Hi all, I am currently out of status for 2 months now and want to apply for Political asylum I m from Zimbabwe arrived in Canada 2016, my claim is based on a fear I have of returning to my country because the ruling party persecutes members of the opposition party and they have set up a ministry wich deals with cyber crime , I have posted videos on Facebook with over 5000 views and made many posts expressing how I feel about the political situation in my country, many have been jailed, harrased and abducted for being members of supporters of the opposition party .is my claim valid?your help will be appreciated
Applying for Political asylum
- Thread starter seantimba
- Start date
Given your previous applications your asylum claim will be difficult. If you needed asylum you should've applied 2 years ago or even a year ago instead an OWP/TRP. Your previous post said that you had been living in South Africa and not Zimbabwe. Were you living in South Africa? You must have had some sort of status in South Africa have qualified for a work permit in 2016. What was your status there? Are you still in a common law relationship? Have you been living together for 12 months? Have you file for common law as has been suggested before? How have you been supporting yourself for over a year bu sounds like closer to 2 years?
THANK YOU FOR REPLYING I m legally separated and divorce still in process in South Africa since 2013 and while I was there I was on a work permit and then I went back to Zimbabwe and came to Canada from Zimbabwe, I am in a common law relationship now and we have a child who turns 1 year in a few days and we had started the process of gathering the documents for spousal sponsoship application , I applied for police clearance in South Africa and I received it but then the police clearance certificate from Zimbabwe is written wanted for question in connection with undermining the constitution of Zimbabwe, because I suspect it could be about the Facebook video I participated on I was encouraging people not to vote and to demonstrate due to rigging tactics which had been exposed before the elections and I could not apply for anything else during the 2 years bcoz my common law partner destroyed passport but I have a new one now .THERE IS NO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN ZIMBABWE
lastly I have been working here since 2016 until I received the refusal letter in November 2018
How long were you in Zimbabwe before going to Canada? Do you have police or medical reports proving you were specifically targetted? If you were in such danger, why did you not claim asylum as soon as you got here in 2016?
Agree with canuck78, your asylum claim may be seen as a desperate attempt to stay in Canada given your failed TRP extension. My suggestion is to focus on the spousal sponsorship instead.
Agree with canuck78, your asylum claim may be seen as a desperate attempt to stay in Canada given your failed TRP extension. My suggestion is to focus on the spousal sponsorship instead.
thank yoi I was in Zim for 7 months before I came here and I have a police clearance certificate written wanted for question in connection with the undermining the constitution of Zimbabwe, I diď not apply for asylum when I came because I was not targeted then
Your police clearance certificate now does NOT prove that you are being targetted for harm. I am not familiar with Zimbabwe but the certificate you need are reports proving you were attacked or someone attempted to attack you personally. If you were not targetted then and you have been living here for 2 years, how are you being targetted now? Your claim is weak and I would again suggest focusing all energy on spousal sponsorship.
Hello, I haven't taken the time to read your other posts but your situation, as described here, may correspond with a "sur place" claim to Convention refugee status - read the brief here https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/legal-policy/legal-concepts/Pages/RefDef07.aspx#n73.
Technicalities could exist for you if you've claimed to be a CR somewhere else, and whether or not that nation is a signatory to the 1951 Convention, for one example of any possible issue. Also, there is nothing certain about the outcome of such a claim, but the idea that the threshold for making a decision on a refugee claim requires absolute proof when the measure is actually "more than a mere possibility" needs to be reinforced here.
Making a claim and having it fail means that you are likely hooped for any further international travel and opportunity in the developed world and is, now, only worth it really if you face persecution (obviously), or you have no marketable skills or talent.
I do have some knowledge of the nations of the southern part of Africa (I'd be in Namibia or Botswana, personally), and I hope that you don't bet your future on a refugee claim if you have another viable route to personal freedom.
Upon arrival in my home country at the port of entry they will take me into custody and normally for prominent people they are jailed, tortured and released on bail in regards to just a mere citizen it can go upto being abducted and never to be seen again, in Zimbabwe you can be abducted broad day light by security agencies.
Thank you for the link it was very helpful and gives me hope, Zimbabwe is basically under military rule at the moment and this new government is even ruthless than that of Mugabe, and upon arrival I will be either jailed or abducted and never to be seen again, that's why the USA renewed Zimbabwe sanctions because of gross human rights abuse .
It makes no sense to file an asylum claim when your common-law spouse can sponsor you. Just get the sponsorship app submitted ASAP.
He fears for his life, so what "makes no sense" to you may well be the more viable immigration route given that a sponsorship relies upon the continued goodwill of another (his sponsor), and a claim to Convention refugee status envelopes his fear of being murdered by the state (should the sponsorship not succeed for any reason). What makes sense to me is to seek protection against being killed.
Some might question the validity of a refugee claim after a failed sponsorship bid (say, if the sponsor was killed in a traffic accident, God forbid) and where would he be then? Every lower level decision-maker will be associating a refugee claim with the failed sponsorship. I might add that being under a legitimate threat of death can negatively effect personal relationships so relying on a domestic situation WHILE worrying about being tortured to death is not ideal.
Get a good immigration lawyer and only use what you learn here to further discussions with your lawyer. If you fear for your life, and you seem to have adequate cause if what you say is so, then hire a reputable Canadian Immigration lawyer.
Ok, in his case sponsorship might have problems because of this PCC from his own country. That is the reason why he wants to use the refugee path now.
However if he wants to claim asylum because of his political views he needs to prove it first. That is how exactly was he engaged. That his views are not against humanity (for example anti-Semitic views). What kind of requests did he get so far from his own government and a potential just how dangerous returning there can be (how his political views are seen as opposition to the constitution of his country).
What can be problematic for his claim is things like:
Being able to contact his embassy and get more documents or even visit it (for things like a passport). Such thing will make his claim weaker. Recent visits of his country or staying in a country where Zimbabwe can ask for cooperation when handing over people who they need for questioning.
And of course staying long term in other country (especially if that does recognize conventional refugee system) and not claiming for asylum there.
Life partners generally don't qualify their committed relationship as "continued goodwill". As someone who sponsored my common-law partner, it certainly was nothing like that. If "continued goodwill" is how you view your relationship with a life partner, that is quite sad.
On the completely random possibility of the partner dying mid-process, OP can file an H&C app, which given the child, is likely to be approved.
They also question the validity of a sponsorship app after a failed refugee app. There are several such cases here on the forum that were refused.
All the OP seems to have for the asylum case is the PCC showing a charge. At this point, the sponsorship app is the more sure route.