Love at First Sight ...Married in one month is it too soon to sponsor?

[nassavah]

Hi,

I am a Canadian citizen, who went on a trip to China for three months. I began my trip in the middle of October. On December 1st I meet the love of my life...finally. On December 24th I married her and now I am a married man. On Jan 16th I had to leave my wife behind in China, because my flight schedule could not be changed. My wife and I have not been separated since we meet.

I am now back in Canada and trying to figure out what is the best way to sponsor my wife. I am also trying to figure out what is the shortest time period to have my wife in my arms.
I have heard many contradicting information due to my situation because of the short time in our relationship (information from immigration lawyers, friends who have sponsored, etc). While I was in China, my wife and I have applied for all the required documents for sponsorship (medical test, criminal check, back ground check
and so on)

To improve our situation I have decided to get a job. My wife and I do communicate daily and I thought another trip back to China within 4 to 6 months time would also help.

My questions are:

1. What is required to prove to CIC this is a legitimate relationship? (I have our photos from our marriage, photos of places we went to, our marriage certificate and so on... is this enough?)

2. Do I mail-in my sponsorship application right a way(I already have received my sponsorship application) or after I visit my wife in China in 4 to 6 months time? Does another visit to China help my case?

3. In my case is there a shorter process time than 12 months (6 months trip + 6 month CIC process)

4. Do I need to have a job to sponsor my wife? (I have no dependants and never been married

5. If a job is required, what is a sufficient income salary to sponsor my wife?

6. Do I need to spend money on an immigration lawyer to sponsor my wife, would enrolling an immigration lawyer improve my chances?

7. What other information is required to sponsor her

8. How long is the medical exam and the police report certificate good for?

Any suggestions would be much be appreciated. Thank you


Nassavah

[ThirstyDeer]

1. What is required to prove to CIC this is a legitimate relationship? (I have our photos from our marriage, photos of places we went to, our marriage certificate and so on... is this enough?)
>> There's not a specific list of requirements CIC wants you to include.  It's basically up to you to put together what you can to convince them.  Common things used include photos (with descriptions), copies of cards and letters sent to each other, copies of phone bills showing you calling each other, copies of joint bank statements, receipts of trips taken together, flight tickets showing you've seen each other, letters from friends and family who have spent time with you saying they can personally vouch for you, stuff like that.  Things like your marriage certificate is a required document.  Proving that you got married is easy.  Proving the relationship is real is the goal of all this.

2. Do I mail-in my sponsorship application right a way(I already have received my sponsorship application) or after I visit my wife in China in 4 to 6 months time? Does another visit to China help my case?
>> That's up to you to decide.  How confident are you that you can put together a good case for yourself?  From the sounds of it, randomly meeting and then marrying within a month of each other, and the fact it happened recently suggests you don't have much history.  Might be worth waiting.

3. In my case is there a shorter process time than 12 months (6 months trip + 6 month CIC process)
>> Sounds like you'd be doing an outside application (you being in Canada and your wife staying in China for the time being).  This is the URL for the timelines for processing applications.  It doesn't include the time spent on approving your sponsorship of your wife.  That is usually around a month to 45 days.  http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/05-fc-spouses.asp#asia

4. Do I need to have a job to sponsor my wife? (I have no dependants and never been married
>> There are no set financial requirements to meet for a spousal immigration application.  However, you must not be on some form of social benefits.

5. If a job is required, what is a sufficient income salary to sponsor my wife?
>> See above.  Keep in mind, this is assuming it is just your wife you are sponsoring.

6. Do I need to spend money on an immigration lawyer to sponsor my wife, would enrolling an immigration lawyer improve my chances?
>> CIC won't treat you any differently if you hire an Immigration professional.  You don't get to "skip the line".  Unless there is some reason that you think your case might be a difficult one and thus it might be better seeking professional assistance, then there's really no advantage to hiring a lawyer.  There are lots of forums like this filled with great information, and the forms you fill out are pretty straight forward - just long and detailed.

7. What other information is required to sponsor her
>> You can download all the information you need from the CIC website.  There are online guides you can get from there and they are pretty well put together.

8. How long is the medical exam and the police report certificate good for?
>> I believe the medical is good for 1 year (might be 6 months), and I can't say about the police certificate.  That might be country dependent.

Any suggestions would be much be appreciated. Thank you


Nassavah

[tamee]

your are correct about the medicals, its one year.

[dallasgal8050]

Go to the cic website and read download the information, they are very helpful and informative,
they also have a guide that will help you.

DG

[shamindo]

hi i had the same issue with my husband, we were married only six weeks, so i went to the immigration office and spoke with an officer about it.  She basicaly told me that it didn't matter, he was my husband and that i had a right to sponsor him didn't matter how early or long we had been married.  the other thing is,  I actually wrote in my application that me and my husband plan to have a bigger wedding in canadaz with all my family present and that the earliar wedding was just basically paper work.  i mean we got dressed up and took photos, none of my family (we were in the uk) were there (they live in canada) and non of his family (who live in sri lanka) were there. i think they are used to htat kind of thing, for example alot of arranged marriages are paper work or happen before the two have had time to get to know each other. they still get through.