Marriage certification from China to Canada

[lastofsane]

I'm a Canadian citizen. I have been living and working in China for around 6 years. I'm married to a Chinese national. We have been married for almost 4 years, but all of our marriage documents are from the Chinese side. Everything is legitimate, the hukou, the marriage books, the paperwork, everything.

My concerns are about if/when we want to move to Canada and the spousal sponsorship for my Chinese wife. She is convinced that we need a Canadian marriage certificate from Canada, but everything I've read has indicated that our Chinese marriage documents will be enough to go through with the family sponsorship.

I have to know for certain. If we decide to go for the spouse sponsorship/permanent resident application, do we need any marriage documents from the Canadian side? What should I start preparing to be successful in such an application?

I hear from my American friends that such marriage documents from America are 100% necessary, but I have to know about Canada's policies. Please let me know if you have any relevant information. Thank you.

 

[armoured]

Your marriage documents with translations etc will be sufficient. There is no way to get Canadian marriage docs if you're already married anyway.

I d suggest you download and go through the current sponsorship forms. They may change in future but the basic requirements will likely remain mostly the same.

 

[YVR123]

I have to know for certain. If we decide to go for the spouse sponsorship/permanent resident application, do we need any marriage documents from the Canadian side? What should I start preparing to be successful in such an application?

I hear from my American friends that such marriage documents from America are 100% necessary, but I have to know about Canada's policies. Please let me know if you have any relevant information. Thank you.

Canada IRCC recongize any legal marriage document. They needed to be translated. (details in the application guide) Canada and USA are two different countries and the immigration policy and requirement are different.
As suggested, download the sponsorship forms and the guide. Try to fill them in as a practice to see what information you are missing. There are also country specific information and document requirement. (e.g. hukou)

Before you are ready to apply, download the updated forms again (the application forms are updated from time to time and applying with outdate forms could result in returned application)

Trust what you read from offical sites. Not from hearing information from friends/wife's friends.

 

[armoured]

I hear from my American friends that such marriage documents from America are 100% necessary, but I have to know about Canada's policies.

I don't know much about uSA policies, but I've never heard of such a thing - there's no way to 'legalize' a foreign marriage in the USA, and you can't get married again in Canada (even to the same person) if you're already married.

Probably what they're referring to is getting a foreign Apostille, which is a way that the foreign government 'legalizes' that doc for it to be recognized abroad; roughly akin to getting a document notarized. (The description that 'get a Canadian marriage certificate from Canada' or US certificate from US' makes no sense at all though but otherwise can't imagine what they're talking about)

Canada does not suffer from Apostillaphilia - you'll just need to get a copy of foreign docs notarized and translated.

 

[lastofsane]

Canada IRCC recongize any legal marriage document. They needed to be translated. (details in the application guide) Canada and USA are two different countries and the immigration policy and requirement are different.
As suggested, download the sponsorship forms and the guide. Try to fill them in as a practice to see what information you are missing. There are also country specific information and document requirement. (e.g. hukou)

Before you are ready to apply, download the updated forms again (the application forms are updated from time to time and applying with outdate forms could result in returned application)

Trust what you read from offical sites. Not from hearing information from friends/wife's friends.

Thanks you for the reassurance. I did my own limited research and was fairly certain that our Chinese marriage documents would be sufficient. I agree that it would be a good idea to download the most up-to-date sponsorship forms and practice filling them out to see if we have any problems. I'll definitely be here again to ask for clarification since the information is so specific and important.

 

[lastofsane]

I don't know much about uSA policies, but I've never heard of such a thing - there's no way to 'legalize' a foreign marriage in the USA, and you can't get married again in Canada (even to the same person) if you're already married.

Probably what they're referring to is getting a foreign Apostille, which is a way that the foreign government 'legalizes' that doc for it to be recognized abroad; roughly akin to getting a document notarized. (The description that 'get a Canadian marriage certificate from Canada' or US certificate from US' makes no sense at all though but otherwise can't imagine what they're talking about)

Canada does not suffer from Apostillaphilia - you'll just need to get a copy of foreign docs notarized and translated.

Thank you for the clarification. I've always thought that our current Chinese marriage documents would be sufficient for the application (after being translated and notarized). I'll return to this post after practicing the most up-to-date sponsorship forms. If I have any issues, I'll post about them here.