Question about Marriage steps - Pakistani

[sardan86]

If I am a Pakistani and my fiancé/to be spouse is Canadian, can we file for immigration just based on a civil marriage? Getting our families together for religious ceremony/nikkah would happen later on but we do not want to delay the process due to that. We are both currently in the US as visitors and were thinking of going ahead with just a civil/court marriage here, which would be legal but not religious at the moment. Can we see any issues arising with this method? As a Pakistani citizen, would that still allow me to use my marriage certificate obtained here to start with the process of Canadian immigration?

 

[torontosm]

If I am a Pakistani and my fiancé/to be spouse is Canadian, can we file for immigration just based on a civil marriage? Getting our families together for religious ceremony/nikkah would happen later on but we do not want to delay the process due to that. We are both currently in the US as visitors and were thinking of going ahead with just a civil/court marriage here, which would be legal but not religious at the moment. Can we see any issues arising with this method? As a Pakistani citizen, would that still allow me to use my marriage certificate obtained here to start with the process of Canadian immigration?

Yes, you can have a civil ceremony and then file for sponsorship. However, this will certainly subject your application to increased scrutiny as a possible marriage of convenience. If you have plenty of other documentary evidence, then go this route as it will save you time.