Legally married to first cousin.. No cohabitation yet

[abcvita2012]

Hello everyone I appreciate any advice you can provide to me here.

So here is my case,

I'm getting legally married to my cousin sometime later this year or early next year. However, in our arabic culture cohabitation happens only after the wedding ceremony which could happen one year or more after the legal marriage. Up until then we will continue to live in two different countries as was the situation for us since birth up to now. Our wedding will happen only after she completes her studies.

So now the question is. Since I'm just starting with the process (booked for ielts test, sent documents for my educational assessment). Should I apply for myself only and sponsor her later or should I include her in the application from the beginning.

I would love to be able to add her to the application from the get go as I don't want to be seperated for more than a year while I apply for her from canada.

As for proof here is what I will be able to provide:

- Legal marriage certificate
- Small ceremony photos
- Payment of "mahr", an amount of money payed by the groom to the bride for later on wedding preparation and beyond
-Medical test normally done in our countries to verify genetical compatibility for safety of future children
- We have been talking to each other for few years now and I can provide whatsapp chat log of more than two years in arabic if thats necessary to prove genuine marriage


So thats it folks. Appreciate your feedback.

 

[Classic Chucks]

So now the question is. Since I'm just starting with the process (booked for ielts test, sent documents for my educational assessment). Should I apply for myself only and sponsor her later or should I include her in the application from the beginning.

I would love to be able to add her to the application from the get go as I don't want to be seperated for more than a year while I apply for her from canada.

You can only include her after you two get married. So in your case, you would have to sponsor her later on.

 

[abcvita2012]

You can only include her after you two get married. So in your case, you would have to sponsor her later on.

Do you mean after the legal marriage with no cohabitation or after we start cohabiting?

 

[Classic Chucks]

Do you mean after the legal marriage with no cohabitation or after we start cohabiting?

Where are you from again? Which country?

 

[abcvita2012]

I live in uae. She lives in jordan.

 

[Classic Chucks]

I would say if your marriage in your culture needs cohabitation before you are considered "married," then you have fulfill that first before applying. But if the legal marriage is enough, then you can apply right away.

 

[scylla]

Do you mean after the legal marriage with no cohabitation or after we start cohabiting?

You will have to add her to your application once you are legally married. However it's possible there may be problems proving the relationship is genuine if there is no cohabitation. Hard for any of us to say what will happen. Once you get married, you'll need to add her to your application and see what happens.

 

[Classic Chucks]

In any case, cohabitation is a good way of proving your relationship is genuine.

 

[abcvita2012]

Appreciate your responces guys. Looking forward to more feedback.

So if i include her and the officer is not convinced for any reason. We both get rejected from the PR process right?

 

[Classic Chucks]

Appreciate your responces guys. Looking forward to more feedback.

So if i include her and the officer is not convinced for any reason. We both get rejected from the PR process right?

If your culture requires traditional marriage/ceremonial wedding to be celebrated/viewed as a married couple then you would need to do that first before applying. Sometimes legal marriage isn't sufficient to convince them.

If you are already a PR when you sponsor her, then she's the only one getting rejected for PR.

 

[tweetyishere]

you have to include her in the application since you are "legally" married. you already signed a marriage contract and the date is clearly written in it.
you write an explanation letter saying that you signed the official forms of marriage but the wedding celebration is not done yet and will be done in approximately a certain date
the marriage in looked at from officers who understand the cultural aspect of the middle east. they understand how things are being done. just make sure to include pictures of the legal celebration, your pictures as a couple with friends and family members, your chat history and all the other explanations they require.
not adding her to your application is considered a misrepresentation since the Legal wedding contract is already signed.

 

[abcvita2012]

you have to include her in the application since you are "legally" married. you already signed a marriage contract and the date is clearly written in it.
you write an explanation letter saying that you signed the official forms of marriage but the wedding celebration is not done yet and will be done in approximately a certain date
the marriage in looked at from officers who understand the cultural aspect of the middle east. they understand how things are being done. just make sure to include pictures of the legal celebration, your pictures as a couple with friends and family members, your chat history and all the other explanations they require.
not adding her to your application is considered a misrepresentation since the Legal wedding contract is already signed.

So do you suggest that I try to get a PR for her as well or just inform them of my marriage and thats it?

 

[tweetyishere]

since you are legally married, you have to include her in your application for PR. I am not sure if they will ask for proof of genuine relationship (apart from the marriage certificate) or not since you are applying from scratch (but if they do, because she lives in another address, you can provide all the proofs they want). A friend of mine was sponsored by her husband more than 10 years ago and he applied for her PR with the legal marriage certificate (katb elketab), and they were not living together at that time. it was after she got the PR that they had the big wedding celebration and she travelled with him to Canada.. they had to provide proofs of relationship though like plane tickets for engagement party, phone cards that they used to call each other, pictures with family members and friends). the immigration wants to make sure that the relationship is genuine, but they also consider the social context of every country (if it is illegal in your country to become common-law then you cannot apply for common-law relationship even if it is legal in Canada).
you are legally married as per the marriage certificate you have, and informing them means that you have to add her to your application for her to undergo the medical and security clearance.

 

[tweetyishere]

it might be a good idea to get a consult with an immigration lawyer to confirm the recent decisions made by immigration Canada.
you don't have to fill the application with the lawyer but, it might be useful to get a legal opinion about what the immigration accepts now.

 

[ztariq]

Hello everyone I appreciate any advice you can provide to me here.

So here is my case,

I'm getting legally married to my cousin sometime later this year or early next year. However, in our arabic culture cohabitation happens only after the wedding ceremony which could happen one year or more after the legal marriage. Up until then we will continue to live in two different countries as was the situation for us since birth up to now. Our wedding will happen only after she completes her studies.

So now the question is. Since I'm just starting with the process (booked for ielts test, sent documents for my educational assessment). Should I apply for myself only and sponsor her later or should I include her in the application from the beginning.

I would love to be able to add her to the application from the get go as I don't want to be seperated for more than a year while I apply for her from canada.

As for proof here is what I will be able to provide:

- Legal marriage certificate
- Small ceremony photos
- Payment of "mahr", an amount of money payed by the groom to the bride for later on wedding preparation and beyond
-Medical test normally done in our countries to verify genetical compatibility for safety of future children
- We have been talking to each other for few years now and I can provide whatsapp chat log of more than two years in arabic if thats necessary to prove genuine marriage


So thats it folks. Appreciate your feedback.

Hey,

I totally understand your case since I'm from the same culture.
Yes once your Nikkah is done you can apply for her along with your application.
You'll have to show your marriage certificate (Translated into English), and if need be you can attach your ceremony photos.
Don't worry about cohabitation part, you marrying her and showing she is your wife plus proving it with marriage certificate is enough.