Question Getting Married before applying for PR
- Thread starter cleonor17
- Start date
If you are already landed as a PR and then get married, you will have to apply to sponsor your wife.
This can take several months to a year. It is unlikely that your wife will get a visa to visit you during this time and you can not stay with her in the Philippines because as a PR, you must be residing in Canada in order to sponsor her.
If you marry very soon after you get your PR, immigration may get suspicious that you were already about to get married before you got your PR. They may suspect that you have not been honest with them and may have had a reason why you did not marry sooner and include your wife in your application. You may have to prove that you and your wife had not lived together for 12 months because if you had, you would be classified as a common law couple under Canadian law in which case you must include her in your PR application from the start.
If you are found to have qualified as a common law couple before you landed as a PR and you did not include her in your application or same if you marry after you got your PR visa but before you land as a PR, they will classify that as immigration fraud and will bar you from sponsoring your wife in the future and possibly even cancel your own PR and have you deported.
This can take several months to a year. It is unlikely that your wife will get a visa to visit you during this time and you can not stay with her in the Philippines because as a PR, you must be residing in Canada in order to sponsor her.
If you marry very soon after you get your PR, immigration may get suspicious that you were already about to get married before you got your PR. They may suspect that you have not been honest with them and may have had a reason why you did not marry sooner and include your wife in your application. You may have to prove that you and your wife had not lived together for 12 months because if you had, you would be classified as a common law couple under Canadian law in which case you must include her in your PR application from the start.
If you are found to have qualified as a common law couple before you landed as a PR and you did not include her in your application or same if you marry after you got your PR visa but before you land as a PR, they will classify that as immigration fraud and will bar you from sponsoring your wife in the future and possibly even cancel your own PR and have you deported.
If you have lived together as a couple for 12 months or more, you would be considered to be a common law couple in Canada but once you are not living together any more, at some point, you do not have common law status any more. I do not know how long it takes to lose common law status.
I think after 10 years, you should already know if you want to marry her or not. Why delay until 2012? Get married now and include her in your application.
If you really want to wait until 2012 to get married, then you should either wait to apply for PR or you should seek legal advise to find out if you can at this point be considered a common law couple or not. If you can not, then you can apply as a single person and marry later. If you can, then you could include her now.
I think after 10 years, you should already know if you want to marry her or not. Why delay until 2012? Get married now and include her in your application.
If you really want to wait until 2012 to get married, then you should either wait to apply for PR or you should seek legal advise to find out if you can at this point be considered a common law couple or not. If you can not, then you can apply as a single person and marry later. If you can, then you could include her now.