Canadian (Ontario) Marriage Certificate Processing Time

[AC SQRD 3]

Hey Everybody,

This question is actually directed to the Canadians (Specifically residents of Ontario) out there. I recently became a US citizen and am planning on petitioning for my fiance. We are both currently in Toronto are getting married on Feb22 and would like to file the I-130 as soon as possible. We are a little confused on the process requesting the official marriage certificate from the registar. Firstly, do we even need the actual certificate to file the I-130 or is the certificate receipt with document number sufficient? Secondly, we were told it takes 6-8 weeks to receive the marriage certificate but then we were told we have to wait 90days before we can even request the official certificate to be mailed! If this is the case, have any of you been able to expedite the process of getting your marriage certificate by calling the registar? Please shed some light on this issue, any clarification on the process would be much appreciated!!!

AC SQRD

[NikLR 13,232]

It does take about 3 months to recieve the marriage certificate in Ontario. You need the marriage certificate to send the I-130.

[canadian_wife 1,827]

6-8 weeks is about right, although I think I got mine in about 5.

Yes, you need the actual marriage certificate with the seal from the province

good luck

[bobrien11 0]

I got married in Toronto last year Feb. 20th. I'm a U.S. citizen and my husband is from the U.K. I can't remember how soon after we received the marriage certificate but we were able to file the I-130 on March 27.

[NikLR 13,232]

Canadians - be aware that each province is different. Albeta makes you buy the certificate after it is registered for instance.

[Ryan H 3,821]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Canada regional forum; topic is country specific.

[burnabrenna 19]

When we got married we were worried about the length of time it would take to get the marriage certificate back. I googled around and found some different forums and people stating that they called their MPP and requested assistance in expediting the process. They also suggested going onto the site and ordering the marriage certificate as soon as possible, regardless of the wait period that they say is required. We ordered a copy 2 days after we got married and also contacted the MPP for our area and told them that we needed the certificate for immigration purposes and could they help us at all. They expedited it and we got it within a week or two.

And as others have said, you definitely need the certified copy of the marriage certificate and not just the signed marriage license.

[AC SQRD 3]

Thanks to everybody for the awesome advice. We will contact our local MPP after requesting the official marriage certificate and update this post with our experience. Heres hoping, fingers crossed!

AC SQRD

[Flames9_RN 358]

I was just going to post about to contact ur MPP (for Ontarians) as 1 member here on VJ worked for a MPP and said it was a great route to go........

[AC SQRD 3]

UPDATE*

We contacted our local MPP to explain our situation and request an expedited marriage certificate. We only got as far as speaking with his assistant who claimed he was "unavailable" (big surprise!) However, she was actually very helpful through this whole process. She verified that our online request was received on February 24 through service ontario and she found out it was an expedited request (not sure how that happened since there was no option to choose this type of service, maybe she worked her magic). She also followed up with the registar and verified that our certificate had been signed, sealed and delivered via regular mail on March 11. Thanks to everybody for valuable input, now its time to tackle the I-130!