Spousal sponsorship without living together 'as husband and wife' until later

[CanadaBrazil]

Hi,


We are looking at getting married legally in February with a small ceremony with family in the USA. We are then wanting to have a big church ceremony in Brazil in July followed by the honeymoon.

Because of our religious convictions, we are not intending to live together 'as husband and wife' or have a honeymoon until after the big Christian ceremony in July.

We want to jump start the application after getting legally married though.

Will this lack of living together (and not sleeping together) be a bad thing for the application even though we would be legally married after knowing each other for three years.

Thanks...

 

[keesio]

If by "not living together" meaning not living in the same address, then that is not unusual. It is actually quite common - many people start long distance relationships and get married and then wait for sponsorship to finish before ever officially start living together. What would be bad is if you and your spouse never visited each other or physically spent very little time together.

but you will definitely want to explain in your application that you plan on having a big ceremony in July and have your honeymoon afterwards. And if you have any proof of this (like some document like invitations to family/friends for the big church ceremony, plane tickets for the honeymoon booked, etc) then that would be good to include (copies of course)

 

[BeShoo]

In my personal opinion, it could be a little iffy. Maybe. It's not enough to be "legally" married. You have to be able to show that the legal marriage is "genuine" (i.e. not just entered into for immigration purposes). If any question of it comes up, they may want to be sure that you consider yourselves really married, and your friends and relatives consider you really married. If you don't consider the real wedding to actually be completed at the time that you apply, it does enter into a little bit of a grey area. The idea that you are legally married but are avoiding sleeping together because you don't really think the marriage is legitimate yet does bring up questions if the immigration officers know about that. From their viewpoint, think what would happen if they granted permanent residence and you decided not to go through with the Christian ceremony after all. Just something to think about. Others may disagree with my cautions.

 

[CanadaBrazil]

Thanks Both

I am thinking of getting her a study visa to enrol in a course before any marriage. What are your thoughts of this? This would mean if and when we got married she would be enrolled in a course so she could be in the country.

Are there any implications with her starting only starting the course after marriage if she got the study visa before marriage. Or should she only get married after she has started the course.

Also... is it possible for my parents (in Seattle) to sponsor her as she doesn't have the money herself for study.

Thanks

 

[BeShoo]

All I know about study permits is that it's important to accurately disclose your marital status and whether you have children at the time that you apply. You should maybe ask questions about study permits in another section of this forum.

It would be possible for your parents to pay for her study, I think. I don't see a problem with that. Your parents can't sponsor her for Permanent Residency, though, because they are not related to her (in any permissible way to sponsor).

 

[CanadaBrazil]

Thanks BeeShoo.

Do you see any problem with her getting a study visa and then getting married outside of Canada BEFORE starting the course?

Also, is a denial of a study visa a red flag when someone actually goes into Canada as a spouse on a visitors visa?

Thanks!

 

[BeShoo]

As I said, I'm no expert on study visas but I don't see how there would be a problem getting married after getting a study visa. It might be important to declare the change in marital status once it takes place. Certainly she needs to do that.

If a study visa were denied, I don't think that would be a red flag for PR.