not married yet. planning to sponsor. Where to marry?

[janice27]

My wife and I married in Singapore, under a civil marriage, as we are different faiths. No muss, no fuss. The only condition is that one person must be in Singapore 15 days before the ceremony.

So your PR is now in-process?

 

[janice27]

We plan to keep our wedding a secret to our family as we have different beliefs as to re-marrying. Can we just provide
the VO with our wedding pictures with our friends and just explain why our families are not invited to the wedding?

 

[innosense]

It depends on which category u r applying under. U r quite safe under fSW.

For spousal category providing explanation letter stating the genuine facts is a good idea.

 

[janice27]

It depends on which category u r applying under. U r quite safe under fSW.

For spousal category providing explanation letter stating the genuine facts is a good idea.

Thanks innosense.

 

[CdnandTrini]

We plan to keep our wedding a secret to our family as we have different beliefs as to re-marrying. Can we just provide
the VO with our wedding pictures with our friends and just explain why our families are not invited to the wedding?

Hi janice27, I replied to your similar question on another thread and here it is again - my suggestions.

Hi janice27 and as innosense suggested, please make sure you clearly explain in your application the detailed reasons for not telling your families. Particularly if there is a threat of violence if you make your marriage known to them.

Give examples of any family conflict throughout the course of the relationship as well and "paint the picture" for them. Your situation is not unheard of. If possible, you can include letters from others that know the history of the conflicts in your relationship prior to marriage. Even better if you have any e-mails between you and your fiancé discussing these issues or any emails/instant messages from family members expressing their opposition.

CIC have been known to follow up and contact people who submit letters on behalf of a couple so make sure that if you do decide to include letters of support, the friend or friends are trustworthy and would be able to respond well if questioned. I am sorry you are not able to freely share your happiness with your family but even in marriages where there is no religious conflict, family members and in-laws can still be a problem!! So you are not alone. Blessings

 

[JerseyGirl1985]

Hi there,

If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what you are going through. My husband and I needed to decide where we would marry also since I lived in NJ, USA and he lived in Vancouver, Canada! My family was originally hesitant with all of this too but once they saw our relationship was genuine they were better. We had a moment of panic and almost married quickly in NJ to have him return home to Canada just so we could start this long process sooner but instead we decided to do things in a not so rushed manner because we also did not want to look like we were just getting married for immigration purposes. We knew one of us had to move and since he had a great job here it was me. He came to NJ for our actual wedding and his family flew out also, we had a real wedding with a reception and we are so glad we did it that way and I resigned from my job and moved to Canada to be with him. Is one of you moving not an option? It is a stressful situation to be in and there are SO many thoughts and questions going on in your head and in hers so I get it. I hope you two figure it out sooner than later, I know it sucks being apart. :-(

 

[janice27]

Thanks.

We want to keep the wedding coz we dont want his family to know that i have a previous marriage which is not possible to avoid it if our families will meet during the wedding.

 

[CdnandTrini]

Thanks.

We want to keep the wedding coz we dont want his family to know that i have a previous marriage which is not possible to avoid it if our families will meet during the wedding.

Ahhhh....ok. Make sure this is all well explained in your application to immigration. They will know as well because you have to declare prior marriages and provide names and copies of divorce/annulment documents. So I think in the context of your entire application this will all make sense to them. They've seen it all really so I would not stress too much, just make sure you have good evidence. Blessings.

 

[TheJim]

My gf and I have known each other for 4 years but she lives in Taiwan for 2 years because her work visa expired and her PR application was denied because her work was not professional grade A/B. Before I can even start the sponsor application we need to be married. I feel this will take AT LEAST 2 more years before we even have a chance to be together.

I am now just realizing what my options are:
1. Go to Taiwan (without any of my accompanying family members and only 2 weeks vacation) to marry her with a few of her family members and provide pictures of a small ceremony (VERY afraid they will think this is a marriage of convenience or fraud)
2. Ask her to come as visitor, we marry here without a ceremony (can't plan a wedding) then she has to go back again and we start the application process

After marriage (both of them are not ideal), then we have to put an application package OUTLAND together which will probably take 3-4 months and all the documentations, translations (etc) which I don't know about. plus the health check and whatever else needed.. She lives in Taiwan.

Then I have to send in the application package and wait 8-12 months before can get a response. I am working full time and am afraid if we have a wedding there, Immigration will not believe why we didn't have a proper wedding and none of my family members have attended.

In addition to that, there's family pressure that are not approving of this since I'm canadian and she's not even here. What's the best course of action? Do we even have a chance? What should we do?

Thanks for any advice if you have any info or experience.

My wife is Canadian, we had known each other for 10 years so out porfolio consisted of a lot of Skype / Msn / Whatsapp transcripts as well as boarding passes, reciepts for days trips / meals for 2 etc.. and a handful of pictures we had together from her trips to visit me in England and my trips to visit her in Canada.

We started planning the wedding in 2013 and we hired an emigration lawyer who was based in Canada, we filled out all the paperwork we could up until we were married, and we submitted our completed application the week after we were married. The wedding was a small low-key affair, as my family is very, very small in the UK (literally just 4 people) all of which are elderly and in no position to fly out here so there was none of my family and friends (on my side) at the wedding, just her side but we did the best we could and just explained on the necessary paperwork why none of my family were present and 2 months after we submitted the porfolio we got Sponsorship Approval.

My advice based on my own experience is not to panic about what you cannot do or cannot include in your application, they (the CIC) will be aware that everybody has a different situation, and especially having a fiance living in a totally different country makes it difficult to get tonnes of evidence other than a few pictures and email transcripts, just focus on getting everything together that you DO have, get as many family and friends as you can to the wedding but explain in the application why it may well be one-sided and just be upfront about anything and everything, the way i thought about it was I would rather give them too much information than not enough, they will disregard anything they do not need.

 

[janice27]

Ahhhh....ok. Make sure this is all well explained in your application to immigration. They will know as well because you have to declare prior marriages and provide names and copies of divorce/annulment documents. So I think in the context of your entire application this will all make sense to them. They've see it all really so I would not stress too much, just make sure you have good evidence. Blessings.

Thanks.