Marrying Canadian citizen, currently visiting Toronto. Timeline?

[David132]

Hello! I've found a lot of great information on this forum and thought I'd post my particular case.

I'm currently a US citizen visiting my Canadian girlfriend in Toronto. My visitor record expires on September 7, 2010. Now, a couple questions:

1) We're not sure if we're getting married in Toronto or Ottawa yet and, as such, have not applied for our marriage license. Once we have been married, I'm planning on applying for PR with her sponsoring me as family class. Obviously, I won't have PR anywhere near the time I need to leave the country. Will this process complicate my leaving and re-entering? Or will I be able to go to the border, say "We're married and have applied for PR, here's our license and copies of our application, here's tickets/pictures/letters/etc showing we've been in an active relationship for some time now; and we'd like to be together while the application processes." OR could I simply apply to extend it online, cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/visitor.asp ?

2) The date of the wedding is not set yet. We haven't had much time to plan it yet, and aren't really wanting a courtroom wedding. If we get married in August, is that too late to get PR application and the like submitted? Or will my VR expiring on Sept 7 be too close, possibly causing problems with me staying in the country?

3) Inland or Outland? Can I apply though outland since I'm in as a visitor? Or do I need to use inland since I'd like to stay in Canada?

Thank you very much for any advice!

 

[AllisonVSC]

Hello! I've found a lot of great information on this forum and thought I'd post my particular case.

I'm currently a US citizen visiting my Canadian girlfriend in Toronto. My visitor record expires on September 7, 2010. Now, a couple questions:

1) We're not sure if we're getting married in Toronto or Ottawa yet and, as such, have not applied for our marriage license. Once we have been married, I'm planning on applying for PR with her sponsoring me as family class. Obviously, I won't have PR anywhere near the time I need to leave the country. Will this process complicate my leaving and re-entering? Or will I be able to go to the border, say "We're married and have applied for PR, here's our license and copies of our application, here's tickets/pictures/letters/etc showing we've been in an active relationship for some time now; and we'd like to be together while the application processes." OR could I simply apply to extend it online, cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/visitor.asp ?

I suggest you go ahead and pay the PR fees ($1040). Then apply for a visit extension online ($75) in August citing your marriage and PR app in process (Copy the fee receipt as evidence) requesting to remain in Canada with your wife during processing. Once you apply for the extension you will have what's called implied status meaning you can remain legally in Canada until a decision is made on your extension.

2) The date of the wedding is not set yet. We haven't had much time to plan it yet, and aren't really wanting a courtroom wedding. If we get married in August, is that too late to get PR application and the like submitted? Or will my VR expiring on Sept 7 be too close, possibly causing problems with me staying in the country?

Start working on the PR application now. It will take some time to gather all your evidence, get your fingerprints to the FBI ASAP as they will take 2-3 months, do your medical in late August, and submit the PR app when you get your marriage certificate (this also takes a few weeks, I've heard).

3) Inland or Outland? Can I apply though outland since I'm in as a visitor? Or do I need to use inland since I'd like to stay in Canada?

Outland. You can do it while you are in Canada. Request the Buffalo office for processing.

Thank you very much for any advice!

Where you from? I'm from Charleston, SC. Lots of Americans on the forum, and everyone here will try to help you.
Good luck and best wishes on your impending wedding.
Allison

 

[Leon]

1) If you want to apply inland, you shouldn't be leaving and re-entering at all because in the case you were denied entry for some reason, your application is out the window. What you can do is once you have a month left of your visit status, apply to extend it stating the reason being that you are getting married and will be applying for your PR. This will buy you a couple of months of implied status so by that time, you will actually have applied for PR.

2) Since you will already have applied to extend your visit status a month before it expires, you will be under implied status and will not have problems staying in the country.

3) You always have the right to apply outland regardless of whether you live in Canada or not. It is a bit faster and less problematic.

 

[David132]

Awesome replies, thanks a lot for the help so far!

FBI ASAP as they will take 2-3 months

What for? Do they send them back with a record, or what exactly am I sending them to the FBI for? Would a place like this:
accu-metrics.com/fingerprinting.htm
be a good place to get this done, and sent to the FBI?

I'm from Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks again for the replies!

 

[AllisonVSC]

Awesome replies, thanks a lot for the help so far!
What for? Do they send them back with a record, or what exactly am I sending them to the FBI for? Would a place like this:
accu-metrics.com/fingerprinting.htm
be a good place to get this done, and sent to the FBI?

I'm from Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks again for the replies!

Hi David,
Part of the PR app requires a criminal background check (from every country where you've lived more than 6 months since you were 18). You don't need any state clearances, btw, unless they ask you for them. You have to send a set of prints to the FBI requesting a clearance for immigration purposes. You will see on the forum that waiting for this is holding up several people's applications; that is why I suggest getting that part going right away.

I'm not sure what the FBI reply looks like now; probably it's a letter but someone else who reads this will know and confirm. When I got mine done last year, I just got my prints back with a "No record found" stamp on the back. The link you provided looks like one option for getting them. You might try the local police department as well. I got mine done in SC; so I'm not sure about places in Toronto.

Allison

 

[David132]

Gotcha. Sounds good.

Another question - as I mentioned, we'd like to have a bit of planning time for the actual wedding. Would we be able to apply for the extension WITHOUT being married, and get married in the following month or two? Or is that risky/unacceptable.

 

[Dayanara]

Gotcha. Sounds good.

Another question - as I mentioned, we'd like to have a bit of planning time for the actual wedding. Would we be able to apply for the extension WITHOUT being married, and get married in the following month or two? Or is that risky/unacceptable.

You could apply for the extension on the visitor status, but you cannot apply for PR until you have your marriage certificate (long form at least, we are sending both long and short).

 

[David132]

Right. Would applying for an extension before getting married complicate the process and have a higher chance of getting rejected?

 

[Dayanara]

No idea no that one, sorry.

I cannot see it causing an issue from what I have read in my research on it. But I am not 100% sure.

 

[AllisonVSC]

Right. Would applying for an extension before getting married complicate the process and have a higher chance of getting rejected?

Not sure on that one either. But paying the PR fees, submitting a copy of the receipt and including evidence of your plans to marry (like reservations, application for the licence etc) might help. You should start a new thread on this topic, David, and see if any other members have experience with TRV extension approvals while waiting to get married. I applied for a TRV last year, but my PR was approved faster than my extension application.

 

[David132]

Not a bad a idea.
Just to be clear - the PR fees you're talking about are the two ~$500 sponsorship fees, correct?

 

[RobsLuv]

Didn't read all the replies - I'm having a hard time staying awake - but a couple things you need to know, if they've not already been mentioned.

No need to apply inland - it compromises your right to appeal a refusal and it takes longer to process. Apply outland, even if you are in Canada with valid temporary status. Your temporary status is what authorizes you to be/stay in Canada - not having a PR ap in process.

You cannot apply for PR until after you are married - and you're not likely to get your temporary status extended as a visitor if you're not married before your status expires. IF you get married before your temporary status document expires, you can apply separately from the outland PR application to extend your temporary status. This can be done from within Canada - without having to leave - by mail using this form. Include proof of your legal marriage and that your new spouse intends to sponsor you for PR. This can be proved easily by including proof of having paid the PR fees (at least the sponsor fee of $75 and the applicant fee of $475) = which you will pay before you submit the PR ap anyway because you have to include the receipt with the PR ap. If you can't get married before your temporary status expires, it's better to leave Canada and then try to re-enter WITH your spouse/sponsor accompanying you (see more info below on US2Canada - check the Visiting tab) and speaking for you. No guarantees, but they're usually pretty good about it. Just don't overstay on this visit - it will compromise you when you try to come back.

You can get fingerprinted in Canada, at your local police station, and then send your prints to the FBI by mail. They will return the clearance to you in Canada.

For other info, you might check out the US2Canada website.

 

[David132]

Thanks for the post, Robs (and everyone else!!). Great info.

One question; we need the actual Marriage Certificate for PR, right? We will be married before I have to leave, but I'm not sure we'll have the certificate. You have to wait 6-8 weeks AFTER you're married until you can apply for the certificate, and then it takes them about a month to get it to you. We get a "Record of Solemnization of Marriage" at the ceremony, but that's not a legal certificate.

What are your recommendations with that? We won't be able to apply for sponsorship until we get the actual Certificate, but we WILL be legally married. Should we go to the border, or will I be able to apply for an extended stay online with a good chance of it being accepted?

I'm looking at Leon's post:

If you want to apply inland, you shouldn't be leaving and re-entering at all because in the case you were denied entry for some reason, your application is out the window. What you can do is once you have a month left of your visit status, apply to extend it stating the reason being that you are getting married and will be applying for your PR. This will buy you a couple of months of implied status so by that time, you will actually have applied for PR.

 

[Dayanara]

Thanks for the post, Robs (and everyone else!!). Great info.

One question; we need the actual Marriage Certificate for PR, right? We will be married before I have to leave, but I'm not sure we'll have the certificate. You have to wait 6-8 weeks AFTER you're married until you can apply for the certificate, and then it takes them about a month to get it to you. We get a "Record of Solemnization of Marriage" at the ceremony, but that's not a legal certificate.

You need the actual certificate. We got ours 2 weeks after the wedding.

We asked our officiant if we could process it ourselves and we just had to sign an extra form and we sent it via next day courier with a cover letter, filled out request form, and all fees for the certificates. Just state you need it for immigration paperwork and you get it very quickly.

We honestly thought it would be the wedding certificate that was our big hold-up, nope, it is the stupid FBI checks....grrrr

 

[sbwv09]

I had about a two week wait for my certificate as well, but I didn't do anything 'special' like Dayanara did! I didn't know you could.. but either way, you should get it a lot faster than the stated timeline. Apply as soon as you get married, and they will send it as soon as their office gets the information, even if the website tells you otherwise.