Can I seek refugee status in Canada if I was denied asylum in the United States?

[s42]

Minneapolis, MN | yesterday at 12:52am

I arrived in the US in 1999 as a 5 year old under no will of my own. I arrived with my two brothers(aged 7 and 9 respectively), but we have no idea how we arrived til this day, as they're conflicting stories on this matter. Long story short, our grandmother applied for asylum even though we entered unlawfully.

We lost the asylum case and an appeal in 2002 by an IJ. We were ordered removed but we were given TPS (we are Somali nationals). We have lived in the US with TPS since 2002, but we have practically no route to a green card( our lawyer told us to us AP to travel out the country to clear our removal order, then hopefully get sponsored through marriage). Since Trump has become POTUS, we have become less optimistic about our chances here. We are not willing to take chances, as President Trump might not extend TPS after September 2018. We are tired of being in this quasi legal status.

We are seeking to possibly emigrate to Canada and claim refugee status at the US-CANADIAN border. I am aware of the safe third country policy, but we maybe exempt because of our relative uncle. Do we have a reasonable claim under our circumstances? Any recommendations will be hel
pful!

 

[scylla]

I'm not certain you have the basis for a successful refugee claim in Canada. It sounds like your main issue is that you were brought to the US as a child and don't know your home country. For your claim in Canada to be successful, you'll need to provide proof that you cannot return to your home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, etc. You can't provide generic evidence that your home country is a dangerous place. You'll need to provide evidence that you yourself are specifically targeted. Is this something you have?

Yes - if you have an uncle in Canada then you should qualify for an exemption under the safe third country agreement.

 

[s42]

My home country is Somalia, and the city where my family resides is Shalambod, it is still an Al-shabab stronghold. They don't like western Somali diaspora, they are usually targets for this militant group. I'm not exactly fluent in Somali, I know enough to communicate with my peers.

 

[s42]

Can our uncle sponsor me and my two brothers? If so, would you recommend that route, rather than the other option?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

My home country is Somalia, and the city where my family resides is Shalambod, it is still an Al-shabab stronghold. They don't like western Somali diaspora, they are usually targets for this militant group. I'm not exactly fluent in Somali, I know enough to communicate with my peers.

As scylla said, you would need to show that you have actually been targeted, not just that it is a dangerous area. Your lack of knowledge of the language is irrelevant.

Can our uncle sponsor me and my two brothers? If so, would you recommend that route, rather than the other option?

No. If your uncle has no spouse/common-law partner, no kids, no living parents and no Canadian citizen/PR relatives, he can sponsor one of you. If he has any one of those family members, then he cannot sponsor any of you.