Marriage to a Marshallese Citizen

Every country has its own laws that apply to its citizens marrying a person from a different country. Getting married to a Marshallese citizen with the goal of eventually bringing them to Canada to live is a process with many steps.

If you want to bring your Marshallese spouse or partner to live in Canada, you must then file a sponsorship application for them to become a permanent resident. If they would like to visit you in Canada while their application is in process, they must also apply for a visitor visa. For more information, please see our family sponsorship page and our visitor visa page.

 

Processing Time

If you file a Canadian sponsorship application for your Marshallese spouse or partner, this application takes an average of 10-12 months.

A visitor visa application for your spouse or partner to visit you in Canada while the sponsorship applications are processing takes an average of 3 –14 days.

Please see our pages on family sponsorship and Canadian visitor visa for more information on the processing times of these applications.

 

Marshallese Marriage Basic Requirements

• A marriage may only be performed and solemnized by a Registrar, an ordained minister of church, a judge of the High Court or District Court, or by any person authorized by any other law to perform and solemnize a marriage. The person performing and solemnizing a marriage may receive a fee as may be prescribed.
• No marriage shall be performed or solemnized except in the presence of two witnesses.
• Where the marriage is between two non-citizens or between a non-citizen and a citizen, no marriage shall be performed or solemnized except upon a license granted under the hand of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
• The Minister of Foreign Affairs is authorized to grant a license for marriage between two non-citizens or between a non-citizen and a citizen.
• Upon the application for a license, the Minister may (after inquiry and where he is satisfied that the parties are free to marry) grant a license, on payment of a prescribed fee. The license granted shall be valid only for a period of three (3) months.

 

Family Members

If your Marshallese spouse has dependent children, this does not affect the Marshallese Marriage document application.

If you have dependent children, they have no effect on the application to marry a Marshallese citizen.

 

List of Marshallese Consulates in Canada

Click here

Calling the Marshall Islands from Canada

011 – 692 – local number, where:

• 011 is the exit code for North America
• 692 is the country code for the Marshall Islands
• There are no area codes in the Marshall Islands

 

Calling Canada from the Marshall Islands

011 – 1 – Area Code – local number

• 011- Exit code for Marshall Islands, and is needed for making any international call from Marshall Islands
• 1 – ISD Code or Country Code of Canada

 

Area Codes of Canada

Province	Code	Province	Code
Alberta	403 / 587 (southern Alberta) 587 / 780 (central and northern Alberta)	Nunavut	867
BC	236 / 250 / 778 (majority of BC) 236 / 604 / 778 (Metro Vancouver)	Ontario	226 / 519 (southwestern Ontario) 249 / 705 (northeastern Ontario) 289 / 365 / 905 (Greater Toronto Area) 343 / 613 (eastern Ontario) 416 / 647 (Toronto) 807 (northwestern Ontario)
Manitoba	204 / 431	PEI	782 / 902
New  Brunswick	506	Quebec	418 / 581 (eastern Quebec) 438 / 514 (Montreal) 450 / 579 (Greater Montreal) 819 / 873 (remainder of Quebec)
Newfoundland and Labrador	709	Saskatchewan	306 / 639
Northwest Territories	867	Yukon	867
Nova Scotia	782 / 902

 

Time Difference

The time in the Marshall Islands is GMT+12. Due to their proximity to the equator, the Marshall Islands do not observe Daylight Saving Time

Canadian Time Zone	# of Hours the Marshall Islands are Ahead	# of Hours during DST
Pacific (BC, Yukon)	20 hours	19 hours
Mountain (Alberta, western Nunvaut, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan)	19 hours	18 hours
Saskatchewan	18 hours	18 hours
Central (Manitoba, Northwest Territories, central Nunavut, northwestern Ontario)	18 hours	17 hours
Eastern (most of Ontario, most of Quebec)	17 hours	16 hours
Atlantic (Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, eastern Quebec)	16 hours	15 hours
Newfoundland	15.5 hours	14.5 hours

 

Emergency Information for Canadians in the Marshall Islands

There is no Canadian diplomatic mission in the Marianas. For assistance contact the Australian High Commission in Micronesia.

Embassy of Australia in Pohnpei H & E Enterprises Building Kolonia, Pohnpei Micronesia Postal Address: P.O. Box S, Kolonia, Pohnpei Telephone: 691 320-5448 Fax: 691 320-5449 E-mail: No Email Website: samoa.embassy.gov.au/apia/home.html

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The Government of Canada’s Travel Alerts for the Marshall Islands

For travel alerts, click here

Sponsoring a Marshallese to Come to Canada

The sponsorship process is long and can be complicated. To learn more about it, click the button below:

Learn More

Want to know more about marrying in the Marshall Islands? Let us know!