Long term relationship, is court marriage sufficient?

[Goldengirl]

Hello Everyone,

I am worried regarding spousal sponsorship. Currently I have my Express entry application in progress. My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for the past ten years. Five years in long distance relationship now. He lives in india and I am currently working in Canada.We are planning to get married in December 2022. We are getting engaged in December 2021 . However, I read that the spousal sponsorship can take 12months. We do not want to add more long distance time and want to be together as soon as possible. One option is to get court marriage done after our engagement and then apply for sponsorship. Is there a problem in this?
What other option would be faster?
Any suggestions/answers would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[canuck78]

Hello Everyone,

I am worried regarding spousal sponsorship. Currently I have my Express entry application in progress. My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for the past ten years. Five years in long distance relationship now. He lives in india and I am currently working in Canada.We are planning to get married in December 2022. We are getting engaged in December 2021 . However, I read that the spousal sponsorship can take 12months. We do not want to add more long distance time and want to be together as soon as possible. One option is to get court marriage done after our engagement and then apply for sponsorship. Is there a problem in this?
What other option would be faster?
Any suggestions/answers would be appreciated.
Thank you

Given that you have been dating for 10 years and 5 years long distance you could have had a court marriage at any point. If you have a traditional engagement but a court marriage it will be pretty clear that it isn’t your genuine marriage ceremony. When you say you were dating for 10 years. Do you have pictures of you together multiple times a year? Going on vacation together? Living together? People have different definitions of dating. What kind of proof of relationship do you have.

 

[Goldengirl]

Given that you have been dating for 10 years and 5 years long distance you could have had a court marriage at any point. If you have a traditional engagement but a court marriage it will be pretty clear that it isn’t your genuine marriage ceremony. When you say you were dating for 10 years. Do you have pictures of you together multiple times a year? Going on vacation together? Living together? People have different definitions of dating. What kind of proof of relationship do you have.

Thank you for your response.
To answer your question, We have been in a relationship Since we were 16. We have pictures of us together at multiple occasions. We also have proof of our conversations and social media. We haven’t gone on vacations neither have we lived together.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you for your response.
To answer your question, We have been in a relationship Since we were 16. We have pictures of us together at multiple occasions. We also have proof of our conversations and social media. We haven’t gone on vacations neither have we lived together.

Although you have been dating for a long time you were very young while originally dating and so I assume not living on your own. When applying for sponsorship IRCC is really looking for time together in a marriage type relationship or following normal traditions based on your heritage. If you have a formal planned engagement it will be pretty clear that you will not consider your court wedding as your true wedding and your friends and family will not considered married and you are unlikely to be able to live together after court marriage. I could be wrong but I assume you won’t be going on a honeymoon or start living together after your court marriage.

 

[Goldengirl]

Although you have been dating for a long time you were very young while originally dating and so I assume not living on your own. When applying for sponsorship IRCC is really looking for time together in a marriage type relationship or following normal traditions based on your heritage. If you have a formal planned engagement it will be pretty clear that you will not consider your court wedding as your true wedding and your friends and family will not considered married and you are unlikely to be able to live together after court marriage. I could be wrong but I assume you won’t be going on a honeymoon or start living together after your court marriage.

I will be travelling back to Canada n would like my boyfriend to come live with me as soon as possible. That’s the reason for applying for sponsorship.
He could try applying through express entry as well.. but will that be questioned?
Overall, my intention is for him to come live with me as soon as possible...

 

[canuck78]

I will be travelling back to Canada n would like my boyfriend to come live with me as soon as possible. That’s the reason for applying for sponsorship.
He could try applying through express entry as well.. but will that be questioned?
Overall, my intention is for him to come live with me as soon as possible...

I understand what you want to do but many do court marriages to try to sponsor spouses while waiting for their true wedding. Given that you will be having a traditional engagement in December 2021 it would be very abnormal to have a court wedding soon after. Willing you be announcing your court marriage to friends and family and going on your honeymoon after the court wedding? Will your friends and family consider you married? If you were having a court wedding, no engagement celebration in December 2021 and just having a party to celebrate your wedding in December 2022 due to covid that may be accepted but I don’t think that is your plan. IRCC sees this all the time. Couples that quietly have a court marriage to start sponsorship but don’t announce their marriage, start living together, etc. until they have their traditional ceremony. IRCC will consider you married when your friends and family start treating you like a married couple, when you can start living together, etc. Your bf. can still apply for PR through express entry as long as he lands before you get married or common law he doesn’t have to declare your marriage.