Spousal PR - Proof of wedding?

[princesultan]

I read that CIC wants to see proof that a wedding happened (ex: pictures of the wedding) when applying for a spousal PR. What if the wedding only consisted of myself and the bride (the person I intend to sponsor)? Does that look bad? We just want it us two. Do we need to include any other sort of proof of our relationship? We've been together for 6 years...

 

[ashunandal]

I read that CIC wants to see proof that a wedding happened (ex: pictures of the wedding) when applying for a spousal PR. What if the wedding only consisted of myself and the bride (the person I intend to sponsor)? Does that look bad? We just want it us two. Do we need to include any other sort of proof of our relationship? We've been together for 6 years...

YES they would like to see all the rituals of the wedding ceremony according to your religion. in case you are submitting pics of only two of you, you need to give strong reason for that. to support your case, you need to collect lot of other proofs such as trips together, tickets and boarding passes, photos, joint properties, accounts, gift receipts bought for each other, proof of living together and many more.
if you are going to get married without your parents, you need to give reason for that also.
best of luck

 

[Leon]

I read that CIC wants to see proof that a wedding happened (ex: pictures of the wedding) when applying for a spousal PR. What if the wedding only consisted of myself and the bride (the person I intend to sponsor)? Does that look bad? We just want it us two. Do we need to include any other sort of proof of our relationship? We've been together for 6 years...

Yes, you need to prove to immigration that this is not just some girl you just met who paid you a bunch of money for a fake marriage and sponsorship for PR. If you have been together for 6 years, you should have a lot of proof of your relationship. Photos of you together, trips taken together, souvenirs bought. If you have lived together, you should have proof of that, both being on the lease or having your names on utilities or at the very least getting a lot of mail to the same address. If you were apart, you should have phone bills, emails and chat logs to prove that you communicated.

 

[pelipeli]

VO's really do take note of these things from what I've read in appeal cases.. They take note if family and friends were present at the wedding, I've even read somewhere that they even take note if the couple were dressed too casually for their wedding.. They need to see how serious or how special the event was, and that your loved ones know about your relationship . Ashunandal is correct, you need to give a strong explanation why its only the two of you, back it up with strong evidences like those already mentioned above.

 

[tinytortoise]

I totally understand your feelings of just wanting it to be the two of you. Here's our story on why ours was just the two of us.

We just got married a few weeks ago and it was just the two of us but we have what I consider good reason. While we were in the early stages of planning our wedding my dad decided to drop a bomb on my family, leaving my mother (married 40 years), taking money, "disowning" the family, etc. I was the one who was there for my mom, going through just about everything with her, including going to the lawyer. There was no way I could deal with having him there and had nightmares that he showed up with his girlfriend. My mother was a mess because of this and there was no way she was going to be of any help. Because of that emotional distress and the stress associated with planning a big wedding in general (this was my second, the first I was a bridezilla), we decided to do it alone, on a beach (our dream since meeting). Our witnesses ended up being a couple from the city next to mine so we're inviting them to our US reception. We also had a photographer. It was known by all our family and friends that we were getting married, it's all over my Facebook page (he doesn't have one). We're having a reception in the US in October (his parents will travel from Canada) and one in Canada (date TBD, my parents will travel from the US). We'll have professional photographers for those parties as well (more because I'm a photo fiend not because of immigration). We have tons of relationship background, it's very well known in the industry we work in that we have had an ongoing relationship (we met through work), and I was fortunate enough that my hubby was extremely involved with the wedding planning which is documented through emails from us to the resort.

I think everyone's situation is different and I feel ours is justifiable. If you think that you can explain it to immigration then I wouldn't worry. Good luck!

 

[Tullysgirl]

I would say it's your story in it's entirety that matters. Not just a wedding ceremony. Agreed with everyone here, you should have ample proof of your relationship with how long you've been together. Texts, Skypes, emails, letters, proof of visits, passport stamps, Facebook screen shots (if on FB).....it all adds up.

Even if you choose to forego a traditional wedding, you still need two witnesses to sign your marriage certificate. You could ask someone to take pictures of that and of you exchanging your vows, maybe? Pictures matter. They help tell your love story.

 

[Isometry]

You need to show the wedding, even if it's just you and two witnesses. The important thing is that your wedding, however you decide to do it, is consistent and makes sense considering the rest of your relationship. If you decide to go for a small or nontraditional wedding, you should be able to articulate your reasons.

I eloped and had a wedding with just two witnesses in attendance. Our reasons were:
-Neither of us is religious and neither of us wanted a religious ceremony
-Neither of us likes big fancy events
-His family, though very small, was adamantly refusing to get passports
-My family, which is very large, was spread through (I think) 4 countries and 5 US states at the time (At the moment, it's 3 countries and 6 states. None of the countries are Canada, and half of them need a visa to enter Canada. This is only counting first cousins and closer relatives.)
-Considering that neither of us wanted a big ceremony, and the difficulty/time/expense involved with actually gathering family, we decided to forgo it and put our efforts and money towards living together instead

We still included pictures of the ceremony, simple as it was. You'll also definitely need to include proof of the rest of your relationship. You'd even need relationship proof if you had a huge traditional wedding.

 

[clubcanada]

It's not so much about the wedding or wedding pictures, it's about the complete package and it must fit. Having a small wedding (registration) even without witnesses isn't very uncommon as many couples plan to have a larger wedding at a later stage anyway. We just had a registration in my wife's country and I flew in for a couple of days. No celebration, no witnesses at all. So you simply explain why you had a small wedding, provide a picture or two. That's it. In this case you should have other bullet proof material (common trips, apartment/renter's agreement with both names on it, life insurance, joint bank account, affidavits from friends, etc.).

 

[princesultan]

well let me explain my situation a little bit.

basically her whole family is in indonesia. they are religious (muslims) and i'm not. we met in asia, did long distance for 1.5 years. we've been together for 6 years. she lives here in canada with me and she's been here for 3 years (only living together for 1 year, at her own place for the other 2 years while she went to school and worked). she gets all her mail to our address, although there aren't any joint bills or joint accounts. i have traveled back to asia to be with her family for the past 3 years, i have pictures and receipts for all this. we have pictures of all the trips we've been on. she knows my family extremely well and we have pictures of everyone together. we have tons of emails and during the long distance part of the relationship, i racked up pretty high phone bills (not sure if i can order these bills or not).

i am planning to convert religions out of respect for her family as i am not religious. we would then marry in a mosque just the 2 of us with 2 witnesses. she would require a letter of permission from her father for this, so i guess that's another piece of proof. the reason for not inviting everyone to the mosque is because it's not really a typical type wedding for a white person and a lot of my side probably wouldn't understand. ideally, we would like to have a wedding reception in indonesia summer 2013 for all of my side and all of her side, although the legal wedding would occur end of 2012 at the mosque in canada.

questions:

1 - how does this evidence look?
2 - does having a legal wedding FOLLOWED by a wedding reception close to a year later look bad?

 

[princesultan]

well let me explain my situation a little bit.

basically her whole family is in indonesia. they are religious (muslims) and i'm not. we met in asia, did long distance for 1.5 years. we've been together for 6 years. she lives here in canada with me and she's been here for 3 years (only living together for 1 year, at her own place for the other 2 years while she went to school and worked). she gets all her mail to our address, although there aren't any joint bills or joint accounts. i have traveled back to asia to be with her family for the past 3 years, i have pictures and receipts for all this. we have pictures of all the trips we've been on. she knows my family extremely well and we have pictures of everyone together. we have tons of emails and during the long distance part of the relationship, i racked up pretty high phone bills (not sure if i can order these bills or not).

i am planning to convert religions out of respect for her family as i am not religious. we would then marry in a mosque just the 2 of us with 2 witnesses. she would require a letter of permission from her father for this, so i guess that's another piece of proof. the reason for not inviting everyone to the mosque is because it's not really a typical type wedding for a white person and a lot of my side probably wouldn't understand. ideally, we would like to have a wedding reception in indonesia summer 2013 for all of my side and all of her side, although the legal wedding would occur end of 2012 at the mosque in canada.

questions:

1 - how does this evidence look?
2 - does having a legal wedding FOLLOWED by a wedding reception close to a year later look bad?

^^

anyone??

 

[Sweden]

Hey princesultan,

it's difficult for any of us to know what CIC would think. But it looks like you have a lot of proofs, and a "good explanation" on why you are planning to have a small wedding.
So I suppose it will be OK. Just explain everything in details (like you did here, but more!), and inlcude every proofs you have. Get letters from friends and family, and as many proofs as possible.

If the VO is not convinced, they will ask you for an interview, and you shoudl see it as a chance to show that your relationship is genuine. Considering that you have been together for 6 years, and you seem to have proofs of it, I doubt that the VO will think it is a MoC, as you know her family and she knows yours etc. it is for sure not so typical, but as long as you can explain everything in details, including your future plans for a wedding reception etc, you should be fine!
Good luck,
Sweden

 

[princesultan]

Hey princesultan,

it's difficult for any of us to know what CIC would think. But it looks like you have a lot of proofs, and a "good explanation" on why you are planning to have a small wedding.
So I suppose it will be OK. Just explain everything in details (like you did here, but more!), and inlcude every proofs you have. Get letters from friends and family, and as many proofs as possible.

If the VO is not convinced, they will ask you for an interview, and you shoudl see it as a chance to show that your relationship is genuine. Considering that you have been together for 6 years, and you seem to have proofs of it, I doubt that the VO will think it is a MoC, as you know her family and she knows yours etc. it is for sure not so typical, but as long as you can explain everything in details, including your future plans for a wedding reception etc, you should be fine!
Good luck,
Sweden

thanks!

if anyone else wants to chime in, be my guest!