Did I Get Duped?

[akuma2900]

Just read here that you can't sponsor a spouse when you are living outside of Canada. I'm concerned that I may have been duped. Between June and August of last year, I got a lawyer in my home country to help me do the paperwork for my wife (of course it cost mea whole bunch of money and wasn't free at all). I became a permanent resident of Canada in 2015 but personal circumstances have prevented me from being able to fully move to Quebec yet. I do intend to move to Quebec this summer. I applied to sponsor my wife from my home country where I have been living and working all this while and submitted it to the Canadian immigration authorities but the lawyer never told me that I wasn't eligible to sponsor my wife becauseI don't currently live there...even though I used a relative's address in Quebec. Since then I haven't heard a thing with regards to the status of her application even though he tells me I could expect my wife to get her resident card by February.

Have I therefore put my PR status in jeopardy and misrepresented myself to the immigration authorities as someone who is dishonest whereas that isn't the case at all?

 

[scylla]

Since you are a PR, you must be physically living in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse. I would withdraw the sponsorship application - it's going to be refused. This is immigration 101 and your lawyer should have know better. Complain and ask for your money back (all of it).

As for your PR status, when exactly did you land and become a PR in 2015? You must live in Canada for two out of every three years to keep your PR status.

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Just read here that you can't sponsor a spouse when you are living outside of Canada. I'm concerned that I may have been duped. Between June and August of last year, I got a lawyer in my home country to help me do the paperwork for my wife (of course it cost mea whole bunch of money and wasn't free at all). I became a permanent resident of Canada in 2015 but personal circumstances have prevented me from being able to fully move to Quebec yet. I do intend to move to Quebec this summer. I applied to sponsor my wife from my home country where I have been living and working all this while and submitted it to the Canadian immigration authorities but the lawyer never told me that I wasn't eligible to sponsor my wife becauseI don't currently live there...even though I used a relative's address in Quebec. Since then I haven't heard a thing with regards to the status of her application even though he tells me I could expect my wife to get her resident card by February.

Have I therefore put my PR status in jeopardy and misrepresented myself to the immigration authorities as someone who is dishonest whereas that isn't the case at all?

You can sponsor/be sponsored while living outside of canada yes. You must choose the correct option when submitting though. It is considered and Outland application.

But. You put your relatives address? For what? For where you were living?

When you say you became pr in 2015.. Did you actually land and get your pr card or were you just approved for pr but didn't land?

Have you had any update on the application for your wife?

Sounds like you need to talk to your legal representative.

 

[akuma2900]

Hello there Weegie,

Thanks for taking time from your schedule to reply. I did infact become a landed immigrant in the summer of 2015 and traveled to Quebec during that same period of time to get the landed immigrant status. Since then, I have been making an effort to travel to Canada every year even if just for a few weeks and slightly less than a month. It was last year that I was unable to travel to Canada at all due to personal circumstances. The last time I was in Canada was in the summer of 2016 for about a month but I do plan to fully move to Canada in the summer of this year and stay within the territory for the two year requirement right up to when my PR card expires in 2020. The address I had listed for myself was the address where I live with a relative when I am in Quebec because I was worried about paperwork getting lost along the way if immigration were to try to mail me documents from Canada to this end in my home country in Central Africa.

Unfortunately, the lawyer isn't responding. He has an unfortunately negative habit of not responding to emails and phone calls unless when he feels like.

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Hello there Weegie,

Thanks for taking time from your schedule to reply. I did infact become a landed immigrant in the summer of 2015 and traveled to Quebec during that same period of time to get the landed immigrant status. Since then, I have been making an effort to travel to Canada every year even if just for a few weeks and slightly less than a month. It was last year that I was unable to travel to Canada at all due to personal circumstances. The last time I was in Canada was in the summer of 2016 for about a month but I do plan to fully move to Canada in the summer of this year and stay within the territory for the two year requirement right up to when my PR card expires in 2020. The address I had listed for myself was the address where I live with a relative when I am in Quebec because I was worried about paperwork getting lost along the way if immigration were to try to mail me documents from Canada to this end in my home country in Central Africa.

Unfortunately, the lawyer isn't responding. He has an unfortunately negative habit of not responding to emails and phone calls unless when he feels like.

Sounds like you are therefore unable to sponsor her. See Scylla's reply above.

Ditch the lawyer. Not somebody you want to advise you on anything going forward. As Scylla said he should have known the rules when it comes to immigration.

 

[akuma2900]

Hi Scylla, I became a PR in July 2015 but because I was unable to get a job in Canada despite all of my efforts, my period of stay within the territory has tended to be very short and not even up to two months because I didn't want to risk quitting my job in my home country without an assurance of getting another job out there. Consequently, I have only been able to stay in Canada for slightly close to a month each time and last year I wasn't able to travel at all due to circumstances beyond my control. Could it be possible at all that since my PR card expires in 2020, I could catch up and be able to meet up with the required 730 days in case I fully move there this summer and stay put without traveling at all?

 

[akuma2900]

The difficult thing now is I had even tried to apply for a simple tourist visa for my wife before and it had been rejected prior to me trying to do the sponsorship application. It means I would have to raise funds to apply for her from Canada. I have wasted my hard-earned money for nothing. No wonder the guy isn't responding.

 

[scylla]

Hi Scylla, I became a PR in July 2015 but because I was unable to get a job in Canada despite all of my efforts, my period of stay within the territory has tended to be very short and not even up to two months because I didn't want to risk quitting my job in my home country without an assurance of getting another job out there. Consequently, I have only been able to stay in Canada for slightly close to a month each time and last year I wasn't able to travel at all due to circumstances beyond my control. Could it be possible at all that since my PR card expires in 2020, I could catch up and be able to meet up with the required 730 days in case I fully move there this summer and stay put without traveling at all?

It doesn't matter when your PR card expires. You need to calculate the residency obligation from the day you landed. So if you landed in July 2015, you need to make sure that you can live in Canada for at least two years from July 2015 July 2020. You'll have to do the math to see what that means.

Regardless, you do not qualify to sponsor your wife. You will have to wait until you have returned to Canada this summer before you'll be able to sponsor her for PR.

 

[akuma2900]

Thanks, Scylla. I take it then that if I return to Canada between May and July of this year and stay put within the territory until July 2020 and right up till when it expires about two months afterward that year, I may be able to catch up.

 

[Rob_TO]

The address I had listed for myself was the address where I live with a relative when I am in Quebec because I was worried about paperwork getting lost along the way if immigration were to try to mail me documents from Canada to this end in my home country in Central Africa.

What did you put for this section on the App to Sponsor form? https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm1344e.pdf
SPONSOR ELIGIBILITY ASSESSMENT
4 - Do you reside in Canada and in no other country?
If you answer "Yes", you are not eligible to be a sponsor and you should NOT submit your application

Obviously you are not living in Canada. Using the address of a relative is fine for mailing address only, but there is another section for residential address (where you are actually living). If you also put your relatives address here, you have lied on your application which is serious misrepresentation. You face the potential issue of not only having the app rejected, but once IRCC discovers you committed misrepresentation and lied to them your own PR status may be revoked and you can be banned from coming back to Canada. IRCC will not care it was a bad lawyer that gave you wrong advice, this would be entirely on you.

 

[akuma2900]

I nonetheless heard something, though. Is it true that if let's say my wife succeeded in getting a tourist visa to travel to Canada later this year through the state of Quebec, she becomes eligible to be considered for sponsorship if I apply for her after a certain period of time when she's still within the territory?

 

[akuma2900]

Rob, I don't remember what I put for residential address. My question nonetheless is, is there a formal procedure that I could follow to request that the IRCC withdraws the sponsorship application? I'm not praying for this but if worst case scenario it happened that I did list my relative's address in Montréal as my curent residential address, how would I then know if IRCC decided to revoke my PR status and ban me from entering into Canada? Would that be by email, letter or rather the humiliation of first entering into the border and then being sent away?

 

[Wakki]

The difficult thing now is I had even tried to apply for a simple tourist visa for my wife before and it had been rejected prior to me trying to do the sponsorship application. It means I would have to raise funds to apply for her from Canada. I have wasted my hard-earned money for nothing. No wonder the guy isn't responding.

I will advice that you travel to Canada temporary to maintain your Permanent Residency Obligation and not loose your PR.

Refer...............Permanent Resident Status...........
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=727&top=4

Withdraw your PR sponsorship application and don't wait until its rejected.

You could sponsor your spouse to Canada as a PR even if you are residing outside Canada, but you must provide solid proof enough to convince IRCC that you plan to move permanently to Canada.

Refer IRCC.......Who can become a sponsor......

if you are a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/spouse-partner-children/eligibility.html

 

[akuma2900]

Hello Wakki,

I need help. How do I withdraw the sponsprship application? Is it possible for me to do so without going through the said lawyer again? I don't even have a single copy of the documents and paperwork he submitted- no references, etc.

Also, could you please kindly elaborate more on your suggestion that I should "travel to Canada temporary to maintain your Permanent Residency Obligation and not loose your PR." Do you mean that I should perhaps consider traveling to Canada as soon as possible before July? Are you sure that withdrawing the sponsorship application timely enough could prevent my PR status from being revoked in case I had mistakenly listed my relative's address in Quebec under "residential address?"

 

[akuma2900]

Could someone kindly give me a link to ask that the sponsorship application for my wife should be withdrawn?