Can an error on PR application be rectified before upcoming PR interview !!

[franklin2011]

hi ,

This is a strange situation . I am a male who was in a common law (conjugal) relationship with my male friend 7 years back and all was fine between us then. We shared the same address since then.We also got our PR under that category then cuz we felt our relationship was working out fine ! But slowly we realized that our relationship was not working and we wanted to start our life afresh but remained best friends . meanwhile i met a girl and in two years of time we decided to marry . We married two years back and also my friend married a woman meanwhile . Both my friend and I have now sponsored our wife's PR (out land). Will that jeopardize their case??

Also i think i made a mistake in understanding the particular point on the PR application wherein it states that if am married / common law, thought it asked about any previous marriage . I totally happened to overlook the fact of common law relationship .My wife has PR interview scheduled for this month .Can this be now rectified in the form ?? or can we say to the IO while in the interview that its an error ,cuz my wife has no problem with my past and shes happy with my and we have been very happy since i have her in my life .

please help !!!

 

[canadianwoman]

So you immigrated to Canada, sponsored by your Canadian male partner? If so, it will most likely be a problem for both of the new PR applications. The visa officers will think that your original PR application was based on a relationship of convenience. And if the sponsor was previously in a sham relationship for the purposes of immigration, the visa officer will think that the current relationship is also fake.
However, I have read several appeal cases where the appeal was allowed even though the visa officer believed that the sponsor became a PR himself through a marriage of convenience, so it is possible to be accepted even under these circumstances. You will just need much more proof that your current relationship is genuine.
The visa officer will have the details of your own PR application, so expect your wife to be questioned about this.
It would be better to rectify the mistake before the interview. If admitted only at the interview, it may look like your wife was trying to hide it.

 

[franklin2011]

So you immigrated to Canada, sponsored by your Canadian male partner? If so, it will most likely be a problem for both of the new PR applications. The visa officers will think that your original PR application was based on a relationship of convenience. And if the sponsor was previously in a sham relationship for the purposes of immigration, the visa officer will think that the current relationship is also fake.
However, I have read several appeal cases where the appeal was allowed even though the visa officer believed that the sponsor became a PR himself through a marriage of convenience, so it is possible to be accepted even under these circumstances. You will just need much more proof that your current relationship is genuine.
The visa officer will have the details of your own PR application, so expect your wife to be questioned about this.
It would be better to rectify the mistake before the interview. If admitted only at the interview, it may look like your wife was trying to hide it.

Thanks ,I appreciate your view .. I immigrated to Canada 7 years back with a student visa and an year later my male partner came in and while we stayed together about an year or more , we decided to apply our PR then . So at that time we were into a relationship . but it simply didn't work out that way we felt would be and within an year or so we broke off but remained very good friends . Of course at the time of our PR applications i did mention my friend as a spouse but again we never "married " and i "did" not sponsor him . Hence while sponsoring my wife i was confused if i only had to declare any previous marital relationship though !

So i was also thinking of rectifying the application before the interview . My wife knew about my past even before we got married three years back and she loves me still . I believe a person has all the rights to change in a lifetime and if we two are happy and want to be together , wil that be a problem in front of the IO ...

Also i was reading on the CIC website that one may be eligible to sponsor another spouse for PR after three years of becoming a PR .It states as below :

Relationships that are not eligible:

You cannot be sponsored as a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:

your sponsor previously sponsored another spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, and three years have not passed since that person became a permanent resident.


any views on the above is appreciated ...thanks !

 

[rjessome]

It doesn't sound like you and your former partner received PR through family class sponsorship but that you immigrated through the ecomonic programs. Did either of you receive PR as a dependent of the other or just on your own individual merits?

 

[franklin2011]

well we hired a lawyer for our PR applications and i guess he did it under common law conjugal partner category though ....but both of us had initially immigrated to canada based on our own academic merits with student visa though !! however i guess if our initial PR applications has been processed under the above category , where i admitted my partner as spouse , i guess though it wasn't a sponsorship but it can be considered as we were dependent on each other ...

 

[canadianwoman]

Also i was reading on the CIC website that one may be eligible to sponsor another spouse for PR after three years of becoming a PR .It states as below :

Relationships that are not eligible:

You cannot be sponsored as a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:

your sponsor previously sponsored another spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, and three years have not passed since that person became a permanent resident.


any views on the above is appreciated ...thanks !

If you sponsored your previous partner to immigrate to Canada less than three years ago, then you cannot sponsor your wife. You can sponsor her once those three years are up. But it sounds like 1. your and your partner's PR was granted more than three years ago, and 2. you did not sponsor him anyway. So in this regard your application now is OK.

You are supposed to list previous common-law relationships and marriages on the sponsorship application, so you should have mentioned your previous relationship, in particular because you listed him as your common-law partner on previous immigration applications. Which means the current visa officer will know about it. Of course you can have partners of different genders, but the visa officer will be suspicious because of it. The important thing is to have a lot of evidence that the current relationship is genuine, and to make sure your wife is prepared to talk about this issue at the interview.

 

[franklin2011]

If you sponsored your previous partner to immigrate to Canada less than three years ago, then you cannot sponsor your wife. You can sponsor her once those three years are up. But it sounds like 1. your and your partner's PR was granted more than three years ago, and 2. you did not sponsor him anyway. So in this regard your application now is OK.

You are supposed to list previous common-law relationships and marriages on the sponsorship application, so you should have mentioned your previous relationship, in particular because you listed him as your common-law partner on previous immigration applications. Which means the current visa officer will know about it. Of course you can have partners of different genders, but the visa officer will be suspicious because of it. The important thing is to have a lot of evidence that the current relationship is genuine, and to make sure your wife is prepared to talk about this issue at the interview.

that was the mistake i made by not listing my previous relationship in the form , as i overlooked it thinking it only asked about marital relationship , however is it possible i can change it now before the interview .... or if under worst situation , if my wife is denied at the interview , i will take the matters further by appealing ... was wondering if such cases win ? if we can show that our current relationship is very much genuine !!

 

[canadianwoman]

Such cases can be won on appeal. Here are some appeal cases where sexual orientation was an issue:
http://www.canlii.org/eliisa/search.do?language=en&searchTitle=Canada+%28federal%29+-+Immigration+and+Refugee+Board+of+Canada&sortOrder=relevance&searchPage=eliisa%2FcourtSearch.vm&t=cisr&jurisdiction=ca&text=sexual%2Borientation+marriage+immigration&id=&startDate=&endDate=

I've read some of them; basically it seems that someone who previously was in a same-sex relationship but is now being sponsored and is in a heterosexual relationship can be accepted. The judges often said the bisexuality was not an issue as long as the current partner was aware of the previous relationship and as long as they were sure the current relationship was genuine.

You can send an explanation to the visa office processing your application. Just make sure your file number is on it, along with your and your wife's names and birthdates.

 

[rjessome]

well we hired a lawyer for our PR applications and i guess he did it under common law conjugal partner category though ....but both of us had initially immigrated to canada based on our own academic merits with student visa though !! however i guess if our initial PR applications has been processed under the above category , where i admitted my partner as spouse , i guess though it wasn't a sponsorship but it can be considered as we were dependent on each other ...

You need to first figure out how you actually became a PR of Canada. Being a student is not immigrating. Immigrating is becoming a PR through one of the available programs. So if neither of you were Canadian citizens or PRs then you can't have sponsored the other. If you became PRs at the same time, then one of you "probably" applied through one of the economic classes and counted the other as a dependent CL spouse.

The VO is certainly going to question your wife about the previous CL partner on file. The bisexuality issue will be raised but as canadianwoman has said, it can be overcome. However, there are still going to be red flags on this because the reason of "we only thought it meant marital relationships" is not going to wash with the VO. To them, the instructions are very clear and straightforward and you should have understood. Since you had the last application professionally prepared, they might even wonder why you didn't have this one looked over at least before it was submitted. Your wife's prior knowledge of your previous same-sex relationship is going to be questioned heavily so hopefully she is well prepared for the interview. There had better be LOTS of proof of the genuineness of this relationship. And the fact that your former partner has now sponsored a wife as well??? The VO is going to dig because this will seem fishy.

 

[franklin2011]

thanks so much for the info ! I happen to go through the similar cases that canadian women pointed out ...it helped ....just need to update that i received the Caips notes two days back to chk on why we were scheduled for an interview but i cudnt figure out .....the whole thing is lil comfusing ...

 

[franklin2011]

hey there ! am back again with a bad news and need some help !!

my wife , who had her US visa interview this Aug 19th ,has been denied a US VISA on the grounds that she does not have any "strong ties " in canada , although she did say that shes married and her husband has a permanent job and property here in canada ...didnt help ! so now basically we are again on the boat to figure out what to do next, cuz we wont be able to attend her PR interview dated sept 7 next month !!

Am wondering what i should now do .. should i request the file to be transferred to Delhi and wait fr the decision ?? Also, i m scared if shes denied PR there at interview (just like my friend's wife was last month ) , then she wont be able to re enter canada until all the appeal procedure is determined ...

Or should i change my application to INLAND now?? what are the chances of her getting through it and if she will be able to get a TRV for us to travel or re enter ??

please help !! thanks in advance

 

[canadianwoman]

I'm sorry to hear of your wife's problems.
You can't change the application to inland, and you can't have it transferred to New Delhi. The VO will make a decision based on the info already on the file. Definitley let the visa office know she can't come to the interview because she was denied a US visa, and include proof of this. Ask if there is anything you can do to get around this problem, though I don't think there is.
Let them decide. Once you get the decision, if it is a refusal, then I would just reapply inland. That way she can stay in Canada with you. If she has to go back to India, she will be unlikely to get a TRV.

 

[franklin2011]

wow !! what a problem !! thanks so much for the info .. now i really hope she is not refused ! I have already notified the immigration about the denial .. how long do u think they world take to inform us about their decision ?

 

[franklin2011]

I'm sorry to hear of your wife's problems.
You can't change the application to inland, and you can't have it transferred to New Delhi. The VO will make a decision based on the info already on the file. Definitley let the visa office know she can't come to the interview because she was denied a US visa, and include proof of this. Ask if there is anything you can do to get around this problem, though I don't think there is.
Let them decide. Once you get the decision, if it is a refusal, then I would just reapply inland. That way she can stay in Canada with you. If she has to go back to India, she will be unlikely to get a TRV.

can they issue a PR under such a circumstance wherein they schedule an interview and if applicant dont make it to appear , they decide to issue PR based on evidences they have on the file or would they ask for some more explanations?? or is there a way that we provide more evidences of our on going relationship now ?? what if they decide the file to send to delhi office .. can we request them to change it to INLand then ?? Iam already stressed out ....

 

[canadianwoman]

Ordinarily, if the applicant does not come to the interview, the PR application will be denied. If they called the interview because the visa officer was not sure the relationship was genuine (the usual reason), then the applicant has to be there to defend their case.
Try sending in more proof your relationship is genuine, along with a letter explaining again that there is no way she can go to the interview. Send it as soon as possible.
If the VO decides to refuse the application, it should be shortly after the missed interview. They can't change the type of application - if they refuse, you would have to submit a new application.