Did you sponsor/get sponsorred successfully? Read this please...

[ftanired]

Hi guys (especially those who successfully sponsored or got sponsored successfully),

I am Canadian and my girlfriend is Brazilian. We plan to get married, and after that I will sponsor her to Canada.

My questions are:

1. *IF* we get married in Brazil, then once I have successfully sponsored her, would we need to do anything at all to legalise our marriage in Canada? I heard that in this case, we would need to register our marriage at the Canadian embassy or consulate in Brazil. Is that true? Did you ever need to do something like this? If so, what was the process flow? (I know that probably you or your foreign spouse is not Brazilian, but I'm quite sure the rule is about the same for all of us.)

2. *IF* we get married in Brazil, it means the marriage certificate will be written in Portuguese, which means that when we do the sponsorship process, we must translate it to English before we give it to the CIC?
We're not required to provide the CIC with the original marriage certificate right? Just the copy (or translation) is fine?

3. Currently our original plan is as follows:

Step 1: get engaged in January 2010, in Brazil
Step 2: in July 2010, she comes to Canada (for 2 or 3 weeks), using a tourist visa, and we get married here, and she goes back to Brazil.
Step 3: September/November 2010, we start the sponsorship application (Outland obviously, through the Mississauga office, since my girl lives in Brazil.)
Step 4: She will hopefully get her permanent resident visa around summer or autumn of 2011
Step 5: She lands in Canada in either December 2011 or January 2012.

Do you think this is a good plan? I'm quite concerned about Step 2 actually; I heard that rather than doing it, it's better for us to marry in Brazil instead (which is why I asked questions 1 and 2).

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you kindly for reading!

[marpleleafs]

1. No ( but maybe you can search more at CIC site to be sure about this. I rememebr that i read somewhere that for some countrys marriage certificates are not recognized in Canada. I think that brazilian marriage certificates are fine ))

2. It shoud be translated and notarized. We send original marriage certificate (we have options from the goverment to give us marraige certificate in more than 10 languages, maybe you can ask at Brazilian goverment or registry office abouth this posibility)

3. We made wedding oversea, in Europe

Our process start 22 january 2009 and embassy ask for our passport 23 of april 2009. Today i sent my passport and i shoud have my visa in 2 weeks

I think that your plan is good, i wish you lot of luck. If you have some other question fell free to ask ))

[ftanired]

1. No ( but maybe you can search more at CIC site to be sure about this. I rememebr that i read somewhere that for some countrys marriage certificates are not recognized in Canada. I think that brazilian marriage certificates are fine ))

2. It shoud be translated and notarized. We send original marriage certificate (we have options from the goverment to give us marraige certificate in more than 10 languages, maybe you can ask at Brazilian goverment or registry office abouth this posibility)

3. We made wedding oversea, in Europe

Our process start 22 january 2009 and embassy ask for our passport 23 of april 2009. Today i sent my passport and i shoud have my visa in 2 weeks

I think that your plan is good, i wish you lot of luck. If you have some other question fell free to ask ))

Thank you marpleleafs!!

What do you think about my Step 2? (see my first post).
According to saralune, if my girlfriend admits that she comes here to marry me, she may not get the tourist visa. But if she comes here and doesn't admit that she will marry me, then during the sponsorship process she could be in trouble during the interview. What's your take on this?

Did you get interviewed by the CIC? Was it phone interview or did you have to fly elsewhere?

[ftanired]

Here is the link to the post I was telling you about. It's called Dual Intent..http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/dual-intent-t17695.0.html

People have been debating this over the last few days. You should look at this and make a decision for yourself.

take care and good luck. I'm sure I'll see you around as we both seem to be in the pre-application phase.

Thanks so much saralune. I never knew about this dual intent thingy. It's a good read!

That post says "If a person enters the country as a visitor, but with the intent to apply in-land once in Canada..that is dual intent, and is grounds for refusal."

But here's the thing though: my girlfriend and I have no intention to apply in-land, actually. As a matter of fact, we think it's a bad idea, because in-land applications take longer to process, and there's no chance to appeal if something were to go wrong.
Also, my girlfriend can't stay in Canada anyway, since she has to finish her studies in Brazil. So that's why, she would just come here to get married with me, and then goes back to Brazil. (She visited me here before, by the way)

So if she can somehow convince the immigration that we would do out-land application, do you think that would be ok?

[marpleleafs]

I think that Brazilian wedding will be more fine for you two )
You will avoid lot of border questions and you can start your application sooner. I am not sure that Canada will give her visa if she say that she will get married. They will think that she want to start inland application BUT i think that university can be strong proff that she will return in Brazil afther she get married.
I didnt have interview. Vienna embassy was processing my application 2 months and 5 days ) i recive email where they ask me to send my passport or to go in Vienna to take my visa

[frolic]

Plan the best you can just remember that you do have visa issues that might force you to change the wedding location. 

For the legality of a Brazilian wedding in Canada check online with CIC or and Embassy and see if there is any information for that.  As well check the forms for Sponsoring and Immigrating and the Region Specific forms...they may tell you if you need anything special for Brazil.

Translated notarized copies of documents will be necessary for anything not in English or French.  Including the marriage certificate. 

As for her visa to come to Canada you can try to apply and see if they will grant it.  Make sure she includes proof of her school studies continuing as part of her proof that she will return after the visit.  If they believe she will stay, they will not grant the visa. 

[Lia]

Hello ftanired!

I am brazilian too!

1 - If you have a civil wedding or a religious wedding with civil effect in Brazil, it will be valid in Canada as well. The other way around (marrying in Canada) would be different and you would have to legalize it over there (go to the brazilian Consulate, and with the certificate they issue, register it in a "Cartório do Primeiro Ofício" in Brazil), but it has nothing to do with sponsorship, etc. I have tried to register my marriage in Canada and all the answers I got from both Consulate (in Brazil) and Vital Statistics (in BC) is that the marriage is already valid.

2 - Assuming you are applying outland via São Paulo, everything in portuguese can be sent just the way it is, with no translation to english or french. There is no need for translations as long as it is in english, french, or portuguese. It is at the top of "Appendix A / Document Checklist - Immigrant". Send a copy ("cópia autenticada") of the marriage certificate.

3 - If she has ties with Brazil (job, school, etc), she can apply for a tourist visa and get approved with no problems. But I had absolutely no ties with Brazil and had my tourist visa approved (with no interview), to stay with my husband in Canada and apply for sponsorship (outland). 

[nguyentu2001]

you should do it in Brazil, it's risky to do it in Canada and CIC stated clearly online that it's is dual intent and is grounds for refusal....be careful! there is a big chance that it will take forever for your wife to come to Canada after getting married there.