with one partner being a foreigner. At first they said that my husband's documents needed to be issued in English or French. Well guess what lady, Guatemala doesn't issue stuff in English or French. When they realized they were being a bit ridiculous they gave us our license.

So just call up whichever office you will be going to to see if they have any special quirks like this! If you go to a major office in big cities like Ottawa or Toronto I'm sure they are used to it. And proof read everything on the license before you sign it, especially foreign names and addresses that can easily be spelled wrong.

 

[COPRQuestion]

Sounds like you've got all the information you need from different sources - good work everyone!

Good luck with your application

 

[nebulous]

Thank you for all of the replies.

In order to apply outland, would he have to be in Poland, or can we apply outland while he is in Canada? I've also heard that sometimes when applying outland, the VISA office in that country will call and request an interview. Is this common?

Also, when applying for sponsorship, do they require information regarding income?

 

[CaroM8]

Yes you can apply outland even if you are in Canada. As for the interview, from what I have read, it is requested when the visa office reviewing your case has doubts on the genuiness of you relationship or too many red flags. Try to address every possible red flag in your application so that you can avoid the interview.
Red flags: huge age gap, no having met each others family (or each other in person for that matter!), basically anything that can make it look like this is not a real relationship and you are doing this only to get status in Canada.

I am unsure if you would have to travel to his home country for an interview if you are both in Canada, someone else will have to chime in on that...

They do ask for some income/financial information but if you both don't have any dependants it's not super relevant. You should submit something from your current employment, as well as the mandatory Notice of Assessment from CRA. If you have any savings or investments it can't hurt to include them.

Hope this helps!