Hi!
Me and my family are permanent residents here in Canada. However, before that, we were in the United States (in my mom and dad's case) since 2001, and me and my brother followed them in April 2002 with the tourist visas. We never intended to stay, but our pastor (and his family) at that time advised us to stay, and get a job to sponsor my mom and everyone else as dependants. My mom's application for H1b unfortunately got denied and we lost our status. We were deciding on leaving USA, however, Canadian embassy started contacting us regarding our application for Canada as immigrants, when we were still in the states. We had applied for Canada as immigrants even before we left Philippines for USA. We got approved in 2006, and now we are living in Canada as legal residents for 3 years now.
When we left the US, we still had our US visas, and we tried if we can still go visit the US. We were able to. We went to the states numerous times just to visit. The thing is, when we went back again to visit family friends in Maryland for the long weekend, we got stopped at the border and DENIED RE-ENTRY because of our over stay in the US before. We are banned for 7 years. I am aware that if we wanted to go back to the US, we need to apply for a new Visa or apply for Canadian citizenship, AND THEN, apply for a WAIVER, which is $500+ US Dollars.
My main QUESTION though is WILL THE DENIAL of our RE-ENTRY to the USA affect our application for Canadian CITIZENSHIP?
2.) Does overstaying in the US make us Criminals?
3.) Does it go to our records?
4.) If so, do we need a lawyer to clear it up first before we apply for Canadian citizenship?
I really need your advice! Thank you very much in advance!
Me and my family are permanent residents here in Canada. However, before that, we were in the United States (in my mom and dad's case) since 2001, and me and my brother followed them in April 2002 with the tourist visas. We never intended to stay, but our pastor (and his family) at that time advised us to stay, and get a job to sponsor my mom and everyone else as dependants. My mom's application for H1b unfortunately got denied and we lost our status. We were deciding on leaving USA, however, Canadian embassy started contacting us regarding our application for Canada as immigrants, when we were still in the states. We had applied for Canada as immigrants even before we left Philippines for USA. We got approved in 2006, and now we are living in Canada as legal residents for 3 years now.
When we left the US, we still had our US visas, and we tried if we can still go visit the US. We were able to. We went to the states numerous times just to visit. The thing is, when we went back again to visit family friends in Maryland for the long weekend, we got stopped at the border and DENIED RE-ENTRY because of our over stay in the US before. We are banned for 7 years. I am aware that if we wanted to go back to the US, we need to apply for a new Visa or apply for Canadian citizenship, AND THEN, apply for a WAIVER, which is $500+ US Dollars.
My main QUESTION though is WILL THE DENIAL of our RE-ENTRY to the USA affect our application for Canadian CITIZENSHIP?
2.) Does overstaying in the US make us Criminals?
3.) Does it go to our records?
4.) If so, do we need a lawyer to clear it up first before we apply for Canadian citizenship?
I really need your advice! Thank you very much in advance!