Spousal Sponsorship - proof of relationship/translations/name change/family involvement

[akbarz]

Hello,
I have been scouring this site for answers but I wasn't able to find any help so I thought I would leave a post to see if someone has any answers for me.

Background: My husband and I met in 2016 through family, he is a Spanish citizen and I am a Canadian Citizen. We did long distance, we traveled to see each other over the years. Our families were not involved in our relationship due to various personal reasons and did not attend our wedding (I did not go into depth regarding this on the application form where it asks whether parents attended the wedding, not sure if I should). Furthermore, we decided to have a simple wedding ceremony this past August (In Canada), with only my mother in attendance. He than returned home for work, as I am finishing up my degree before we move in together (he cant stay here as he does not have work permit).

My questions are:

1. Should I go into detail about why some of our family/relatives are not involved with our relationship?
2. For proof of contact; I had screenshot Whatsapp messages (about 5 pages, 4 screenshots each), written in a mix of Urdu and English. It says they need to be translated but I am having trouble finding a translator and was wondering whether anyone could suggest one (they say because its a mix they cant translate, lots of slang used as well so not sure how to provide this translation without doing it myself). I also included letters that we had written. I am not sure how much to show them, but I pulled messages throughout the years.
3. For further proof of relationship; I provided screenshots of our social media, photos from travels, weddings and letters from friends who met him. Will this suffice? I am concerned because we are very private couple and with our family not really involved I was worried about proving our relationship.
4. Name change/Birth certificate: So this is my main concern. My husband was born in Pakistan, moved to Spain when he was 7. He no longer has Pakistan nationality as he is now a citizen of Spain. When he moved to Spain his first and last name were switched, and many of his official Spanish documents often mix up the name. On receiving his Spanish nationality, his name was once again changed; his first name and then his fathers last name and then his mothers. This is what is used on all current passport, Id cards etc. Spain also prints a new "birth certificate" indicating the birth day, parents information, reason for name change and new name. My husband was told that this is birth certificate from now on, and has been using it for all his purposes. I am wondering if this will create issues, first the names being switched, then the name change, then the documents showing the name mixed up. Its been a hassle getting an answer from IRCC or the Spanish vital statistics offices. Could anyone provide some help or insight? Would this be accepted as the birth certificate? (I had all the documents translated to English as well)

 

[PreferredRobot]

I’m also wondering about the chat logs. Can’t translate it all as it’s so expensive.

 

[reviv3r]

I’m certain someone has expert advice for you but simply explaining in your application, just like you’ve done here, should suffice.
If IRCC want further information/explanation during the application process, they will ask for it. Hope this gives you some peace of mind. PR application is so nerve wracking!

 

[akbarz]

I’m also wondering about the chat logs. Can’t translate it all as it’s so expensive.

Yes we had the Spanish police certificate, Spanish birth certificate translated and it was around $150.
For the urdu chat logs, they wanted to charge us for the translated part and FOR JUST TYPING IN THE ENGLISH! it was ridciulous what they try to do when you have no other option.

 

[akbarz]

I’m certain someone has expert advice for you but simply explaining in your application, just like you’ve done here, should suffice.
If IRCC want further information/explanation during the application process, they will ask for it. Hope this gives you some peace of mind. PR application is so nerve wracking!

Thank you! Its just nerve wracking thinking you're being thorough and having it sent back. Do you know if they would ask for more or just send it back? And where in the application portion do I explain all this?

 

[reviv3r]

Thank you! Its just nerve wracking thinking you're being thorough and having it sent back. Do you know if they would ask for more or just send it back?

With all the information you are voluntarily providing, I don’t see any reason for them to send it back.
Your application will only be returned to you if it is incomplete...ie missing signatures, incomplete fees, missing supporting documents. I printed off a few copies of the checklist and cross checked my application package with a fresh checklist a few times just to be sure. And I followed their instructions to the letter. I still made some mistakes (a missing explanation for the change in my birth name!) but my application was accepted. I think as long as you submit a complete package, it will be all good.

 

[FVPupnorth]

Thank you! Its just nerve wracking thinking you're being thorough and having it sent back. Do you know if they would ask for more or just send it back? And where in the application portion do I explain all this?

I agree with the previous comments. Just be honest and tell them what the truth about your situation is. I would tell as much as you are comfortable telling. Don't forget, it's not like its going to be published somewhere. And the more comfortable the IRCC officer reviewing your application is with your life story, the less they will have to ask for more info.

As for where to put this ... On a couple of the forms I remember there being a note that if you have more info you can add a separate piece of paper, or something to that affect. So on a separate piece of paper I simply put the name and number of the document I was referring to at the top, the PA's full name and birth date, then wrote what I wanted to tell them and attached it behind that document when I put our application together using the checklist.

Just be as thorough as you can, check your application package a few times before you send it, and hope for the best. Then the waiting starts! Good luck ...

 

[canuck78]

We don’t have a lot of information about how many times you have visited each other in person and for how long. If you have visited each other 5+ times and spent a significant amount of time together and maybe even living together the burden of proof that it is a genuine relationship decreases. So does the concern that you didn’t have a traditional wedding. If you are a more liberal couple a small wedding would be less surprising. It is pretty unusual for a marriage between Pakistanis to be just the couple and a family member. I would go into why you had a small wedding and that the family wasn’t present after you met through a family introduction.

 

[akbarz]

We don’t have a lot of information about how many times you have visited each other in person and for how long. If you have visited each other 5+ times and spent a significant amount of time together and maybe even living together the burden of proof that it is a genuine relationship decreases. So does the concern that you didn’t have a traditional wedding. If you are a more liberal couple a small wedding would be less surprising. It is pretty unusual for a marriage between Pakistanis to be just the couple and a family member. I would go into why you had a small wedding and that the family wasn’t present after you met through a family introduction.

We met 5 times after our initial meeting, that was traveling to different cities during my breaks from University. Between 1 to 2 weeks because our schedules are so busy. we didn't live together other than our trips because we weren't married and our mother's wouldn't approve. We knew each other through family but they were not happy with our dating for obvious cultural reasons and religious differences. Our trips were private, as we didn't tell each others families. There were circumstances (my grandfather passing 2 weeks before wedding) for why my mom asked me to cancel the wedding, and we decided to get married with just my mom there. Our other family members are not involved in our relationship or life, so we never initially invited them. It was just a few friends, who were kind enough to understand that it was too close to a death to have a celebration.

We didn't go for a traditional wedding because we have no family other than our moms whom we would invite. I explained this all more clearly in the application. We are a pretty liberal couple, compared to the conservative family, so that kind of is the reason we pretty much eloped
Included all the boarding passes, photos from trip, social media posts, wedding day photos, 10 pages of texts starting from 2016, call logs, skype logs, letters from mom and friends who have met him,

just makes life harder having to prove we have a genuine relationship

 

[canuck78]

We met 5 times after our initial meeting, that was traveling to different cities during my breaks from University. Between 1 to 2 weeks because our schedules are so busy. we didn't live together other than our trips because we weren't married and our mother's wouldn't approve. We knew each other through family but they were not happy with our dating for obvious cultural reasons and religious differences. Our trips were private, as we didn't tell each others families. There were circumstances (my grandfather passing 2 weeks before wedding) for why my mom asked me to cancel the wedding, and we decided to get married with just my mom there. Our other family members are not involved in our relationship or life, so we never initially invited them. It was just a few friends, who were kind enough to understand that it was too close to a death to have a celebration.

We didn't go for a traditional wedding because we have no family other than our moms whom we would invite. I explained this all more clearly in the application. We are a pretty liberal couple, compared to the conservative family, so that kind of is the reason we pretty much eloped
Included all the boarding passes, photos from trip, social media posts, wedding day photos, 10 pages of texts starting from 2016, call logs, skype logs, letters from mom and friends who have met him,

just makes life harder having to prove we have a genuine relationship

Things like travelling together and sharing a room 5 separate times makes proving a genuine relationship much easier than if you are not allowed to be together alone. Explaining that a family member died so you didn’t want to have a celebration is a valid reason not to have a big wedding although wedding preparations are usually done at least a few weeks or months in advance. IRCC is reasonable. In relationships that are more liberal where couples can spend more time together one on one it is easier to prove that it is a genuine relationship. You seem to have quite a lot of proof so I wouldn’t worry about it. Hopefully your husband may be working or your family can agree to provide financial support since it seems like are still a student.

 

[akbarz]

Things like travelling together and sharing a room 5 separate times makes proving a genuine relationship much easier than if you are not allowed to be together alone. Explaining that a family member died so you didn’t want to have a celebration is a valid reason not to have a big wedding although wedding preparations are usually done at least a few weeks or months in advance. IRCC is reasonable. In relationships that are more liberal where couples can spend more time together one on one it is easier to prove that it is a genuine relationship. You seem to have quite a lot of proof so I wouldn’t worry about it. Hopefully your husband may be working or your family can agree to provide financial support since it seems like are still a student.

Yes, definitely happy that we took the trips when we did. Since we weren't having a big wedding to begin with, preparations were made starting in May, for which I have emails if need be (not sending those). The death was much closer to the day of so out of respect to my mother who was a supporter of our relationship we had no issues simplifying our wedding. Husband works, I wrote a letter for source of income, saying that he is working and saving, and that I am almost finished my degree (nursing) and that I am registered to work in BC as a care aide if I need to support him when he moves here, and bank statement. I hope its enough, its all I have.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ahmedcar]

Hello,
I have been scouring this site for answers but I wasn't able to find any help so I thought I would leave a post to see if someone has any answers for me.

Background: My husband and I met in 2016 through family, he is a Spanish citizen and I am a Canadian Citizen. We did long distance, we traveled to see each other over the years. Our families were not involved in our relationship due to various personal reasons and did not attend our wedding (I did not go into depth regarding this on the application form where it asks whether parents attended the wedding, not sure if I should). Furthermore, we decided to have a simple wedding ceremony this past August (In Canada), with only my mother in attendance. He than returned home for work, as I am finishing up my degree before we move in together (he cant stay here as he does not have work permit).

My questions are:

1. Should I go into detail about why some of our family/relatives are not involved with our relationship?
2. For proof of contact; I had screenshot Whatsapp messages (about 5 pages, 4 screenshots each), written in a mix of Urdu and English. It says they need to be translated but I am having trouble finding a translator and was wondering whether anyone could suggest one (they say because its a mix they cant translate, lots of slang used as well so not sure how to provide this translation without doing it myself). I also included letters that we had written. I am not sure how much to show them, but I pulled messages throughout the years.
3. For further proof of relationship; I provided screenshots of our social media, photos from travels, weddings and letters from friends who met him. Will this suffice? I am concerned because we are very private couple and with our family not really involved I was worried about proving our relationship.
4. Name change/Birth certificate: So this is my main concern. My husband was born in Pakistan, moved to Spain when he was 7. He no longer has Pakistan nationality as he is now a citizen of Spain. When he moved to Spain his first and last name were switched, and many of his official Spanish documents often mix up the name. On receiving his Spanish nationality, his name was once again changed; his first name and then his fathers last name and then his mothers. This is what is used on all current passport, Id cards etc. Spain also prints a new "birth certificate" indicating the birth day, parents information, reason for name change and new name. My husband was told that this is birth certificate from now on, and has been using it for all his purposes. I am wondering if this will create issues, first the names being switched, then the name change, then the documents showing the name mixed up. Its been a hassle getting an answer from IRCC or the Spanish vital statistics offices. Could anyone provide some help or insight? Would this be accepted as the birth certificate? (I had all the documents translated to English as well)

You will need to get your Watsap chat translated to English. It’s a mandatory requirement, I know that it is very expensive here. If you have any friends or family in Pakistan they can get it done over there and courier you the originals. If not check with your husband how much it’s costing in Spain. I suggest you not to send the untranslated chats and risk your application getting returned. They have very clearly stated in the checklist about this requirement.

 

[akbarz]

You will need to get your Watsap chat translated to English. It’s a mandatory requirement, I know that it is very expensive here. If you have any friends or family in Pakistan they can get it done over there and courier you the originals. If not check with your husband how much it’s costing in Spain. I suggest you not to send the untranslated chats and risk your application getting returned. They have very clearly stated in the checklist about this requirement.

Yes, I would not send them without a certified translation. I know that we don't need the originals and can just use the scanned copies, but finding someone in Pak is hard.
I am just going to use the one here, its expensive but I'd rather have my husband here

 

[akbarz]

Hey everyone,
Just about to send in the application package, been working on it months, numerous rewrites trying to explain our relationship in the simplest way, and provide everything we have according to the checklist given.

I am psyching myself out after reading numerous peoples rejections after having genuine proof of relationship

I am struggling to explain to them how we aren't living together because I have to be here (Kelowna) for school (last year of degree) and he can't work here so hes staying there to work in the meantime.

Also, I am finding it hard how to explain why we did not go the route of a big Pakistani wedding (I am born and raised in Canada, I grew up on Canadian values, including the freedom to choose who i want to marry, which didn't sit well with some family who are not involved in our relationship - so having a big wedding was out of the question, who were we supposed to invite??)

As for friends not coming, I shared the reason of my moms request of not having a celebration close to my grandfathers death, even having to cancel my henna ceremony the night before the wedding because my mom thought it would be disrespectful. I further explained that because of the families belonging to different sects of the religion - no imam or officiant from either side would agree to perform the traditional wedding. Because of this we made the decision to keep it neutral and have an officiant marry us.

We lived together after the wedding, didn't have a honeymoon because he had only 2 weeks off from work and I was back to school in a couple of weeks. Also super expensive when we really wanted to focus on saving so when he moved here we could afford for him to go back to school.
Futhermore, we had been travelling to see each other since 2016, while I was in school and he was the only one working. I showed tickets, airbnb and hotel receipts. My mother agreed to write a letter explaining all this and that we had lived together in her home after the wedding for the short period that he was here. I also plan on going to see him over the Christmas holidays. I also mentioned that because of the circumstances we had to cancel our friends invites and they were okay with that so we were planning on having a more formal dinner to celebrate in the summer so mine and his friends are able to travel then. Is that okay to put in there?
Our wedding and relationship is unconventional for both the Pakistani side and the western side, which makes me nervous having to explain this in a small space on an application form.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ahmedcar]

Hey everyone,
Just about to send in the application package, been working on it months, numerous rewrites trying to explain our relationship in the simplest way, and provide everything we have according to the checklist given.

I am psyching myself out after reading numerous peoples rejections after having genuine proof of relationship

I am struggling to explain to them how we aren't living together because I have to be here (Kelowna) for school (last year of degree) and he can't work here so hes staying there to work in the meantime.

Also, I am finding it hard how to explain why we did not go the route of a big Pakistani wedding (I am born and raised in Canada, I grew up on Canadian values, including the freedom to choose who i want to marry, which didn't sit well with some family who are not involved in our relationship - so having a big wedding was out of the question, who were we supposed to invite??)

As for friends not coming, I shared the reason of my moms request of not having a celebration close to my grandfathers death, even having to cancel my henna ceremony the night before the wedding because my mom thought it would be disrespectful. I further explained that because of the families belonging to different sects of the religion - no imam or officiant from either side would agree to perform the traditional wedding. Because of this we made the decision to keep it neutral and have an officiant marry us.

We lived together after the wedding, didn't have a honeymoon because he had only 2 weeks off from work and I was back to school in a couple of weeks. Also super expensive when we really wanted to focus on saving so when he moved here we could afford for him to go back to school.
Futhermore, we had been travelling to see each other since 2016, while I was in school and he was the only one working. I showed tickets, airbnb and hotel receipts. My mother agreed to write a letter explaining all this and that we had lived together in her home after the wedding for the short period that he was here. I also plan on going to see him over the Christmas holidays. I also mentioned that because of the circumstances we had to cancel our friends invites and they were okay with that so we were planning on having a more formal dinner to celebrate in the summer so mine and his friends are able to travel then. Is that okay to put in there?
Our wedding and relationship is unconventional for both the Pakistani side and the western side, which makes me nervous having to explain this in a small space on an application form.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would suggest you to be honest and truthful in your explanations. You both being of different sects and you being raised in Canada are very solid reasons for having a non conventional wedding. Stress on these two points in your explanation. Good luck