Want to get married in Canada but concerned about TRV. Help!

[Nate Gee]

A bit of background; myself and my fiance currently reside in Japan and work as English Teachers. We have been engaged for some time now but have been agonizing over the best way to actually get married. It seems to be something of a catch 22 due to the lack of a fiance visa.

Our contracts are both set to end at the end of July and we will then be returning home.

We cannot simply get married in Japan, due to the documents needed from my country (South Africa) taking an extreme amount of time for processing and delivery to Japan, with no way to expedite the process.

Right now our options seem to be:

- For me to try and get a TRV and come and visit her in Canada for around 6 weeks to get married, after which I will return home while an outland sponsorship is processed. I have a decent amount of funds (7000 CND liquid, around 30k in investments in my home country, and will be staying mostly at her family's house. Her mother would provide a letter of invitation and I would state on my cover letter that I would be visiting my girlfriend in order to meet her family and see some sights before she began her studies.

- For us to wait until December (she will be studying) and for her to come to South Africa, for us to get married there and then to start the spousal sponsorship when she returns to Canada, with me trying to get a TRV in the interim (unlikely) to see her. This would be a very sad and long wait and so we do not want to pursue this unless we have to.

Our concerns are:
- If we go for a TRV, should I specify visiting girlfriend, getting married or just seeing a friend/tourism? I do not want to be dishonest now and have it bite us in the butt later on.
- If we go for a TRV and it gets rejected, it may impact sponsorship.
- If we go for a TRV, would currently residing in a country outside of my country of citizenship count against me?

I want to keep everything above board and do not want to misrepresent anything.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Sous02]

Yes residing in another country presents challenges. A rejected trv has no impact on your sponsorship application as long as everything else is genuine. Best to be honest and state that you are visiting your friend. That you might get married is your choice. What is most important is proving that you will leave Canada. Read the section on trv visa's for more help with this.

 

[Nate Gee]

Thanks. I...hopefully have enough to justify my return (Return ticket is already purchased, I have family and an investment in South Africa, I have traveled to another country recently and honored the visa dates etc.)

So you think I should say friend rather than girlfriend? Again, I do not want to leave any room for an interpretation of misrepresentation.

I guess my big worry is whether or not I should specify that I am ending my current contract and returning home between the application being submitted and my going to Canada. The way the form is structured requires me to state current address and jobs etc. but I worry that this will be seen as misrepresentation later on. On the other hand, it looks very fishy if I specify it on the cover letter.

Unfortunately South Africa is a pain on it's own, with certain documents being very vague about what exactly is required etc.

 

[Chansa]

Thanks. I...hopefully have enough to justify my return (Return ticket is already purchased, I have family and an investment in South Africa, I have traveled to another country recently and honored the visa dates etc.)

So you think I should say friend rather than girlfriend? Again, I do not want to leave any room for an interpretation of misrepresentation.

I guess my big worry is whether or not I should specify that I am ending my current contract and returning home between the application being submitted and my going to Canada. The way the form is structured requires me to state current address and jobs etc. but I worry that this will be seen as misrepresentation later on. On the other hand, it looks very fishy if I specify it on the cover letter.

Unfortunately South Africa is a pain on it's own, with certain documents being very vague about what exactly is required etc.

Hi, I am South African and when I did my TRV prior to getting married I noted that I would be visiting my fiancé and his family / friends and by the time of my visit we would be married and it was also part of our honeymoon.( I did not want them to think once I did the spousal sponsorship, that I lied about him by saying friend when in fact he was my fiancé ) . I had a return ticket , letter of invitation from him and letter from my company stating I was granted leave. My TRV was granted. I would not say friend, be honest and say girlfriend / fiancée, as all the info stays on the system.

 

[Nate Gee]

Hi, I am South African and when I did my TRV prior to getting married I noted that I would be visiting my fiancé and his family / friends and by the time of my visit we would be married and it was also part of our honeymoon.( I did not want them to think once I did the spousal sponsorship, that I lied about him by saying friend when in fact he was my fiancé ) . I had a return ticket , letter of invitation from him and letter from my company stating I was granted leave. My TRV was granted. I would not say friend, be honest and say girlfriend / fiancée, as all the info stays on the system.

Yeah definitely saying girlfriend I think. But fiance? Our goal is to get married in Canada, which I think would be death on the application on it's own.

Very torn on this one.

Out of interest Chansa, did you get married in South Africa? Canada? I would love to hear more about the recent process from a fellow South African.

 

[Chansa]

Yeah definitely saying girlfriend I think. But fiance? Our goal is to get married in Canada, which I think would be death on the application on it's own.

Very torn on this one.

Out of interest Chansa, did you get married in South Africa? Canada? I would love to hear more about the recent process from a fellow South African.

Saying girlfriend is good too. I did that on the first TRV and then on my second TRV after we got engaged mentioned him as my fiancé. We got married in SA December 2016. Just a heads up if you marry a foreigner in SA you have to have an immigration interview prior to the wedding at the department of home affairs...( I could not believe that!) You and your partner need to attend and they just ask random questions to make sure it's genuine. Ours took about 20 min in total and were given the green light to proceed with the wedding. Message if you need any info