Sponsoring husband who was still legally married at the time of our marriage

[annieaz]

Any replies would be greatly appreciated to guide me on this matter.

I am a Muslim Canadian citizen. My husband and I married on December 28, 2014 in Pakistan but knew each other for one year prior to our marriage. At the time of our marriage, he was still legally married to his first wife but they had been separated for a year before our marriage. Under the Muslim Sharia Law a Muslim man is allowed to have more than one spouse. He eventually divorced his first wife in December 2015, one year after our marriage. He does not have any previous children and we are now expecting our first child in two months, and I am planning to apply for the sponsor AFTER our child is born to strengthen our application.

When I apply for a spousal sponsor, I have to state his previous marriage and divorce date as it appears of December 2015. Now the problem is that the Canadian law does not recognize the marriage of a Canadian citizen to a person who is at the time of marriage already a spouse to another person. How will I prove to CIC that our marriage is legal and that he has now legally divorced his first wife? Will my application be refused simply because at the time of our marriage he was already a spouse to another woman? Is there any way around this problem that will guarantee the sponsor application being approved?

Please reply with any help as it will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Rob_TO]

Will my application be refused simply because at the time of our marriage he was already a spouse to another woman?

Most likely yes. Doesn't matter what local rules are, Canadian rules state you can't get married if you're legally married to someone else. So your marriage is not valid to CIC.

You should get married again now that he is officially divorced to make it a legal marriage.

Or you could apply as common-law if you've been living together at least 12 consecutive months and have evidence to prove it.

 

[DB2101]

I would also recommend including an explanation in the form of a cover letter when you apply.

 

[canadianwoman]

If you apply as your situation is now, your husband's PR will be refused. It does not matter that your marriage is legal in Pakistan; for Canada to recognize it as a legal marriage, it has to be both legal where it was performed and legal in Canada. It is not legal in Canada.

You could remarry, or you could apply as common-law partners if you have lived together for one continuous year. In either case, you have to mention the marriage and divorce, and explain your situation.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

As the others have said, your app will be refused. Your marriage is not legal in Canada and that is all that matters.

Get married legally before submitting the app.

 

[denim]

Thank you very much for your replies. Another question I have is, if I apply as a common law, which is possible as we have lived together in the UAE for one year now, are there good chances of our application being approved? I ask this because I will still mention in the application what is true, in this case that we got married while my husband was still legally a spouse to another woman. But since it is a common law application I'm assuming this fact won't interfere?

(My name has changed as I deleted my other account and made a new one just now, sorry for the confusion)

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Yes, you can apply as common-law even though he was married to someone else.

 

[denim]

Just doing some research and found the bold point contradicting with my case. Again it mentions that if your spouse was married to someone at the time of your marriage then you cannot sponsor even as a common-law

You cannot be sponsored as a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:

you are under age 18,
you (or your sponsor) were married to someone else at the time of your marriage
you have lived apart from your sponsor for at least one year, and either you or your sponsor are the common-law or conjugal partner of another person,
your sponsor applied for permanent residence but did not include you on their application as someone who should be examined or
your sponsor has sponsored another spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner in the past, and three years have not passed since that person became a permanent resident (or five years if your application was received on or after March 2, 2012).

 

[mikeymyke]

But in a typical common law relationship, there would be no marriage to begin with, that rule only applies to married couples.

Also in addition to the application, you should prove your marriage is genuine and address any red flags you might have.

 

[denim]

It comes back to the same issue then Mikey, you mentioned in your reply that this rule only applies to married couples. We are a married couple applying as common law so I think it will apply to us. And as you said, prove that your marriage is legal won't ever be possible as it just won't be accepted under the Canadian law. The date of divorce being after our marriage date is the red flag which might result in the application refused.

By the way, is there a field asking about previous marriages of the person being sponsored in a common law sponsor application?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

It comes back to the same issue then Mikey, you mentioned in your reply that this rule only applies to married couples. We are a married couple applying as common law so I think it will apply to us. And as you said, prove that your marriage is legal won't ever be possible as it just won't be accepted under the Canadian law. The date of divorce being after our marriage date is the red flag which might result in the application refused.

By the way, is there a field asking about previous marriages of the person being sponsored in a common law sponsor application?

You AREN'T married. Here in Canada, there is no marriage, so there is no issue.

You have to start looking at this entire application from the aspect of being common-law. For the purposes of this application, your marriage does not exist.


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip08-eng.pdf

5.24 Sponsor or common-law partners still married to someone else

Persons who are married to third parties may be considered common-law partners provided their marriage has broken down and they have cohabited in a conjugal relationship with the common-law partner for at least one year. Cohabitation with a common-law partner must have started after a physical separation from the spouse.

 

[canadianwoman]

Yes.
The highlighted statement applies to people who are married - it is what prevented you from being sponsored before. Your sponsor was married to someone else at the time he married you.

People who are married and not yet divorced have been successful as sponsors and as applicants. It is quite common in the Philippines, for example, for one or the other to be married to someone else but to apply as common-law.

In your case, of course, you are applying common-law even though you are married to your partner (in Pakistan but not in Canada). It is an unusual case, but I do not think it is unprecedented. As long as you and your husband have lived for one continuous year together in a monogamous relationship, your application should be OK in this area. You will have to prove that you lived together for one year and that he was not also involved with his previous wife; you also have to prove that the relationship is genuine.

In the application you should be upfront and explain why you are applying common-law even though you are married.

 

[denim]

I completely understand now. Thank you so much for your replies. I will look into applying as common law.

 

[jwnmm]

I know there have already been a lot of replies, however, quick question:

When you guys got married was it also a legal marriage? Or did you guys just do the Islamic Nikah?

 

[annieaz]

This is a very late reply, but we did the Islamic Nikah.

What is the difference between a legal marriage and a nikah? Is Nikah not considered legal?

I still have not submitted the sponsor. I'm searching for a reliable immigration consultant to help us prepare the application. I'm not sure if I should just complete the application myself or go through a consultant.