Ukraine: Family Class Questions/Possible Complications?

[CanadianPrairieGent]

Hi all. In advance, thanks for all the patient and helpful assistance.

My Ukrainian fiancee and I seem to have determined that while being apart for 18 months for an outbound application, while less than ideal, is the possibly the quickest, safest, and easiest way to bring here and her daughter to me, after we marry. We hope to marry when I visit this Easter break, and that, in and of itself, is proving to be a logistical nightmare and getting a straight answer on what I need to have a valid marriage in Ukraine is proving to be a difficult task, with a wide array of conflicting information. I'm not a rich man and we want to avoid any missteps, both for the sake of precious time and money. So, if any of you have been through the process of marrying in Ukraine, please send me a message and I'd love to hear your advice. We are both divorced, if that helps you provide me with more accurate information.

As for my main question, it is centred on her name change, or lack thererof, and possible complications because of it. My fiancee fully intends to take my surname after we are married. However, she has determined that if she doesn't change it when we marry in Ukraine, retaining her current surname, we can get a jump start on much of the CIC paperwork before I come, and then attend to some of it while I am there for our marriage ceremony, allowing us to make a relatively quick PR application as soon as I get back to Canada. By retaining her current surname, she doesn't need to worry about waiting for a new Ukrainian passport and a new foreign passport (they have 2 passports), because waiting for all of the new documents with my surname will take extra time to apply for and issue, thereby, delaying our CIC PR application. If we do this, will the CIC see any "red flags" because my wife hasn't taken my surname? If not, then when, where, and how should we change her current surname to mine? Alternatively, if she changes her current surname to mine when we marry, she is not able to get a head start on much of the Ukrainian paperwork or the CIC paperwork, and as I said above, it will take time to process her new documents with her new surname, after we marry, and we delay the CIC paperwork and application. None of us really want that.

She also expressed a concern that her foreign passport expires in January of 2018, and is worried that is we are still in the CIC system, waiting for a decision on the PR application, that the soon to expire passport could pose a problem, or that an application to issue a new passport once this one expires, will pose a problem or delay with CIC. Personally, I don't see it, because even if we get married in March of 2016, then our PR package needs to be into the CIC by Aug of 2016, to make their 18 month processing time window.

I hope that I've made this understandable so you can offer assistance. And, I'm sure I'll have more questions after. lol

 

[Aquakitty]

If you don't have any criminal issues and send everything upfront, it is very unlikely to take 18 months for an outland application through Kyiv. In fact Kyiv is one of the faster VO's overall.

Not changing her name right away isn't a big deal, just explain in the application why she's doing it later. That's not unusual at all.

 

[truesmile]

Agree on both counts. Change the name later, and the processing time will not likely be as long as what is posted.

 

[boshetunmai]

I don't think you will have any issues with CIC from not changing her surname. The issues you might run into are the logistical issues when she does decide to do it. (e.g. is she going to change it in Ukraine or once she lands in Canada? If she does it in Canada, how will that affect her Ukrainian documents like her internal passport... etc.)

As for the foreign passport expiry I wouldn't worry about it now. You can cross that bridge if and when you get there.

I can't offer a lot of wisdom on marrying in Ukraine but I did get married in Russia. Basically my husband (fiance) first went to the civil office performing the marriage to ask them what they needed (I'd say that's the most accurate source of information for you). They provided him with a list of documents that they required from me. It was pretty straightforward (copy of passport, etc.) but I did have to get one document which was a statutory declaration of some sort, in front of a notary. Then came the process of getting this document legalized for use in Russia, which involved sending it away to Canadian foreign affairs, getting some stamp, then sending it to the Russian embassy and getting another stamp. This process probably took about 3 months on its own. Then I imagine they had to be translated before he could present them to the civil office.

I had been researching and preparing all the documents for PR application prior to the wedding, so I was pretty prepared going there. We got to work on the application right after the wedding, making sure we had all the required documents translated into English while there. I was able to submit the application as soon as I returned to Canada and after 6 months of annoying waiting my husband finally landed (The posted processing time then was about 12 months I think).