Civil ceremony advice needed

[Jmercieca26]

Me and my girlfriend our looking to get married before she returns to the usa .
I'm born and raised in Canada and looking to sponsor her, she has been living with me for 4 months and shes leaving next month and was hoping to get married before she leaves so we can apply outland at a later date. Were both 21 and have very limited funds and no help from either side of our family. Will a civil ceremony be sufficient? We were hoping to get married at a popular location outside with just a officiant and the required witness's. We would like to do much more we just dont have the resources required. Will this be enough? Any suggestions?

 

[k.h.p.]

What other proof do you have of the genuineness of your relationship? No family from either side will be a red flag. You can overcome it, but you need to demonstrate that it's a genuine relationship.

 

[Jmercieca26]

We have a trip to Toronto in January with plane/grey hound tickets.

She has her ticket to the city I live in,
I put her name on the lease to my apartment.
We both have some family members that can write letters saying our relationship is genuine they just cant help with any funds ect. We have months of Facebook messages and phone calls. I'm not sure what else we can do to help prove were genuine. Any advice is appreciated. This whole process is alot for us and we just want it to work out.

 

[k.h.p.]

Look through the forum for "proof of relationship" style threads. You'll find a lot, especially around common-law marriages. Things like photos from years of relationship, etc. help. As does evidence of travelling to see her in her home country, of financial support, and of knowledge of her background and her life.

You are young, have limited funds, will be having a civil marriage with no one other than witnesses. All of that works against you. Limited funds are understandable, but you'll also need to be able to demonstrate to IRCC that you will have the capacity to support her if you are sponsoring her.

Is your relationship only 4 months long? Are you marrying her just to keep her in Canada?

 

[Jmercieca26]

Weve been talking for over a year now, after we marry we will be waiting a bit before applying outland when she goes back to the us in a month. so no were not marrying to keep her in canada. I can support both of us with my salary no problem, also I'm not able to cross into the United states which is another barrier for us.

 

[YVR123]

Weve been talking for over a year now, after we marry we will be waiting a bit before applying outland when she goes back to the us in a month. so no were not marrying to keep her in canada. I can support both of us with my salary no problem, also I'm not able to cross into the United states which is another barrier for us.

I think you are fine with civil ceremony. Unless you come from a cultural background that huge weddings are common, the size of your wedding ceremony does not matter. Have some pictures taken, go to a nice dinner and celebrate. Get the marriage certificate and along side with the list of items you planned to include as relationship proof, I think you will be fine.

 

[canuck78]

Have you only met once in person?

 

[Jmercieca26]

Have you only met once in person?

No, the first time we met in person was january in Toronto. Then she went back to the usa for a month and then came to bc and has been staying with me since.

 

[Jmercieca26]

I think you are fine with civil ceremony. Unless you come from a cultural background that huge weddings are common, the size of your wedding ceremony does not matter. Have some pictures taken, go to a nice dinner and celebrate. Get the marriage certificate and along side with the list of items you planned to include as relationship proof, I think you will be fine.

Were both caucasian and not religious and as I dont have much family at all a civic ceremony is perfect for us, we understand we might need another visit and some more time to spent to prove were genuine before we apply. Our biggest worry is messing our chances up by having a minimilistic ceremony .

 

[Mar1219]

Hi! My husband and I are also young and had limited funds, and we had just a civil ceremony with the officiant and witnesses, no family. He is Mexican and his family was unable to attend (financial restraints, his sister in law was about to give birth, time restraints, etc) and my family did not attend because we chose not to have anyone if we could not have both sides. We explained this in the application and that we’re going to have a larger celebration at a later date, and we were lucky in that in Mexico, a civil ceremony is required before any other type of celebration, according to law. We also got supporting letters from both of our mothers, specifically mentioning their support in our decision to marry.
Luckily for you, civil ceremonies are very common in American/Canadian culture, so just do what you can. Dress nice, go out to dinner after, have the witnesses take photos during the ceremony and of you signing the marriage license, even with your phone! As long as you can provide other proofs of your relationship, you should be fine. We were together for almost 3 years before marrying and he visited me 3 times and I visited him once (granted, the trips were each 1-2 months in duration and we couldn’t do it often because mexico is farther than the USA).

I definitely recommend getting supporting letters from your family and friends, make sure you have at least a few photos from the ceremony, include social media posts and video chat screenshots, and photos that show both of you with your families/friends are important as well. I hope this helped at all!

 

[canuck78]

Civil ceremonies are fine. It is best to explain why you went with a small civil ceremony no matter what age. Think the concern will be that you got married relatively quickly especially since you are young and are just out of school. Sponsoring someone is a big financial commitment. Your wife won’t qualify for heath coverage until she gets PR in most provinces so that is something you also need to consider. Getting a job and building up your savings will be very important.