Purpose of travel: To get married under Civil marriage Act in Ontario

[0524Sharma]

@Bryanna

I am “Sharma” an Indian Citizen, currently residing in India


I have been in relation with Mohammed who is an Indian citizen with Canadian permanent residence status. Mohammed has been living in Canada from past 4 years and is currently working in Toronto(he travelled for study and has been working from past two years). We have known each other from past 8 years and have been in a long distance relation for more than 2 years. Since I am Hindu and he practices Islam, we needed our parent’s approval to get married. It took a while for us convince both parent’s for the marriage considering we both follow different religion and culture. Both parents approved our marriage on the grounds that we perform a neutral civil wedding in Canada. Both families believe performing civil wedding ceremony in Canada under the Civil marriage act will avoid any questions/pressure from our extended family and community. With civil wedding in Canada we will also avoid the political unrest in the local community with inter religious marriages. Our parents, other family members and some close friends thought getting married in Canada would be the best option for both families. After enquiring about the civil marriage procedures in the city of Toronto we registered under civil marriage act and obtained the marriage license.


After receiving the marriage license I have applied for visitors visa for Canada (for myself, my Father, my mother and my brother), we have provided the same reason for visa i.e, we are going to perform the wedding ceremony under civil marriage act , and will return to India within 2 weeks as me and my brother need to return to work. My Boyfriends parents already have visitor’s visa to Canada and they have also visited him in Canada and returned to India in 2016. His parents and my family were planning to travel together to Canada for the wedding and return back in two weeks.


We have submitted a joint online application for my family


Following information were provided in the application:

· My bank statements for past six months

· Marriage license received from marriage services office

· Invitation letter drafted by my boyfriend stating my family’s reason for travelling to Toronto and the duration of our stay (He also mentioned he is going to finance our travel expenditure and we will be staying at his apartment in Toronto during our stay)

· His passport copy, Permanent resident card copy, letter of employment, recent pay stubs and bank statements



Reason for Rejection:


After applying for visitor’s visa on 17th Oct, I have received rejection on 7th Nov. Reason being “travel history” and “purpose of visit”. (For all, four family members including me)

- Myself and my family have not travelled anywhere outside of India yet.

- Purpose of visit as mentioned- To perform the civil marriage in Toronto


Request for information:


After revisiting our options on how to get married, We and our families feel performing the civil marriage in Canada is still our best choice. This will give both families an opportunity to travel together, spend time together in Canada and also avoid any stress caused by extended family members and other member in the close community who can oppose this marriage. For this reason we would like to reattempt the visitor’s visa application. Based on your inputs we will try collecting and submitting as much as additional documentation that we missed in the previous application.


Does travelling to some other country(for 3-4 days) before reapplying help to have a travel history? Also, please let us know if a single application for myself would make any difference. We are not sure if travel for the entire family is causing the visa officer to believe we will not return to India. Like I mentioned above, our intent is to come back to India within two weeks. My family and I will stay in India like my boyfriend’s parents came back to India after the visit last year. After my return to India, Mohammed will apply sponsorship application for me so that I can go back to Canada and live with him. My parents do not have any plans to stay in Canada. My bother has a good job and my family owns property in India and that is why they would like to go back and live in India.




I and Mohammed will be grateful if you could suggest on above requests and help us get married in the best and happiest possible way for both families.

 

[Bryanna]

@0524Sharma

I can understand your situation and the difficulties you are going through. From a cultural aspect, you have won half (or possibly the entire) battle by being able to convince your parents to accept your mixed-religion marriage.

That being said, you cannot win over all of the people all of the time. This includes your extended family, friends, the society at large, and most certainly not some political parties/the self-appointed moral police brigade who wouldn't lose such opportunities to get undeserved publicity and political mileage.

As two consenting adults (even of different religions), you do not require your parents' permission to legally solemnize your marriage. However, from a cultural aspect, it always helps to build bridges instead of breaking relationships.


The short answer (which you possibly won't be happy to read):
This plan of wanting to come to Canada to get married will not work from a TRV perspective..... both for yourself and your parents. In fact, I would not reapply for TRVs again.

You have made your intentions clear to IRCC/visa officer.... that you intend to visit, get married.... and to extend what this situation comes across to a visa officer.... is that you intend to apply for an inland spousal PR. All this points to overstaying your visit = Your previous TRV refusal + Possibly another TRV refusal for yourself.


IMO, here's the solution:
You must give a Notice of Intended Marriage in the city/town where you have resided for 6+ months. Your fiancé is not required to meet similar residence requirements. You can file it alone.

This notice will be published at the Office of the Registrar of Marriage for 30 days. As both of you are adults who have never married before/not been in a live-in relationship, any objections (if any) by anyone will not hold any ground and can be dismissed.

You can then solemnize your marriage as per 'The Special Marriage Act' which is recognized for immigration to Canada. Marriage as per any other Indian marriage act will be null and void.

Your husband can then apply for PR through the outland process.


I hope you this works for you

 

[0524Sharma]

Thank you for you prompt reply and understanding my situation.

I have couple more questions
1. What if I reapply with more details, like I need to return to job and after coming back to India we will apply for my PR. Does that work
2. What if I get married in any other country and then apply for visitors Visa, will I get the visa in this case?
3. Is there any other country which has special marriage act or civil marriage and which will be recognized by Canada for my next visa processing. Because we are planning to travel for a holiday wanted to check if this works.

 

[bellaluna]

Thank you for you prompt reply and understanding my situation.

I have couple more questions
1. What if I reapply with more details, like I need to return to job and after coming back to India we will apply for my PR. Does that work
2. What if I get married in any other country and then apply for visitors Visa, will I get the visa in this case?
3. Is there any other country which has special marriage act or civil marriage and which will be recognized by Canada for my next visa processing. Because we are planning to travel for a holiday wanted to check if this works.

I feel for you in this complicated situation, but I feel that Bryanna has already appropriately advised you on all these 3 questions:
1. You already have a previous file with IRCC that states your intent to get married in Canada, and even if you cite your job ties in your next application, unless you became an indispensable executive in a Fortune 500 company since your last TRV application, I agree with her that any successive TRV applications will be fruitless. TRV refusals, most of the time, don't affect spousal sponsorship applications, but excessive abuse will fall in danger of that. You don't want to go there.
2-3. Seem like more complicated and unavailable solutions than what Bryanna has already given, with the "Notice of Intended Marriage" available in your home country of India.

 

[Bryanna]

3. Is there any other country which has special marriage act or civil marriage and which will be recognized by Canada for my next visa processing. Because we are planning to travel for a holiday wanted to check if this works.

The UK has a Marriage Visitor Visa for foreign nationals. You'll need to check the specifics. You must apply at least three months in advance.

Do note:
You'll need to prove you have strong ties to return to India for any short stay UK visa + adequate finances to pay for the wedding expenses in the UK + provisional (not confirmed) hotel and flight bookings.

Each applicant must prove his/her strong ties to his/her home country/country of residence.

You can check for other countries too. Regardless of which country you decide to get married in, your marriage must be legally valid and recognized for immigration to Canada.


Edit:
Even if you get married in another country, your chances of getting a TRV would continue to remain low. You must start the spousal PR process instead