Marrying as students and entering express entry

[morikodan]

Hi, I am Dan.

Me and my girlfriend are international students currently studying in Canada. I had planned to initiate my EE profile as single, get PR and then marry her. This way I could apply for spousal visa for her later.

However, we realized that we have sufficient points for ITA even if we get married now and apply as joint profile.

Hence, the following questions have arised:
1) Which is better and faster? The first option or the second.
2) If second, then can we do a court marriage in Canada and enter EE immediately?
3) Is only the marriage certificate sufficient or will they require any additional proofs such as passport with Husband name included or other proofs for our 3 years in relationship, etc. during ITA?

I love her a lot and hope to do the best for both of us in being together. Hence, any help is most appreciated.

Thanks for your time in advance.

 

[crescent_jam]

Hi, I am Dan.

Me and my girlfriend are international students currently studying in Canada. I had planned to initiate my EE profile as single, get PR and then marry her. This way I could apply for spousal visa for her later.

However, we realized that we have sufficient points for ITA even if we get married now and apply as joint profile.

Hence, the following questions have arised:
1) Which is better and faster? The first option or the second.
2) If second, then can we do a court marriage in Canada and enter EE immediately?
3) Is only the marriage certificate sufficient or will they require any additional proofs such as passport with Husband name included or other proofs for our 3 years in relationship, etc. during ITA?

I love her a lot and hope to do the best for both of us in being together. Hence, any help is most appreciated.

Thanks for your time in advance.

Aww, first of all, congrats on your relationship and best of luck to you both.

You can do court marriage in Canada and submit your EE profiles as soon as possible, especially if you've already been in a relationship for the past 3 years. I don't think you'll need anything more than the marriage certificate as proof of the marriage. Passports do not have to be updated to include spouse's names as this is not a common attribute of passports in every country of the world (for example, my country's passports don't include spouse's names) so Canada doesn't require this as proof.

If you are both capable of getting through now, I would recommend getting married and applying for PR together.

Or, if you're concerned that 'getting married so quickly' could somehow raise red flags, you can get engaged now, and then you can apply as a single candidate and the two of you can get married a few months later, to buy yourselves more time to 'legitimize' the marriage. You can then add her to your application at any point up to you being approved for PR and before you 'land' (or, in your case, flagpole, since you're in Canada now) to claim the PR. If you get married after you are approved for PR as a single applicant but before you land, you will need to provide not only the marriage certificate, but also other evidence, including pictures of the wedding, and evidence that you're living together - as proof to IRCC that you're actually married legitimately, and not just adding her to your application now that you've gotten PR, so that she can get it too (i.e. business marriage). (If you land without adding her to your application, this option will no longer be available to you, and you'll have to go the 'spousal sponsorship' route anyway).

I recommend this option because, if you get PR on your own and then choose to sponsor her under the 'spousal sponsorship' programme, that will require a whole new application AND a 12+ month waiting period (which is the average processing time for spousal sponsorship vs. the 6-month average processing time for Express Entry).

Another option is for you to both apply for PR as single persons and get married after you both become PRs (are you both eligible on your own?).

The persons on this forum might be able to give you better recommendations if you tell us what your CRS scores are under each scenario, i.e.

• What is your CRS score on your own
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score on her own
• What is your CRS score with you as the principal applicant and her as your accompanying spouse
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score with her as the principal applicant and you as her accompanying spouse

The CRS Score is what will tell us how likely (and quickly) you are to get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residency once you submit an Express Entry profile, so this information would be helpful...

 

[morikodan]

1. PR application together is much much faster compared to spousal sponsorship.
2 and 3. You only need to show marriage certificate. However, at anytime CIC may ask for other proofs, but it is very rare. No passport with spouse name will be requested.

There is another option if you don't wanna rush into marriage. Apply for PR individually if each of has sufficient points.

Thanks Ahamdi. I have sufficient points as individual but my girl doesn't. One other query. I have sufficient funds for both of us in fixed deposit and account, but we both have student loans which we had planned to repay later in monthly interests. It will neither be reflected in my bank's letter. Should we explain this explicitly during ITA?

 

[morikodan]

Aww, first of all, congrats on your relationship and best of luck to you both.

You can do court marriage in Canada and submit your EE profiles as soon as possible, especially if you've already been in a relationship for the past 3 years. I don't think you'll need anything more than the marriage certificate as proof of the marriage. Passports do not have to be updated to include spouse's names as this is not a common attribute of passports in every country of the world (for example, my country's passports don't include spouse's names) so Canada doesn't require this as proof.

If you are both capable of getting through now, I would recommend getting married and applying for PR together.

Or, if you're concerned that 'getting married so quickly' could somehow raise red flags, you can get engaged now, and then you can apply as a single candidate and the two of you can get married a few months later, to buy yourselves more time to 'legitimize' the marriage. You can then add her to your application at any point up to you being approved for PR and before you 'land' (or, in your case, flagpole, since you're in Canada now) to claim the PR. If you get married after you are approved for PR as a single applicant but before you land, you will need to provide not only the marriage certificate, but also other evidence, including pictures of the wedding, and evidence that you're living together - as proof to IRCC that you're actually married legitimately, and not just adding her to your application now that you've gotten PR, so that she can get it too (i.e. business marriage). (If you land without adding her to your application, this option will no longer be available to you, and you'll have to go the 'spousal sponsorship' route anyway).

I recommend this option because, if you get PR on your own and then choose to sponsor her under the 'spousal sponsorship' programme, that will require a whole new application AND a 12+ month waiting period (which is the average processing time for spousal sponsorship vs. the 6-month average processing time for Express Entry).

Another option is for you to both apply for PR as single persons and get married after you both become PRs (are you both eligible on your own?).

The persons on this forum might be able to give you better recommendations if you tell us what your CRS scores are under each scenario, i.e.

• What is your CRS score on your own
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score on her own
• What is your CRS score with you as the principal applicant and her as your accompanying spouse
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score with her as the principal applicant and you as her accompanying spouse

The CRS Score is what will tell us how likely (and quickly) you are to get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residency once you submit an Express Entry profile, so this information would be helpful...

Thank you for your wishes and wise words Crescent.

We have been engaged for more than a year now. We were just planning for the right time to get married. We have sufficient proofs for our 3 years relationship. Just wanted to ensure it doesn't delay the process for too long.

I think your initial suggestion of us getting married and then applying as joint application would be the best.

As for your questions on the CRS points:

• What is your CRS score on your own - 475
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score on her own - 380
• What is your CRS score with you as the principal applicant and her as your accompanying spouse - 455

Hope this gives you a good idea of our situation.

 

[crescent_jam]

Thank you for your wishes and wise words Crescent.

We have been engaged for more than a year now. We were just planning for the right time to get married. We have sufficient proofs for our 3 years relationship. Just wanted to ensure it doesn't delay the process for too long.

I think your initial suggestion of us getting married and then applying as joint application would be the best.

As for your questions on the CRS points:

• What is your CRS score on your own - 475
• What is your girlfriend's CRS score on her own - 380
• What is your CRS score with you as the principal applicant and her as your accompanying spouse - 455

Hope this gives you a good idea of our situation.

In that case then, I would definitely recommend marriage now and submitting a profile together as soon as possible (with a score like 455, you would probaby get an ITA in the next draw if you submitted an EE profile in the next few days, but you can never tell what direction the CRS cut-offs will go in draws further down the line).

Congratulations again and good luck!!!

 

[morikodan]

In that case then, I would definitely recommend marriage now and submitting a profile together as soon as possible (with a score like 455, you would probaby get an ITA in the next draw if you submitted an EE profile in the next few days, but you can never tell what direction the CRS cut-offs will go in draws further down the line).

Congratulations again and good luck!!!

Thanks Crescent and Happy Thanksgiving.

I do have another query. I have sufficient funds as required by CIC for 2 members i.e 15,312 CAD. However, we both have student loans, which we had planned to repay slowly after graduation. My bank letter and statement will not mention about loan as well.

Still I am confused, should I show funds to cover 15,312 CAD + both our student loans? or should I even disclose this?

Let me know. Thanks.

 

[crescent_jam]

Thanks Crescent and Happy Thanksgiving.

I do have another query. I have sufficient funds as required by CIC for 2 members i.e 15,312 CAD. However, we both have student loans, which we had planned to repay slowly after graduation. My bank letter and statement will not mention about loan as well.

Still I am confused, should I show funds to cover 15,312 CAD + both our student loans? or should I even disclose this?

Let me know. Thanks.

There are several schools of thought on this matter.

The first is that you do not have to disclose the loan, and that IRCC is only interested in seeing that you have the available funds to settle; it's not an assessment of net worth, only an assessment of the available funds you have to settle, and so they don't need to know anything more than the information that proves the latter.

The second is that you should disclose everything, including all loans, because IRCC's description of what should be included in the proof of funds includes 'all outstanding debts and loans'. However, the general consensus also appears to be that, since loans are meant to be paid out of future earned income, IRCC won't penalize you for having loans. That being said, one of the key things that we seem to have learned in this process, through all the forum members' shared experiences, is that some Immigration Officers will interpret rules in different ways, and you can never be sure if your situation will be treated the same as someone else's. So you may get an Immigration Officer who decides that the loans are a problem and 'subtracts' their value from the funds you outline, thereby reducing your overall settlement funds. In that vein, if you are able to show funds covering the settlement funds threshold for two persons plus your student loans, it is advisable to do so. But if you can't, don't fret too much about it, as it appears many persons haven't gotten through for PR with outstanding loans in their financial profiles.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[morikodan]

There are several schools of thought on this matter.

The first is that you do not have to disclose the loan, and that IRCC is only interested in seeing that you have the available funds to settle; it's not an assessment of net worth, only an assessment of the available funds you have to settle, and so they don't need to know anything more than the information that proves the latter.

The second is that you should disclose everything, including all loans, because IRCC's description of what should be included in the proof of funds includes 'all outstanding debts and loans'. However, the general consensus also appears to be that, since loans are meant to be paid out of future earned income, IRCC won't penalize you for having loans. That being said, one of the key things that we seem to have learned in this process, through all the forum members' shared experiences, is that some Immigration Officers will interpret rules in different ways, and you can never be sure if your situation will be treated the same as someone else's. So you may get an Immigration Officer who decides that the loans are a problem and 'subtracts' their value from the funds you outline, thereby reducing your overall settlement funds. In that vein, if you are able to show funds covering the settlement funds threshold for two persons plus your student loans, it is advisable to do so. But if you can't, don't fret too much about it, as it appears many persons haven't gotten through for PR with outstanding loans in their financial profiles.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks Crescent for this valuable information. Just to confirm your last sentence, you mean to say "that many people have got their PR even with outstanding loans in their financial profiles" and that, we needn't worry about it too much. Am I right?

 

[crescent_jam]

Thanks Crescent for this valuable information. Just to confirm your last sentence, you mean to say "that many people have got their PR even with outstanding loans in their financial profiles" and that, we needn't worry about it too much. Am I right?

Oops, yes, that should have read "many persons HAVE gotten through"

 

[morikodan]

Oops, yes, that should have read "many persons HAVE gotten through"

That's great Crescent. Really appreciate your help and I hope everything goes well for us.