Divorce or pretend to stay married during application?

[tenerife_d]

Hi,

My husband (non-Canadian) submitted an application to Canada, where I am the dependent (spouse). The application has been in process for about 2 years (I think we are one or 2 steps away from the end) and after 5 years of marriage, I would like a divorce. We have already separated for a few months, but have not formally divorced yet (my husband is very reluctant to initiate the process). We have also not informed the CIC.

Without me, my husband may not have enough points to be accepted on his own.
He requests that we only get divorced after the PR has been approved. He says it is in the best interest for both of us, and he of course does not want to waste all the time and money we have already spent.

I do not want to go to Canada at this point in time, as I recently started studying again, but may be interested to go in about 2,5 years from now.

Should we continue the process as a married couple or will that get me in trouble?

Would that mean that we would need to travel to Canada together and live together for X amount of time?
I have zero interest in living with him or traveling with him, pretending we are still together.

If I do refuse to go on with the application and tell the CIC about our break-up, will his application start from scratch or can we continue as 2 separate individuals?

A local immigration advisor told me to just pretend we are still married and get divorced after the approval. (But she gets paid to help us get the visa, and my husband may have told her to say that - so I don't know if I should believe her.)

I do not want this to end up on any record, and I definitely do not want to be denied access to Canada (as a tourist or PR) at any point in time.

What are your thoughts?
Diana

 

[alok4best]

Hi,

My husband (non-Canadian) submitted an application to Canada, where I am the dependent (spouse). The application has been in process for about 2 years (I think we are one or 2 steps away from the end) and after 5 years of marriage, I would like a divorce. We have already separated for a few months, but have not formally divorced yet (my husband is very reluctant to initiate the process). We have also not informed the CIC.

Without me, my husband may not have enough points to be accepted on his own.
He requests that we only get divorced after the PR has been approved. He says it is in the best interest for both of us, and he of course does not want to waste all the time and money we have already spent.

I do not want to go to Canada at this point in time, as I recently started studying again, but may be interested to go in about 2,5 years from now.

Should we continue the process as a married couple or will that get me in trouble?

Would that mean that we would need to travel to Canada together and live together for X amount of time?
I have zero interest in living with him or traveling with him, pretending we are still together.

If I do refuse to go on with the application and tell the CIC about our break-up, will his application start from scratch or can we continue as 2 separate individuals?

A local immigration advisor told me to just pretend we are still married and get divorced after the approval. (But she gets paid to help us get the visa, and my husband may have told her to say that - so I don't know if I should believe her.)

I do not want this to end up on any record, and I definitely do not want to be denied access to Canada (as a tourist or PR) at any point in time.

What are your thoughts?
Diana

If you get divorced now, you will need to inform CIC. And that means your husband will lose the extra points claimed. It is certain that CIC will return your application and ask to apply afresh, individually. Given you could manage enough CRS score individually.

The second option in which you postpone your divorce, you need to check the nature of the PRs granted to you. Sometimes CIC give conditional PRs, where the couple must stay together for a certain number of years. This is basically to avoid "marriage for VISA" scams. since you have been married for almost 5 years now, it is unlikely that you will get a conditional PR. So as long as you get a normal standard PR, you can get divorced the very next day of becoming PR. Legally not wrong, ethically depends on what side of moral spectrum you are.

 

[tenerife_d]

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply.

So you are saying that we can get divorced after the approval, and before traveling to Canada?
And we can get the divorce in the country where we got married, not in Canada?

And because we applied in good faith, while we were still (somewhat happy) together and married, at no point will this be considered misrepresentation etc... Even if I have been in another country for several months already?

Thanks

 

[prayer]

as husband is primary applicant he will be safe once he land, but dependent visa will go void if divorced. This is my understanding.

 

[Rendezvous70]

Hi,

My husband (non-Canadian) submitted an application to Canada, where I am the dependent (spouse). The application has been in process for about 2 years (I think we are one or 2 steps away from the end) and after 5 years of marriage, I would like a divorce. We have already separated for a few months, but have not formally divorced yet (my husband is very reluctant to initiate the process). We have also not informed the CIC.

Without me, my husband may not have enough points to be accepted on his own.
He requests that we only get divorced after the PR has been approved. He says it is in the best interest for both of us, and he of course does not want to waste all the time and money we have already spent.

I do not want to go to Canada at this point in time, as I recently started studying again, but may be interested to go in about 2,5 years from now.

Should we continue the process as a married couple or will that get me in trouble?

Would that mean that we would need to travel to Canada together and live together for X amount of time?
I have zero interest in living with him or traveling with him, pretending we are still together.

If I do refuse to go on with the application and tell the CIC about our break-up, will his application start from scratch or can we continue as 2 separate individuals?

A local immigration advisor told me to just pretend we are still married and get divorced after the approval. (But she gets paid to help us get the visa, and my husband may have told her to say that - so I don't know if I should believe her.)

I do not want this to end up on any record, and I definitely do not want to be denied access to Canada (as a tourist or PR) at any point in time.

What are your thoughts?
Diana

Hi Diana ,

Technically , you will not be allowed as a Permanent Resident in Canada unless the primary applicant lands with you or before you. So , if you are really keen to move to Canada later , you have to be of the same marital status as you were at the time of filing the application and once you get the PR , you can land and come back and file divorce or stay in Canada and file . But this is for sure that if anyone of you back out at this point of time , your visa will not be processed and the file will be closed. So, you both have to divorce first and then apply for the PR depending on your points at that time .

 

[nope]

I've often thought it was strange that married couples can get more points than a single applicant, when the dependent spouse wouldn't qualify on their own . . . Personally, I don't see why you don't simply think of it like this:

- you are separated from your husband, but not divorced; the separation may be temporary, or permanent, who knows the future?
- let the application be completed; time has gone into it, it is a shame to go backwards.
- your husband can land first, traveling by himself.
- you can land later, at your leisure, there is no need for you to visit your husband in any way.
- your permanent resident card will be sent to your husband -- he can send it to you.
- in 2.5 years, you will still be able to enter Canada and fulfill the PR obligation.

There is an element of dishonesty here, but not a huge element. It is not a spousal sponsorship where the relationship has broken down -- it's a skilled worker application, where the relationship change might affect total eligibility, but not the fundamental qualifications of the principal applicant. I'm sure that people on this board will consider what I'm recommending fraud, and they might be right; but I think it is a fairly small fraud, as frauds go. What are you leaning towards doing?

 

[alok4best]

I've often thought it was strange that married couples can get more points than a single applicant, when the dependent spouse wouldn't qualify on their own . . . Personally, I don't see why you don't simply think of it like this:

- you are separated from your husband, but not divorced; the separation may be temporary, or permanent, who knows the future?
- let the application be completed; time has gone into it, it is a shame to go backwards.
- your husband can land first, traveling by himself.
- you can land later, at your leisure, there is no need for you to visit your husband in any way.
- your permanent resident card will be sent to your husband -- he can send it to you.
- in 2.5 years, you will still be able to enter Canada and fulfill the PR obligation.

There is an element of dishonesty here, but not a huge element. It is not a spousal sponsorship where the relationship has broken down -- it's a skilled worker application, where the relationship change might affect total eligibility, but not the fundamental qualifications of the principal applicant. I'm sure that people on this board will consider what I'm recommending fraud, and they might be right; but I think it is a fairly small fraud, as frauds go. What are you leaning towards doing?

no my frnd. no way a fraud. technically she is not divorced yet. so there is no case of misrepresentation or fraud. also all the information supplied at the time of application are still true. there is no change of circumstances which CIC need to be aware of. As I said earlier, she may be on the wrong side of ethics, but not the law.

Also to the original poster, you cannot get divorced after approval but before landing. that would be illegal.
You do not become a PR when u get VISA, u become PR when you land.

As I said before, as long as your PR is not conditional, legally you can get divorced the very next day of landing.
more info on conditional PRs here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2012/ob480.asp

 

[Leon]

Her PR would not be conditional because she is not being sponsored as they are applying together as a couple. Sponsored would be if he were already PR before they married and he then sponsors her for PR which is not the case here.

So basically, what will happen if you get divorced now or at any time before your husband lands as a PR in Canada, is that your husband would have to inform CIC, you would be removed from his application and he would lose the extra points. If that means he no longer has enough points, he would lose his application. Your application can not continue either because you are a dependent and when divorced, you would no longer be one. If you wanted to get PR, you would have to apply on your own as a principal applicant if you qualify.

If your husband does not inform CIC that you got divorced and they find out, he would be on the hook for misrepresentation and they could revoke his PR.

If you don't get divorced at this point and you both get your PR visas issued, your husband can land in Canada before you and you can land later at some time that is convenient for you as long as it is before your PR visa expires. You should give his address as a mailing address for the PR card but you don't have to stay with him. You can stay in a hotel if you prefer and return home shortly. Your husband can mail you your PR card when he gets it in the mail.

In order to file for divorce in Canada, one of you must have lived in Canada for at least 12 months. However, you can file for divorce in your home country once you are back from your landing. Your divorce in your home country will also be valid in Canada.

This way, your husband has his PR without a problem, you have your PR for later if you want to and you will be able to divorce him.

There is a residency obligation for PR's of 2/5 years in Canada so when you leave Canada after landing, you can stay outside for a maximum of 3 years without losing your status. If you think you may want to return to Canada after 2.5 years, that will work, you would still have your PR status and would be able to meet the residency requirements.

 

[Immigration101]

What if a couple married for 3+years and separated for 1+ years applies for Divorce before COPR in country of origin without informing CIC? Travels to Canada together to try and patch up the relationship but, it doesn't work out and hence finalizes divorce in country of origin. Then, one of them wants to marry somebody else.

Please suggest what issues may arise and solution if any.