Addresses of residence, past jobs and relatives in Canada

[MontrealPQ]

I am a Canadian citizen sponsoring my Filipina wife. She has gotten all the documents she needed, and now she's nearly ready to send me all the documents, so I can submit our file to the government. There are only a few points that we are not sure of, which are on one of the immigration forms:

-She is to write her addresses of residence for the last ten years. Her formal, official address has always been at her mother's house for all this time. But what actually happened is that for many years, when she went to college, or when she worked, she was staying at the house of an aunt or an uncle, since it was in another town (not too far from the original town). So I am not sure what to do. I was suggested to just put her mother's address, since this has always been her official address, but my worry is that the civil servant who will look at this, and at the colleges she has been to and the jobs she has had, will realize that some of these places are too far away for her to have been able to commute back and forth, and will find it suspicious. The last college she has been to and the last place she has worked at is 45 minutes of Jeepney and a ferry boat ride away from her mother's house.

The other issue pertaining to this is what if we should write down every address where she actually lived, sometimes the situation was a big fluid and ambiguous, and it was not actually always clear where she lived.

-As far as her employment, my wife who is a caregiver rarely had stable jobs, mostly she moonlighted and her jobs often abruptly ended. So again, we have a very fluid situation. So I'm not sure what to list. Someone suggested me to only list jobs she had that were at least a big longer and more stable.

-Our other point of concern is about listing her relatives who live in Canada, and their addresses. There are 6. 4 that we know of very well (I even traveled to their town to meet them, and we had a very good time). The problem with the other 2 is that we have no contact with them. She knows the cities where they lived a few months or a year ago, but that's it. We don't have their addresses. We have no means to talk to them, she sent them messages but they never replied. So I am wondering if I should mention these individuals at all (they haven't done anything shady, they are just normal Filipino immigrants). The person who advised me told me not to mention them (for instance, person x, who lives at town x but without their address), as it would open us to more scrutiny.

 

[mikeymyke]

The person who advised me told me not to mention them (for instance, person x, who lives at town x but without their address), as it would open us to more scrutiny.

This is very bad advice and I suggest you don't listen to anymore what he says. CIC will eventually find out about her relatives in some way, and when they do and your wife fails to disclose them, it could be considered misrepresentation. Remember that when her relatives immigrated here, it's possible they were required to list their own relatives back home, and if they listed her name, but she didn't list their names, the misrepresentation would be clear.

It's true that disclosing them could lead to greater scrutiny of your wife's application, but that's better than a charge of misrepresentation.

It's you and your wife's job to convince them that she's not marrying you to come to Canada, despite having 6 relatives all living here. It might be a bit difficult given she's got so many relatives living in one single country that she's trying to immigrate to, so it might be best for you to provide detailed explanations as to how you guys met, how she became interested in you, etc.

But anyway as for the addresses, if you don't know them, just give as much info as you can, provide an explanation why , and leave it at that.

 

[canadianwoman]

Yes, I agree with the above. She should definitely mention all 6 relatives. She just has to add a separate sheet of paper to that form explaining that she does not know 2 of them well, does not know their current address, tried to get in contact with them but failed, and that she has listed the cities they lived in the last time she heard.

For her address, again I would explain the situation on a separate sheet of paper. She can say that her parents' address was her permanent address during this whole time, but that she also lived at ... while she was at school and at ... while she was working. She should put as much detail as she can find out; do not leave gaps in the dates without explaining. She can explain that she does not remember the exact date she moved into or left a place, or that she was living in one place for part of the week and at her parents' for the other part, or whatever the situation was.

For her jobs, I would list everything, again explaining if she does not remember the exact start or end dates.

 

[MontrealPQ]

This is very bad advice and I suggest you don't listen to anymore what he says. CIC will eventually find out about her relatives in some way, and when they do and your wife fails to disclose them, it could be considered misrepresentation. Remember that when her relatives immigrated here, it's possible they were required to list their own relatives back home, and if they listed her name, but she didn't list their names, the misrepresentation would be clear.

It's true that disclosing them could lead to greater scrutiny of your wife's application, but that's better than a charge of misrepresentation.

It's you and your wife's job to convince them that she's not marrying you to come to Canada, despite having 6 relatives all living here. It might be a bit difficult given she's got so many relatives living in one single country that she's trying to immigrate to, so it might be best for you to provide detailed explanations as to how you guys met, how she became interested in you, etc.

But anyway as for the addresses, if you don't know them, just give as much info as you can, provide an explanation why , and leave it at that.

That's what I wanted to do actually. I wouldn't want to misrepresent my wife's situation. I doubt that they would ever find out, since they are distant second cousins, but why not be transparent.

I am not worried about making a convincing case, as my wife and I made a very detailed file explaining well how we met (a Christian dating site), along with samples of our instant messaging conversations over the months where we displayed affection toward each other, pictures of milestones of our relationships that we posted on Facebook, and pictures of my travels there, along with us in all the places we visited (we went to many cities in the Philippines and to Palawan for our honeymoon), all her relatives and friends that we met, and our wedding ceremony along with the reception that had more than 120 guests. Of course with photocopies of my plane tickets and of the remittances I sent her to help pay for our various expenses.

That she has other relatives in Canada is just coincidence. On the other hand, her four relatives who live together have been there for more than ten years, and all have good careers, so she comes from a very good family.

It makes me think of another question I have. They ask to list the relatives and friends that I met in her country... but there are just so many, I cannot list them all. What I am thinking of currently is those that I had close conversations with, not those I basically just said hello to, and those that are present on the pictures we will provide to them.

 

[CDNPR2014]

It makes me thing of another question I have. They ask to list the relatives and friends that I met in her country... but there are just so many, I cannot list them all. What I am thinking of currently is those that I had close conversations with.

you don't need to list them all. just fill the spaces on the form, pick people that are more important in her life, and that should be fine.

 

[MontrealPQ]

I have another question.

My wife told me that her aunt, uncle, and two cousins who live in the West of Canada, immigrated to Canada about 14 years ago, but they were sponsored by said aunt's relatives. However, that aunt is not blood-related to her at all (it's her mother's brother's wife, obviously).

Is the government expecting that we list the names and addresses of these people too even though they are not her relatives?

 

[profiler]

I have another question.

My wife told me that her aunt, uncle, and two cousins who live in the West of Canada, immigrated to Canada about 14 years ago, but they were sponsored by said aunt's relatives. However, that aunt is not blood-related to her at all (it's her mother's brother's wife, obviously).

Is the government expecting that we list the names and addresses of these people too even though they are not her relatives?

I would stick to the format of IMM 5406. You don't have to mention more than immediate family.

 

[canadianwoman]

The OP is not asking about the Additional Family Information form; he is asking about the question on another form where they ask if the applicant has any relatives in Canada. CIC does expect people to list aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, (and closer relatives) in the answer to this question.
I would say you do not have to list the relatives who sponsored the aunt, since they are not blood relatives.