Spousal Sponsorship

[paladinav]

Hi All,

I landed 60 days ago (still awaiting PR card) and had my gf come visit me on a visitors visa. We then proceeded to get married in Toronto (just on paper) are not now waiting for the marriage license (10 weeks processing time).

I have a few questions for people going through the process:

1 - Being of South Asian heritage - is it likely we will receive an interview due to the paper marriage without a ceremony? To avoid this should we start planning a ceremony back home with parents and show proof of that? TBH we'd like to wait longer and do a ceremony back home much later with family and friends

2 - There seems to be a lot of documentation & proof - do people do this own their own or hire a consultant?

3 - My PR card is taking a long time to come - can we submit with my copr?

4 - Any other suggestions from anyone? Recommendation to increase processing speed?

Thanks!
A

 

[monkeys89]

What do you mean "paper marriage"? Do you simply mean that it was done in a civil ceremony without the religious or cultural celebration? Because of your cultural heritage, this will be an issue that will catch the attention of your visa officer, so you will need to have a reason why you got married so soon and have a good explanation as to why a lot of people on the form (parents, other family members) were not present. The answer of "we got married quickly so that we could apply for PR" is not a good answer.

There is a lot of documentation and proof because you got married and are now asking Canada to grant you the right of permanent resident. I'm all for uniting lovers and all that (it's why I'm here) but do not think you can do it without a lot of paperwork demonstration and proof. Most people here do it on their own. If it seems like a lot to you, consider everything else you will have to do with the government such as citizenship applications and the like.

Submitting before you have a PR card and having married so soon after getting your PR will be massive red flags that will make this look like a marriage of convenience. Nothing will really speed up this application, I'm afraid.

 

[paladinav]

What do you mean "paper marriage"? Do you simply mean that it was done in a civil ceremony without the religious or cultural celebration? Because of your cultural heritage, this will be an issue that will catch the attention of your visa officer, so you will need to have a reason why you got married so soon and have a good explanation as to why a lot of people on the form (parents, other family members) were not present. The answer of "we got married quickly so that we could apply for PR" is not a good answer.

There is a lot of documentation and proof because you got married and are now asking Canada to grant you the right of permanent resident. I'm all for uniting lovers and all that (it's why I'm here) but do not think you can do it without a lot of paperwork demonstration and proof. Most people here do it on their own. If it seems like a lot to you, consider everything else you will have to do with the government such as citizenship applications and the like.

Submitting before you have a PR card and having married so soon after getting your PR will be massive red flags that will make this look like a marriage of convenience. Nothing will really speed up this application, I'm afraid.

Daunting yet helpful. Thanks for the response.
so it seems like the PR may take a while to process, but the OWP should still arrive within 4 months or so, is that right?

 

[monkeys89]

Daunting yet helpful. Thanks for the response.
so it seems like the PR may take a while to process, but the OWP should still arrive within 4 months or so, is that right?

It may.

 

[YVR123]

Hi All,

I landed 60 days ago (still awaiting PR card) and had my gf come visit me on a visitors visa. We then proceeded to get married in Toronto (just on paper) are not now waiting for the marriage license (10 weeks processing time).

A

Are you confused with marriage certificate and marriage license? You need your marriage license to get married. So I assume you already had it. I think you are waiting for your official marriage certificate which could take a few weeks (depending on where).

At the mean time, you will need to collect all the documents (your relationship development, photos while you and your wife were dating....etc) and fill in all the application forms. Even if you hire a consultant, you need to provide these proof and information to the consultant. You cannot assume that they will do that for you. I highly recommend you to read the application guide in details multiple times and go through the application forms and see what you need to obtain at the time being. You have to wait for your PR card and your marriage certificate anyway.

 

[keesio]

1 - Being of South Asian heritage - is it likely we will receive an interview due to the paper marriage without a ceremony? To avoid this should we start planning a ceremony back home with parents and show proof of that? TBH we'd like to wait longer and do a ceremony back home much later with family and friends

IRCC tends to place big emphasis on the ceremony for people from South Asia. It will be an issue if you didn't have one (or had a very minimal one). If you plan on having a ceremony, it is better to do it sooner than later. That way when they get to processing the application and ask questions on why you didn't have ceremony, you can point out that we had a ceremony at a later date and give proof.