Hello,
I am a US Citizen, 18 years old, I finish high school in May, I have no work history, nor any children.
He is a Canadian Citizen, 23 years old, he is currently working a good job, has a college education, currently living with his mom.
We have been together for 5 years 6 years this September.
I have done tons of research... It's just.. all merging in my mind.
It can be a bit overwhelming at times - there's a lot of information and a lot of variability, which means that the answers are often very specific to the circumstances.
The most likely factor to make your application more challenging is that you're still young. Countering that is that you're relationship has a bit of history. So, I suspect you won't ultimately have much of a problem.
He is coming to visit me in the US in April.
Which lead to question #1
If we get married when he visits me in Florida, will the marriage be valid to the Canadian government?
Yes, Canada will recognize your marriage. I'll be cautious here and say "unless there is some other factor that you haven't disclosed here." For example, if he's already married. But that doesn't seem very likely.
It took my sister who married another US citizen 2 weeks after getting married to get her Marriage Certificate.
Will it take the same amount of time for a Canadian and an American to get the certificate?
It shouldn't matter. Of course, natural variation in the time required might mean it takes you three weeks...
If we get married in Toronto, how long will it take to get a valid marriage certificate?
I'm not sure having never done this, but there are likely others on the forum who can answer this question. I know here in BC it took about three weeks.
After we get married and receive the marriage certificate, will we immediately be able to apply for Spousal Sponsorship?
If not, how long must we wait?
If so, I've read that the Sponsor acceptance can take up to 55 days.
And the Sponsored (Me) can take up to 11 months to be processed and accepts, but some say it will most likely take 4-6 months. Is this true?
Assuming you have all the other things required done, yes, you can apply immediately. The FBI clearance certificate can take 2 months to obtain, for example, so you might want to request that about three months before you plan to submit the application (when you submit, it must be no more than 3 months old, so there's a window.) You can do the medical examination at a DMP in the time between getting married and getting your marriage certificate. Your husband-to-be can obtain his Option 'C' printout as well in that time frame (it takes about 2 weeks). Don't forget to make sure you have a copy of your birth certificate as well (again, obtaining a certified copy can require a couple of weeks.)
The timeframes you mention are correct for outland sponsorship. The 11 months (via Buffalo) is the time to complete 80% of applications. The 50% of application number is 6 months, which is why people say it can be faster.
The following information will lead to another question, probably tmi but I just want to be as specific as possible. -So we have been apartment hunting, and we found a decently priced one in a great area of Toronto and close to our friends and his family. With all the monthly costs we will have, this includes rent, OSAP payments (he studied), transportation, food, phones, and internet (required for his work). He's a certified architect technologist. He gets paid $2000 a month; we would need $1930 for the necessities alone. Would this be considered insufficient financial support?
If it is, would having another $1000 saved just in case suffice to counter that..?
There is no specific financial requirement for sponsoring a spouse. The only concern CIC has in such a case is that you won't require social assistance ("welfare") and it sounds like you'll be ok (although it does sound like it's going to be tight financially until you can obtain employment.)
Good luck, on your impending marriage and your move to Canada.
Immigration Forum
