Depression

[awais142]

Im a Canadian citizen and my wife who is an American citizen, came to Canada with me and got married in her second month during her visit. She over stayed 8 months, but recently we went back to Buffalo to see a concert and grab some more of her belongings, but as soon as we were leaving across the Canadian border, they stopped my wife and asked her how long she stood there in Canada and all these extra questions which made her nervous. She got held back once, then we tried a second time in the 6 days ahead, this time we addressed ourselves as husband and wife and she got stopped again and they wouldn't let her go until she proved her status in Canada with some application.

Never have I been so depressed in my life to be this far away from my wife, who I thought the Canadian border would never separate me from. She did overstay yes, but now she wants to move in properly, or visit again for 6 months and get herself a proper status by then. How long is she flagged for at the Canadian border and should I start on her sponsorship application right away?

Edit: this was by greyhound bus, which was a 2-3 hour trip.

 

[Erin Lynsay]

That must feel terrible, and I'm sorry for what you have to go through. Indeed, being separated from the one you love for a formality seems very unfair.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any ties to the border officers, but it sounds like they may never let her through due to broken trust (she stayed over the 6 months allowed).

It sounds like you may want to move to the States now to be with her.

If you start an out-land spousal sponsorship application, that still wouldn't give her valid status.

Rather than starting an out-land application, you should probably see a lawyer instead.

 

[John013]

That must feel terrible, and I'm sorry for what you have to go through. Indeed, being separated from the one you love for a formality seems very unfair.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any ties to the border officers, but it sounds like they may never let her through due to broken trust (she stayed over the 6 months allowed).

It sounds like you may want to move to the States now to be with her.

If you start an out-land spousal sponsorship application, that still wouldn't give her valid status.

Rather than starting an out-land application, you should probably see a lawyer instead.

Im a Canadian citizen and my wife who is an American citizen, came to Canada with me and got married in her second month during her visit. She over stayed 8 months, but recently we went back to Buffalo to see a concert and grab some more of her belongings, but as soon as we were leaving across the Canadian border, they stopped my wife and asked her how long she stood there in Canada and all these extra questions which made her nervous. She got held back once, then we tried a second time in the 6 days ahead, this time we addressed ourselves as husband and wife and she got stopped again and they wouldn't let her go until she proved her status in Canada with some application.

Never have I been so depressed in my life to be this far away from my wife, who I thought the Canadian border would never separate me from. She did overstay yes, but now she wants to move in properly, or visit again for 6 months and get herself a proper status by then. How long is she flagged for at the Canadian border and should I start on her sponsorship application right away?

You should start the outland application process, while it might not give her status during the process, the immigration officers are more reasonable when they see she has a application in progress. I overstayed in the past myself, got served an exclusion order and was put on a plane back to my own country, after a year when my exclusion order was up i went back to Canada to visit my family. I did get sent to secondary inspection when i landed but because i had an outland sponsorship application in progress they still let me in.

 

[awais142]

That must feel terrible, and I'm sorry for what you have to go through. Indeed, being separated from the one you love for a formality seems very unfair.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any ties to the border officers, but it sounds like they may never let her through due to broken trust (she stayed over the 6 months allowed).

It sounds like you may want to move to the States now to be with her.

If you start an out-land spousal sponsorship application, that still wouldn't give her valid status.

Rather than starting an out-land application, you should probably see a lawyer instead.

No i dont think they will never let her in, they actually gave her a chance to come back to canada when they asked her if she would like to "withdraw" or be suspended for a year. They gave her a piece of paper asking for some items and one of them being an application to her status in Canada.

 

[awais142]

You should start the outland application process, while it might not give her status during the process, the immigration officers are more reasonable when they see she has a application in progress. I overstayed in the past myself, got served an exclusion order and was put on a plane back to my own country, after a year when my exclusion order was up i went back to Canada to visit my family. I did get sent to secondary inspection when i landed but because i had an outland sponsorship application in progress they still let me in.

I agree, they were fairly nice up until they saw her over stay. We both did say we were married, and they did ask for some application to her status, so Im willing to bet they will agree this time with that in her hands at least.

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately there are several mistakes you made that were within your control and it's not entirely surprising you ran into issues at the border. She shouldn't have overstayed (it's extremely easy to extend a visit from within Canada to keep your status legal). You also should have applied to sponsor her for PR shortly after getting married to demonstrate that she was working towards making her Canada in status permanent. Lastly, she is not allowed to live in Canada at this time (only visit). This also means she isn't allowed to import her belongings or property at this time (she will only be able to do that once she is a PR). By popping down to the US for a short visit and then attempting to bring more of her stuff back, you gave the impression that she was attempting to live in Canada without proper authorization (on top of being in Canada illegally). If you look at it from the perspective of the CBSA officer, I think you may be able to appreciate why they felt she was abusing her visitor privileges and not following the rules.

You should start the outland PR process immediately. The process for Americans can be quite fast (some have gotten through in as few as four months). I would not recommend she attempt another visit until you have received confirmation the application has been accepted and have a file number (this takes 6-8 weeks typically). When she visits, she should keep her first visit to a few days and make absolutely certain she doesn't attempt to bring personal belongings (apart from the clothes she would need for a few day visit).

BTW - Canada is actually extremely lenient when it comes to overstays. If you had done the same in the US, you would now have an automatic 3 year ban from re-entering the US.

 

[Miraclejj]

Unfortunately there are several mistakes you made that were within your control and it's not entirely surprising you ran into issues at the border. She shouldn't have overstayed (it's extremely easy to extend a visit from within Canada to keep your status legal). You also should have applied to sponsor her for PR shortly after getting married to demonstrate that she was working towards making her Canada in status permanent. Lastly, she is not allowed to live in Canada at this time (only visit). This also means she isn't allowed to import her belongings or property at this time (she will only be able to do that once she is a PR). By popping down to the US for a short visit and then attempting to bring more of her stuff back, you gave the impression that she was attempting to live in Canada without proper authorization (on top of being in Canada illegally). If you look at it from the perspective of the CBSA officer, I think you may be able to appreciate why they felt she was abusing her visitor privileges and not following the rules.

You should start the outland PR process immediately. The process for Americans can be quite fast (some have gotten through in as few as four months). I would not recommend she attempt another visit until you have received confirmation the application has been accepted and have a file number (this takes 6-8 weeks typically). When she visits, she should keep her first visit to a few days and make absolutely certain she doesn't attempt to bring personal belongings (apart from the clothes she would need for a few day visit).

BTW - Canada is actually extremely lenient when it comes to overstays. If you had done the same in the US, you would now have an automatic 3 year ban from re-entering the US.

Well, certainly, CIC is much more lenient than US immigration. Overstay 1 year or less, that is 3-years ban in US, and overstay more than 1 year is a 10-years ban. Misrepresentation to the US Immigration will land you a ban for life time, while it is a 5-year ban in Canada.

 

[Oldmacwright]

Well, certainly, CIC is much more lenient than US immigration. Overstay 1 year or less, that is 3-years ban in US, and overstay more than 1 year is a 10-years ban. Misrepresentation to the US Immigration will land you a ban for life time, while it is a 5-year ban in Canada.

I guess that's why they don't have an illegal immigration problem in the USA, lol

 

[Miraclejj]

I guess that's why they don't have an illegal immigration problem in the USA, lol

Dude, what are you talking about? US has a huge illegal immigration problem. They have over 11 million illegal immigration currently resided there.

 

[geografa]

Dude, what are you talking about? US has a huge illegal immigration problem. They have over 11 million illegal immigration currently resided there.

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic lol

 

[Miraclejj]

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic lol

Ya, I figured that out, but I fired mine anyway.

 

[bafonso]

We must have been lucky. Apparently my wife was supposed to have left the US once her TN visa ended but she stayed for at least half a month. The officer was pissed she did not leave but they didn't ding her record as she has visited the US again with no problems..

 

[scylla]

We must have been lucky. Apparently my wife was supposed to have left the US once her TN visa ended but she stayed for at least half a month. The officer was pissed she did not leave but they didn't ding her record as she has visited the US again with no problems..

The "ding" is automatic and has nothing to do with the officer or luck. The reason why you wife wasn't automatically banned is because her overstay was less than six months.