A while ago I wrote two articles about the marriage process in Morocco. You can think of this as the prerequisite before immigrating to Canada. You can find the links to both here: Part1 and Part2. The article basically showed that there were a lot of steps and a lot of running around to do before you can be legally married. Once this is done, you will probably want to start the paperwork to bring your spouse to your country. I’m going to explain the steps I took to bring my spouse to Canada.
Just a warning, although the steps taken helped me and my wife, not everyone has the same situation as us. I’ll try to explain some of the “red flags” that may give you and your spouse some trouble with the immigration process. Even with these “red flag”, I will also explain some of the things that can be done to overcome these obstacles. Also these steps were the steps that I took to sponsor my wife. While the steps for immigrating to Canada may seem similar to other countries, if you are from a different country, you will need to check with the requirements from your country.
So after your married, your going to want to translate some of your spouses documents into English or French (depending on where you live in Canada). You will need to translate the following documents for your spouse:
- The Police Record
- The Birth Certificate
- The marriage certificate
In addition you will also need to make a copy of the following:
- Identity card
- Passport
The copies should be notarized. I’m not sure if this required but I wanted to make sure I didn’t run into any problems with this process so I had them notarized just in case.
Once you have these things, you have all the necessary documents needed from your spouse and the process of immigrating to Canada can begin. When you return to Canada, your going to want to get familiar with the following website http://www.cic.gc.ca/
This is the website that has all the forms you need to fill out for immigrating to Canada. They also have information about the status of your application as well as other helpful information. The first tip I will provide is to create an account and have your spouse create an account as well. When you send your application and receive your application id, you will be able to link your application to your account and be able to see the status of the application. The CIC (Canadian Immigration Centre) will update the website first, then email, then call, and finally if needed will mail you. On the website you will need to download the forms in PDF form. The following link should take you to a page which will provide you the forms you need based on the information you provide http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp. Based on my selection, I needed the following forms:
- Basic Guide (IMM 5525)
- Document Checklist – Spouse (including dependent children of spouse) [IMM 5533]
- Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking (IMM 1344)
- Sponsorship Evaluation and Relationship Questionnaire (IMM 5532)
- Generic Application Form for Canada [IMM 0008]
- Additional Dependants/Declaration [IMM 0008DEP]
- Additional Family Information [IMM 5406]
- Schedule A – Background/Declaration [eIMM 5669]
- Supplementary Information – Your travels [IMM 5562]
Try to use the link as these forms get updated from time to time and the website will always have the most up to date forms.
It took me some time to fill out these forms. If you want to use a lawyer or consultant to help you, you will then need to fill out form
Use of a Representative [IMM 5476]
The form Document Checklist is a mandatory form that you need to fill out but it tells you each form you need to complete. Part of the checklist requirements needed for most people is proof that the relationship is real. There are four conditions that if all are met then you will not need proof. The conditions are
- You and your spouse have been married for more than 2 years
- This is the first marriage for you and your spouse
- You and your spouse have a child together
- You and your spouse are living together
Even with these conditions, you will need to provide proof for each of these conditions. If there is more than one condition that is not met you will need to provide proof. Proof can be anything that shows that you have relations with your spouse. Some examples are pictures, text messages, phone log entries and letters. When sending pictures make sure you take pictures of your wedding, times you spend with the spouses family and any times you take travelling to different places. One thing I did in addition to the pictures, text messages, and phone logs, was to write a letter to CIC explaining our story, how we met, when we decided to get married, why I chose to marry my wife, our wedding ceremony, and places we traveled together. I added some additional pictures in this letter. This wasn’t mandatory but I thought it would help CIC see that our relationship is real. I believe you will need to make the payment for the application. This is done on the CIC website. After you pay, you will get a receipt. Print this page as you will need to send this with your forms.
Once you complete all the forms and gather all the proof you will need to send everything to CIC. You can use the website I posted above to find the address to send to. I believe you will need to send this via registered mail. Once you send it, it takes about 2 business days to get sent to CIC, however it takes around six to eight weeks for CIC to acknowledge they have received your application.
At this point, you will get an application id which you can use to reference your application from that point onwards.
Within a few days, your moroccan spouse will get an email to do a medical test. On the website, you can find locations in Morocco where you can take this test. There will be instructions in the email. Once you take the test the doctor will send your results electronically to the CIC.
As of July 2018, you have to provide biometrics. I applied on March 2018 so we didn’t have to do this step. More information can be found on the website.
About a month later (or depending on your situation) you should receive an email saying that your application will be sent to Rabat for further processing. For some reason the time it takes to send the application from Canada to Morocco takes a while. For us, it took more than one month.
When Rabat receives your application they will send an email to your moroccan spouse. Here is another tip. When your moroccan spouse receives the email that the application will be processed and completed in Rabat, you should take a trip to Morocco, if possible. When in Morocco take a lot of pictures with you and your spouse. Then before you leave to go back to Canada, send these pictures to the Embassy of Canada in Rabat. Make sure you write a quick letter referencing the application id. This is further proof that your relationship is real and helps the visa officers with their decision making.
After this, you have to wait. This will take some time and believe me, it can feel like nothing is being done. A Lot of people get anxious at this point and want to request the officer notes or even call their MP to intervene. Based on our experience, don’t do this. All these things will just cause delays with you immigrating to Canada.
After this long period of waiting, your moroccan spouse will either be asked to either come in for an interview or be asked to come to the embassy. We didn’t have to do the interview, we were just asked to come to the embassy. If you do have to come in for an interview, sometimes they can give you the visa on the same day or they tell you they will make a decision and let you know which usually takes about a week. If you are watching the status of your application on your website you should see a decision made next to your spouse’s name.
At the embassy you will need to watch a video about life in Canada and then they will give you the visa and your done, the wait of immigrating to Canada is finally over!
Although our situation ended on a good note, there are some couples who don’t get the visa. Although there can be any number of reasons why they denied a visa, the following four seem to be the most common:
- Big age gap between spouses
- Marriage after a very short time of knowing each other
- Small or no marriage ceremony
- Cultural differences between spouses
Please note if you meet any of these conditions, it doesn’t mean your spouse will not get the visa, it just means, it is a red flag for CIC and you just have to work around this. I suggest by increasing the number proofs you send.
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