Engagement or Marriage? IMM 5532 Part C, Q9

[alvero]

I am in the process of completing IMM 5532 Part C, Q9:

Were there formal ceremonies or events to recognize or celebrate your relationship? e.g. engagement ceremony, traditional or customary marriage ceremony, commitment ceremony, partnership ceremony, reception, honeymoon, etc.?

I am worried about how the visa officer will interpret my relationship with my spouse -- we are legally married and have celebrated our marriage, but the VO may interpret it as an engagement, and "engagement" usually means an agreement to marry, but that isn't accurate in our case. We are worried it will affect our application. Is there anyone who applied for a spousal sponsorship while being engaged and had success?

My spouse (PA) and I are legally married, and we have done a 1) civil marriage at the city hall in our country where our family members (parents, siblings) attended, and a 2) formal marriage reception dinner at a restaurant with more guests where we exchanged rings, ate cake, and received presents -- there was no music or dancing, however, we were dressed up and my spouse was in a white dress. You can call it an engagement.

This does not mean we will not do a wedding, but it doesn't mean we will either, we haven't thought about it. We don't have plans for it at the moment anyway. The wedding wouldn't change our status but in the eyes of some, it may. Regardless of the wedding, we are still married.

So what do I call this?

 

[AutumnSkies]

It’s a marriage ceremony and a small reception afterwords kind of idea is it not?
That’s what I would call it.

 

[armoured]

My spouse (PA) and I are legally married, and we have done a 1) civil marriage at the city hall in our country where our family members (parents, siblings) attended, and a 2) formal marriage reception dinner at a restaurant with more guests where we exchanged rings, ate cake, and received presents -- there was no music or dancing, however, we were dressed up and my spouse was in a white dress. You can call it an engagement.

Don't complicate things - you had a civil marriage ceremony, and a wedding reception/party. It's not an engagement. I would not mention that you may do something more in future, not worth getting into.

You do not mention where you are both from. If you and/or your spouse are both from countries/cultures where large and elaborate ceremonies are not required, it should not make that much difference (what you've done is inline with others), and what you've described is pretty normal in Canada.

(Note this is subject to the rest of your file and relationship etc also being solid)

 

[canuck78]

As long as you are actually living like man and wife you are married. The issues occur when people do a civil ceremony to start the sponsorship process but do not live together or act married after the ceremony. Their community and family do not consider them married until they have their religious ceremony. In those cases the civil ceremony was only done in an attempt to start the visa process and they returned to living separately and essentially dating.

 

[alvero]

As long as you are actually living like man and wife you are married. The issues occur when people do a civil ceremony to start the sponsorship process but do not live together or act married after the ceremony. Their community and family do not consider them married until they have their religious ceremony. In those cases the civil ceremony was only done in an attempt to start the visa process and they returned to living separately and essentially dating.

Don't complicate things - you had a civil marriage ceremony, and a wedding reception/party. It's not an engagement. I would not mention that you may do something more in future, not worth getting into.

You do not mention where you are both from. If you and/or your spouse are both from countries/cultures where large and elaborate ceremonies are not required, it should not make that much difference (what you've done is inline with others), and what you've described is pretty normal in Canada.

(Note this is subject to the rest of your file and relationship etc also being solid)

We are not living together, I forgot to say that. I believe our relationship is extremely strong though and have many things to prove it. She has gotten a TRV when we weren’t married (just dating) and we have been to eachothers countries multiple times over the years and have many pictures.

We are both young (last year of uni) so we have been eager to start our lives as soon as we finish school which explains the small engagement/marriage ceremony at once thing. We didn’t want to prolong the process because it isn’t necessary for us and didn’t have the budget to do so. We are not from a country where a traditional process is required.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I am in the process of completing IMM 5532 Part C, Q9:


I am worried about how the visa officer will interpret my relationship with my spouse -- we are legally married and have celebrated our marriage, but the VO may interpret it as an engagement, and "engagement" usually means an agreement to marry, but that isn't accurate in our case. We are worried it will affect our application. Is there anyone who applied for a spousal sponsorship while being engaged and had success?

My spouse (PA) and I are legally married, and we have done a 1) civil marriage at the city hall in our country where our family members (parents, siblings) attended, and a 2) formal marriage reception dinner at a restaurant with more guests where we exchanged rings, ate cake, and received presents -- there was no music or dancing, however, we were dressed up and my spouse was in a white dress. You can call it an engagement.

This does not mean we will not do a wedding, but it doesn't mean we will either, we haven't thought about it. We don't have plans for it at the moment anyway. The wedding wouldn't change our status but in the eyes of some, it may. Regardless of the wedding, we are still married.

So what do I call this?

We are not living together, I forgot to say that. I believe our relationship is extremely strong though and have many things to prove it. She has gotten a TRV when we weren’t married (just dating) and we have been to eachothers countries multiple times over the years and have many pictures.

We are both young (last year of uni) so we have been eager to start our lives as soon as we finish school which explains the small engagement/marriage ceremony at once thing. We didn’t want to prolong the process because it isn’t necessary for us and didn’t have the budget to do so. We are not from a country where a traditional process.

You call it a wedding. You have a marriage certificate. You got married. As you are not from a background with certain traditional requirements for marriages, it's fine. IRCC is not going to "interpret" it as an engagement. As someone else said above, don't complicate things for yourself.

 

[alvero]

You call it a wedding. You have a marriage certificate. You got married. As you are not from a background with certain traditional requirements for marriages, it's fine. IRCC is not going to "interpret" it as an engagement. As someone else said above, don't complicate things for yourself.

Thank you for the assurance!