Please get in touch with
@dpenabill He may guide you as what to do.
Caveat: I am NOT an expert. Really NOT an expert.
I can offer some observations based on a general understanding of similar events.
I just received AOR. Good news! Please update the sheet.
Bad news, of friday i got arrested and charged for assault so wondering what would happen. Have trial start date on friday, they fingerprinted me and released me on bail under own recoignizance. No probation yet.
I largely concur in the essential parts of the post by
@GG1 . . . especially the part about getting a good lawyer, sooner rather than later.
Foremost: the seriousness of this is, of course, directly related to the nature and seriousness of the underlying reasons for the arrest and charge. Many tend to understate or underestimate the seriousness of what happened, but objectively an "assault" arrest can involve situations which range from a minor matter arising from a misunderstanding to a very serious matter which involves an actual battery (actually striking a blow for example), with many particular circumstances influencing how serious it is in-between a minor matter and a very serious matter.
It is important to weigh the seriousness of this based on what you are ACCUSED of doing, not your own account of what actually happened.
The formalities of the charge are important.
-- If it is a
Summary Offence (relatively minor matter) there is a good chance this will not derail your citizenship application, but that depends on the particulars (such as whether there is any probation imposed). Lawyer's assistance can make a big difference.
-- If it is an
Indictable Offence, you are now prohibited from a grant of citizenship. You have an obligation to notify IRCC of the charge. You do not necessarily need to rush doing this, but you should plan to do so timely or withdraw the application. A lawyer can help you make decisions about this. BE SURE TO LET THE LAWYER KNOW YOU ARE A PR and APPLYING FOR CITIZENSHIP and make sure the lawyer you actually hire is knowledgeable about how criminal charges affect BOTH eligibility for citizenship AND PR STATUS itself.
-- If a lawyer can get the charges dismissed, or dismissed in lieu of a Peace Bond (with immediate discharge of the charges, not a conditional Peace Bond), that would allow you to go forward with the citizenship application.
-- If what happened involved an actual battery, or for other reasons was relatively serious (such as involving a serious threat or a weapon), even if just ALLEGEDLY (again, be sure to weigh things based on what you are accused of doing, not your own account of what actually happened), it is important to be aware that this could result in
LOSING PR STATUS, not just becoming ineligible for citizenship, but INADMISSIBLE and subject to
deportation. The risk depends on the seriousness of the charge and the disposition, and in particular what the sentence is in the disposition. I have NOT kept current on what the threshold is now for PR inadmissibility; I just know that the risk goes up if there is any jail term of much significance. This is lawyer-stuff. The threshold for deportation was lowered by a lot during the Harper government years.
In the meantime, I do not know the Canadian criminal justice system at all that well, but I doubt you have a "trial" date just one week after the arrest. It is more likely a formal
arraignment on the charges. It is more likely that is when you will learn what it is in particular you are charged with, the formal charge (I assume the arrest was without a warrant, made by police shortly after the events leading to the charges; if so, a prosecutor will need to prepare a formal charge for your arraignment). If somehow you could get a lawyer's help today or early in the day tomorrow, and the underlying event is relatively minor, it is possible the lawyer can make a deal so that you are not arraigned for an Indictable Offence . . . either by making a deal outright or by getting the arraignment postponed allowing time to make a deal. Again, of course, this is dependent on how serious the underlying facts are, but if it is possible to avoid being arraigned on an Indictable Offence that could save your eligibility for citizenship.
Note: if the charges result in being convicted of an Indictable Offence, that results in being prohibited from a grant of citizenship for FOUR YEARS from the date of the conviction. Unless this arose from an obviously minor matter and the formal charge is explicitly a SUMMARY offence, it is important to LAWYER-UP.
just a question - does it even matter what is the nature of the charge? any arrest - does it result in citizenship getting denied?
Yes. A lot. Indeed, as I outline above, the nature of the charge can not only affect whether the PR is eligible for citizenship, but risk losing PR status.
Not all criminal charges result in an arrest. On many occasions a person can be charged with a Summary Offence by citation. This does not result in a prohibition unless the PR is incarcerated or placed on probation. Just being charged with an Indictable Offence results in a prohibition while the charge is pending. A conviction for an Indictable Offence results in a FOUR year prohibition.
So i indicated earlier this week that I received my AOR assuming that it was for my second application that I sent early january as my october application was "lost". After accessing ECAS i found out that it was actually my October application. Funny enough I go to check mail today and had mail from IRCC; it was the january application that I apparently used the wrong form (june instead of oct). I am happy that it was returned as i was told by some here that having two applications may cause issues.
Whoa. Whoa. Reminder:
If in doubt, follow the instructions, otherwise, yep, follow the instructions.
And do so conscientiously. Hopefully you paid a lot better attention to the details in the application you sent in October than you did in sending a totally inapplicable form in January. (Curious aside: when or where did you get the form sent in January, as it has not been available at the IRCC website since October?)
It appears you might not have a copy of the application sent in October. Another reminder:
ALWAYS KEEP A COMPLETE COPY OF EVERYTHING YOU SEND TO IRCC.
If you do have a copy of your October application, the fact you did not compare it (or somehow overlooked the differences) when you filled out the one sent in January, is NOT a good sign. Applying for citizenship is a serious matter. Those applying should take it seriously.
Other than being an indication you may have failed to approach the process conscientiously, the returned-second-application itself should have NO negative impact at all.
NOTE: while a returned application means that IRCC did not open a citizenship application file in GCMS, my strong guess is that IRCC made and keeps a complete photocopy of the returned application, including a copy of the package it arrived in, and this is probably kept for some period of time, linked to the individual's client number. Of little or
NO import unless there are blatant inconsistencies in the information.