I concur in what
Leon has posted.
Since a lot of individuals make a serious mistake in similar circumstances, it warrants emphasizing or adding two salient things:
-- First: If your marital status changes prior to landing, you
absolutely MUST notify CIC of this, and your partner MUST be ADDED to the application. This will cause at least a significant delay, and typically a rather substantial delay at minimum. Problem is, particularly with the visa already issued, there is also a significant risk of things going awry in this process, which can lead to very long delays or outright problems with obtaining the PR visa.
-- Secondly: It is worth remembering that an individual issued a PR visa can come to Canada, land, and then almost immediately leave Canada to return home. The newly landed PR has plenty of time then to settle affairs in his or her home country and then return to Canada to actually settle in Canada. Up to three years actually (except three years would be cutting it really close, relative to complying with the PR Residency Obligation, and depending on how close, not actually settling in Canada for nearly three years would leave little or no margin for travel in the two years following that).
Note: your situation is very, very common. Many aspiring immigrants face this dilemma, particularly so in the past when the processing time for PR applications could be several years, during which time of course it is common for a single person to get into a relationsip with the person who they want to share life with. But many people in your situation make bad decisions about how to proceed. And, as you indicate, it is not easy to balance the competing priorities involved. Couples usually prefer to be together, and this is especially compelling early in a relationship.
It is important to take a deep breath, examine all aspects of your circumstances, and conscientiously make choices about the best way to proceed,
the best way for YOU to proceed. How to go about things now is a very personal decision, to be made based on your interests, your priorities, your circumstances.
Thus . . .
Longer elaboration on the above and related aspects:
If you marry before you land (or are in a common-law relationship), the partner must be
added to the PR application, and processed, and the primary applicant cannot land and become a PR until this process is complete. Obviously this will result in at least some delay, a significant delay, and potentially a long delay. (CIC is not known for speedily handling such things.)
If you marry before you land (or are in a common-law relationship), and then land without properly declaring the change in marital status, you will be
forever banned from sponsoring your partner . . . and, your own PR status may be in jeopardy for misrepresentation (by omission).
As already noted, an individual with a PR visa can come to Canada, do the landing, thereby become a landed PR, and leave the very next day to return to his home country or country of current residence. The only overriding obligation is to return to Canada in time to comply with the PR Residency Obligation, that is, to return to Canada in time to be present in Canada for at least 730 days prior to the fifth year anniversary of the day the PR landed.
Depending on your circumstances and location, a short trip to Canada to do the landing may be expensive, inconvenient, or even a very difficult to manage imposition. But that tends to be the better approach in your situation (unless, for example, you have already cohabitated long enough to be considered to be in a common-law relationship, in which case you have no choice, you must contact the visa office as soon as possible to declare the change in marital status, add your partner to the application, and see that process through).
This does not entirely solve the imbroglio you face, however, since a PR cannot sponsor a partner unless the PR is
IN Canada, and while this requirement does not mandate that the PR stay full time in Canada, it does require the PR to be residing in Canada during the processing of the sponsored PR application. So before you could then sponsor your partner, you would need to return to and actually settle in Canada.
If your partner possesses a visa-exempt passport, your partner should be able to come to Canada with you when you return, at least to
visit, and oft times CBSA will allow such a partner to enter Canada, issuing a Visitor's Record, for an extended period of time based on what is called "dual-intent." It is important to be fully upfront with the POE officers when attempting to do this. It could be tricky unless you have a definite home address in Canada and either employment or documented funds sufficient to support both of you. So to approach things this way, you may need to make multiple trips: one to land, next one to settle, and then return to in effect retrieve your partner (it is far better for you to be accompanying your partner when your partner comes to Canada seeking entry as a visitor with dual intent, this being the intent to visit contingent on seeking and obtaining sponsored PR status).
If your partner does not possess a visa-exempt passport, it can be very difficult or even impossible for the sponsored partner to visit Canada while the sponsored partner PR application is pending. Thus, this situation tends to be more complicated unless you are willing to settle in Canada, make the sponsored partner application, and but for typical holiday length trips to visit your partner, live apart (you in Canada), waiting for the sponsored PR visa application to be processed and the visa issued. While how you go about things in this situation (partner not visa-exempt) is, again, a very personal decision dependent on your priorities, one option is to do the landing, return home, then get married, stay at home a year or so, long enough to be more comfortable with a period of separation, then come to Canada to settle and commence the sponsored PR process.
Ultimately there are no easy solutions in these situations. But you should make yourself aware of what is involved, what is at stake, what the options are, and based on your best judgment navigate your way forward.
Some observations as to particular queries:
Eienkei said:
I have recently got my FSW visa, the thing is I am getting married soon. I was told that I should contact Visa Office before landing in case of marriage.
What will happen? Will they grant my wife a Visa too? Will it be a problem for my own Visa?
As noted, I concur in the observations by
Leon, and otherwise the above discussion addresses these questions. But it may warrant further noting what is involved if you add your partner to the application (which again
must be done if you marry before actually landing).
Your partner must of course be
examined, and while a person without medical issues or criminal history or otherwise having a background raising security concerns should encounter
no problem in this regard, the process can still take time. The medical exam must be done and then reviewed for example. Security clearance (background check from CIC's end) must be done, and even if relatively perfunctory, again CIC in not known for being particularly speedy in these matters.
Additionally, CIC must evaluate the relationship to determine its validity and its genuineness. CIC probably does not get bogged down with this when the primary applicant and partner have been in a marital relationship for some time prior to the making of the FSW PR application. But I suspect (actual practice may vary depending on the particular Visa Office involved) that for a primary applicant who has already been issued a PR visa, the Visa Office is likely to more closely examine the validity and genuineness of the qualifying relationship.
In any event, assuming everything is in order, the marriage is one valid in the jurisdiction where it takes place and is one that would be valid in Canada if it was to take place in Canada, and otherwise genuine, while this should be relatively
NO problem, it will nonetheless take time and result in some delay. The amount of delay probably varies considerably depending on which Visa Office is involved and, of course, factors and circumstances particular to the individuals involved.
Eienkei said:
She already have police clearance and I don't think she has any medical problems. I really don't want to be away from her, other than medical reasons, is there any other thing I should be afraid of?
If you had not already been issued the PR visa, and the priority to stay together outweighs the impact of a delay in processing, this would be an easier decision to make. Get married, declare the relationship, and go through the process of having your partner added and examined.
I do not know, but where the visa has already been issued, I would be afraid of things that, as one might say,
go-bump-in-the-night. That is vague, sure, and perhaps tinged with elements of paranoia. But bureaucracies work best when the process is simple, straight-forward, without complications, when the process is routine and standard. Throwing a complication into the process simply increases the risk of something going awry, something going
off-the-rails so to say. And, remember, bureaucracies in general are not known for working all that well even when they are working at their best.
I suppose it makes a difference which Visa Office is involved. But I am not sure how one judges which Visa Offices are more likely to complete the process efficiently versus which ones are at risk for things getting bogged down or otherwise going awry.
Further observations regarding failure to declare change in marital status prior to, or at the very latest at the time of landing:
Perhaps the most common mistake made in these situations is for the individual with the PR visa to come to Canada and land without declaring the change in marital status and without formally adding the partner to the application.
As noted above, the failure to notify CIC and have the partner included in the application results in the PR being
forever prohibited from sponsoring the partner for PR. This happens with some frequency. CIC is almost always unrelenting, utterly unforgiving.
Additionally, landing without giving notice of the change in marital status constitutes a misrepresentation, a misrepresentation by omission, in failing to notify CIC of a material change in circumstances. Note that even if the POE officer who processes the landing does not clearly ask the question, as to whether there has been any change in marital status, the landing PR's marital status should be identified in the CoPR, which the landing PR must sign at the time of landing, the signature verifying that the information in it is correct. Thus if the PR's marital status at the time of landing is different from what is indicated in the CoPR, that is a material misrepresentation even if the BSO/CBSA officer conducting the landing interview fails to ask about marital status. This can result in the loss of PR status.
I have seen a number of reports, anecdotal accounts posted in forums like this one, of PRs who assert that they informed the POE officer (BSO or CBSA officer) conducting the landing interview that they had married, and the officer went ahead and processed the landing anyway. And then when they went to sponsor their partners for PR, CIC ruled that they were forever banned from sponsoring their partners. I cannot say why things happened the way they did at the POE for these individuals. I can say, however, with emphasis, that if a PR is married at the time of landing, and the PR's partner is not included in the application, the PR will be forever banned from sponsoring the partner.
Overall, there are some pitfalls lurking for individuals in these situations, which are quite common, and again, ultimately, there are no easy solutions. Again, the PR in this situation should make himself or herself aware of what is involved, what is at stake, what the options are, and based on his or her priorities and best judgment navigate the way forward cognizant of the pitfalls and how to avoid them.
