Hello everyone,
Thank you for all the valuable information that is here in this forum. I am new here and I have few questions/concerns and will appreciate anyone's input.
Basic background:
Me and my bf applied for express entry in 2019 and he got approved and mine was rejected (WP expiring September 2020). We have been on same address since 2017, we are in total 3 people living together, we were all in the same program back in college. Me and my bf were extremely good friends until we started dating each other in mid 2019. After spending a lot of time to know each other and talking to our families we have decided to get married in the near future.
We are looking into sponsorship options and I have been talking to few lawyers and consultants with everyone saying different things. Here are my questions and concerns.
- We are both Indians and we know how wedding are in India. Currently, with covid-19 nor can we travel back home and neither can we have big celebrations. My question is, is that okay to get a civil ceremony done as we believe it is the right time and step for our relationship and our parents wants the same. Also, in our culture dates are suggested by the religious preach. We spoke to few marriage officiant and they are ready to do the ceremony with only 5 people present. We will be using this marriage certificate in our sponsorship file, is it explainable to the officer that due to covid-19 restrictions civil ceremony was done? Later, when restrictions uplifted we will be hosting a small celebration here in Canada and later getting married traditionally in India too.
- I understand that OWP program with sponsorship applications is expiring on July 31, 2020. Can I still apply for OWP if I am filing after that date? Does someone knows if this program will be extended?
- What kind of documents can we use to show the genuineness of our relationship?
- One local lawyer said that civil ceremony for Indians is a big red flag and that it looks like marriage of convenience. What are we supposed to do with this whole covid-19 situation then? Cant we explain this to the officer why civil ceremony happened?
Please help with any of the above questions, I have been in so much stress lately and would really appreciate some honest input and recommendations guys. I thank you in advance.