An applicant received their COPR just 5 days before a small traditional wedding ceremony in July 2022, but didn't update IRCC at the time since they and their spouse were living apart. They began living together in December 2022 and, ahead of formally registering the marriage, asked whether to register the marriage date as July (the actual ceremony) or December (when cohabitation began), and whether disclosing the earlier July date would cause problems for being late to update IRCC.
What the thread clarified:- You must inform IRCC of the marriage regardless of which date you register, and a new COPR will need to be issued reflecting the updated family composition — this update is mandatory, not optional, once you're married.
- You generally don't get to choose the registered marriage date — most countries' marriage registries don't backdate certificates to match a private traditional ceremony; the date IRCC will treat as your marriage date is whatever appears on your official marriage certificate, not the date of your traditional ceremony.
- Register based on your actual, factual marriage date (per your jurisdiction's registration process) rather than trying to select a date for convenience — since IRCC references the certificate date, not the ceremony date, misalignment there is what would raise questions, not simply being a few months late to notify them.
The underlying lesson: report your marriage to IRCC as soon as you can once it's official, and let your marriage certificate's actual date (not the traditional ceremony date) govern how you report it.