CJ was not interested in the physical

[Memo1967]

I had a cj hearing almost two months ago and was told a decision would be made in two months.
I satisfy the number of day and more but i live here alone with my children while my husband lives abroad to earn a decent living for us
I landed July 2009 , did the application in nov 2012. Had the test dec 2013 , passed 20/20. Got rq after the cic officer interview. Sent back the rq in jan 2014.
My question is why I am being judged , washed , dried , squashed, mentally tortoured just because
my husband is not living here and was told that he has surrender his pr card for failiur to satisfy pr residency requirment .

Must add that The jude was so kind and very thurough, I was with her for almost 2 hours.
Have to add that I did a mistake by hiring a lawyer that received a hefty some of money for doing nothing .He showed up only for the hearing and literally never opened his mouth, he never looked into our documents or any . So don't do my mistake of hiring one for they really do nothing except asking for the ATIP which I did twice on my own .

Does anyone have had cj experience, and how long after the hearing did they recieve a call, a letter or a decision was made.

Appreciate ur response
Thank u

 

[Leon]

Re: CJ was not interested in the physical presence but in my relation with my husban

They can not deny your application based on whether you are planning or not planning on splitting up with your husband or whether you are working or not. Only based on whether you have lived enough days in Canada and with the intent clause if they believe you have the intent on staying. The questions about your husband may have been about intent, whether you intend to leave Canada and join him outside Canada in the near future.

 

[dpenabill]

Re: CJ was not interested in the physical presence but in my relation with my husban



Mostly there is nothing to be gained by speculating much at this stage of things. Mostly all you can do is wait. The outcome will be what it will be. No one can really predict what that outcome will be.

To some extent the time elapsed may be good news, because if the CJ examined the record and heard your answers to questions, and was inclined to deny approval, odds are you would have already received notice of that (no guarantee, but the longer it goes without receiving a notice that approval has been denied, the higher the odds at least the CJ is leaning your way). However, this is not all good news because it could be that the CJ granted approval but the Citizenship Officer is still not satisfied and could be considering an appeal of the CJ's decision (if the CJ granted approval).


What is really not fair:

If the CJ grants approval, IRCC has a right of appeal.

But if the CJ denies approval, you have no right of appeal. You can ask the Federal Court for permission to have judicial review, but you have no right to judical review. Think your lawyer has been excessively expensive so far, typically the cost goes way up when pursuing judicial review.


Must note: your experience with the lawyer probably is not representative of lawyers generally. That said, yes they are expensive for what you get.


" . . . [lawyer] said no need for [information regarding activity] after the period, yet the judge was interested in information and activities for after the period."

The better response the lawyer probably should have given is that unless a CJ explicitly requests particular information to be submitted after the hearing, the CJ will not consider information submitted after the hearing. That said, that information is only collaterally relevant, probably cumulative, and it is probable it would not influence the CJ's assessment of your credibility beyond what the CJ already evaluated. The lawyer was probably right to not attempt to add that information.

But it is probably too true that there are only a few lawyers well-versed in the presentation of a citizenship case. Few citizenship applicants utilize the services of a lawyer, and even the majority of those who do tend to obtain their services after having responded to the Residency Questionnaire, when in many respects it may be too late for the lawyer to do much beyond protecting the client's rights (make no mistake, this can be an important function). Representation in citizenship applications will not substantially support a lawyer, so few will be even well-experienced in this, let alone specialized. Expertise in citizenship residency cases is probably fairly rare.



The applicant's real opportunity to make the case for citizenship is in the response to the RQ.

There are three common errors:
-- submission of too little, especially as to potential gaps
-- submission of a document bomb which obscures the good evidence, and which can actually invite more questions or even doubts than are answered (contrary to popular opinion, the proverbial mountain-of-evidence tends to bury the real evidence and can make it more difficult to make a persuasive case)
-- submission of evidence that has low relevance or even no relevance, while failing to submit key evidence of much relevance

The interview or hearing is more about assessing the applicant personally, especially as to credibility. The reason the lawyer does not speak much is because the CJ is interested in what the applicant says. Nonetheless, for those reaching this stage of proceedings, to my view it is best to have a lawyer there representing you. Even if the lawyer said nothing, the lawyer's presence may indeed have made a big difference in how thorough and careful the CJ was.

In any event, the cake-is-in-the-oven. If you failed to add yeast, it will fall flat. If all the ingredients were properly mixed, hopefully soon you add-the-frosting: attend the oath ceremony and celebrate.

By the way, your account of the experience is unusually detailed and informative. Always helps to get this kind of detail. Appreciated. Please let us know how this comes out. Good luck.

 

[Memo1967]

Re: CJ was not interested in the physical presence but in my relation with my husban

Thank u so much dpenabill for your very informative reply, I truly appreciate it

 

[arambi]

I had a cj hearing almost two months ago and was told a decision would be made in two months.
I satisfy the number of day and more but i live here alone with my children while my husband lives abroad to earn a decent living for us
I landed July 2009 , did the application in nov 2012. Had the test dec 2013 , passed 20/20. Got rq after the cic officer interview. Sent back the rq in jan 2014.
My question is why I am being judged , washed , dried , squashed, mentally tortoured just because
my husband is not living here and was told that he has surrender his pr card for failiur to satisfy pr residency requirment .

Must add that The jude was so kind and very thurough, I was with her for almost 2 hours.
Have to add that I did a mistake by hiring a lawyer that received a hefty some of money for doing nothing .He showed up only for the hearing and literally never opened his mouth, he never looked into our documents or any . So don't do my mistake of hiring one for they really do nothing except asking for the ATIP which I did twice on my own .

Does anyone have had cj experience, and how long after the hearing did they recieve a call, a letter or a decision was made.

Appreciate ur response
Thank u

I always tell people to be VERY careful when considering hiring a lawyer for "administrative" cases, specially at the when things are still at the CJ stage. Now, if someone is not comfortable with basic legal proceedings in general, it might make sense to higher one.

From personal experience, I tried to avoid using lawyers as much as I can. I've now been successful in two difficult cases against CIC / IRRC without using lawyers. I can actually see how the lawyers could have pocket a lot of money without doing anything relevant or actually messing up the case. I'm happy to see that you are sharing similar experience.

However, again... if someone is not comfortable with basic legal proceedings in general, it might make sense to higher one.


To know the decision on your file, you may want to request via ATIP completed Form CIT 0065 - Record of Decision on Citizenship Application.

Good luck