Marriage between a Canadian and non-Korean in South Korea

[cmcsbdg22]

Hello everyone. Our case is rather specific. I'm a Canadian citizen, currently residing in South Korea, and I intend to marry my partner, who is a Ukrainian national, also currently living in South Korea.
After our marriage I would like to bring my partner to Canada through the spousal sponsorship program.
On consulting the local government office, they have told me that the Korean government can issue only a 수리증명서 *Proof of Acceptance (of civil procedures)* for our marriage registration, and not a proper Certificate of Marriage(혼인관계증명서), as they would if at least one Korean citizen was involved in the marriage. I am worried if this document will suffice in proving our spousal relationship for the sponsorship application, but upon contacting IRCC they were unable to provide me with a direct answer.
Since there seem to be no additional accreditation that could be carried out by the Korean government nor the Canadian Embassy, this is the closest thing that any Canadian and a non-Korean spouse can get to obtaining a Certificate of Marriage at the moment.
If anyone has a similar experience of marrying a foreign national in a '3-rd person' country, or in South Korea in particular, I would like their advice on this matter. Should we still go on with the registration in Korea, or should we first apply for a visitor visa and get married in Canada?
If we take the second route, then, since the visitor visa lasts only 6 months, and the process of getting a Canadian certificate of marriage could take anywhere up to 3 months, how could we arrange for her continued legal stay in Canada while waiting for her PR application to be approved? If we apply for a multiple-entry visa, could she stay indefinitely provided that she exits and re-enters Canada every 6 months?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hawk39]

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/spouse-partner-children/who-you-can-sponsor.html#common-law

Just a general comment; if you have been continuously living together for one year, you could sponsor your partner for PR under a common-law relationship. You just have to show proof of cohabitation for one continuous year.

 

[armoured]

If we take the second route, then, since the visitor visa lasts only 6 months, and the process of getting a Canadian certificate of marriage could take anywhere up to 3 months, how could we arrange for her continued legal stay in Canada while waiting for her PR application to be approved? If we apply for a multiple-entry visa, could she stay indefinitely provided that she exits and re-enters Canada every 6 months?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Look up the possibility of extending her visa, as well as applying "inland." She does not necessarily need to leave every six months. Note that although there are different approaches, Canada often issues visas valid for a certain period of time, with no specific number of entries (i.e. unlike with other countries you don't necessarily need to apply for a multi-entry visa). For example my spouse applied for a visa and it was issued for the duration of validity of the passport (more than five years). That said, there is no guarantee she will be issued a visitor's visa (if needed).

I know nothing about South Korea but you could also get married in any number of other countries. Canada would recognise a marriage in Ukraine, for example. No idea whether waiting periods or time to receive marriage certificate would be advantageous compared to alternatives.