Married in the Philippines, Divorced in Canada, Wanting to Apply for Perm Res ..

[CanuckBoy]

my wife and i were married in dec 2007 in the philippines (i am canadian). we intended to apply for permanent residency once i was not working long term there and i left last october with all the documents completed with the intention of submitting.

unfortunately, after i had paid the fees online, she sufered some emotional issues and decided she did want to be a burden in my life and demanded a divorce. after all of the expected drama, i finally agreed to grant it to her and an uncontested divorce was issued (despite us still being very much in love).

long story short, i returned to the philippines to work this january and we have since reunited and want to continue on in life. i will be leaving to go back to canada in three weeks and want to now submit the papers formally however.....technically we are still married in the phils (as we did not get an annullment) but officially divorced in canada. can i still sponsor her as a spouse since the marriage is still valid in the phils? if not, what can we do? do we have to get re-married? do i re-file marriage papers in canada? just not mention the divorce in the app and hope it is overlooked? is there another mechanism?

i know the situation is very unique .... if anyone can provide any guidance it would mean so much .... cheers

[Maaties]

can you go to a neighbouring country and get married?

[CanuckBoy]

we will both be in the US so we could try to do a wedding in Vegas - but since the Philippines does not have divorce and we are technically still married there, could we not still submit the papers with her as my spouse? or is there a database of marriages/divorces that the immigration authorities look at?

anyone know? i know this is a pretty unique situation ....

[rjessome]

You divorced your wife in CANADA.  And where are you applying to bring your wife?  CANADA.  That marriage from the Philippines has been dissolved as far as CIC is concerned because CIC is Citizenship and Immigration CANADA.  You need to get married again.

[jtob]

simple, get married again in the philippines. nobody will stop you from marrying the same person all over again. elizabeth taylor married and divorced 1 husband 3 times.

[Maaties]

simple, get married again in the philippines. nobody will stop you from marrying the same person all over again. elizabeth taylor married and divorced 1 husband 3 times.

divorce in phillipines is almost impossible so not sure if they can marry again and again.

You divorced your wife in CANADA.  And where are you applying to bring your wife?  CANADA.  That marriage from the Philippines has been dissolved as far as CIC is concerned because CIC is Citizenship and Immigration CANADA.  You need to get married again.

I agree with rjessome, as far as CIC is concerned, you should be divorced. CIC will respect Canadian law more than Phillipino law. Thats what I feel. I have no experience on this though.

[CanuckBoy]

since i'm leaving the philippines in three weeks, not sure if we have enough time to work out another wedding during the week ... our best bet looks like it would be getting a marriage done in las vegas when her and i are both in the states next month

[MARLENA]

The best thing to do is to marryagain in Vegas because you are divorced in Canada and it won't pass CIC. It's better to do it the right way providing them with misleading information. If you go ahead and apply without marrying your wife and not telling CIC, she would be likely refused. Good luck!

[CanuckBoy]

Ok thanks for the advice everyone - someone here in Manila suggested going to the NSO and getting a copy of our marriage certificate and getting it dated for this year but in my mind that wont help as it will still reflect a marriage ceremony happening in Dec 07 that in the eyes of canada has been dissolved

looks like las vegas it is

[CanuckBoy]

one last question for everyone - would my situation perhaps qualify for a conjugal permanent residency sponsorship visa as opposed to a spouse one?

[rjessome]

You and your wife are going to have enough explaining to do seeing as you have been married, divorced and are getting remarried.  Conjugal is just too difficult a route to consider and it's going to be hard to explain all this stuff away as is.  IMHO, you should do the spousal application once you remarry.  You might want to consider hiring a good consultant or lawyer to help you too.