Marriage Certificate

Yes, there is additional paperwork that you must do to sponsor a spouse to Quebec - the info is in the application packet instruction guides.   Add another 6 weeks or so to the posted processing timelines for her overseas visa office to allow for Quebec processing.

If you don't already have everything else in place and ready to go, like her medical exam finished and her criminal clearances ordered and received, you're probably not going to be ready to submit the application until about March anyway.  If everything else is done, submit the application with whatever documentation you have that proves you got married, and submit the official marriage certificate later.  They will ask for it, so submit it when you receive that request.  What is time sensitive at this point, if all of your forms are filled out and her medical and criminal clearances are done, is the fact that the criminal clearances must not be more than three months old when you submit the application. 

Not familiar with where you have to mention your monthly income for the past five years - are you sure you have the right application forms?  You should only have to put in a figure that represents your total net income for the twelve months preceeding submission of the application - and an original Option C print out from Revenue Canada, plus a letter of employment from your employer.  There is no minimum income requirement for spousal sponsorships - so not sure where you're seeing a requirement for monthly income for the past five years.

The processing time is dependent on which overseas visa office will be processing her application.  Since she has a travel document issued by authorities in Costa Rica, I'm going to assume that she has legal status in that country - so it's probable her application would be processed through Guatemala City.  They're currently one of the slower offices - processing timelines average 8 - 21 months, plus add a month on this end for your sponsorship to be approved at CPC-Mississauga and then six weeks or so, as mentioned earlier, for Quebec processing.  Still probably faster than her seeking independent immigration.



Edited by RobsLuv - 25 Jan 2010 at 5:13pm

anish_s wrote: Thank you RobsLuv for your response and congratulations on winning the appeal I haven't yet got all the documents ready, I am just starting the process as we only got married last month. I will be applying on her behalf from within Canada, however, she is living outside Canada at this moment....Will the application be treated as Inland or Outland in this case.

  Outland, because the applicant (your wife) is/will be outside Canada.

anish_s wrote: You are basically saying, that once I get the police clearance and medicals, I should go ahead and apply even without the marriage certificate and there is a possibility of furnishing that at a later date. What other documents can be used to prove that I am married to my spouse in lieu of a marriage certificate in the interim.

Well, when a couple marries in the States or in Canada they normally get a "souvenier" type document that's sometimes called a "Record of Solemnization" or "Solemnization Certificate".  It just states the names and the date of marriage and is usually signed by the person who officiated.  The official, certified marriage licence is a document that proves the marriage has been registered with whatever authority legalizes marriages.  In Canada is the Province where the couple marries - in the States it can be the city or county of marriage.  I'm not sure what the equivalent to either document would be where you married.

anish_s wrote: The question regarding income for 5 years is in the form IMM5540 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5540E.PDF. Please look at section 7.

Wow, I don't even remember seeing that when we filled out our paperwork - but I'd say you should list every employer (in Canada or otherwise) over the past five years, along with an estimate of your monthly income for those jobs.  It doesn't have to be in CDN dollars for the foreign jobs - there is no minimum income requirement for sponsoring a spouse.  This is basically another situation where a "generic" form is asking for info that really isn't applicable to your type of sponsorship.  Don't leave it blank - but don't worry that you have to be terribly exact with the info there.

anish_s wrote: As far as medical examinations are concerned, I am told that it takes up to a month to just obtain an appointment with the doctor. When I was applying individually for Skilled worker PR, the doctor sent the medical results directly to the embassy in Guatemala. How will it work in my case? Will my wife have to send me the medical results and I attach it with the application?

  Your wife will not be given the results - she will only get a form from the DMP that verifies that she had the exam.  The DMP sends the results to a Regional Medical Centre and when the visa office is ready to review them, they request the results from the RMC.

hi anish

if you apply through Quebec you do not need to fill in the federal income requirement and Option C printout, since you have to fullfill the QC. requirements on income.

Make sure you check the field in question 1, on the federal form IMM1344 that you want to proceed with the application for permanent residence in case you are not found to be eligible to sponsor. If you don't mark the field, the foreign office will wait until they receive a copy of the CSQ certificate from Quebec before they start processing your file. That can easily add 1-2 month in extra processing.

If you check the field, the foreign office will already start with the paper screening process and start the security checks, so at least you do not loose time while Quebec processes the sponsorship part.