Just married to a Swede, Should/Shouldn't wait before applying for Sponsorship?

[bobshynoswife]

Why would the VO question a marriage on the basis of the couple waiting too long to apply? The reason I ask is by the time my husband (the Canadian) applies for sponsorship and eventually PR for me and my daughter (U.S. Citizens) we will have been married 10 years. Surely that would not give cause to be suspicious of anything?

No, as I assume you are living together in the US, right? It would cause no problems at all. The issue is when a Canadian marries someone from overseas, the sponsor lives in Canada, the applicant in another country, yet they do not put in their application for a long period of time. This looks suspicious, as a genuinely married couple would not want to live in separate countries for any length of time.

 

[canadianwoman]

Hie canadianwoman, re: that part of your post where you said the problem is with a short time gap between meeting for the first time and marriage (and application) - what is considered "too short" of a time? Is five months to six months considered too short? Thank you in advance for your response

5 or 6 months seems to be OK. There are appeal cases I've read where the couple married a week after meeting, or even the first day they meet in person after an online relationship. This will naturally cause the visa officer to be suspicious.

 

[canadianwoman]

Why would the VO question a marriage on the basis of the couple waiting too long to apply? The reason I ask is by the time my husband (the Canadian) applies for sponsorship and eventually PR for me and my daughter (U.S. Citizens) we will have been married 10 years. Surely that would not give cause to be suspicious of anything?

If the sponsor and applicant have been living together in another country, then waiting to apply is not suspicious. The couple will naturally apply when they decide to move to Canada. What is suspicious is when the sponsor and applicant don't live together. If the sponsor is in Canada and the applicant is abroad, waiting too long will make the visa officer question if the marriage is genuine.

 

[KarenCee]

No, as I assume you are living together in the US, right? It would cause no problems at all. The issue is when a Canadian marries someone from overseas, the sponsor lives in Canada, the applicant in another country, yet they do not put in their application for a long period of time. This looks suspicious, as a genuinely married couple would not want to live in separate countries for any length of time.

Yes we live in the States at the moment. I see what you're saying...makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

 

[KarenCee]

If the sponsor and applicant have been living together in another country, then waiting to apply is not suspicious. The couple will naturally apply when they decide to move to Canada. What is suspicious is when the sponsor and applicant don't live together. If the sponsor is in Canada and the applicant is abroad, waiting too long will make the visa officer question if the marriage is genuine.

Yep, that makes sense. Thanks so much.

 

[whoopsydaisy]

5 or 6 months seems to be OK. There are appeal cases I've read where the couple married a week after meeting, or even the first day they meet in person after an online relationship. This will naturally cause the visa officer to be suspicious.

Thank you, canadianwoman

 

[clubcanada]

I've been traveling back and forth home for more than 2years. It was before we got married and applied for PR (we applied this december). So what I meant is that of course visitors may have problems entering Canada everytime, but it's better to say you come to visit somebody close( boyfriend, husband etc.) than lie about friends (I did that too though). I know every case is different but I try to help using my own experience that's all. I also was asked if I intend to stay in canada eventually, when I mention to immigration I was coming to my fiance and I answered that probably I will ) It's funny, but I told the truth. I know what assests mean and I don't have anything back home that would keep me from staying in canada what so ever but I always have ticket back home and I don't overstay.

as a normal visitor you commonly have no issues entering the country - that was not the topic. the situation is different when you're married to a canadian AND you've filed for sponsorship OR you applied for PR under FSW. this is a complete different situation. I went to canada about 10 times before I applied for PR and never had any issue at the border or point of entry. i got in trouble when I entered canada after I applied for my PR - this is when you're getting registered.

BTW your experience is one thing - having luck is another. good for you that you were lucky - but relying on luck is by far not a recommendation...

 

[matti]

Hi All,
I just got back from Sweden. I would be submitting my application in a few days.
Thanks a lot for all the useful info. It was of great help to us.
Best,
Matti

 

[matti]

@ Matti: I forgot to mention - some european countries have youth mobility agreements with canada. These programmes allow people below a certain age to come and even work in canada for 12 months. Mostly it's very easy to get these visas (sometimes referred as working holiday visa in Holland/Germany or BUNAC in the UK). In this case she'd be exempt from having a job in your home country as she's allowed to work in Canada. So you might check whether sweden has some sort of youth exchange programme with canada (go to the canadian embassy website in stockholm) which is not for sure as e.g. austria has none.

Great! I just checked out the embassy's Stockholm website and they do have that visa with fairly simple requirements. It will be valid for a whole year which would be more than enough for us!
It needs one to be within a certain range of age, and in possession of $2500 equivalent in the local currency.

Thanks for the tip