Criminal inadmissibility, TRP, when to apply for PR?

[PaperLantern]

Hello everyone!

So, this is an update concerning my wife and I. I had been worried because, when my wife was 19, she got caught for shoplifting a tank top. She was given a ticket and asked to appear in court. She plead guilty and received a $200 fine (no jail time, probation, or anything else) which she paid on the same day. Now, I ended up finding out that this did make her criminally inadmissible. So, we got a TRP (temporary resident permit) for multiple entries. We were told she could apply for rehabilitation in October because it will make 5 years and that they can process it rather quickly at the port of entry for us (a few months). The TRP is good until December of 2018.

Now, my question is, can we still apply for spousal sponsorship? When they ask for her criminal record information if we send them all the information, a copy of the TRP, the court records, and a letter explaining the crime and that she will be applying for rehabilitation in October, will they still deny us?

I'm asking because I don't want to spend the money to apply only to find out that my wife will definitely be rejected. She is a US citizen, a nursing student, and hasn't committed any crimes since that stupid teenage experience (which she is super ashamed of). Any ideas?

 

[scylla]

The PR application cannot be finalized until the rehab application is approved and she is admissible again. So she does not qualify to apply for spousal sponsorship with the TRP. I would hold off until rehab is complete before filing for PR. If you file now, they will either refuse it or process a rehab application as part of the process (but she doesn't qualify for rehab yet so I expect that will end in refusal as well).

 

[KBH]

Unfortunately this is a straight-forward situation... If you have been told for sure that she is criminally inadmissible and is not deemed rehabilitated, you should wait until the rehabilitation is done before you apply. She will be rejected if you apply before the rehabilitation, especially since US applicants are processed rather quickly and the issue would certainly come up before October.

 

[PaperLantern]

Oh, that is bad news . I just bought a house in Canada, but luckily she can come stay with me until she is eligible to be rehabilitated. Then we will apply for PR, I guess. Is there any chance that she does get the rehabilitation approved but is still told she can't have PR because of this past crime?

 

[scylla]

Oh, that is bad news . I just bought a house in Canada, but luckily she can come stay with me until she is eligible to be rehabilitated. Then we will apply for PR, I guess. Is there any chance that she does get the rehabilitation approved but is still told she can't have PR because of this past crime?

As long as rehab is approved, PR won't be a problem.

 

[PaperLantern]

Thank you, that gives me hope. The border officer we spoke to looked over her court information and said that he is very confident she will be approved for rehabilitation once the 5 years is up since this isn't a serious criminal matter (like DUI, assault, etc).