Mm

Re: Re-post: Newbie Question re Family Sponsorship Visa
MM,

I just have a few more questions re your helpful insight I hope you (or oth=
ers) might find time to answer.=20=20

You say your spousal sponsorship sailed through, but you are waiting for wi=
fe's passport to be returned. Does this mean she is landed in Canada? If =
so, how long approx. did it take from the time you submitted your applicati=
on? Was all this recently (post 2001 or prior 2001)?=20=20

Is a Philippine wedding recognized by Canada &/or did you need to be marrie=
d in Canada too? Did your Philippine wedding require licensing verified by=
Canada? Does anyone know what might be required regarding proof/legality =
of Thai wedding, and if it will be recognized as official in Canada?

Thanks for your time.

Waiting for my wife's passport to be returned means we received the letter =
from the embassy saying that her permanent resident visa is ready to be iss=
ued and so to send in her passport to get her visa, and so she sent it in a=
nd we are waiting for the return of the passport with the visa. We expect t=
hat she'll land before Christmas. The application was sent in to Mississaug=
a in late July, 2003. So it sailed through. They already sent us back all o=
ur personal photos, letters, receipts, evidence of genuine relationship etc=
. so it is unlikely that a stumbling block will happen now.=20

A Phillipine wedding is recognized in every country of the world if it is r=
ecognized in the Philippines. Well, that's what I assured her and when she =
asked her cousin lawyer he said "Of course". I don't know CIC's methods of =
verifying a marriage, but we proved its validity by having the marriage con=
tract certified and validated in the method that the Phillipines government=
requires for marriages with foreigners, i.e. certified by the National Sta=
tistics Office and then validated by Malicanang (government department of t=
he palace) and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. If we hadn't d=
one that then I'm sure either the embassy would have asked us to do it or e=
lse they'd have taken the time to do it themselves, so time was saved there=
.You'll have to do your own research on the Thai government websites to fin=
d out if they have any requirements for validating marriages with foreigner=
s. Spend a few hours now to possibly save a few months later.

Our very quick processing in no way means you can expect the same for spons=
oring a Thai. Cirumstances vary in every case and every country (even if Ph=
ilippines seems to be a similar type of country to Thailand for sponsoring =
a spouse). Just telling you our experience. Dig into the Thai government we=
bsites and maybe Thai wedding information websites to find more answers. I =
think that's all I can tell you.=20