Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Hi,

What are the advantages of getting in married in Canada (when we visit in May) as opposed to back in Blighty?

Will it help our case or complicate it?

Has anyone else done this and why did you choose to marry in Canada? Was one of you a Canadian citizen?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS! :thumbsup:

As far as I'm aware it doesn't make much differance as to where you get married, both countries are recgonised as "legal" places to marry.

I think proving a genuine lasting relationship is more important to them (CIC)....as anyone can have a "quicky" wedding in the UK or Canada.

I married my Canadian wife here in the UK. we just had to provide a photocopy of the marriage certificate whereas we had to send a stack of photos, cards and emails to prove we are genuine couple.

I'd say get married where YOU want to and not to worry about how it affects your application.

:)

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

There are no barriers to non-residents getting married in Canada.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Thanks Mr Mac!

Just wondered whether the geographic location made any difference - this emmigrating malarky is a nightmare!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

I know, we got married last November and spent the last two weeks preparing the forms and supporting documents, having a medical and getting police checks. I sent mine off yesterday....was such a joy to do it, we are still on cloud 9. :D

Please don't hesitate to post here or contact me via PM if you need any advice/help.

everyone is at a different stage but they are all the same stages we have to go through. :)

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

I married my Canadian wife (i'm british) in Vancouver last April (believe it or not we had pure sunshine and 22c weather on the day). We chose Vancouver purely because we loved the location and it was financially easier for my friends and family to go to Canada than the other way around.

The only downside was that my dad was too ill to travel.

So anyway, choose where YOU want to be married and don't worry about the application as i very much doubt it makes a difference.

Rich

PS - Congrats :thumbsup:

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

I'd just like to add that the last time I looked into this a year ago.. a Canadian getting married to a UK citizen in the UK has to apply to the home office for a marriage visa and a certificate of approval which can take around three months or longer to obtain. So not the quickest way to get married if time is important. I had a quick look for the information and this may help..

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/vis...ied/documents/

My Canadian hubby and I married in the USA last year just to simplify the process for us as we were both divorced which would have added another bit of red tape to us marrying in Canada.

Good luck for the future! :)

Pauline

Ooops forgot to mention that if you intend to marry in an Anglican Church here in the UK the certificate of approval thing doesn't apply!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Yeah I forgot about the COA. My wife had to apply for it...ours took 6 weeks, we had to both send our actual passports and it costs about £300, but if you want to move to Canada you might as well get used to spending huge amounts of cash on bits of paper :D

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Congratualations, we got married in the USA, it didn't affect our immigration so I don't think it matters as I don't think it will either help or hinder your chances if you know what I mean?

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Certainly agree that it doesn't matter from an immigration perspective, so get married wherever you want. We got married in England and it didn't cause any delay in processing times. We didn't need any visas or permissions either, as we were married in an Anglican Church.

We chose England because it was more convenient for us to get married where we were living. In addition, my wife's family are spread out across Canada, so if we married in Canada pretty much everyone would have been flying to the wedding. With the high cost of internal flights in Canada, it was cheaper for her relatives in Ontario to fly to England than it would have been for them to fly to Calgary!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

we were married in Canada while both living in the UK. We're both British, but OH's family had been living expat in Montreal for years, OH was brought up and educated there. Being a bit traditional about it, it made sense to be married from her parents' home, so the Brit contingent flew over and made a holiday of it at the same time. We were married in the McGill University Chapel by the Anglican chaplain, and spent our honeymoon driving around the Atlantic provinces.

It made absolutely no difference at all to immigration status then or subsequently.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Hmmm - are they funny about divorcees getting re-married over here ( Canada!) then???

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

No not at all.. if you were divorced in a country outside Canada you have to take your final decree to a lawyer in Canada who (for a couple of hundred dollars) will write you a letter, giving his legal opinion on why the divorce should be recognised.

Then you send this letter to the registrar general to apply for written authorisation to marry. On receipt of that a few weeks later you take it with you to buy the licence. The licence is then valid for three months.

I was looking into marriage in Ontario but I think it was similar rules in other provinces.

In our case we were living apart at the time so we had to simplify things as best we could. The USA won hands down as we simply went to the town hall, filled in a form together writing the dates of our divorce down, showed ID, handed over the money ($100) and took the licence away the same day.

So they're not funny about divorcees in Canada, it's just a little complicated sorting out the necessary paperwork if you're not living there and want to marry within a few months.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

So this certificate of approval for a non resident isn't needed in Canada.

But then, from memory, the relevant authority does like a minimum period between licence and wedding....so that may not be so different.

I married my Canadian wife in Canada while I was UK resident. It was more practical than trying to do it in the UK. Plus it was a good way to keep the numbers down. :sneaky:

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

:lol: nice!

yeah the COA is a UK Home Office requirement.....they used to be pretty straight forward from what I've read but a few years ago they jacked the price up to £295 to put people off the whole marriage of convenience thing and made changes to the process.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Hi AllyS,
I put my application in June 2004 and met my now husband in 2006. Having lived together for 12 months in July 08 we applied to have him added to my application as a common law partner which was submitted in January 09. In October 08 we got married at Niagara Falls and it has made no difference to the application at all. We had our medicals on Friday and hope to be there by possibly christmas!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Hi this is my first post, so please be gentle.

My partner has PR, lives in BC and is separated from and about to divorce his wife, who is also english and also has PR.

We hope to get married in October this year, with a view to him sponsoring me.

From what I have read, it seems it would be simpler for us to get married in England or the USA than Canada, as I am also divorced and marrying in Canada would incur the solicitors costs mentioned?

Can someone confirm I have this right? Thanks and Hi!

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

For sponsorship purposes I don't think it makes any difference if you are married or common law, although the latter is probably more difficult to prove.

Whay would you think that getting married in the UK or the USA would be cheaper? Have you seen this?

http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/vsa730.pdf

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

thank you that's really helpful

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

My pleasure.

I was going to ask why bother getting married at all? It's getting quite rare in Canada. However, I note that you are both divorced, or are about to be. Are there any kids involved? If there are, you should get new wills drawn up asap.

Souvette and I did last year (as well as getting married) after ten years together. We're both divorced and there are dependent children involved. Mine lives in the UK, hers now lives with his dad. We discovered that we were wide open if one of us died. The ex's would have had a claim on the estate, via the kids. If she'd died last summer, it would have been possible for her ex-husband to gain control of part of our house. He'd have done it, too. We went for a belt & braces approach (wills, powers of attorney and marriage).

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

I currently live in the UK and he lives in BC.

I mostly want to get married because I want to be his wife ( it's a long and lovely story but not for this thread).

Also, from a living in Canada point of view, if we go down the sponsorship route, getting married allows us to start that straight away without waiting a year to show cohabitation. I have a business in the UK so will have to fly in and out anyway even once I have PR.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

I can see that common law might be a tad hard to prove if you are living on different continents.:lol:

I think you're going to need an accountant, too. Keep a close eye on how many days you spend in the UK and in Canada.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Yes you are right.. It is simpler to get married in the USA compared to UK or Canada if you are a divorcee.

My hubby and I were in the same situation living and working separately but wanting to get our sponsorship underway.

It's simply a case of arriving at the town hall together with some ID (passport) and filling in a form.. you need to know the date of your divorce to complete the form but that's it.. you pay your money and walk away with the licence which you hand over to whoever you have lined up to perform the ceremony.

It's easy to organise it all online if you do some searches.

Good Luck :)

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

My "fiance" is from BC and I am a Brit, we have lived in the uk for 7 years together and now plan to get married and go back to BC. We had many a headache from both sides of the families wanting to be at the wedding and wanting us to get married in "their" country, so we decided to go neutral and get married in Ireland (3rd August) and no family are invited :curse: We are both divorcees and found no red tape, just one extra form to provide and a fee of £50! thats it..simple.:thumbsup: (interesting comment on the ex's having a claim on the estate...we have will fortunately,but non the less..scary!!)

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Your current will will be invalidated by your marriage, so you will need to re do them.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Yes. I was told that about wills and re-marriage by my notary. One thing to watch out for is making sure a Canadian will can be applied to a UK estate.

I'm fairly certain that my Quebec will covers stuff I still have in the UK but I'm not 100% certain.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

:thumbsup: Congratulations :thumbsup:

I dont know how getting married in Canada affects your application.

From a womans point of view, if you are wanting to live in Canada permanently then I would get married there, that way you will have all the memories there with, so on anniversary ect you can go back to the place you married. Also your children will be able to see where you married and perhaps carry on the tradition.

Re: Getting married in Canada v UK
 

Intersting....I wonder if a will made in the UK is affected? I would imagine a will made in any country correctly should be recognised and honoured.:unsure: