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Got married after PR application was submitted

Helina93

Star Member
Nov 22, 2015
160
10
Hi everyone,

I have looked a lot on this forum as well as other resources but haven’t been able to get an answer to this. I havent been able to contact cic direcry as their contact line hours are the same as my work hours. So I would appreciate any help!

I am currently in Canada with a work permit and applied for PR inland CEC stream and received my AOR in December 2019. I have passed medical and my background check is currently in progress. I got married last week to a US citizen who lives in the US. So I wanted to notify cic of my change in marital status to my application but have some questions. He will not be moving to Canada as we are both tied to jobs we do not want to leave and so will I still be asked to submit documentation on his behalf such as medical, education, work for etc.like other applicants who file with their spouses? Will this lengthen my application or change it in any way? Do I just need to submit an IRCC web form with our marriage certificate once I receive it? Any help on future steps will be appreciated thanks so much!
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,978
20,568
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
Hi everyone,

I have looked a lot on this forum as well as other resources but haven’t been able to get an answer to this. I havent been able to contact cic direcry as their contact line hours are the same as my work hours. So I would appreciate any help!

I am currently in Canada with a work permit and applied for PR inland CEC stream and received my AOR in December 2019. I have passed medical and my background check is currently in progress. I got married last week to a US citizen who lives in the US. So I wanted to notify cic of my change in marital status to my application but have some questions. He will not be moving to Canada as we are both tied to jobs we do not want to leave and so will I still be asked to submit documentation on his behalf such as medical, education, work for etc.like other applicants who file with their spouses? Will this lengthen my application or change it in any way? Do I just need to submit an IRCC web form with our marriage certificate once I receive it? Any help on future steps will be appreciated thanks so much!
This is a question that is asked regularly on this forum. Suggest you look through the Express Entry section of the forum for detailed answers. There are many threads addressing this.

You will need to add him to your application regardless of whether he is accompanying you to Canada or not. He will have to supply PCCs and take a medical. He will not have to provide education or certificates. You will need to complete all of the forms to add him to your application. Simply submitting your marriage certificate will not suffice. Adding him to your application will likely add 3-4 months to the overall processing time of your application.
 
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Helina93

Star Member
Nov 22, 2015
160
10
Thank you very much for your response. I will submit a CSE notifying cic of my change in status for instructions on how to move forward. And sorry yes I did see a few posts about this matter but all that I found were either Outland applicants, marrying Canadian citizens or were requesting their spouse to accompany them. Do you know if there is a difference in processing time, required documents etc when it is an accompanying vs non accompanying spouse? If it’s going to add 4-5 months to my current application we’re considering he accompany me perhaps
 

jes_ON

VIP Member
Jun 22, 2009
12,092
1,421
Category........
Visa Office......
New York
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
06-May-2010
AOR Received.
13-Aug-2010
File Transfer...
01-Mar-2011
Passport Req..
30-Jun-2011
VISA ISSUED...
12-Jul-2011 (received 25-Jul-2011)
LANDED..........
03-Sep-2011
Thank you very much for your response. I will submit a CSE notifying cic of my change in status for instructions on how to move forward. And sorry yes I did see a few posts about this matter but all that I found were either Outland applicants, marrying Canadian citizens or were requesting their spouse to accompany them. Do you know if there is a difference in processing time, required documents etc when it is an accompanying vs non accompanying spouse? If it’s going to add 4-5 months to my current application we’re considering he accompany me perhaps
Unless you are planning to remain separated for at least 2 years, then you should add him to the application as accompanying. He does not have to land at the same time as you, only before the expiry of the COPR, and even then, he can leave and come back in a year or two when he´s ready.

It makes no sense to have to go through the process of later sponsoring him, if you only need to delay his moving to Canada by a few months.
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
This is a question that is asked regularly on this forum. Suggest you look through the Express Entry section of the forum for detailed answers. There are many threads addressing this.

You will need to add him to your application regardless of whether he is accompanying you to Canada or not. He will have to supply PCCs and take a medical. He will not have to provide education or certificates. You will need to complete all of the forms to add him to your application. Simply submitting your marriage certificate will not suffice. Adding him to your application will likely add 3-4 months to the overall processing time of your application.
Actually not, this was my case and this did not significantl affected my application.

So whenever you change your marital status, you have to inform IRCC through the webform and let them know about this. Within a few business days you will get a response from them indicating the forms and stuff that your spouse wil have to submit using in case you wish to add this person to your application. If this will not be the case you should indicate that in spite of being married this person will not accompany you to Canada.

In my case this was my timeline, please note I did add my spouse as an accompanyig dependent:
  • Informed IRCC change in marital status through webform: January 4, 2020 (Married on Dec 14, 2019)
  • Submitted forms and including upfront medical exam and fees paid (RPRF and PRPF): Jan 15, 2020
  • Documentation was forwarded to responsible office and spouse added to my application: Jan 20, 2020
  • Medical passed for spouse: Jan 29, 2020
  • Biometrics requested for spouse: Jan 31, 2020
  • Biometrics submitted by pouse: Feb 3, 2020
  • Application approved for both: Feb 2, 2020
  • PPR for spouse (outland): Feb 4, 2020
  • Landing interview email for myself (inland): Feb 10, 2020
In summary, my application was approved within 10 business days of adding my spouse to my application. Of course my initial application (just myself) had everything (medicals, background, security and criminality) all passed once I added her.
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
Thank you very much for your response. I will submit a CSE notifying cic of my change in status for instructions on how to move forward. And sorry yes I did see a few posts about this matter but all that I found were either Outland applicants, marrying Canadian citizens or were requesting their spouse to accompany them. Do you know if there is a difference in processing time, required documents etc when it is an accompanying vs non accompanying spouse? If it’s going to add 4-5 months to my current application we’re considering he accompany me perhaps
It should not take that long even if your spouse accompanies you. I would totally suggest going for it and would strongly recommend performing the upfront medicals.

If your spouse will not come with you you will still have to submit a couple of forms for both of you (cannot remember the names but they will let you know once they get back to you)
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
Unless you are planning to remain separated for at least 2 years, then you should add him to the application as accompanying. He does not have to land at the same time as you, only before the expiry of the COPR, and even then, he can leave and come back in a year or two when he´s ready.

It makes no sense to have to go through the process of later sponsoring him, if you only need to delay his moving to Canada by a few months.
I totally agree. He could be listed as accompanying and he could defer moving to Canada up to 3 years.

Another advantage is that your score will not be recalculated so his education credentials and work history will not need to be proven just listed in the forms (so no education credentials assessement or getting experience letters or anything like that), just police certificates and medical exam basically.
 

Helina93

Star Member
Nov 22, 2015
160
10
Unless you are planning to remain separated for at least 2 years, then you should add him to the application as accompanying. He does not have to land at the same time as you, only before the expiry of the COPR, and even then, he can leave and come back in a year or two when he´s ready.

It makes no sense to have to go through the process of later sponsoring him, if you only need to delay his moving to Canada by a few months.
You are definitely right it does make sense to add him as an accompanying spouse now than to wait an even longer time in the future. I just didn’t know it would just add a couple of months to my application. Thanks!
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
You are definitely right it does make sense to add him as an accompanying spouse now than to wait an even longer time in the future. I just didn’t know it would just add a couple of months to my application. Thanks!
Probably just a few days, in my case 10 days.
 

Helina93

Star Member
Nov 22, 2015
160
10
Actually not, this was my case and this did not significantl affected my application.

So whenever you change your marital status, you have to inform IRCC through the webform and let them know about this. Within a few business days you will get a response from them indicating the forms and stuff that your spouse wil have to submit using in case you wish to add this person to your application. If this will not be the case you should indicate that in spite of being married this person will not accompany you to Canada.

In my case this was my timeline, please note I did add my spouse as an accompanyig dependent:
  • Informed IRCC change in marital status through webform: January 4, 2020 (Married on Dec 14, 2019)
  • Submitted forms and including upfront medical exam and fees paid (RPRF and PRPF): Jan 15, 2020
  • Documentation was forwarded to responsible office and spouse added to my application: Jan 20, 2020
  • Medical passed for spouse: Jan 29, 2020
  • Biometrics requested for spouse: Jan 31, 2020
  • Biometrics submitted by pouse: Feb 3, 2020
  • Application approved for both: Feb 2, 2020
  • PPR for spouse (outland): Feb 4, 2020
  • Landing interview email for myself (inland): Feb 10, 2020
In summary, my application was approved within 10 business days of adding my spouse to my application. Of course my initial application (just myself) had everything (medicals, background, security and criminality) all passed once I added her.
Thanks so much for your detailed response and timeline!! Although cases highly depend case to case it’s definitely giving me a lot of hope that you had a short turn around time. Just curious when did you receive your AOR? I’m wondering if how fast your spouse got added to your application had to with how far along your application was. I myself have passed medical, but my background check is still in progress.

I definitely want my spouse to do upfront medicals as well but how does that work if he doesn’t have a UCI number or an application number and a request from cic for the medicals? Does he do it upfront and ask the physician to send it to my UCI number or does he just get it done and I submit the results?

Congratulations on your wedding and the approval of your spouses pr to join you!!!! :)
 

M29

Star Member
Jul 21, 2015
61
2
Pakistan
Category........
CEC
Actually not, this was my case and this did not significantl affected my application.

So whenever you change your marital status, you have to inform IRCC through the webform and let them know about this. Within a few business days you will get a response from them indicating the forms and stuff that your spouse wil have to submit using in case you wish to add this person to your application. If this will not be the case you should indicate that in spite of being married this person will not accompany you to Canada.

In my case this was my timeline, please note I did add my spouse as an accompanyig dependent:
  • Informed IRCC change in marital status through webform: January 4, 2020 (Married on Dec 14, 2019)
  • Submitted forms and including upfront medical exam and fees paid (RPRF and PRPF): Jan 15, 2020
  • Documentation was forwarded to responsible office and spouse added to my application: Jan 20, 2020
  • Medical passed for spouse: Jan 29, 2020
  • Biometrics requested for spouse: Jan 31, 2020
  • Biometrics submitted by pouse: Feb 3, 2020
  • Application approved for both: Feb 2, 2020
  • PPR for spouse (outland): Feb 4, 2020
  • Landing interview email for myself (inland): Feb 10, 2020
In summary, my application was approved within 10 business days of adding my spouse to my application. Of course my initial application (just myself) had everything (medicals, background, security and criminality) all passed once I added her.
Hi
My score is 485 and application is in process since one month , med and biometrics done. I’m getting married in next few days, I’m planning to add my spouse later to my application. Will they recalculate my score ?
 

canuck_in_uk

VIP Member
May 4, 2012
31,558
7,196
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
06/12
Hi
My score is 485 and application is in process since one month , med and biometrics done. I’m getting married in next few days, I’m planning to add my spouse later to my application. Will they recalculate my score ?
As you have already submitted your PR app, no, your score will not be recalculated. I suggest you add your spouse as soon as you can after marrying to avoid delaying the app.
 
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M29

Star Member
Jul 21, 2015
61
2
Pakistan
Category........
CEC
As you have already submitted your PR app, no, your score will not be recalculated. I suggest you add your spouse as soon as you can after marrying to avoid delaying the app.
Yes, i will prepare all documents first (passport, pcc, birth certificate) and will send CSE in next 10 days after getting married. what do you think?
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
Thanks so much for your detailed response and timeline!! Although cases highly depend case to case it’s definitely giving me a lot of hope that you had a short turn around time. Just curious when did you receive your AOR? I’m wondering if how fast your spouse got added to your application had to with how far along your application was. I myself have passed medical, but my background check is still in progress.

I definitely want my spouse to do upfront medicals as well but how does that work if he doesn’t have a UCI number or an application number and a request from cic for the medicals? Does he do it upfront and ask the physician to send it to my UCI number or does he just get it done and I submit the results?

Congratulations on your wedding and the approval of your spouse's PR to join you!!!! :)
Yes, so everything in my application had already been passed: Medicals/Eligibility/Security and Criminality and I had been told I was already in the final stages. So, of course, that's why adding her took so little. But since they do not have to perform any eligibility checks on your spouse it should really not take very long especially if you submit the upfront medicals.

Regarding the upfront medical exam, I think this is a key thing to avoid any delays. All you need to do is contact a panel physician and ask for this. They might tell you that they cannot do upfront medicals for PR (which was our case). So we just decided to perform an upfront for 'Worker' which is also not non-EDE (non-excessive demand exempt --> this means your spouse should get a physical exam, urine exam, chest x-rays, and blood tests (VDRL for Syphilis and Elisa for HIV)).

Their system might not show the option for PR upfront Medical, so you could do an upfront medical for Worker (which is exactly the same). This is what we did.

Since your spouse will not have a UCI, it doesn't matter. You will get a tracking sheet from the panel physician which you should scan and send to IRCC through the WebForm when you submit all the documentation. This tracking sheet will have a UMI (Unique Medical Identifier) Number, which they will then use to link to your spouse's UCI once they've created one for your spouse.
 

Wolfpmd3

Champion Member
Apr 26, 2015
1,867
454
Canada
NOC Code......
1254
Yes, i will prepare all documents first (passport, pcc, birth certificate) and will send CSE in next 10 days after getting married. what do you think?
Yes, that's not a bad idea. I actually informed then about my change in marital status 3 weeks after getting married and uploaded the documentation one month after getting married.