Physically present at the marriage ceremony

[sabrina010203]

First, to be clear, I agree with conclusions from others: no, they will not count this as physically present, and whatever registration procedure you did later in a different country doesn't magically make it a physically present ceremony via time travel or whatever.

I'd add: my impression is that IRCC may not pay as much attention to these US-online marriages for US citizens and (permanent) residents. That's only a guess though.

Now a question: what country was this registration procedure, and what is the 'marriage certificate' called? I think there is only a tiny, tiny chance that this marriage certificate would be considered evidence of a distinct marriage (i.e. de novo), but specifics would matter.

Otherwise I believe the options are to carry out a new marriage - after a divorce ideally, but would guess that from IRCC's perspective, they can't object to a new marriage if they consider the first one invalid/null and void/never happened. The problem is that other jurisdictions that consider the first marriage valid may (logically) refuse to carry out a new one. (Leaving aside whether one could simply not mention that and whether there could be any consequences to not doing so - to which the answer is probably not)

Important to note that you've asked this in the family sponsorship forum, and your case is NOT family sponsorship - even fixing this may not get the SOWP approved, and even more so if the timing is sensitive.

I am in a similar situation if you do not mind me asking. I have not gotten married yet but I'm trying to find the quickest way to get married while not in the same country with it being recognized. If we both got married virtually while in the same country would this be acceptable? My brain is spinning trying to wrap my head around the "in person" part of it. Because technically we would both be together attending a virtual wedding. I am trying to move from the United States to Canada to be with him.

 

[scylla]

I am in a similar situation if you do not mind me asking. I have not gotten married yet but I'm trying to find the quickest way to get married while not in the same country with it being recognized. If we both got married virtually while in the same country would this be acceptable? My brain is spinning trying to wrap my head around the "in person" part of it. Because technically we would both be together attending a virtual wedding. I am trying to move from the United States to Canada to be with him.

Short answer is no. Virtual marriages are not recognized by IRCC. You must both be there in person. In person, per IRCC's definition (and most people's definition), means physically present in the room together when the ceremony takes place. Virtual is not in-person. It's no different than taking about meetings at work or attending school - virtual and in-person are two different things. Same meaning for these scenarios as getting married.

 

[scylla]

I am in a similar situation if you do not mind me asking. I have not gotten married yet but I'm trying to find the quickest way to get married while not in the same country with it being recognized. If we both got married virtually while in the same country would this be acceptable? My brain is spinning trying to wrap my head around the "in person" part of it. Because technically we would both be together attending a virtual wedding. I am trying to move from the United States to Canada to be with him.

And just to make it 100% clear, there is no way to get married while not in the same country and have that marriage be recognized by IRCC. This is impossible.

If you're in the US and he's in Canada, should be extremely easy for one of you to cross the border to get married in-person. Not sure what the problem is.

 

[T0pubo]

I would say that the in person registration is when you actually mareied, for Canadian purposes.

 

[armoured]

My brain is spinning trying to wrap my head around the "in person" part of it. Because technically we would both be together attending a virtual wedding. I am trying to move from the United States to Canada to be with him.

I don't understand why your head would be spinning. "In person" means physically in the same room, with the officiant, when the marriage ceremony is conducted. It's pretty simple.

If you're in USA and citizen or green card holder, getting to Canada is pretty simple. If your spouse is a citizen - same.

 

[armoured]

We have seen other US online marriages being denied.

You do understand the conditional formulation "may", right? Not recommending. Saying it's possible IRCC might not notice (because historically USA marriages have been considered similar). Repeat, I think no-one should do this in expectation it will be accepted by IRCC.

 

[armoured]

I would say that the in person registration is when you actually mareied, for Canadian purposes.

It is not a question of 'when'. It is a question of if they will accept this virtual ceremony as being a marriage at all.

Now note: there might be jurisdictions where the 'registration'* is considered to be the actual legal marriage, and any other ceremony (like a religious ceremony) is just a ceremony. I do not know what applies to the person who asked this question - it depends on juridisction and local terminology. And the poster didn't provide the relevant information (and so I for one have assumed that 'virtual marriage' won't be considered legal by IRCC).

*This terminology is not uncommon in Russia and the former Soviet Union, for example. Locals will literally say 'we went down and registered ourselves [as married].' The civil registry office does typically have a small ceremony but the core of it is signing and registering as married in front of an official (they also have 'wedding palaces' where for extra money you can have a more elaborate ceremony.) Any ceremony like in a church or synagogue outside the civil registry is ... just a ceremony with no legal meaning.

BUT - and this is really important - in my experience nobody (in Russia/ex-USSR) would confuse the two. (In Russian there are actually slightly separate terms) Maybe a foreigner wouldn't understand this.

Note, this is roughly paralleled in many countries in the EU (indeed many countries with a legal system approximating civil law/napoleonic-code based) - only the state-run civil marriages count legally as marriages. But I won't pretend to know for every country.