Married again before receiving divorce document -wanna sponsor new wife

[zh56]

Help!  Say, one has applied for divorce some years ago and has been separated from his wife over 5 years, but did not get the final divorce document from the Ontario court until after getting married again - The court document has a divorce date after the date he was remarried. What problems one will encounter sponsoring his new wife?

[PMM]

Hi

Help!  Say, one has applied for divorce some years ago and has been separated from his wife over 5 years, but did not get the final divorce document from the Ontario court until after getting married again - The court document has a divorce date after the date he was remarried. What problems one will encounter sponsoring his new wife?

As you weren't divorced when you remarried, the marriage is not legal, making you a bigamist.  Application would be refused.

PMM

[tgchi13]

If this scenario were legally acceptable for sponsoring in Canada I would have as aneurism.  You can't be married (legally wed) to more than one person at a time and quite frankly I can't imagine how you were able to procure a marriage license for the second marriage without the divorce decree from the first!

[zh56]

The divorce documents were already filed few years back, but he moved and forgot to collect the final documents from the Ontario Courts - so I was told.
Wedding took place in one of the countries where divorce documents are not required.
Now, He does have the divorce document  in his possession and wants to sponsor his wife. The problem is that the Marriage certificate has a wedding date prior to date he obtained his   divorce document.
He is legally married and divorced from his first wife. How can his problem be resolved without getting another divorce?

[tgchi13]

Good luck with this.  I believe that this person - whomever you are writing on behalf of - broke the law and should not be granted the right to be approved to sponsor inn the spouse category.  I do not believe that using the term wife is appropriate under this circumstance.  Canada does not allow for multiple spouses.  This person could potentially be eligible for a conjugal application, but since the law was broken I expect that would/should be denied also.

He may be legally married but, no he is not legally divorced at the time and in the Canadian legal system be was neither.

Another divorce?  From whom? I can't imagine that would help.

I suggest that your say, friend and their, say spouse, apply elsewhere.  Say a more lenient country?  I can't even believe someone would think they could do this!

Forum seniors, tell me I'm incorrect if I am, but I find this a legislative travesty.

[zh56]

Thanks, Thats what I thought.

[toby]

OK, but let's think freely.

If all the divorce paperwork was filed years ago, then how come the Divorce Certificate has such a recent date?  Normally, once the divorce is applied for, assuming it is uncontested (i.e. each spouse agrees), then the actual court decision is automatic, and the Certificate would have an earlier date, regardless when you picked it up.

But if you did not finalize the divorce in Canada before re-marrying in Canada, then the second marriage was illegal hence invalid in Canada, and -- although it's a fine legal point -- you are not really a bigamist in Canada. In fact, you are not married in the eyes of most countries.

However, you may well be guilty of fraud in Canada, because to get re-married you probably had to sign a Certificate of Eligibility to Marry, or equivalent, and in signing this (if you were not legally-divorced at the time), you committed a fraud.

How to remedy the situation? Get married again, in another country (e.g. Las Vegas) to avoid inconvenient questions about the second (invalid) marriage in Canada, then re-apply for residency in Canada showing the Divorce Certificate and subsequent Marriage Certificate.

But first, run this by a lawyer.

[tgchi13]

I don't see how this will help unless the party lies/omits he second wedding on he application.  In doing that, the application would still be denied.

[toby]

Good question. It all turns on whether there was under the Law a second "marriage", since he was ineligible to re-marry. This is a matter for a lawyer. If under the Law the second marriage was invalid, then it did not exist, and he need not report something that does not exist. He is required to report a marriage, not the intention to marry.

On the matter of the date of the Divorce Certificate, some important information is missing. How could his divorce certificate be dated so long after the divorce proceedings? The Divorce Certificate normally bears the date the court made the decision (actually a month after the court decree in Ontario). There may be a clerical error involved, and there are legal remedies to change the date of the Divorce Certificate.

All the more reason to consult a lawyer on this point. If the Certificate can be re-dated, or the lawyer says he doesn't have to declare the second marriage, get it in writing and hold it in reserve in case Canada alleges misrepresentation at a later date.

Here is one example where the documentation and reality are quite different. In reality, the two people divorced emotionally, and meant to do so legally (or so we are told), but somehow the documentation  did not follow suit. I hope he finds a way out of this corner, since apparently no "crime" was intended.

[Karlshammar]

My suggestion is for you to seek out a family lawyer. Your situation is way beyond the purposes of the forum. All we can say with certainty is that you are certainly not eligible to sponsor based on your "marriage."

[AuntyFozia]

Help!  Say, one has applied for divorce some years ago and has been separated from his wife over 5 years, but did not get the final divorce document from the Ontario court until after getting married again - The court document has a divorce date after the date he was remarried. What problems one will encounter sponsoring his new wife?

wht 'll hpnd now?