Medical submitted, can I marry now?

[Manul999]

Dear friends,

I live in Germany and have applied for PR in Berlin as a “Skilled Worker” 3 years ago. I have passed my medical checkup in March 2010 and now waiting for further final steps. Meanwhile, I have got engaged with my girlfriend who lives in Russia. She is a Russian citizen. So my questions are:

1. Shell I wait till I receive my PR and only after that marry with her or is it better do register our marriage now (for example in Russia or in Germany)? In other terms: Will it make a delay in my case if we marry now?
2. Which is the best and quickest way to bring my fiancée (or my future wife) after that to Canada? Shell I move at first alone to Canada, when I get my PR and invite her for a temporary visit and marry with her over there? Or is it easier to sponsor her application for PR while she is in Russia?
3. Does it make any difference in this case to marry with each other as soon as it will be possible in other country or would you advise us to wait and register our marriage in Canada?

Thanks for your support!

 

[matthewc]

Re: Medical submitted, can I merry now?

1. Are you already living together? If you have been living together for more than 1 year before you land in Canada, then CIC already considers her your common-law partner. Common-law partners must be added to your existing application before you land.

If you have not been living together for 1 year, and there is no chance you will have been living together for 1 year the day you become a PR, then you can choose whether to marry now (and add her to your current application) or land first, then sponsor her later.

2. However, the best, and quickest way for you to both be in Canada together is for you to marry now, inform CIC of the marriage, and add her as a dependent to your PR application.

Yes, it may delay your application to add her as a dependent, however in the long run it means you will both be together in Canada sooner.

3. In order to be included as a wife on your PR application, you will have to marry before your application is finalised. However, if you are going to be common-law before your application is finalised, you can add her as a common-law partner, and then choose to marry later.

My advice: if you plan to get married, do it now and add her to your existing PR application.

 

[Manul999]

Dear Matthewc,

Thanks a lot for your information! No, we don't live together yet because we are in different countries at the moment. So according to your advice if we marry now and I will add her as a dependent in my PR-application, what do you think – for how many months or years it will delay the whole process? Would she also need about 2 or 3 years for that, or shorter? I would like just to calculate: When could we be able to enter to Canada together after all?

Otherwise, if I will wait to get my PR first and go alone to Canada, find a job over there and start the outland sponsorship, what do you think: how long would my fiancée need to get her PR-Visa from Canadian Consulate in Moscow?

Thanks again for your kindly and detailed answers!

 

[Manul999]

So what do you think - how long will it take with our common PR application if I will add her as my dependent to my case?

 

[chelley]

i'd think no one knows for sure (i suspect it won't take 2-3 years, but closer to the amount of time for a spousal app to be processed from your region), I'd say the application would be faster this way than if you went to canada alone, married and then applied (which would mean starting a separate application)...

and there's no guarentee that your wife would be able to get a visitors visa to accompany you if you were to marry (or plan to marry in canada) after you landed either.. in fact, unless she has very strong ties to her home country (good job, home ownership ect), it becomes more unlikely that she will not get the visa (up to the I/O of course) and you will be separated until the processing is complete... stating that you're going to visit a fiance has been, for many, a quick way to get a TRV denied...

i agree with the previous poster, it is likely better for you to marry and add her now..

good luck

 

[ohman4966]

Wait till you become a pr in canada if its not too long away but start working on your application for her now getting documents ready then marry. We applied through Moscow and with a straight forward app it took us 5 months from start to finsh including mississauga.

 

[Manul999]

You had a good luck ohman4966!

I am also considering to take my PR now, because I have waited 3 years for that. The only problem is, that if we marry directly after getting my PR, most of the people in this forum say, that I will get in trouble with the CIC. I was thinking, that the imigration officers would understand, that we were in diferent countries till now and couldn't get married so quickly. But the senior members of forum write, that nobody will believe in this and I may not bring my wife after all to Canada, because I was "hiding" her.

Do you think that I have to inform now the Canadian Embassy about our plans, like tell them that I am engaged and going to be married soon in order that the CIC may make a note in my case about this?

 

[frolic]

Hi Manu.

Like I said in my PM...it's hard to say which would be faster.

If you do the paperwork well, and they like your proof enough to skip the interview, the spouse sponsorship could be as short as 5 months even. This is the time from when you actually apply. You still have to prepare the paperwork...for us that took a couple months.

If you add her now...maybe someone who has done Skilled Worker PR knows the answer to these questions...
Could adding her cause your application to be rejected? Maybe you need more money to support both of you until you find a job for example?

What paperwork is needed to add a spouse? How long will it take for you to collect that paperwork from Russia?

How long will it take to arrange the paperwork to get married in Russia? For me it took a couple months to arrange all that...and then extra time to plan a wedding.

So just be careful you don't rush things and make mistakes that are hard to fix.

To be honest...I understand how it sucks to have a long distance relationship...I did mine for 2 years, 8000km's apart, before she arrived here. I spent a lot on travelling there in the meantime. But...once we realized there was no QUICK way to do things, we decided to work within the situation and do things OUR way. That meant we had an extra visit just to make sure our paperwork for marriage was ok. It meant delaying the wedding a few months to save for a better longer honeymoon. And it meant that when we sent in proof of our relationship for the spouse sponsorship...we had a TON to offer. And therefore got the approval without the interview and got it within 5 months actually. Sept 16th til Feb 12th.

 

[Manul999]

Thank you so much for your detailed messages and specialy for telling me about your own situation!
I have got your PM and answered on your Email!

If you add her now...maybe someone who has done Skilled Worker PR knows the answer to these questions...
Could adding her cause your application to be rejected? Maybe you need more money to support both of you until you find a job for example?

What paperwork is needed to add a spouse? How long will it take for you to collect that paperwork from Russia?

How long will it take to arrange the paperwork to get married in Russia?

These are really important questions and I would like to get some helping answers. So I hope to find here some people who have bin already in the same situation...

Lot of thanks to you! I will stay in contact via Emails, hope it is OK for you

 

[frolic]

I am also considering to take my PR now, because I have waited 3 years for that. The only problem is, that if we marry directly after getting my PR, most of the people in this forum say, that I will get in trouble with the CIC. I was thinking, that the imigration officers would understand, that we were in diferent countries till now and couldn't get married so quickly. But the senior members of forum write, that nobody will believe in this and I may not bring my wife after all to Canada, because I was "hiding" her.

Do the Skilled Worker CIC papers ask you about your girlfriend? Or fiancee? I suspect the answer is No.
Since she is only your girlfriend and fiancee and NOT your wife at the moment, you don't have to include her. You're not hiding her, you don't have to hide her, she isn't your wife and isn't asked about on the forms.

If you marry her 3 months or 3 days after you arrive in Canada it doesn't matter. CIC will of course look at your spouse sponsorship for PROOF of a relationship is all. Maybe they will look at you more closely if you marry 3 days later...but as long as you can show a nice timeline of your relationship and how it progressed with proof of visits etc, and finally a wedding you should be ok.