Undisclosed Marriage for PA

[okiprec]

Hello

I have read about 7 pages of searches for this question. My wife who is a current citizen of Colombia just finished up the interview and it was successful. This interview was 3 days ago and today I found out that she had been in a previous marriage in 2010, the marriage was divorced in 2015. Her previous husband was a military man and deployed to a foreign country for most of this marriage. Upon returning to Colombia he had a new girlfriend and wanted a divorce. I am not sure how long he was deployed but the divorce was finalized in 2015. This was obviously not declared on forms 5533 and 1344. She has the divorce document and we are preparing a letter of explanation to send the document to Bogota Visa Office. What is the possible outcome of this new information on our application, only the background check is pending. She most certainly forgot about this marriage, just want some incite on how IRCC will view this new development.

Thank You

 

[Flyingfast]

This should be a BIG RED FLAG for you. She lied to you. Unless you have amnesia, it's impossible to forget you had a previous marriage.
You had better come up with a better excuse, then she forgot about her former marriage. The fact she lied to you and deliberately left it out of the application, and again conveniently forgot to mention this at the interview, will demonstrate to IRCC she is dishonest. IRCC will never accept such a lame excuse. You are likely to receive a procedural fairness letter and then a denial, Your application will be at serious risk of a 5-year sponsorship ban for misrepresentation!

You might be better off saying nothing and taking your chances that the background checks don't turn up the marriage.

 

[armoured]

My wife who is a current citizen of Colombia just finished up the interview and it was successful.

Why do you say it was successful?

This interview was 3 days ago. This was obviously not declared on forms 5533 and 1344.

What is obvious about not declaring the previous marriage? Don't understand.

 

[okiprec]

Why do you say it was successful?

We were married after 7 months of dating and IRCC questioned the genuineness of our marriage. That's why I said it was successful because the interview went well and the officer stated she had no doubts our marriage was genuine. We've been married for 3 years now.

What is obvious about not declaring the previous marriage? Don't understand.

The marriage was not declared because if I had have known she was married when we completed the application it would have been declared on both forms.

 

[sheikhzaid]

Don’t know how someone can forget they were previously married unless they are in old age or have some form of dementia. I wish I could be of any help but a ban is very likely given a lie so huge. “She forgot” is definitely not going to work. Consult an immigration lawyer maybe.

 

[armoured]

We were married after 7 months of dating and IRCC questioned the genuineness of our marriage. That's why I said it was successful because the interview went well and the officer stated she had no doubts our marriage was genuine. We've been married for 7 years now.

Okay, she had her interview three days ago, and you just found out now that she had a previous marriage? Does IRCC know yet? Did the issue of previous marriages come up in the interview? Was it discussed at all?

 

[Flyingfast]

We've been married for 7 years now.

You said she was divorced in 2015, and you married her within a year, and she deliberately failed to disclose that to you? Or forgot, as you put it?

 

[okiprec]

Okay, she had her interview three days ago, and you just found out now that she had a previous marriage? Does IRCC know yet? Did the issue of previous marriages come up in the interview? Was it discussed at all?

Yes she did not tell me she had this previous marriage because it wasn't a significant marriage, it was only 5 years on paper and they never lived together. They got married then he was deployed overseas and when he came back after a year or so he lived 12 hours away from her town. He had another girlfriend by this time and then sent the divorce papers. IRCC does not know yet that's why I'm asking for some opinions. We plan on righting a letter of explanation and sending the translated divorce docs. I am not 100% sure if it was marriages or just a common law discussion I will have to verify.

I love my wife very much and she feels horrible because the only reason she did not disclose it was because it was not a significant marriage to her and figured it didn't matter. People forget things all the time and some people assign little to merit to things in their life and that affects how they view their past,

 

[okiprec]

You said she was divorced in 2015, and you married her within a year, and she deliberately failed to disclose that to you? Or forgot, as you put it?

I was up really late last night an editing my timeline. We've been together 4 years and married 3.5. It really doesn't matter to me why she didn't tell me that's her prerogative. I am only upset because of the application and the lack of disclosure after asking that question for the application.

 

[Flyingfast]

I was up really late last night an editing my timeline. We've been together 4 years and married 3.5. It really doesn't matter to me why she didn't tell me that's her prerogative. I am only upset because of the application and the lack of disclosure after asking that question for the application.

Good luck with that. If it's discovered or you tell them now. You will likely get a denial and 5 year ban.

 

[Kaibigan]

Yes she did not tell me she had this previous marriage because it wasn't a significant marriage, it was only 5 years on paper and they never lived together.
...

I love my wife very much and she feels horrible because the only reason she did not disclose it was because it was not a significant marriage to her and figured it didn't matter. People forget things all the time and some people assign little to merit to things in their life and that affects how they view their past,

These are 2 different explanations: (1) I forgot. (2) I kept quiet about it because "it was not a significant marriage." Both of those are entirely lacking in credibility. IRCC will see that.

The whole thing, as you have explained it, makes at all sound very strange. Your wife and this phantom husband must have had some sort of relationship leading up to the marriage, no? Did you know about him being in her life? Did they not spend at least one day (and night) together after the marriage ceremony? I would say, by any standard, a marriage and subsequent divorce is a "significant" event in one's life and, for sure, the IRCC will take a dim view of it not being disclosed.

I would be wondering, along about now, what other "insignificant" events lie in her past, undisclosed. We all have our tolerance, I suppose, for what we are prepared to forgive, ignore, downplay, etc., in a relationship.

So now, due faire? I don't know what would be best. Coming clean and disclosing could be best. But then, it might be "poking the bear". Hiding in the weeds and hoping it remains hidden is fraught with difficulty. If found out, a 5-year ban is likely assured. I might be inclined to get an opinion from an immigration lawyer.

 

[Flyingfast]

Okay, she had her interview three days ago, and you just found out now that she had a previous marriage? Does IRCC know yet? Did the issue of previous marriages come up in the interview? Was it discussed at all?

That's a good point. If they asked her about previous relationships during the interview, and she didn't disclose the former marriage, then she lied to an IRCC official. Never a good thing.

 

[armoured]

These are 2 different explanations: (1) I forgot. (2) I kept quiet about it because "it was not a significant marriage." Both of those are entirely lacking in credibility. IRCC will see that.

The whole thing, as you have explained it, makes at all sound very strange. Your wife and this phantom husband must have had some sort of relationship leading up to the marriage, no? Did you know about him being in her life? Did they not spend at least one day (and night) together after the marriage ceremony? I would say, by any standard, a marriage and subsequent divorce is a "significant" event in one's life and, for sure, the IRCC will take a dim view of it not being disclosed.

I would be wondering, along about now, what other "insignificant" events lie in her past, undisclosed. We all have our tolerance, I suppose, for what we are prepared to forgive, ignore, downplay, etc., in a relationship.

So now, due faire? I don't know what would be best. Coming clean and disclosing could be best. But then, it might be "poking the bear". Hiding in the weeds and hoping it remains hidden is fraught with difficulty. If found out, a 5-year ban is likely assured. I might be inclined to get an opinion from an immigration lawyer.

I overall agree with this because there cannot be much certainty, and OP may be best advised to speak to a lawyer.

-If you do not advise IRCC and it is discovered, it will be serious consequences. How serious, I do not know. I would have thought that Colombia would be a country with a competent, centralized civil registry where any domestic marriages would be shown when one presents app to IRCC. But I guess I'm wrong. And it's not impossible that IRCC would never find out- indeed if it never came up in the interview, maybe. (If it did came up and the spouse lied more, really will hurt if caught)

-Let's face it, the "I forgot" and "I didn't think it was significant" explanations are horseshit, pure and simple. That's for OP to work out with her.

-It may be (and in my view, likely is) better to admit to IRCC this was omitted and provide divorce documents, etc., with an explanation. I would go with "she was very embarrassed as first marriage was young/long ago/whatever and never told spouse and then years later felt like couldn't own up to it." I believe IRCC is more forgiving when applicants come clean themselves.

-Worth speaking to a lawyer possibly because there is an argument that a fully finalized divorce from seven plus years ago is NOT material to the application. (This application, because couple has been married for seven years)

-Caveat is that there ARE many cases where it is material, and specifically where IRCC has concerns about application, fraud is prevalent, etc., etc. In other words, while one can argue it's not material to this case, that's not a judgment the applicant should be making, but IRCC.

-Between those last two formulations/statements of mine (re materiality or not) is a lot of legal stuff like intent, reasonableness, presumptions of truthfulness, omissions being treated same, etc. It'd be really easy to step in the proverbial manure inadvertently with a written statement that would settle the materiality issue. I believe there is more subtlety on materiality than generally recognized. A lawyer may be needed.

 

[okiprec]

Than you for the replies, I appreciate the info.

We are going to send a letter to IRCC and see what happens we put ourselves in this mess and we will suffer the consequences. We are not malicious people and this was my wife being naïve and from a small town in southern Colombia. We forget in the developed world that people who grow up in third world countries do not always have the luxury of choice. They sometimes must make decisions for their families out of necessity.

I would like to ask if withdrawing our application would work in this instance, vacate the application and start anew?

 

[armoured]

I would like to ask if withdrawing our application would work in this instance, vacate the application and start a new?

Don't know, in one sense it would not remove what had been filed in this app incorrectly, but again - legally - might serve as better argument that it was withdrawn in order to remove materiality and start anew with a corrected file.

Speak to a lawyer. A Canadian one, with immigraiton experience.

You haven't answered an important question though - did anything related to previous relationships come up in the face to face interview?

Personally my guess is that informing, providing updated, with letter of explanation (whatever you can come up with) and basically asking for mercy that this was not intentional would possibly work if they hadn't yet discovered anything themselves. (If they have discovered, it won't make anything worse). But this is a guess.