Tricky application

[jj-finch]

Hello everyone!

I am about to sponsor my wife to come to Canada under the family class. However we have a very odd and unique situation that may make the application process tricky. Obviously we want as little hassle as possible.

My wife is from the Ukraine and she has lived and worked in Turkey a few times since 2004. In 2007 she married a Turkish citizen but the relationship deteriorated and she left the country a few months later. As revenge, her husband at the time then went to the police to report that the marriage was fictitious. On a subsequent visit to Turkey for vacation in 2011, my wife was detained at passport control because of her ex-husband reporting to the police in 2007. She denied over and over again that the marriage was fictitious so they let her into the country. Interestingly, the customs officer told her that after 3 years the marriage would be annulled anyway so my wife never thought anything of it and assumed she was now divorced.

Now skip forward to today...

We have been legally married in Ukraine and after many exhaustive searches in her country and Turkey, we cannot find any documents that even say she was married in Turkey - let alone a divorce certificate if there even is one.

I would love any and all advice on how we should proceed with the application. Has anyone else experienced a similar circumstance to ours? Do we take the chance and simply not report this previous marriage? How extensive is the background check done by CIC/CSIS? If we could not find any evidence, what is the likelihood that they could? My wife hasn't lived in Turkey for over 5 years so we need not indicate this on the application anyway.

Thanks in advance!

jj

 

[CharlieD10]

Actually, your wife is required to identify everywhere she's lived for 6 months or more since the age of 18, so unless she was a minor when she was in Turkey (unlikely since she was married), then she DOES need to report it.

When you say "searches" do you mean you made searches at the Registrar (or whatever they call the office in Turkey responsible for registering marriages, births and deaths) and found no record of her marriage? If that is what you mean, then perhaps her "marriage" was never registered and therefore is not legally valid and you have nothing to worry about. If you mean you just looked for documents in unofficial sources and found nothing, then you need to look harder.

 

[Quince777]

She should have known when marrying her husband if she signed anything. It looks very strange that she had no clue what was going on between her and her husband in terms of marriage certificate of some sort. If she believes she was married she has to mention this in her app, especially under 'personal history' explaining what she was doing in Turkey. On top of that she needs to provide police clearance from Turkey if she lived there for more than 6 months.

 

[Quince777]

When you say "searches" do you mean you made searches at the Registrar (or whatever they call the office in Turkey responsible for registering marriages, births and deaths) and found no record of her marriage? If that is what you mean, then perhaps her "marriage" was never registered and therefore is not legally valid and you have nothing to worry about. If you mean you just looked for documents in unofficial sources and found nothing, then you need to look harder.

In some Muslim countries marriages might be carried out at local mosques but it's interesting to know that the person doesn't even realize if she was married or not. She should still mention about her previous marriage in the application because she was living in a marriage-like relationship with another man. The problem is that she didn't know local Turkish rules, so maybe consulting an officer at the Turkish embassy/consulate might help to find some more information on marriage laws. She would still need to provide police clearance from Turkey.

 

[jj-finch]

Actually she did sign documents so the marriage was legal. Just not sure about the laws of Turkey with regards to marriages that are deemed fake because her ex-husband made claim. I have a lawyer in Turkey who is investigating.

In terms of living in another country for more than 6 months, it clearly states on the application "Have you lived for more than 6 months in another country in the past 5 years?" So am confused...

Thanks everyone!

jj

 

[parker24]

Actually she did sign documents so the marriage was legal. Just not sure about the laws of Turkey with regards to marriages that are deemed fake because her ex-husband made claim. I have a lawyer in Turkey who is investigating.

In terms of living in another country for more than 6 months, it clearly states on the application "Have you lived for more than 6 months in another country in the past 5 years?" So am confused...

Thanks everyone!

jj

There is another part that asks you to put in all addresses and workplaces since the applicant was 18, so you would need to put that she was in Turkey, and thus getting a police certificate as well.

 

[Quince777]

Actually she did sign documents so the marriage was legal. Just not sure about the laws of Turkey with regards to marriages that are deemed fake because her ex-husband made claim. I have a lawyer in Turkey who is investigating.

In terms of living in another country for more than 6 months, it clearly states on the application "Have you lived for more than 6 months in another country in the past 5 years?" So am confused...

Thanks everyone!

jj

So she was legally married then, which is another reason she should mention that in the application.
Also she should have got a proper divorce instead of just leaving him.