URGENT Help for my inland sponsorship submitted NOV/2013

[josuetenista]

Hello,

Background: I am a Canadian Permanent resident, I'm from Ecuador. I met my husband back in 2007 while my sister(Canadian Citizen) applied for my PR under family class. I started dating my husband in 2008 and our relationship began to become stronger. In 2011 we decided that we wanted to stay the rest of our lives together but we decided not to get married until I received my Canadian PR. In March 2012 we celebrate a party-wedding because of the fact that we knew that if we wanted to get married in CANADA not all of our relatives and friends could be present. Even though we celebrated a wedding party in Ecuador we never got LEGALLY married in our country.
In July 2012 I landed in Canada as a permanent resident and my marital status as SINGLE. I stayed here in Canada for about 2 months while my husband stayed in Ecuador. I received my PR Card in Sept 2012 and went back to Ecuador to finish school.
In June 2013 my husband and me came to Canada and we OFFICIALLY got married in Ontario in July 2013, we had a small ceremony with a few guests. He came here with a one entry student visa because he assisted to school for a short period of time. In Nov 2013 we sent our application for inland sponsorship and in the application we sent a bunch of pictures of the "Wedding" in Ecuador, we also explained in the support letters that we had a "Wedding" in Ecuador with many guest and that we also had relatives from Canada over to the party. In the forms we putted that we got married on the date that we got married in Canada and we also attached our Ontario marriage certificate.

My husband already has OWP that he got through the Pilot Project and also a TRV the he was able to apply from within Canada after getting his OWP.

PROBLEM IS:
Today I was browsing the forums and I found this topic: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/getting-married-before-landing-in-canada-t264841.0.html#msg3922344

In that forum a user states: "If you marry before you land (or are in a common-law relationship), and then land without properly declaring the change in marital status, you will be forever banned from sponsoring your partner . . . and, your own PR status may be in jeopardy for misrepresentation (by omission)."

I never got legally married in my country and in my country I'm still single but when we filled our application in the letters supporting our relationship we wrote down that we had a "Wedding" in Ecuador. Is this a big deal in my situation? What should I do now? Could my application be rejected because of this?
I would really appreciate any advice

 

[scylla]

"Wedding" was definitely a poor choice of words. I think "Engagement Party" would have been far better. I think it would be reasonable to expect that CIC may dig into this to determine if you did in fact get married before you landed in Canada and became a PR. I would follow up with a letter clarifying there was no wedding prior to landing. That's what I would do.

Are you certain you used the word "wedding"?

 

[josuetenista]

"Wedding" was definitely a poor choice of words. I think "Engagement Party" would have been far better. I think it would be reasonable to expect that CIC may dig into this to determine if you did in fact get married before you landed in Canada and became a PR. I would follow up with a letter clarifying there was no wedding prior to landing. That's what I would do.

Are you certain you used the word "wedding"?

Thanks for your reply. I'm very sure I did use the "Word" wedding I was just reading the letter that I sent and the letter that my brother in law wrote for me and in booth we say "Wedding"
Is there anyway to prove CIC I'm not married in my country? How can I follow up my application with a letter?

 

[scylla]

I would send a letter by mail to your visa office.

I would include a new letter from your brother in law as well correcting the information. I think it might also be a good idea to include a letter from someone else who attended (parent?) stating it was only an engagement party.

I don't know enough about Ecuador to tell you if there's some way you can prove you were not married in that country.

 

[josuetenista]

I would send a letter by mail to your visa office.

I would include a new letter from your brother in law as well correcting the information. I think it might also be a good idea to include a letter from someone else who attended (parent?) stating it was only an engagement party.

I don't know enough about Ecuador to tell you if there's some way you can prove you were not married in that country.

Do you know how to send correspondence CIC? I think the easiest way to prove them that we weren't married before I landed here is to get married in the Ecuadorian consulate in Toronto and to send CIC the Ecuadorian marriage certificate. Do you think this will clear any doubts about this matter?

 

[josuetenista]

Does somebody know how to send correspondence CIC? I'm thinking of getting married in the Ecuadorian consulate in toronto so that they can see we were not married before I landed here. Has anybody been successful sending documentation to be attached to your inland sponsorship application?

Any help would be appreciated ....

 

[Alurra71]

Did you, at any point before you landed as a PR in Canada, live with your husband for 12 consecutive months in Ecuador and/or any other location?

You stated that you began your relationship in 2008. Did you and your spouse live apart in separate locations until you finally came to Canada and wed?

 

[canadianwoman]

You can send any updated forms or explanatory letters to the visa office processing your file.
You should definitely not have called the party in Ecuador a 'wedding' - an engagement party would have been fine. You were not married then however, so you just have to explain this and prove it. Maybe getting a letter from the Ecuadorian embassy in Canada stating that you were not married in Ecuador might help, if they would give you such a thing. Did you need a certificate of bachelorhood for your husband to marry? If so, you could show that.
However, when CIC interviews you and your husband, you can explain that this was not a wedding - you did not get married until after he arrived in Canada, and this was just an engagement party or a pre-wedding party for your friends and relatives in Ecuador who could not go to the real wedding in Canada.

 

[josuetenista]

Did you, at any point before you landed as a PR in Canada, live with your husband for 12 consecutive months in Ecuador and/or any other location?

You stated that you began your relationship in 2008. Did you and your spouse live apart in separate locations until you finally came to Canada and wed?

We started living together march/2012 but we didn't consider ourselves as "Common-Law" because in Ecuador in order to be "common law" you have to sign a legal document stating that you started living with your couple. we never sign any legal document , that's why when I landed in Canada (july/2012) I considered myself as " Single" .
We lived together for a total of 4 months before I landed.

 

[josuetenista]

You can send any updated forms or explanatory letters to the visa office processing your file.
You should definitely not have called the party in Ecuador a 'wedding' - an engagement party would have been fine. You were not married then however, so you just have to explain this and prove it. Maybe getting a letter from the Ecuadorian embassy in Canada stating that you were not married in Ecuador might help, if they would give you such a thing. Did you need a certificate of bachelorhood for your husband to marry? If so, you could show that.
However, when CIC interviews you and your husband, you can explain that this was not a wedding - you did not get married until after he arrived in Canada, and this was just an engagement party or a pre-wedding party for your friends and relatives in Ecuador who could not go to the real wedding in Canada.

I can get a certificate stating that we are still single in ecuador. Because we never got married in Ecuador and we haven't registered our Canadian marital status in Ecuador yet. Do you think this might help? or is it better to get a certificate saying that at the moment of landing here in Canada (July/2012) I was single...? What sounds better?
thanks for your help

 

[canadianwoman]

Do not get a certificate stating you are still single in Ecuador. You are basing your sponsorship on the fact you are married. Getting a certificate stating you were single is better. You could register your marriage in Ecuador, so the certificate would show the marriage date and one could infer you were single before.

For common-law, CIC uses their definition, so if you had lived together for 12 months or more, you were common-law. You just lived together for 4 months before you became a PR, so that is fine.