windward

Hi guys.

Have questions about a relatively complicated situation re: marriage and spousal sponsorship.

Me and the OH have decided to tie the knot rather than wait for common law approval from the Canadian government. I'm here on a BUNAC visa, but we want to actually get married in a foreign country. No decision on exactly where as yet, but most come with hoops you need to jump through - certificates of non-impediment etc etc.

So, does anyone else have experience going through the ceremony outside of Canadian or British soil? Might this affect future PR/sponsorship approval? And as a side note, the OH doesn't believe that going through an outland sponsorship process would be quicker than inland. The only real concern is the speed with which I'd be able to continue working in Canada; does this come with AIP? Or only with a completed and approved PR sponsorship application?

If it's AIP we may as well go through Canada, as if the worst comes to the worst and we're called to interview it's easier to get to than London right?

bflava

I am not sure how i can help on the where to marry bit.

but I hear and from what i read here the outland bit is faster depending on your country or where the process is done. CIC website has the processing timeline for each country. The inland one can take a long time and AIP can be btw 4-6months now and it could take another 6 months to land. at times if everything is ok you can get AIP and DM decision made and probably have your landing interview in roughly 6 weeks time making everything last like 8 months. I hear London is faster and everything is taking like 5 months in total.

I would get married in canada and process it outland in uk if i was you. It can also depend on the how long your bunac work permit is valid for?

hang in here and the good people i know here will come along,

good luck

ptomlin01

Hi

My hubby is Canadian, I am English.

After doing some research on getting married in Canada and England we found there were various 'hurdles to jump' in both countries as we were foreign nationals in each others countries, which would have prolonged the gettting married bit by several months.

We got married in Florida just a few months ago. It's a simple case of buying the license together and you can marry the next day if you want. As long as you are both free to marry it's completely legal.

The marriage certificate (which you need a copy of for your spousal application) was sent to us within 2 weeks of the ceremony.

I understand you have to wait much longer for it, ie 3 months, in many parts of Canada.

Where you got married will not affect your application as long as it's legal.

What is important is that you include plenty of documented evidence to show how long you have been together, from your first meeting to the present.

Being married gives you the right to apply for spousal sponsorship but you still have to prove your relationship is genuine.

If you search some of the 'outland' spousal threads on here you will see many have been completed in 3 to 4 months.. your OH is wrong to believe inland is faster.. it's not and the chances of you being called for interview are slim if your relationship genuine.

You have to decide which is more important to you, the cost of a flight to the UK or waiting an extra 6 months for your visa.

ptomlin01

Forgot to add that as far as I understand your application is complete (becoming a permanent resident with the option to work) when you have landed not at the AIP stage.

bluemoon1

Hi

If you get married in another country do make sure you get several copies of your marriage certificate. You always have to produce one for various things throughout your life and it can be a pain in the bum if you have apply to the country where you got married to get an extra copy!

If you get married in the UK in a civil ceremony and either yourself or your partner is subject to immigration control you have to give notice of marriage at a designated office, not just any register office.

ptomlin01

Good advice about getting several copies, I got three at $2 each.

Also for civil ceremonies in the UK you need to apply to the home office for a 'certificate of approval' as well as giving notice at a designated office.

Incidentally if you want to marry a foreign national in your local Anglican Church (Church of England) none of the above applies but you are at the ministers mercy as to when they can 'fit you in'

GingerDom

I too am interested in Marrying my Canadian G/f.......so is it better to do it outside both the UK and Canada???

ptomlin01

I researched the UK and Canada first but found the USA was the easiest.

The license cost around $100 in Florida. My sister lives in Florida so helped me out a little with the wedding plans but there are lots of reasonably priced companies on the internet offering the whole wedding package to suit you.

You go to the courthouse together with some ID (passport), provide your dob and full address, if you're divorced you need to give the date of your divorce and you get your license on the spot.

There are lots of notaries/ministers offering their services for around $100.

If you're doing it for the right reason then you make it your own and it doesn't have to be cheap and nasty

It was great.. just those closest to us and the weather was beautiful.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking at getting married without all the red tape.

ireland2canada

I know sod all about spousal sponsorship and all that - I just wanted to say Congratulations on your lovely news

GingerDom

So you are married but living apart??

ptomlin01

Yes.. We met in England three years ago while Rob was living and working here.

Our lives were perfect except he was on a work visa and in his line of work knew his employer could move him on at any time.. so he found a new job in the Montreal area where we could settle and he started that in November.

I stayed in England and got our wedding plans underway.

We took turns to travel back and forth to see each other once a month.

Bought a nice new home on one of my trips over there. Met up in Florida with our respective families to get married and had to part again after the honeymoon.

Now we have the sponsorship approval, the kids are out of school and we leave England in a couple of weeks to wait out the rest of the application in Canada.

It's been tough but almost over now..

GingerDom

Well the very best of luck with that PTomlin.....I hope everything works out for you all........

windward

Thanks all for the input and advice.

In the end couldn't convince the Mrs that a trip to the US to get married was a good option. Flights to Reykjavik have just been booked instead

I think we're all good now on where we stand re: PR and sponsorship etc. Been trawling the boards looking for similar themes for a good while now.

As for the paperwork in our case, I think I need a certificate of non-impediment from my consulate here in Canada, the mrs needs one from her Govt. We both need original birth certificates which are on their way, and we may need medicals to prove we don't carry communicable diseases... so lots of research still to be done.

... then getting bucketloads of copies of the marriage cert. (they'll do for wallpaper if nothing else comes up I suppose) and whatever way of dodging the new anti-flagpoling measures is fashionable in about 10 months' time.

Happy Days!

The BUNAC visa is valid until the end of Apr. next year, so if sponsorhsip takes less than 6 and a half months we won't have any more Canadian hoops to jump through. Fingers crossed.

GingerDom

Hey there Windward.

So are you marrying a Canadian?

windward

Hey. The fiancé is a Torontonian born and bred yep.

Turns out that I can't get a certificate of non-impediment as it needs to be issued in the UK by my local registry office. They need me to have been in the country for the past 7 days before they'll issue it

After quizzing embassies here in Canada, the UK and Iceland and talking to all three governments the upshot was, can't get one from the UK, can't get one from Canada, and Iceland (like a lot of countries when you're a foreigner wanting to marry on their soil) demand the certificate of non-impediment from UK citizens as they know that the UK Govt. issues them.

Good news is that the lass at the Reykjavik registry office had a lawyer look over the bits of the law that the overseas marriage deaths and births registry office (see the UK home office's website to find them) had sent me and said that a notarised declaration of honour would suffice. We're having this done on my behalf in the UK but I guess circumstances could differ.

So if you're planning on doing what we did, either don't - get your certificate before you leave the UK (and get married within the 6-8 week timeframe of it's validity depending on where you're going to elope) - or just get married in Canada. Much simpler