Hello everyone! Hope everyone is having good luck with all their immigration needs.
Me and my partner are currently living in Cambodia and I plan to travel back home at the end of June. We are wondering if it is better for us to be married for immigration purposes (obviously we want to get married anyway). One person said it may be best not to be married so that immigration will not think she will try to stay in the country illegally if she wanted to visit while we are waiting for the applications to be processed. We are already considered common-law partners since we have been living together longer than a year.
Thank you in advance!
First things first, does she already have a visa or from visa waiver country? Have you already applied for spousal sponsorship?
I don't understand the logic of the other person - right now the only way your spouse can enter is by demonstrating she is immediate family - i.e. common law or married. Same thing to the border officers.
After that, the considerations for married vs common law are basically two (in my opinion):
1) Documenting that you are spouses is a bit easier with marriage certificate. (Eg when flying)
2) For spousal sponsorship - effectively it becomes a two part test, of meeting the test that you have lived together for a year, have 'established a joint household', etc - it requires judgment on the part of the examining officer. Then comes the genuine relationship test - obviously they're somewhat linked.
If married, it is a more straightforward legal test (married or not), followed by 'genuine relationship' test. If you'll have lived together already more than a year, the genuine relationship should be easier to pass.
So all things being equal, married is (in my view) a more straightforward application. Now for those who've been residing together for 18 years and have three kids together - well, the difference may be minimal.
We
do see cases here where common law applicants get stricter scrutiny and even get refused - likely because living together just 12 months, document deficiency (can't show start date of living together well or fewer docs for the entire period, sometimes in countries with no joint leases or bills or bank accounts, for example), or perhaps other issues (living together with no lease or possibly in student-type residence with multiple people in a house, for example).
But again, all things being equal, married probably an easier app with lower risk of issues.
So again - persnal opinion - if you're planning on getting married anyway, doing so before applyling may help. (If already applied, won't hurt to get married and send marriage documents to add to your file)
