Canadian Woman wanting to marry Scottish Man in Ontario!

[CluelessNickey]

Hey there all! Im sure this question has been asked before, but cant find any reassuring answers!

My fiance and I have been dating for 3 years now, we just booked our wedding for July 11/2014 and have no idea where to begin with this whole immigration process. Iv read online that there are "inbound" and "outbound" applications. From what i gather, inbound: he stays in Canada and cannot leave till hes approve, and if hes not approve we cant reapply. And outbound: he can come and go as he pleases till he's approved.

Id honestly prefer him staying in Canada with me throughout the process, but it scares me that we wont be able to reapply!

A few questions..
John (my fiance) has been to Canada 7 times now, (currently here till March 19), When he comes back to canada in June, will he need a return ticket? Do we tell the immigration officer that he's getting married and were applying inbound? (That may or may not have sounded silly! We are just both in over our heads about this topic!)

I understand you apply after you're married, can we go on honeymoon to another country and come back to Canada and apply?

A little about us..
John and I met on twitter. He was that guy who had no display picture and persistently replied back to my tweets when i just thought he was some creep! One day he tweeted me and i looked at his profile again. To my surprise there was a picture, and call me superficial, he was so cute. We got talking, became friends. Coming from a strict christian home, i wasn't aloud to date, let alone talk to a guy (i was 16 at the time). I was pretty adamant of him converting as well to be with me. He agreed and we told my parents. He was 27 at the time as well so my parents were hesitant, but welcomed him with open arms. He always stays at our home now when he visits (separate beds, no sex before marriage!) and my parents are obsessed with him. Now I'm 19 and he's 30 (and is as annoying as two 15 year olds) and we booked our date for our wedding! The only thing worrying me is this whole process! All his family and friends are coming over from scotland, and iv heard horror stories about brides and grooms-to-be getting refused because they are coming over to get married!

I want to thank you all for your time! God bless! Have a wonderful day!

 

[Leon]

Telling immigration that he is coming to get married would of course be the honest thing to do, however, could cause him problems on his entry. He is however not required to volunteer information if they don't ask. He can say he is coming to visit his girlfriend as he has apparently done 7 times before. However, this time he happens to marry his gf too but that's beside the point.

As for the return ticket, it is safer if he has one if they ask.

You can actually apply outbound while he is visiting. London is a fast visa office. Should be faster than inland. If he is still there after 5 months and no PR in sight, he can apply to extend his visitor status based on waiting for his sponsorship to come through. He will be under implied status while he waits for an answer so no worries if his status expires while he is still waiting.

If you want to leave together for a honeymoon and come back together, you sure can. You should do that then before you apply to sponsor him because then you will have photos you can send to immigration along with your application package.

 

[Rob_TO]

Id honestly prefer him staying in Canada with me throughout the process, but it scares me that we wont be able to reapply!

Even if he applies outland (though the London office), he can stay in Canada during the entire process as a visitor. When the 6 months status is almost up, he can simply apply for a renewal and many visa-exempt applicants get a renewal of 6 or 12 additional months.

Applying outland is much better in this case.

A few questions..
John (my fiance) has been to Canada 7 times now, (currently here till March 19), When he comes back to canada in June, will he need a return ticket? Do we tell the immigration officer that he's getting married and were applying inbound? (That may or may not have sounded silly! We are just both in over our heads about this topic!)

Someone who is traveling to Canada as a visitor, should ALWAYS have a return airplane ticket dated for max of 6 months later.

You don't need to volunteer the info about getting married, but if they ask you need to be completely honest. It's not illegal to get married in Canada, and he just needs to state that he will abide by the rules of visitor status even after the wedding.

I understand you apply after you're married, can we go on honeymoon to another country and come back to Canada and apply?

If you apply outland he can be in Canada or the UK when he applies. All you need are marriage certificate, medical, police checks, relationship proofs, etc.

(i was 16 at the time). I was pretty adamant of him converting as well to be with me. He agreed and we told my parents. He was 27 at the time as well so my parents were hesitant, but welcomed him with open arms. He always stays at our home now when he visits (separate beds, no sex before marriage!) and my parents are obsessed with him. Now I'm 19 and he's 30 (and is as annoying as two 15 year olds) and we booked our date for our wedding!

To be very honest, I'm not sure if your whole relationship story will be considered a red flag or not. IMO I don't think it meets the criteria of a "normal" relationship, simply because you started your relationship when you were only 16 and he was 27. Also a 30 yr old getting married to a 19 yr old is not exactly common. It will be interesting what a visa officer thinks of this situation. I would expect that perhaps an interview may be required (though it may not be), so if you apply outland this would be in Scotland or London.

Its good you have family support, as that is important also to a VO. And at the wedding I assume there will be lots of family/friends that you will take photos with, and you should also get them to write some testimonial letters about your relationship. Your parents will most likely need to state they will assist you financially, if you don't have income to show. Hopefully everything goes smoothly with the application and VO does not see the big age gap as a red flag. He is also visa-exempt, and has come to Canada many times and not overstayed, so those are all positive things in terms of getting approved.

 

[CluelessNickey]

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies! This means the world to me and I hope one day to repay you both!

Last question (I promise!)
Where do we apply both for outbound and extended stays? Will there be forms online that we just send out? Or an office we can get them at?

Wow! I'm ecstatic about the good in this world! You guys are great!

 

[Leon]

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies! This means the world to me and I hope one day to repay you both!

I'd ask you not to think about repaying for any help you get but to pay it forward instead. If everybody does, bit by bit, we'll have a much better world

Last question (I promise!)
Where do we apply both for outbound and extended stays? Will there be forms online that we just send out? Or an office we can get them at?

Good question. You can find the sponsorship forms for outland here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

There's some more info here too: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp

For extended stay, go here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp

There is also a very long thread you can look at here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html