Rhye

Hi everyone,

I’m curious to get some advice on an spousal sponsorship I am considering. The advice I'm seeking is twofold.

First and foremost, my question is about considering marrying in order to qualify for the spousal sponsorship. I have been with my girlfriend for around 2 years but because of various work commitments we have been long distance sporadically throughout our time together, and so we do not qualify for common-law. I am unable to accrue this time with her because my eligible work visas (with IEC) are coming to an end, and we have only lived together a handful of months. So we are considering marriage as a way to continue our relationship and our time in Canada. We are in love and everything, and hate to make a choice like this to jump through a bureaucratic hoop, but our options are running out.

I'm wondering what experiences people have with doing this? It's hard because we plan to stay together long-term anyway, but have people found that it puts strain on the relationship? I guess I am curious about some first-hand experiences in doing this - note, not about marriages of convenience or anything deceptive like that - rather, actual relationships where marriage came earlier than natural for visa reasons.

My other question is just to seek clarity on something. What level of scrutiny goes into spousal sponsorship applications? I know common-law applications get a load like utility bills, leases, letters from friends, etc. But I couldn't figure out from the website whether you need to show things like that for spousal sponsorship (things I have read and not mentioned needing to do so, but didn't rule it out either). Is it really as simple as "1) prove you're married, 2) sign forms saying they'll sponsor you, 3) do a medical test/go to an interview/police check" etc? In other words, should we start taking photographs together and whatnot? Thus far it hasn't really been our style to take pics in front of the CN tower and whatnot, but I guess we would do whatever it takes?

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any responses. They would mean a lot!

Jim Humphries

Marry for yourselves not for immigration purposes. It does solve the problem you mention.

Rhye

Can you explain that answer a little?

SchnookoLoly

Basically, you can't get married for the purposes of immigration. That is illegal.

If you want to get married, get married to be together as a married couple. If you choose to go through the immigration process afterwards then that is your decision, but DO NOT get married for the purposes of gaining status in Canada. Again, that is illegal. Consequently, no one on this forum will give you that advice.

If you are only getting married in order to gain status to Canada, then you are not getting married for the right reasons.

The same level of scrutiny goes into both applications. With common-law, there's an additional requirement to show that a) you have been living together for 12 months, and b) you have been living together in a marriage-like relationship - basically, as though you were married. So there's a bit of extra paperwork that has to be provided in order to satisfy CIC that you're living together as though you were married, and not as roommates or just as friends. They look at things like joint bank accounts, joint utility bills, etc, but they also look at things like being named on each other's insurance policies as next of kin, coverage under each other's insurance policies, buying more "hefty" things together like cars, pets, furniture - things that couples tend to do that roommates tend not to do.

For both applications, they want to see that you are in a genuine relationship, that you haven't just met and said "hey, if we get married, I can sponsor you! Let's go get hitched!" They want to know that you are actually a couple, and that the relationship has progressed "organically", so to speak. How did you meet? How did you propose? What kind of wedding did you have? When did you meet each other's families? When did you meet each other's friends?

When you're providing photos, they don't care if there are landmarks etc in the photos, but photos show a certain progression in a relationship. Did you take trips together? Surely you have at least some photos of that trip. If you don't have photos, then you probably have evidence - email flight confirmations, or maybe you kept the boarding passes. Stamps in your passport are another indication that you have taken trips together. Part of the photos as well is photos of you as a couple with other people. You went to a wedding together, where you went as a couple. That shows that the bride and groom not only know you and invited you both to a wedding, but that you were invited to a wedding as a couple, not as two friends who happened to both be invited. Do you have random candid pictures of you both with friends on a random night out? How about random pictures with family members?

Basically, they are wanting to see that you are actually together as a couple, that people know of your relationship and existence as a couple, and that you haven't just shacked up so that one of you can sponsor the other.

The 1-2-3 steps you mention - no, it is not that simple. Even if you're married, CIC want to know it's a genuine marriage and a genuine relationship. That's what you have to prove. WHat evidence you choose to provide in order to do that is up to you. (That's why there's no "official list" on what you have to provide, just some suggestions on the types of things CIC might expect to see.)

Hope that helps, feel free to ask more questions if it's not clear.

But again, I will reiterate: DO NOT GET MARRIED SIMPLY TO GAIN STATUS INTO CANADA. THAT. IS. ILLEGAL.

JonboyE

No comment on morality or legality but we married to solve a visa problem. That was 34 years ago so yes, the relationship can work.

orly

My (now) wife and I had lived together and were already engaged but due to not being able to secure visas that would allow us to continuing living together longer term we were "forced" to move our marriage forward and then get the application in.

We'd hoped to have me moved here first so we could have planned it better and saved up over a longer period but in the end we just had to get it done. Worked out quite nicely in the end. We were never going to spend a fortune but it focused budgets for sure. I'd imagine it's actually rather common for people to be in this situation.

Spousal applications get the same sort of scrutiny as others. It's not a soft touch. We send in about two dozen photos, a few of our trips over the years and some from our wedding. We had a joint bank account so gave details on it. As we'd lived together for periods (I was on IEC work visas) we were able to put in some utility bills with names/same address on it.

It sounds like the original poster has lived with his partner for at least some of the time which is a plus provided some evidence can be provided vouching for it. I have a relative here who married a guy from the UK and had never actually lived with him at any point but it wasn't a problem. All the other proofs (eg tickets for flights showing you visited each other) provide good proof about a genuine relationship and not a "getting married the first time you meet" type sham.

Jim Humphries

When the mutual commitment is there - no problem as per Orly's post above.

Rhye

First of all, I really appreciate these responses. They are helping a lot, especially the personal stories. We don't want to get married strictly "for immigration purposes", I didn't mean to misrepresent that in my first post. We are mutually committed to staying together long-term and would get married eventually anyway, it's just a question of when. I would never get married and live together with someone for years just for visa purposes, that would screw me up. In an ideal world it would be later on, and I'd prefer to stay in Canada through my own means, but we'd do it earlier if it's a choice between that and being forced apart by circumstance.

The info about "supporting documents" is useful. I was unsure based on the information that it was required. We have a bunch of photos and flight confirmations from our trips together (I flew to meet her family in Canada, she flew to England to meet mine), I visited her while she was working abroad and have pics/tickets from then. She's currently in education and I'm looking for work - she is very established in Toronto. Our relationship is certifiably legitimate, so I feel good about this option. Thanks people that have responded so far, I appreciate any further suggestions, advice, lambasting, etc.

SchnookoLoly

First, apologies if my first post came across as harsh - your first post sounded a bit like you were were debating getting married simply for the purposes of immigration, which was why I kind of laid into you a bit.

If you mutually decide to get married, and you would have anyway, then chances are it will be fine. As others have posted, they got married earlier than they otherwise might have in order to help with the immigration process, but immigration was not their primary reason for getting married, which is what CIC does not allow. Obviously one wouldn't recommend writing in your application "we wanted to wait, but decided to get hitched so we could apply for PR"...

It sounds like what you have makes sense, and shows the progression of your relationship. As I said in my first post, you're wanting to demonstrate to CIC that your relationship developed "organically" (for lack of a better word) - couple meets, couple travels a bit, couple moves in together, couple makes commitments to make a long distance relationship work, couple meets the families, couple gets engaged, couple gets married, aww, lovey dovey... it sounds corny, but it raises far fewer flags than "couple meets, couple travels together or meets a handful of people, couple is suddenly married and applying for PR".

It sounds like the pics you have of major events make sense - it doesn't hurt to throw in a few other candid ones, if you have them. (I found Facebook to be a good source for this - random night out pictures that friends posted afterwards. You could also email friends to see if they have anything in their stashes of digital photos that you could use.)

You'll also want to provide more "official" stuff, if you have it, things like your lease, utility bills, bank accounts, insurance policies, all that kind of stuff.

Hope that helps, feel free to post more questions if anything isn't clear!

orly

You can often read posts from people who go a bit overboard and end up sending 10 years worth of documents, meticulously labelled and back storied, covering their entire lives. I don't think that's what CIC are looking for.

At the same time they aren't going to be amenable to the people who've known each other 6 months, never lived together and have no substantial ties to one another yet, mysteriously, are married. You don't appear to fall into this category based on what you said so I'd think it would be pretty plain sailing for you if you are complete and supply a reasonable amount of information.

The more pressing question might be...is your partner wanting to get married

SchnookoLoly

So much more elegant than what I wrote.

orly

One of my more succinct posts I'll admit.

Rhye

Great, this makes it really clear. Thanks for all the support. Girlfriend is down for marriage!