Get Married or not? not sure what to do

[maurice1307]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for viewing my post, I am not sure what to do.

Let me explain my situation.

I have been with my Colombian girlfriend for about 2 years, we have lived together in Colombia for a year non stop.We have pretty much the same age 24 and 25.

Now of course I want to sponsor her, we want to get married just the 2 of us at the notary , no ceremony, nothing, is that a bad thing ?


I would like to try to get her TRV, does it help to get married first or it's worse?

What should we do, we could apply as common law since we have lived a year together or it shows even more if we are actually married?

Also is it possible to apply from for the spousal visa from a different country or it has to be from Colombia ?

Thanks so much guys!

 

[commonlawsponsor]

Where do you plan on getting married?

If she gets a TRV to come to Canada and you submit the application "inland", it is processed in Canada and she can stay in Canada. (But it would be very risky/impossible(?) to leave, it takes longer than a lot of "outland" applications.)

Your only other option is applying outland, in Columbia. You can only have a choice of visa offices if you have lived legally somewhere for more than a year, but you are a citizen of another country.


From what I understand - to get a TRV you need to show strong ties to your home country, if you get married, that shows a strong tie to Canada, they think you won't leave and it might be difficult to get a visa.


Applying as commonlaw - they want strong proof that you have lived together for at least 12 months. What kind of proof do you have? A joint lease? Let's say, if you lived in her apartment for 2 months (with not so strong proof) and then co-signed a lease for the next 10 months (stronger proof) then you might have problems claiming commonlaw.

On the other hand - having a small ceremony, with neither of your families present could be a big red flag for CIC too!

 

[maurice1307]

Thanks for your answer,

the plan would be to get married in Colombia, but we don't like ceremony and things like that...

We have lived together for a year but no we do not have a joint lease, one lease of 6 months is under her name and the other one of 6 months is under my name.We have a lot of pictures and packages that arrived at both address under both names. She also sponsored me in Colombia for a Commmon law visa that got approved. We have made travel together in Colombia and are planning to travel outside Colombia in a few weeks. We have a lot of skype, facebook, message when we were not together...

but do you apply as Common law or married? or you just apply for both at the same time? or how does that work?

 

[commonlawsponsor]

You apply as either commonlaw or married. Both you need to show proof of the relationship but with commonlaw you need to show that you lived together for at least 365 days, and if you are married you include wedding information.

I think the fact that you are commonlaw in Columbia is a plus for you. When you file taxes in Canada, you need to file them as commonlaw, so if it works the same in Columbia make sure you file as commonlaw.

If you apply as commonlaw make sure you include as many other things they mention in the official guide: joint bank accounts/credit cards, insurance policies, utility bills with both of your names on it, joint ownership of cars or other large items, etc. (Even if you get married you still should include these).

What you are going to have to show is - proof that you lived in the house that was under her name as close to possible as the date you moved in. I read in your other thread that you only lived together 367 or 368 days, if you don't have proof that you lived with her on those very first days, CIC might not consider you commonlaw.

As for marriage - even if you don't want a big wedding and prefer a civil ceremony, it will look much better when your families attend.

 

[truesmile]

From the OP's posts, I don't see enough proof of continuous cohabitation to support a "common-law application". As far as the wedding goes, try to have at least SOME family there.

 

[maurice1307]

Thanks for your answers.

So lets say we have a small ceremony at the notary itself and after we go to a nice restaurant with the guests maybe 10.Her family would go, but not mine as It's not that easy but we could explain we would make another ceremony once in Canada?

We would also go on a honeymoon a few weeks afterwards.

Thanks

 

[amjad1002]

Thanks for your answers.

So lets say we have a small ceremony at the notary itself and after we go to a nice restaurant with the guests maybe 10.Her family would go, but not mine as It's not that easy but we could explain we would make another ceremony once in Canada?

We would also go on a honeymoon a few weeks afterwards.

Thanks

That's better idea try to do marriage ceremony as per her tradition and must go to honeymoon and take as much photo as you can and explain your condition also ifpossible to invite your mother or father it will be enough for application.

 

[jenny12345]

If you do get married a big wedding celebration is not proof/requirement of a real marriage, you could have a small civil ceremony, but still take pictures if you could. It's actually only the marriage certificate that's needed. Good luck on your application .