Does Canada Recognize US Weddings Performed by Online-Ordained Ministers?

[timelady]

My fiancee and I are getting married in February and then he's planning to sponsor me to move to Canada. We'd like to have a close friend perform the ceremony. He's ordained through an online ministry (Church of Spiritual Humanism), which is recognized in the state of California (where the ceremony will be).

Does anyone know if this will be a problem for our sponsorship application? Does Canada recognize marriage certificates signed by an O.C.P. whose credentials are from an online ministry? (Is that something that will even come up?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We want the ceremony to be special to us, but we also want to make sure it's legal in both countries!

 

[CDNUSCOUPLE]

If the State of California recognizes the marriage and issues a marriage license (which you would then include as part of your application) then there should be no problem at all.

My wedding was performed by my future brother-in-law who was issued a two day certificate as a deputy commissioner by the county which California also allows.

 

[timelady]

Thank you so much! We considered the deputy commissioner route as well, but that won't work for us logistically. Based on what I was told when I called the LA County Clerk, California does recognize online ministries, so it sounds like we're in good shape!