Canadian citizenship entitles you to get a marriage visa to marry your Russian bride and sponsor her application for marriage immigration to Canada. Applying for a marriage

visa for your Russian bride and preparing for marriage immigration can be a time consuming task and you will need to be organized particularly with your Canada documents. To qualify for a spouse visa you must fulfill these basic criteria:

• You must be a Canadian citizen or legal permanent resident aged 18 years or over
• You must be financially independent and able to support her for 3 years after she gets her permanent residency
• You must also support any dependent children for 10 years or until they are 25
• You must have adequate housing where you, your Russian wife and any dependants can live without relying on state benefits

When you marry your Russian bride you can legalise your Russia marriage in Canada.

Getting Ready for Marriage Immigration

Before you leave Canada for Russia, you should go in person to your local Registrar of Marriages to obtain an Affidavit of Marital Status. This certificate costs $50 and proves your single status by confirming that you are not still involved in another marriage. You can use it within 3 months of the date of issue.

If you fail to do this in Canada, you can do it in the Canadian Embassy in Russia prior to the marriage.

You will also need an original or certified copy your Birth Certificate.

If you have been married before you must produce one of the following documents to support the Affidavit of Marital Status:

• If divorced, you will need your Divorce Decree
• if widowed you will need your Certificate of Marriage and Death Certificate of your previous spouse

Changing Your Canada Documents

When official documents issued in Canada are to be used in Russia, they need to be notarised, “authenticated” and “legalised “in order for them to be valid there.

The first thing you need to do is get a notary stamp and signature from any notary in Canada. Get them “authenticated” by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The purpose of the authentication process is to prove the validity of the documents issued in Canada.

The last thing to do is to get your documents translated into Russian and “legalised” by the Russian Embassy or Consulate in Canada. After that your documents acquire legal validity in Russia.

Documents in Need of Legalisation for Marriage in Russia

• Affidavit of Marital Status
• Divorce Decree (if relevant)
• Former spouse’s Death Certificate and previous marriage certificate (if relevant)
• Your Birth Certificate
• Name change certificate (if relevant)
• Your Canadian passport cannot be legalised as it is already an internationally recognised document. You must however have photocopies of the ID and bio page notarised as true copies of the original.

Russian Visa Requirements

As a Canadian citizen you do need a visa to visit Russia. You can apply for a Private Visa, which is the appropriate visa for a visit to friends and relatives. It is valid for up to three months, but you must produce an official letter of invitation to support your visa application, which your Russian girlfriend can get by applying to the Russian Federation Migration Service. Your Russian bride must present a photocopy of your passport. Your passport must be valid for at least six months after the visa expiry date and have at least two blank pages.

It is also possible to travel on a one month tourist visa; however you need to obtain a tourist voucher and a tourist confirmation document, which have been stamped and signed by an authorised person, to support your Russian visa application. These documents are available from approved travel agents and hotels. When you arrive in Russia you have three days in which to register yourself with the local arm of the Russian Migration Service. If you are staying in a leading hotel, this will be done for you on your arrival.

Once you have prepared all relevant documents and you have a valid Canadian passport, you can make arrangements to join your Russian bride.

Getting Married in Russia

You may decide to marry your Russian bride in Canada, however, getting married in Russia is a fabulous experience and relatively straight forward, providing you are organised and ensure that you and your Russian spouse have the correct documentation.

Whilst your Russian bride is excited about planning the marriage ceremony you should make her aware that under both Canadian and Russian Marriage Law only the civil registration of your marriage will be recognised as legal and only a legal marriage will allow you to bring your Russian bride back to Canada as your Russian wife.

The legal age for marriage in Russia is 18. Russian brides can marry at 16 in special circumstances and with parental consent.

To register the marriage legally with the Russian authorities takes a lot of work for you both to register your documents and you should not underestimate the time or work involved.

The first step in planning your wedding in Russia is to go to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Legalisation Department in Moscow with your Russian bride to get your Affidavit of Marital Status legalised by a Consular Officer. It costs approximately 100 rubbles and takes 5 working to complete. You should take your passport and all of the documents you brought with you from Canada. Your Russian spouse needs to present a Affidavit of Marriage Status, as well as her passport, birth certificate and proof that she is no longer married.

Document Check: Canadian Bridegroom

• Original Affidavit of Marital Status (valid for three months from the date of issue) issued in Canada or by the Canadian Embassy in Russia.
• Original valid Canadian passport
• Original birth certificate
• Original death certificate of deceased spouse if widowed
• Original divorce decree or annulment papers if divorced

Document Check: Russian Bride

• Original valid passport and ID card
  Affidavit of Marriage Status
  Original birth certificate
  Original death certificate of deceased spouse if widowed
  Divorce decree or annulment if previously divorced

Once you have collected this document you can arrange your civil wedding ceremony at the Registry Office in the district where your Russian bride lives. Marriage to your Russian bride does not automatically qualify you for Russian nationality; you should also be aware that Russia is not a country that recognises dual citizenship.

Permanent Resident Application

When your wife comes to Canada she can change her name to that of your own and you can start the marriage visa process. Any Canadian man wishing to bring his Russian wife to Canada must sponsor her for permanent residence. The process takes between 6 and 18 months. Spousal sponsorship is a part of the Canadian marriage immigration system that allows individuals to come to Canada under the Family Class of immigration. In your case, you will sponsor your Russian bride to live in Canada, as long as you meet the requirements of a spusal sponsor. Spousal sponsorship is an agreement between the Canadian government and you. This agreement is a promise on the part of the sponsor that you will provide your spouse with food, clothes and shelter i.e. all of the basic requirements in order to live in Canada. The spousal sponsorship agreement includes financial support and health care because your Russian wife will have no access to the social care system. In the spousal sponsorship agreement you promise to sponsor your spouse for at least three years from the day she becomes a permanent resident. You also have to sponsor any dependent children moving with her to Canada for a period of 10 years or until they are 25, whichever comes first.

Spousal Sponsorship Requirements

To qualify for spousal sponsorship, you must meet the following requirements:

1. You are over 18 years old and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Canada.
2. You are single and free to marry
3. You have married your Russian bride in Russia and intend to live in Canada with her.
4. You are not on any Social Assistance program
5. You are not in default of any previous sponsorship agreement
6. You have sufficient funds and you are not bankrupt
7. You are not in prison

You may not qualify if one of the following points applies to your situation:

• You previously failed to provide financial support when you signed a sponsorship agreement to sponsor another relative
• You failed to pay alimony or child support
• You received government financial assistance for reasons other than disability
• You were convicted of a violent criminal offence, an offence against a relative or a sexual offence
• You failed to make payments for an immigration loan
• You have declared bankruptcy and have not recovered from it yet.

If you qualify for sponsorship, you can fill out the application forms available from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Read the guide and complete the application. Remember to support the application with relevant documents.

Canada Visa Application

Your Russian bride must fill out the marriage immigration forms. As part of the application process, she will need to undergo a medical exam and a criminal check. The medical exam is required to make sure that applicants do not have a medical condition that is dangerous to Canadian public health and safety, or would require elaborate treatment by the Canadian health services. The examination results are valid for 12 months and need to be done by authorised doctors. Your wife must present a valid police certificate from the Information Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Head Department of Interior Affairs (GUVD) or Department of Interior Affairs (UVD) in the city she lives in. She should make sure that she is issued with a certificate according to the instructions of the Ministry of Interior Affairs dated January 2002.

The next step is to pay you application fee to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You can pay your fees by bank transfer or online. If you choose to pay at the bank, you have to order a receipt of payment, also called immigration form IMM 5401. Remember to bring this form with you to the bank when you pay your fees. If you pay online, make sure you print the receipt of payment form and include it with your application.

Visa Application Fees

The marriage visa application fees are as follows:

• $75 for you as a sponsor
  $475 for your Russian wife
• $150 for a dependent child your wife who is under 22 and not married
• $550 for a dependant of your wife who is 22 or older, or who is under 22 and married $490 for the right of permanent residence fee which your wife will be have to pay before the status is granted.

The last step is to mail your application along with the receipt for the fees paid and all supporting documents to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Case Processing Centre (CPC) in Mississauga, Ontario. You will be notified when your application is received and you can check the status of your application online.

After your Russian wife has held her permanent resident status for three years, she is eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship.

Applications are refused if you provide false information on your application form.