scrubbedexpat091

Gotcha, I guess I never really thought about people paying others to marry them so they can come over.

Makes sense though. There was one guy at work (he has since left) who was over here on some sort of temporary visa or permit that allowed him to work and live here for a time, and he tried so many times to get the company to sponsor him or whatever it is companies can do, but company isn't willing to do that, and then he was asking around if anyone knew of someone he could marry.

Sounded like his family was pretty poor in India and I think he had no desire to go back.

DandNHill

I was on a training course a few yeas back in the UK and one of the guys on it was a recovering addict. He had married a Jamaican (I think) for 5,000GBP!!!

Pollyana

When I started work here in Brisbane I worked with a Russian girl who it transpired had paid an Aussie, who was dying of Leukaemia, to marry her. He got the money to live out his few remaining months in comfort, she got a very short-lived marriage, and permanent residnce in Australia. In ths days you could sponsor another partner straight away, so the week after this guy passed away her previous fiance (back in Russia) submitted his application to come to Aus as her fiance & marry her. He got his PR 2 years later.
They've tightened it up in Aus a bit, you can't sponsor another partner for 5 years generally, and can only sponsr twice - some Russians she knew had soonsored 4 or 5 partners, all ending up with divorce after 2 years so they could sponsor the next one.
I remember mentioning it to an agent on here that I was chatting to at the time and he said it was a big racket among Russian brides at the time.

There's a big case going on in Brisbane now with Indians, was in the papers this week - Indian celebrant carrying out marriages he knows are bogus, just to get Indians into the country.

Shard

Marriages of convenience are absolutely rife in certain communities. The red flags cited in the article seem fairly reasonable.

BristolUK

So long as they're not over relied upon. There are, after all three or four on this thread - including my ten years marriage and someone else's 20 years - with a few of these red flags against each of us.
Honeymoon in Niagara Falls a red flag? Seriously? I'm sure it got the nickname honeymoon capital of the world because it was a popular place for honeymoons and tourism in general.

Shard

Red flags are warning signs, nothing more. Just a trigger for an immigration officer to make further checks. Legit couples will have nothing to fear.

MrsKickasso

My hubby and I had a great laugh about this. We have so many red flags you'd think we are matadors! No diamond rings, married in city hall with 6 and 1/2 (step-grand daughter is the 1/2) people there to witness, no honeymoon, pics in and around Toronto and Niagara and pics at breakfast!
On the up-side tho, pics were taken in different seasons over a 2 year period so most definitely different clothes, we're invariably kissing and my mother and father-in-law were our witnesses at our wedding

BristolUK

Sure, but what if there are a few "red flags" according to the advice (rather than "sensible" ones) and no equivalent indicators of the opposite variety? (green flags?)

As well as those mentioned, meeting on line and marrying just 8 months after a physical meeting it all looks a bit dodgy.

Hindsight shows a ten year marriage but hindsight wasn't available back then.

Pollyana

i don't know about Canada, but for a Spouse visa for Australia you have to get legally witnessed statments from family/friends to support your claim of having a genuine and ongoing relationship. Thats as well as bills, bank statements, photos etc. i woulnd't imagine its that easy to get people to make a legally binding statement about a relationship that they know isn't real?
Does Canada require a similar thing?

DandNHill

In 1989, I moved from France where I had grown up back to the UK, country of my birth, with my French husband. I had to write a letter to the home office to confirm I was happy for him to live in the UK before he could get a NI number. Ironically, we have been apart since 2001 and I'm in Canada and he's still in the UK! lol

BristolUK

Proof of relationship stuff like that is needed if cohabiting. Being married seems to get past that unless they decided something looked dodgy.

Pollyana

Thats interesting. Aus requires proof of the relationship regardless of whether its married or de facto. The main difference here is that if its de facto you also need 12 months cohabitation. People who have been married for 20 years with oodles of kids still have to prove their relationship is solid!

BristolUK

The 12 month living together applies for cohabitees - that's when the bills, bank stuff and things are an actual requirement.

For mine, they had a couple of photos from the wedding ceremony, the dinner and honeymoon and the names/relationship of the handful at the wedding and dinner. That was it.
The application was made 2 months after marrying. Another red flag

SchnookoLoly

The "list" in question was with regard to a very specific influx of fraudulent marriage applications I believe from China, and that list was just going through what tended to be common in those applications. I think when an officer considers an application in its entirety, it's far more complex than just ticking a few of those boxes. Sure a few of those might be present (like in the examples people have given in this thread) but in the context of a whole application they can usually be mitigated.