Gay couple wanting to move to Canada

[Frejyaachadha]

Hi,

My partner and me have been together for 11 years now. We are in India and its getting very difficult for us to live here because of the homophobia here. We want to move to Canada as it is Gay friendly country. What is the best possible way? Can anyone please help?

We get threatened by our community often. Please help

 

[scylla]

Best option is to apply to immigrate through an economic (skilled worker) program like Express Entry. Details are here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada.html

If you want to apply for refugee status, you have two options. The first is to obtain TRVs (tourist visas) to Canada and claim asylum once you arrive here. Obviously there is no guarantee your refugee status will be approved and that will depend on the strength of your case and evidence. The second option is to move out of India to another country, then be officially recognized as refugees by UNHCR and finally identified for resettlement in Canada by UNHCR (UNHCR will select a country where you will be resettled which may or may not be Canada).

In order to immigrate as a couple, you must either be married or common law. Common law means you have lived together continuously for at least one full year.

 

[Buletruck]

Apply for immigration. Best possible solution.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada.html

To apply as a refugee you need to either apply for a TRV and submit your claim in Canada or move to a third country and apply through the UNHCR. You would need evidence to support your claim. Keep in mind
homophobia exists in Canada as well, so it would probably need to be stronger reasons than that. Keep in mind, refugee claims from India have a particularly low success rate (about 38% approval).

Definitely look at immigration first....lots of conditions applied to refugees that some find difficult to accept (never travelling home being the biggest along with waiting years to find out your status).

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi,

My partner and me have been together for 11 years now. We are in India and its getting very difficult for us to live here because of the homophobia here. We want to move to Canada as it is Gay friendly country. What is the best possible way? Can anyone please help?

We get threatened by our community often. Please help

You probably have close to zero chance to be accepted as a refugee based simply on being gay. Life being "difficult" is not a reason to claim asylum.

As mentioned, you or your partner need to concentrate on one of the economic immigration streams.

 

[Cip]

You probably have close to zero chance to be accepted as a refugee based simply on being gay. Life being "difficult" is not a reason to claim asylum.

As mentioned, you or your partner need to concentrate on one of the economic immigration streams.

The poster mentioned that they get threatened by their community because of their sexual orientation. Why are you saying it is not enough ground for them to claim asylum in canada, when we all know fully well that it is infact One of the 5 reasons to claim asylum in canada as stated on the website.I think we should always try and pass the correct info irrespective of whether we are in support of refugee coming in or not

 

[Buletruck]

I think we should always try and pass the correct info irrespective of whether we are in support of refugee coming in or not

Fact: success rate for refugee claims from India: 38% average approval
Fact: homophobia is not grounds for refugee status
Fact: without adequate proof (police reports,etc) being threatened (and that’s pretty subjective) it reduces the likelihood of a positive finding (already low chances of that...see first point).
Fact: without a TRV, you can’t claim refugee status direct to Canada!
Fact: in many cases, people who are desperate to leave their home country overlook the obvious route.....immigration.
Fact: if they could get to Canada, the refugee process is not an expeditious one, meaning they get to spend 2ish years waiting to find out if they even get to stay as refugees (see first point again).

You want to feed people sunshine and roses about the process, feel free. Other , more sensible posters tend to present the facts, repercussions and options to people. Perhaps you should consider providing people this rather than an a happy ending that may never come true. Better to be forewarned about the actual process than not.

 

[Rob_TO]

The poster mentioned that they get threatened by their community because of their sexual orientation. Why are you saying it is not enough ground for them to claim asylum in canada, when we all know fully well that it is infact One of the 5 reasons to claim asylum in canada as stated on the website.I think we should always try and pass the correct info irrespective of whether we are in support of refugee coming in or not

I did pass the correct info based on the info the OP presented. Now if they go into more details that the "threats" from community have been actual threats against their life and are well documented/recorded, involved physical violence/injuries to them requiring doctor visits or hospital stays, they have made reports to the police asking for protection, have tried to move to a different city in India but same danger to their lives followed them, etc etc... then there may be more of a chance.

You must be able to prove:

• danger of torture
• risk to their life, or
• risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

... none of which is evident here. And they are expected to at least try and solve the problem in their home country first, not immediately jump to claiming asylum somewhere.

If people want honest opinions of their chances at a refugee claim, then they need to provide all relevant information. And if above is all the info they have, then I would state again they have slim to none chance to succeed.

 

[Hamidah]

So what do you think is the way forward for them cause their life is in danger

 

[Rob_TO]

So what do you think is the way forward for them cause their life is in danger

They never said their life was in danger.

 

[vensak]

They never said their life was in danger.

Exactly,
they just stated life to be difficult because of homophobia.
That would translate to looking down on them from other people up to certain amount of discrimination. However it does not equal life threatening situation.
Depending of the country law and if discrimination is proven they can tackle it legally (surprise surprise, that is how the law development happened in most countries - people fighting against the law and slowly changing it).
And they can choose to relocate to other more friendly part of their country.

 

[rish888]

Fact: success rate for refugee claims from India: 38% average approval

38% for a relatively secure and stable country? How'd it get that high?