Seniors, help! Common Law Partner Married Twice - Unaware of Second Marriage

[confusedandscared]

Hi everyone!

I would really appreciate your help and advise. My common law partner and I are currently preparing all documents and requirements needed for me to sponsor him to Canada. One of the requirements is CENOMAR from the Philippines. We requested it for my partner knowing that he is already married and that we will be getting an AOM instead but the result shocked us - it says he has been married twice and he told me knows the girl.

First, I am thankful we decided to ask for these documents before applying, better we found this now than later on and be accused of lying but I am posting this here to get help from the experts.

We are applying common law because he is legally married in the Philippines (yes, I am sure he was unaware of the second one, 1000%). We lived together in the Philippines from 2005-2016 before I went back here so that I can start the sponsorship process. We have statutory declarations from friends and his mother about where we were living. We have a lot of pictures of us with our kids (2 are his, 1 is mine but were raised all 3 together).

So question, will we be able to proceed with the application? Even if he has 2 recorded marriages? Do we need to explain it to CIC and include that in our application?

Second, for those in the Philippines, I am scared that someone will file bigamy charges against him. What can we do? Can we ask to nullify it?

Please help me. Thank you.

 

[confusedandscared]

To add, the ex-wife (the one he knows about) signed a declaration of how long they have been separated. We don't know what to do with the other girl because we don't know how to contact her.

 

[scylla]

How on earth can he be unaware of his second marriage?

You will certainly have to declare both marriages in the application. Make sure you provide very strong evidence to prove your relationship and the fact you are common law.

 

[profiler]

Unfortunately, this can happen in the Philippines. Sometimes you can get married without your knowledge if some crazy ex (I'm sorry for the term) decided to get even with you. This happens when you know someone "inside" the municipal office and do everything under the table. They only need basic personal information and your signature is forged. I personally know someone who is a victim of this trend. Sometimes when your ex just can't let you go, this happens.

That'd be fraud then. The should be able to annul the unknown marriage easily (I would think?). Show your signature, state the story, and move on. No?

 

[Rob_TO]

What order did the marriages happen in? Since divorce is illegal in Philippines, then if the first marriage was not officially annulled his second marriage would not even have been valid in the eyes of CIC. Regardless you'll need to explain everything in the app but it probably won't matter since the current common-law status would be valid anyways.

 

[profiler]

Well, what can the OP do now? Is Canada okay with two legal marriages?

The more the merrier!

As common-law they should be ok. But the PA will need to clean those loose ends up if they plan to marry..

 

[profiler]

Then she should be fine even if it existed, huh? Can she marry in Canada though?

Not until the loose ends are tied up overseas.

 

[confusedandscared]

Hi everyone. Thank you for the responses thus far. Much thanks to prvc for explaining some of the Philippine problems for me.

We can definitely prove that he and the second girl never cohabitated and that their relationship has long ended. I was just trying to make sure that I can still proceed with our application as normal.

 

[confusedandscared]

How on earth can he be unaware of his second marriage?

You will certainly have to declare both marriages in the application. Make sure you provide very strong evidence to prove your relationship and the fact you are common law.

I am editing our application forms to include this information. That is the problem with a corrupt government, things like this can be done

 

[confusedandscared]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Another victim of a dirty work in the PI.


Did your partner already consult a lawyer about this or a legal representative perhaps?

He is about to. But as you may know, processing these types of issues takes so long and I'd like him here as soon as possible.

 

[confusedandscared]

What order did the marriages happen in? Since divorce is illegal in Philippines, then if the first marriage was not officially annulled his second marriage would not even have been valid in the eyes of CIC. Regardless you'll need to explain everything in the app but it probably won't matter since the current common-law status would be valid anyways.

The first and known marriage came first. The second marriage actually even has his middle initial wrong but he knows the girl and used to be her boyfriend so we are sure it refers to him.

 

[confusedandscared]

The more the merrier!

As common-law they should be ok. But the PA will need to clean those loose ends up if they plan to marry..

We are planning to have him file for divorce when he reaches a year of residency here in Canada.