sponsoring spouse in Lebanon

[sweetstrawberry]

I am a Canadian citizen and I am sponsoring my spouse who lives in Lebanon. I am still in the first steps of the application, where I am applying to be a sponsor, the question asks "my current marital status". I do have a marriage certificate translated to English that I obtained in Lebanon, so I am legally married in Lebanon, but in Canada I am still single, so what would I put, married or single? This question really confuses me.

My second question is:

I have a few pictures of us together, and since I didnt have a wedding due to personal reasons, I dont have pictures of a wedding. What other ways can I show that our relationship is genuine? We do not send emails back and fourth OR letters, the only thing we do is talk on whatsapp and I never thought of keeping any messages I always delete them through whatsapp application. We also did talk over the phone and I do have some phone bills with his number showing on them, but is that enough with about 10 photos of us together?

Thanks, hope you can help me with this.

 

[MilesAway]

If you are applying as married, then you need to put married. Why are you "single" in Canada? Is your marriage not recognized in Canada? Why?
When you say you didn't have a wedding, how exactly are you applying as married if you did not get married?

Have you lived together? Have you traveled together? Send in passport stamps, boarding passes, letters, e-mails, phone records, etc. If you only send phone bills and 10 photos, I think you'll be asked for more proof.

 

[Rob_TO]

Ya this story doesn't make much sense. You are either married or you aren't. If you had a legal marriage in any country in the world, then you are also considered married in Canada.

If you just had a courtroom/civic marriage with no wedding ceremony, that is fine. However you will need to prove the relationship is genuine so CIC doesn't suspect a marriage of convenience just to get immigration status. So hopefully you were dating a considerable time before the wedding and can show proofs of that.

 

[keesio]

so I am legally married in Lebanon, but in Canada I am still single, so what would I put, married or single?

The only way I can see you being legally married in Lebanon but not recognized in Canada is if your husband took you as a second wife while still married to his first - basically polygamy. I'm not sure if polygamy is legal in Lebanon. Is this the case?

 

[mikeymyke]

If you don't have much phone call, photos (I'm surprised you guys only took 10 photos together during your whole relationship), wedding pics, emails, or anything that shows proof of a genuine relationship, then I would suggest you guys hold off on applying for sponsorship for at least a year or so. During that year of waiting, you should consider going to live with him for maybe a few months to half a year. It might sound a bit difficult for you, but without much relationship evidence, you will get an interview and might have a difficult time convincing the officer you have a genuine relationship. And starting now, you really need to start saving your conversations, send him love letters and gifts, make more phone calls, etc.