Denied request for Foreign Divorce Authorization in Canada

[jhyngx]

I need your advise or any of you with similar situaiton.


We're planning to apply for family sponsorship but our situation is this:

We got married(islam rites) before the divorced of the first wife. And we plan to get remarried again here in Canada, we already have the foreign divorce opinion letter issued by one of the lawyers here in Canada to recorgnized the divorce issued outside Canada and we submitted the documents for authorization to get married but Office of the Registrat in Canada wont allow us to get remarried again.

We're thinking to hire an immigration lawyer to do all our CIC application but my question is can they really help us? What kind of documents they can do or provide that we cant do it by ourselves?

Or can we remarry again outside Canada or in Quebec or we have to divorce our marriage and remarry again?


Please need your help here.

Thank you in advance

 

[Aquakitty]

but Office of the Registrat in Canada wont allow us to get remarried again.

It would help if you'd explain why they won't allow you to get married. When did you officially get divorced? I'm assuming whatever you did wasn't a real divorce according to Canadian Law.

A lawyer might be able to tell you why this is, but I'd think it is a simple matter to figure out yourself.

http://settlement.org/ontario/daily-life/life-events/divorce/will-my-foreign-divorce-be-recognized-in-canada/

 

[jhyngx]

but Office of the Registrat in Canada wont allow us to get remarried again.

It would help if you'd explain why they won't allow you to get married. When did you officially get divorced? I'm assuming whatever you did wasn't a real divorce according to Canadian Law.

A lawyer might be able to tell you why this is, but I'd think it is a simple matter to figure out yourself.

http://settlement.org/ontario/daily-life/life-events/divorce/will-my-foreign-divorce-be-recognized-in-canada/

Thanks for the reply.

This is what happened:

- we got married last nov. 2015( islam rites)(im the second wife)
-my husband divorced his first wife outside canada last dec. 2016
-jan. 2017 divorce decree document submitted to divorce lawyer in Canada for Foreign Divorce Opinion Letter
-after the opinion letter, we apply and submitted all the documents required by Office of the Registrant in Canada for authorization to get remarry but they refused even we included a letter explaining why we wanted to get remarry here in Canada and quoted the immigration policy/manual.
-.....?? we dont know what to do now.

 

[PMM]

Hi

but Office of the Registrat in Canada wont allow us to get remarried again.

It would help if you'd explain why they won't allow you to get married. When did you officially get divorced? I'm assuming whatever you did wasn't a real divorce according to Canadian Law.

A lawyer might be able to tell you why this is, but I'd think it is a simple matter to figure out yourself.

http://settlement.org/ontario/daily-life/life-events/divorce/will-my-foreign-divorce-be-recognized-in-canada/

1. As said, he remarried (Islam rites) prior to divorce of his first wife. So his 2nd marriage is not valid.

 

[mikeymyke]

And if that happens, then you wont be able to sponsor your husband. You would have to probably divorce and then remarry and reapply, but I dont know if Saudi Arabia would allow this

Also on a side note, you mentioned u plan on living in Saudi Arabia indefinitely despite applying for PR for your husband. I dont know why you would want to do this aside from giving you and yourself the social benefits and healthcare without working and living here long term. If you want to sponsor him, you guys really should be making living in Canada a top priority and not just treat it like a glorified visitor visa

 

[canadianwoman]

If you have been living together for at least 12 continuous months, you could apply common-law.

 

[jhyngx]

Thanks PPM.

And if that happens, then you wont be able to sponsor your husband. You would have to probably divorce and then remarry and reapply, but I dont know if Saudi Arabia would allow this

Also on a side note, you mentioned u plan on living in Saudi Arabia indefinitely despite applying for PR for your husband. I dont know why you would want to do this aside from giving you and yourself the social benefits and healthcare without working and living here long term. If you want to sponsor him, you guys really should be making living in Canada a top priority and not just treat it like a glorified visitor visa

If we apply for divorce not in Canada, how long is the wait time to get remarry?

We actually decided to live in Canada for good instead of Saudi Arabia.

Thanks Mikeymyke.


Hi canadianwoman, unfortunately, we didnt stay together for 12 consecutive months.
Thank you guys.

So, if we opt to divorce and remarry in a short period of time like a within a month. Do you think CIC wont question?

 

[Aquakitty]

Hi

1. As said, he remarried (Islam rites) prior to divorce of his first wife. So his 2nd marriage is not valid.

My understanding is he was refused a divorce decree, not a marriage licence. I am confused. Weren't you applying to have your divorce validated?

I assumed the marriage was invalid, obviously, since you were married before the divorce and stated you are trying to get married in Canada.

And we plan to get remarried again here in Canada, we already have the foreign divorce opinion letter issued by one of the lawyers here in Canada to recorgnized the divorce issued outside Canada and we submitted the documents for authorization to get married but Office of the Registrat in Canada wont allow us to get remarried again.

Are they refusing because of the first marriage? I interpreted that as a religious ceremony, but maybe the government isn't. I don't know how that part works. If the marriage is officially recognised in Saudi Arabia, then that is causing the problem. They might not allow you to get divorced officially since you were remarried before the divorce. But, I don't see why it would matter, if the first marriage was invalid to Canadian law, why can't you just get remarried since it's to the same person?

When you were refused the divorcee decree/marriage license, what did the letter say?

 

[jhyngx]

My understanding is he was refused a divorce decree, not a marriage licence. I am confused. Weren't you applying to have your divorce validated?

I assumed the marriage was invalid, obviously, since you were married before the divorce and stated you are trying to get married in Canada.


Are they refusing because of the first marriage? I interpreted that as a religious ceremony, but maybe the government isn't. I don't know how that part works. If the marriage is officially recognised in Saudi Arabia, then that is causing the problem. They might not allow you to get divorced officially since you were remarried before the divorce. But, I don't see why it would matter, if the first marriage was invalid to Canadian law, why can't you just get remarried since it's to the same person?

When you were refused the divorcee decree/marriage license, what did the letter say?

Prior to get a marriage license, we need to get an authorization first from Office of the Registrant/Marriage Office in Canada because my husband had a divorce decree document(his first/previous wife), then if approved, my husband and I can apply for marriage license and remarry again. This was our plan whenever it went well.

Unfortunately, Marriage Office in Canada didnt grant our request for authorization to remarry because my husband and I are still married from our country and that marriage has not been dissolved.

My understanding here is, our marriage from 2015 is valid, right? Even the divorced decree from his first/previous wife was after our marriage.(Islam rites) correct me if I wrong.

Thank you.

 

[Aquakitty]

Prior to get a marriage license, we need to get an authorization first from Office of the Registrant/Marriage Office in Canada because my husband had a divorce decree document(his first/previous wife), then if approved, my husband and I can apply for marriage license and remarry again. This was our plan whenever it went well.

Unfortunately, Marriage Office in Canada didnt grant our request for authorization to remarry because my husband and I are still married from our country and that marriage has not been dissolved.

My understanding here is, our marriage from 2015 is valid, right? Even the divorced decree from his first/previous wife was after our marriage.(Islam rites) correct me if I wrong.

Thank you.

Ok, sorry I misunderstood your first issue. I assumed the rites you were referring to were a religious ceremony. In Canada, getting LEGALLY married before divorce is bigamy. In this case, it doesn't matter if it was legal in Saudi Arabia, it still needs to be legal according to Canadian Federal Law. In fact that is the reason it would be bigamy in the first place. I am surprised the lawyer didn't inform you of this potential issue. I think consulting another one is a good idea.... I really don't know if they would consider the one marriage to be "legit" in this case, despite the fact that you were divorced after the fact. My common-sense says no due to the bigamy issue.



How did the government find out you were already married in order to deny the application? Just curious.

 

[jhyngx]

Ok, sorry I misunderstood your first issue. I assumed the rites you were referring to were a religious ceremony. In Canada, getting LEGALLY married before divorce is bigamy. In this case, it doesn't matter if it was legal in Saudi Arabia, it still needs to be legal according to Canadian Federal Law. In fact that is the reason it would be bigamy in the first place. I am surprised the lawyer didn't inform you of this potential issue. I think consulting another one is a good idea.... I really don't know if they would consider the one marriage to be "legit" in this case, despite the fact that you were divorced after the fact. My common-sense says no due to the bigamy issue.



How did the government find out you were already married in order to deny the application? Just curious.

when we submitted to atty general we wrote them a letter that we've been married in muslim rites, attaching our marriage contract. We anticipated this bigamy issue here in Canada and thats the reason we are applying to remarry here in canada.

The reason we were declined because it was stated that 2nd (our)marriage is also not dissolved. ( ist marriage(first wife) was dissolved with divorce decree). It boils down to divorcing the 2nd marriage and remarry the same person but we dont know it will work with cic.

BTW, if 2nd marriage is not valid in Canada, then why they acknowledged this by mentioning that it needs to be dissolved?

Fyi, we did not submit our application to cic yet anticipating that this might be a problem with our application.