Child support from PR father immigrant for a daughter in the Philippines

[vymomks]

Hi,

I'm a new member here and I would like to get some insights about my daughter's case as a child of a PR approved immigrant in Canada.

My ex was sponsored by his mother who has been living in Canada for a long time now and is married to a Canadian. She petitioned for my ex and his older brother back when they were just 15 and 17 years old. We met in 2013, I gave birth to our daughter in 2014 and his petition was approved then he flew to Canada on June 2015. Please keep in mind that everything is fine before he went to Canada, we are not married but he recognized our daughter and she carries his last name on her birth certificate. She was baptized and we celebrated her 1st birthday party with him and even went to escort him at the airport.

The thing is, when he arrived in Canada they were held by the immigration officers after the interview for two days because he declared of having a child here in the Philippines. A week after he arrived in Canada on June 2015, we lost all means of communication as he is no longer answering my emails and he deactivated all of his social media accounts. As what his aunt told me, they are being investigated because he didn't notify the immigration about having a child prior to being approved and flying to Canada. She said that my ex and his older brother were not given work permits up until today that's why he can't send any means of child support. This is something I can't confirm and I've been the only one who provides for our daughter since I was pregnant up until today and she's soon turning 3 years old.

My main concerns are:
-What are the ways to know his real immigration status?
-What are the steps I need to take to file for a child support?
-If it's true that he's having troubles with his immigration status and getting a job, should I wait for him to be officially approved and cleared of everything before making any move or it's better to do something as soon as possible?
-Does anyone knows about the Philippines and Canada's child support agreement?
-What are the other important things I need to do at this point in time?

I'm really hoping to get some valuable insights and answers from anyone that could help me and my daughter.

Thank you in advance and have a great day!

Mommy V

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately there's no way for you to confirm his immigration status. This information is confidential and won't be released to you.

It's certainly possible he may have run into issues at the border since he failed to declare his child. Again, this information is confidential and won't be released to you.

I don't know the process for requesting child support payments. However if there's something you can pursue - I don't see the point in waiting. I would do it now.

 

[vymomks]

Thank you for your reply scylla

 

[Leon]

I would say you need a lawyer in Canada to track down your ex and file for child support.

I agree with scylla that it's hard to know what happened when they tried to land as PR's not having declared the child but that may have caused some problems. Not declaring a child is considered to be misrepresentation and that is taken quite seriously.

 

[Buletruck]

I doubt there is much chance of enforcing child support in the Philippines as there seems to be no reciprocity agreement. I don't believe there is any way to force him to pay money to a foreign national without an agreement.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df/enforce-execution/asi.html

If there were, I would expect it would be a long and expensive process and involve DNA testing to prove he is the child's father. I would think you would need to bear those costs until it is proven he is the father, and even then recovery would probably be difficult.

If he is being investigated, I suspect (cue for others to chime in and correct me) that he gained his PR while being sponsored as a dependent (based on your comments), yet he was in a relationship with you. That would make him ineligible.

 

[Leon]

If he is being investigated, I suspect (cue for others to chime in and correct me) that he gained his PR while being sponsored as a dependent (based on your comments), yet he was in a relationship with you. That would make him ineligible.

Being in a relationship or having a child doesn't make him ineligible.

Being in a common law partnership (living together more than 12 months as a couple) or being married would make him ineligible.

Not having disclosed that he has a child (misrepresentation) could have made him ineligible. We don't actually know what happened when he landed but there are cases where people have lost their PR because they did not declare a spouse or a child.