Stuck. Should I even bother applying for sponsorship?

[Ferirosha]

Hi. To skip the boring long details, I'll make this short. I am the applicant. 18, female. My boyfriend is 21. I am currently in Canada. We were going to get a marriage certificate and then apply for my pr.

Some details: I am from a visa exempt country, thus no red flag should be set for marriage of convenience. Me and him have been together for a year. Before you ask woah, so short! Why? I have depression and many personal issues and thus came here to have a better life. My boyfriends mother who owns the house we live in right now say that if we apply, it'll be rejected right away, because she is a single mom, he is young and I am young. And that crushed me. Really? Age and being a single mom... Matters? She said that her brothers niece tried for sponsorship but got rejected. I assume they were from China, which is not visa exempt. Aside from how young we are, we have proof that our relationship is genuine. And my case being that I felt like I had no way out in the other country. He makes my life better. Right now he's working part time and graduates 2017 April. Then he will be able to work full time. Please, I need help. Will I really be rejected, because we're young, his mother is a single mom and we won't be able to provide wedding pictures? (as we are only getting 2 witnesses for the certificate, and officially marrying in a big ceremony later on). Please, I need advice..

(we are not traditional, we don't have any traditional marriage rules such as arranged marriage I know that India does, and he's willing to support me.)

I left everything I had. Everything in the country and came here. I have nowhere now to go, because I thought Canada looks out for genuine love versus fraud, not age(I know age gap is a red flag) and single parents. I should mention that we are not in debt right now and his mother is making a decent living while he is working part time. She pays electricity, Internet, etc. We have shelter thanks to her. He pays for extra food if needed.

 

[flx2015]

the sponsor's parents' marital status is irrelevant, and the only time i've known age to be a red flag is when there's a significant age gap between the couple.

go ahead and apply; you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Ferirosha]

the sponsor's parents' marital status is irrelevant, and the only time i've known age to be a red flag is when there's a significant age gap between the couple.

go ahead and apply; you shouldn't have any problems.

That's what I thought, too. But she was arguing on how her brothers niece was rejected. As long as we have proof that our relationship is genuine, it should be fine, right?

 

[flx2015]

That's what I thought, too. But she was arguing on how her brothers niece was rejected. As long as we have proof that our relationship is genuine, it should be fine, right?

yes, provide them with adequate proof of relationship and you'll be alright.

his mother can argue all she wants, but that won't make her right. she's either lying or simply passing on whatever she heard from other similarly misinformed people.

 

[Ferirosha]

yes, provide them with adequate proof of relationship and you'll be alright.

his mother can argue all she wants, but that won't make her right. she's either lying or simply passing on whatever she heard from other similarly misinformed people.

Yes. We had just said that. Now she's threatening to kick him out of the house if we go through with marriage certificate.
Not sure what to do now. We could rent, I suppose. She just proved that she simply does not want him to be with me.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi. To skip the boring long details, I'll make this short. I am the applicant. 18, female. My boyfriend is 21. I am currently in Canada. We were going to get a marriage certificate and then apply for my pr.

Some details: I am from a visa exempt country, thus no red flag should be set for marriage of convenience. Me and him have been together for a year. Before you ask woah, so short! Why? I have depression and many personal issues and thus came here to have a better life. My boyfriends mother who owns the house we live in right now say that if we apply, it'll be rejected right away, because she is a single mom, he is young and I am young. And that crushed me. Really? Age and being a single mom... Matters? She said that her brothers niece tried for sponsorship but got rejected. I assume they were from China, which is not visa exempt. Aside from how young we are, we have proof that our relationship is genuine. And my case being that I felt like I had no way out in the other country. He makes my life better. Right now he's working part time and graduates 2017 April. Then he will be able to work full time. Please, I need help. Will I really be rejected, because we're young, his mother is a single mom and we won't be able to provide wedding pictures? (as we are only getting 2 witnesses for the certificate, and officially marrying in a big ceremony later on). Please, I need advice..

(we are not traditional, we don't have any traditional marriage rules such as arranged marriage I know that India does, and he's willing to support me.)

I left everything I had. Everything in the country and came here. I have nowhere now to go, because I thought Canada looks out for genuine love versus fraud, not age(I know age gap is a red flag) and single parents. I should mention that we are not in debt right now and his mother is making a decent living while he is working part time. She pays electricity, Internet, etc. We have shelter thanks to her. He pays for extra food if needed.

You should be fine if you apply. I would ignore the "advice" his mom is giving you. He has a job even if part-time, so has income to show which will help with financial aspect of application (they just want to make sure you can support yourselves). If income is very low some people get letters of financial support from family, but I don't think that will be an option for you guys due to his mom's view on this. Though if there are any other family members willing to help, getting letters from them would definitely help.

What status do you currently have in Canada? Hopefully you are continuing to extend your status before it expires to make sure you stay legal here. If you go out of status, it could present other complications in your PR app.

Of course you have other issues if the mom would really kick you out the house if you get married, but that really has nothing to do with the PR app. Hopefully you can find a place to rent if your fiance can't work things out with his mom and this really happens.

 

[Aquakitty]

I'd still make sure you have a strong app, showing financial support and job plans in particular. The "age gap" is nothing, but your young age IS a red flag. They'll want to make sure you aren't just being impulsive and they'll want to make sure your spouse understands the 3 year financial responsibility. As long as you can show money and solid future plans I don't see a problem. The mom is familiar with immigration at least a little it seems, hopefully you can work it out with her. Maybe a good talk is in order.

 

[canadianwoman]

... we won't be able to provide wedding pictures? (as we are only getting 2 witnesses for the certificate, and officially marrying in a big ceremony later on).

Keep in mind that you will in fact have wedding pictures. It does not matter what kind of marriage ceremony you have (unless in your culture a big wedding is normal, and even then, you can explain why you chose a small wedding). If you have a big wedding, or just a small civil wedding with two witnesses, in Canada that is your wedding. You should make the civil wedding look as special as possible: get dressed up, exchange rings, take photos, have some kind of reception, even if it is just dinner afterwards at a nice restaurant, go on a honeymoon, etc. You can explain in the application that you plan to have a big traditional ceremony later, but you will have to say why - maybe because money is tight now and you have to save up, or whatever the reason is. However, the civil ceremony is in fact your real wedding ceremony - any ceremony later is just for show.

The fact your boyfriend's mother is a single mother is completely irrelevant. It will not affect the application at all. You two are young, but you should have lots of proof that the relationship is genuine. I would think most likely you will be approved, unless there are some problems you haven't mentioned here.

 

[Bunny2021]

Hi there,

me and my husband are a young couple too. We got married young my husband was 18 I was 19. We dated for 2 years before our marriage and applied for sponsorship a year later. We also had a small civil wedding with just a few close family members. We didn't have an interview or request for extra relationship proofs, our application is in final stages. Like others mentioned here just make sure you have a strong application and provide as much relationship proof as you can. I just wanted to let you know that it is possible to sponsor even though you and your future husband are very young. I guess it depends on the visa officer if they see it as a "red flag", but on the other hand, if being young was a red flag then why would they allow couples to sponsor at 18 or over?

Good luck and I wish you all the best !

 

[Decoy24601]

Hi there,

me and my husband are a young couple too. We got married young my husband was 18 I was 19. We dated for 2 years before our marriage and applied for sponsorship a year later. We also had a small civil wedding with just a few close family members. We didn't have an interview or request for extra relationship proofs, our application is in final stages. Like others mentioned here just make sure you have a strong application and provide as much relationship proof as you can. I just wanted to let you know that it is possible to sponsor even though you and your future husband are very young. I guess it depends on the visa officer if they see it as a "red flag", but on the other hand, if being young was a red flag then why would they allow couples to sponsor at 18 or over?

Good luck and I wish you all the best !

To add to this, I married my husband 7-8 months after we first met in person. We met online about a year and a half before that. We had a very small and very casual outdoor wedding. I'm fairly young and he's 10 years older than me. Our notes didn't even mention our ages or concerns about that, but did mention how long we were together without any concerns. As long as it's at least somewhat culturally acceptable to have a small wedding with lots of relationship proof, you'll be fine.

 

[Ferirosha]

Thank you all so much. I was just worried as his mother will definitely kick us out of her house if he decides to go through with the marriage certificate. I have conversation txt with him everyday through out until I came here from Skype. Although I didn't know selfie pictures really mattered a huge lot.. But we can do that. Is there any other tips? And when should we apply? Right now I'm on 6 months. Should I extend it (how do I explain why I want this extention?) and wait until April next year to apply for sponsorship as that's when he graduates University? This is all because his mother won't let us stay if we marry and he doesn't have enough money for rent right now. Thank you! (would a small place we rent be a red flag? Since we would have to live with only basics if we move out.)

 

[Aquakitty]

It's perhaps unfair at times but the first world countries definitely have a much easier time with immigration and "unusual" relationships. My husband was 18 when he crossed the border, and he was hassled (we weren't married then obviously). But he was hassled because he didn't have proof of funds and a return ticket. So they'd probably have hassled a 45 year old the same way.

Probably everyone has a red flag of some sort to deal with, it's meaningless though if you've covered the issue and especially if you are from certain countries. The only thing they seem to care about for the visa-exempt countries is criminality and money. Ages and whatnot don't seem to make much of a difference. I suppose there are exceptions though.

In my personal opinion I'd say holding off on the sponsorship is a good idea, it'd give you some time to settle in and maybe get his mom on your side If you can stand not working for a while.You should apply for a renewal about a month before your current one expires.

 

[Ferirosha]

Yes, but what should I put in the request for extension? Should I put 'applying for pr'? Or what? I'm very unfamiliar with this. And since he graduates in April I was hoping we can do everything then, but then it'll be 2 months before June which my visitor' s pass would again expire..

 

[canadianwoman]

Yes, you can put 'establishing common-law for the purposes of sponsorship' as your reason for extending. Other people have used this as the reason, and have been successful. You can apply to extend your stay again, one month before it expires.

 

[OhCanada77]

I'm coming over to marry my canadian fiance. Like you, just 2 witnesses to make it official. But still going to take pics and things and go for dinner afterwards and then having a blessing and reception here in the UK a year or so after (will double as my leaving party!) so that might be an option?

So make sure you wear a dress and get some pics. And good luck to you both!