Canadian girl about to marry American boyfriend - wedding questions

[M_iari]

Hello everyone!

Heres a short summary of our situation. I'm Canadian from Quebec, me boyfriend is from Wyoming, USA. WE have been together for a year and a half. He came to Montreal last january until october when he was refused his extension. We were planning to wait the 12 months for me to sponsor him. We spent a few days in burlington and tried to come back in but was denied for not having enough ties to the US (he did his masters in Mexico where he stayed for 3 years before coming to meet me). The lady that refused him said that he should not tried to come back until his situation had changed, but failed to give us any info on how to change that said situation.... Since then He's been working back in Wyoming and saving money. I am going to visit him for christmas and we are planning to come back together for new year celebrations. The plane tickets are bought and we are going to buy him a return ticket (refoundable of course) so as to put all the chances on our side.

Now we do not want to wait another 12 months before being to start the sponsorship process so we are going to get married. As a true quebecer I am not to keen on marriage but I do love him and want to spent the rest of my life with him and he did propose before we had any immigration issues. The only thing is that I am a student and he doesn't have much money after spending 10 months in Montreal without a job. So our wedding needs to be cheap as hell. I am thinking a cute dress that i already have, 2 of his friends and a wyoming courthouse.

Would this cause any problem? Not having a 'real' wedding with no reception? Would that raise any red flags? Would providing a few notarised statements by friends of our relationship and wedding be enough proof?

Also, which processing is faster now that the strikes are over? inland or outland?

 

[Sweden]

Having a small wedding in itself will not be an issue if it looks "special enough", and if you have other proofs that you have been in a relationship for a long time before that. Showing that he came and stayed with you, that your friends and family know him, and vice-versa, will help for sure. Nobody can tell you for sure whether it is going to be enough but there is no reason why you shouldn't try. Just be prepared to have a lot of proofs, get proofs of trips you took together, vacation, emails to each other etc.

About processing - choose outland. As a US/Can couple, there is no reason for you to choose inland, it's usually slower, and won't allow him to leave the country ( even for emergency reasons) without risking his application. Get married, choose outland, and prepare your application well. With an outland application, he can leave Canada, although after being denied entry already, he shouldn't chance it too many times.

Getting an extension on his visitor status (once admitted) should be easier with a PR application on-going, as it shows that you have already applied and most extensions for visa-exempt are granted without questions.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[canadianwoman]

Would this cause any problem? Not having a 'real' wedding with no reception? Would that raise any red flags? Would providing a few notarised statements by friends of our relationship and wedding be enough proof?

It is good enough, especially since he is American, as they are not usually suspected of marriages of convenience so as to come live in Canada.
Do not think of your wedding as not being real, though. Make it look special. Flowers, exchange rings, be dressed up, take photos, etc. Lots of people have small weddings at the courthouse, and they still can make them special. You can have a reception. A small dinner party at a restaurant with a few friends will be enough. If any family can come, that would be even better. If you would rather wait and have a reception at home, just explain that in the application.

 

[keesio]

There was someone here (American) who got married in the living room of someone's house. The only guests there were a few relatives. And she did not have any issues with her application. Fair or not, Canadian-American couples probably raise the least suspicion out of any sponsorship case. They get the most leeway by CIC officers.

 

[HoneyEllis]

Would this cause any problem? Not having a 'real' wedding with no reception? Would that raise any red flags? Would providing a few notarised statements by friends of our relationship and wedding be enough proof?

I had a really small courthouse wedding too! Less than 10 guests at our wedding 'reception' (dinner in a nice restaurant).

It didn't cause any problems for us (approved very quickly with no interview) We are an Australian / Canadian couple and married when my Canadian spouse visited my in Australia after I went home when my work visa expired.

As a US / Canadian couple I don't think a small wedding will be a big issue for you.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and good luck with your immigration application!

 

[Hnhkrk]

I did a small court house wedding in Montreal with just family, and then after we went to The Indain resto Mysore and have a dinner. Your plan should cause no problems.

 

[QuebecOkie]

We were married at the courthouse, with just three friends present (when my parents and sister live just an hour away from where we were married). He wore his nicest button-up shirt (my favourite when we went out together on Friday or Saturday nights), and I wore a dress, but NOTHING fancy (something I could wear almost anywhere). We did exchange rings, but we didn't have any flowers or anything else "special." We were also married on a Friday the 13th, haha, though not sure CIC would have noticed that.

We just explained, in brief, that the marriage ceremony was not important to us. We just wanted to spend our lives together. We didn't even send any statements from friends or family, and only ONE photo of the 8 we sent had any family besides us in it (it was a family with us, his mom, dad, and brother at a formal event we all attended together). Just pics of the two of us and itineraries from the trips we'd taken together.

As a caveat to all of that, he is military, as is his father and brother, so not sure if that's a little extra insurance against "red flags" or not, since he was posted to my state in the US for four years, so it's normal to think that he could have met and fallen in love with someone during that time. But I think with Canadian-American couples, we're not under as much scrutiny as some others. Document, as well as you can, the time you've spent together. We didn't send a lot, but it showed a history of spending time together, traveling together, etc. The wedding is far from the most important thing.

 

[workluck]

Our wedding was 2 friends in our living room, no family, no dresses, no photographs. We had planned a little ceremony outside, but as the date was in the middle of June floods in Alberta this year, we even had to find a new commissioner last-minute (literally), as ours was stuck in another town. However, we went ahead - it was hilarious, short, to the purpose and easier than getting a bank account! We did describe the circumstances to cic (and the fact that neither of us had either the interest or money to shell out on a big party), and also explained that both our families live 1000s of kms away so even a small reception with family would be difficult to organize and expensive. I just received my confirmation of residency, so it seemed to not have mattered much that our wedding was so personal (exactly how we wanted it! And with the threat of a flood outside, it was all the more memorable...). We had been together for nearly 5 years before, I guess that's what counted. Sounds that they are more suspicious when you're from countries that have "mandatory" huge weddings but you don't conform. Same as QuebecOkie, the wedding wasn't the big thing in our relationship. We've done numerous, multi-month trips together, have lived together at times, and mostly got married to make it feasible to be in mine or his country. At this point we think we're in it "forever", so it made sense to make it official. We, like you guys, also didn't really have a choice - my visa was going to expire in less than a year, and he could not easily come to my country (which is an option to us, we may move there in a year or two) without being married to me.

 

[M_iari]

Thank you so much for all your answers!!! You are so useful I fell alot less stress out! I'm currently in Wyoming and now we are wondering if we should get married here or wait to do it in Quebec in a week once we get back.... I'll keep you all posted

 

[angryrectangle]

My husband and I didn't have a wedding! We haven't applied for his residency yet (we're compiling the paperwork now). We eloped, and had a very casual courthouse marriage. No dress, no fancy clothes, a small party with friends afterwards.

We'd planned on having a small marriage party later on (we're not wedding people, either) but my husband's father died a couple months after we got married. Both of our families know now, and there aren't any issues. I've explained all of this extensively in the application, included the (one!) photo we have from the day we got married, plus lot's of other photos with each others parents/trips/etc. I'm trying to overwhelm them with evidence that it IS a real relationship since we didn't have a wedding.

Hope it all goes well for you! I know it's annoying feeling pressured to have a wedding just to make it look good for CIC when you are not the type to have a wedding in the first place.. I remember telling my dad anyone that knows me would find it MORE suspicious to see me in a white dress for a fancy wedding hahahaha

Best of luck!

 

[M_iari]

So we did it! we got married in a small 5 minute long ceremony at the restaurant where he works surrounded by his immediate family. A friend of his is ordained and officiated. Now I'm back in Quebec and its time to fill those forms!! Wish us luck!

 

[HoneyEllis]

So we did it! we got married in a small 5 minute long ceremony at the restaurant where he works surrounded by his immediate family. A friend of his is ordained and officiated. Now I'm back in Quebec and its time to fill those forms!! Wish us luck!

Congratulations ... and good luck with those forms!