Ex Military Spouse Sponsorship

[Lexy1114]

Hello!
My situation is like this: my spouse is an ex Special Forces military man. He served under NATO contract last year in Afghanistan for about 8 month. We got married after his return in Bucharest, Romania. He was denied entrance as a tourist in Canada before marriage and after marriage, so we started the sponsorship file. I decided to get a lawyer, thinking that his case is not a case that they normally encounter, just to discover that I am doing all the papers on my own and the lawyer is there to cash our money and file the papers that I am doing. They approved me as a sponsor, now after 6 month they opened the file at the visa office in Bucharest and they are requesting "original and recent Afghan police certificate", which is something that we can't provide. He was a soldier deployed there under a NATO contract. The problem is that the lawyer in the introduction letter that she attached to the forms she messed up the dates when he was deployed (on the forms, the dates are Ok) and it looks like he was there for one year.
At this point I don't know if I should cancel my lawyer and continue doing it on my own or not?
She made some mistakes in the forms too, but we caught them in time, but the letter was too late. She already sent them when she e-mailed me that letter to check it, which is dumb.
In regards of the "original and recent Afghan police certificate" we decided to write a letter to explain them the situation and my husband has his military ID from there to attach it, and hoping that they will accept this.

Any ideas?

 

[jack87]

I don't think you should cancel your lawyer - she may have messed up on the dates when he was deployed, but on the forms it's still about 8 months right? If your husband was residing in Afghanistan for 6 months or more, he needs a police certificate, and since he stayed there for 8 months that's why the visa office is asking for it.

I don't think there's an exemption to that requirement just because he was there as part of a military deployment. The visa office should have sent you instructions on how to obtain a police certificate from Afghanistan for your husband though.

 

[jack87]

Here's the link to instructions I found on the CIC website on how to get a police certificate from Afghanistan.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/mid-east/afghanistan.asp

Good luck!

 

[Lexy1114]

He did not reside on Afghanistan. It is deployment, which is not the same as a civilian. He resided in a military base, which is the same as you staying in an embassy of your country. He has no police record at the Afghan police, because when soldiers arrive in a country of war they do not send the soldier's information to the Afghan police. Let's say I am going to South Africa and I only stay in the Romanian embassy, that means I am on Romanian soil, not South African one. It is the same with the soldiers.

 

[tink23]

He did not reside on Afghanistan. It is deployment, which is not the same as a civilian. He resided in a military base, which is the same as you staying in an embassy of your country. He has no police record at the Afghan police, because when soldiers arrive in a country of war they do not send the soldier's information to the Afghan police. Let's say I am going to South Africa and I only stay in the Romanian embassy, that means I am on Romanian soil, not South African one. It is the same with the soldiers.

Is it possible for him to get a letter from his military troop stating this fact?

Also, your lawyer sounds useless. If you have been doing all the work yourself, stop paying them to "help" you.

 

[Lexy1114]

He resigned in December 2013 after 4 month of returning to Romania, because the mission in Afghanistan is still active they deny to give him a letter because he is civilian now from their point of view. They told my husband to ask the Canadian military officer to send a request to the Romanian military office and ask for his entire file, because it is a National Security matter and by giving us a letter stating the period of his deployment it will brake their contract with NATO and that is illegal. The only way for them to get the entire file of my husband from the Special Forces unit from National Defense Ministry is to go through chain of commands

Yes, my lawyer only wrote the letter and the rest of the forms and information I actually provided them with the help of my husband and my mother.

He still has his ISAF ID from Afghanistan that we want to attach to the letter that will explain why we can't provide the original and recent Afghan police certificate.

 

[tink23]

He resigned in December 2013 after 4 month of returning to Romania, because the mission in Afghanistan is still active they deny to give him a letter because he is civilian now from their point of view. They told my husband to ask the Canadian military officer to send a request to the Romanian military office and ask for his entire file, because it is a National Security matter and by giving us a letter stating the period of his deployment it will brake their contract with NATO and that is illegal. The only way for them to get the entire file of my husband from the Special Forces unit from National Defense Ministry is to go through chain of commands

Yes, my lawyer only wrote the letter and the rest of the forms and information I actually provided them with the help of my husband and my mother.

He still has his ISAF ID from Afghanistan that we want to attach to the letter that will explain why we can't provide the original and recent Afghan police certificate.

I would also send them a copy of the correspondence with the military troop refusing to provide a letter.

 

[jack87]

Oh sorry, I was not aware that a military base is considered to be the same as an embassy. Then yes, it's a good idea to send the visa office a letter explaining this, but I would also contact the nearest Afghan embassy about this just to be on the safe side.

Not having a police record does not mean you cannot obtain a police certificate - in most cases it just means you don't have a criminal history since you haven't had any contact with police, which is what you want after all!

Good luck!

 

[Lexy1114]

He went to see them and ask for the letter and they refused him. He also asked them to write down the refusal and why they refuse him and they refused to do that too. So it is kind of a shitty situation, because the Army is stubborn and won't give us much then what he had prior to his resignation. I was thinking to try and write an open letter to Chris Alexander to explain his situation if the visa office refuses the information that we provide them with and see what happens or another MP.

 

[tink23]

He went to see them and ask for the letter and they refused him. He also asked them to write down the refusal and why they refuse him and they refused to do that too. So it is kind of a *censored word*ty situation, because the Army is stubborn and won't give us much then what he had prior to his resignation. I was thinking to try and write an open letter to Chris Alexander to explain his situation if the visa office refuses the information that we provide them with and see what happens or another MP.

Hmmmm... That is difficult. It's too bad you don't have a better lawyer that could help you with this situation.... Hopefully someone with experience in a matter similar to yours will be able to offer some advice.

 

[Lexy1114]

They wouldn't be able to provide anything like that, because they have not record of him being there. They need to have you on their data base to be able to give you an answer, but when you are a ghost in their data base how can they issue a paper stating you have no criminal history? Afghan police has no clue about who is coming in or out of their country. Afghan military maybe, but only NATO will be able to give such a clearance about the soldiers they send there and nobody else.

 

[Lexy1114]

The minister, Chris Alexander is an ex military man too, plus he was several times in Afghanistan. This is why I was thinking to write him a letter with our situation and maybe ask for a meeting.

 

[tink23]

The minister, Chris Alexander is an ex military man too, plus he was several times in Afghanistan. This is why I was thinking to write him a letter with our situation and maybe ask for a meeting.

I think that is a good start.

In the mean time I would email back the embassy stating the information you have here about being on the military base, and the military refusing to write or sign any letter, which just seems absolutely stupid to me. Then hopefully you will get some help from your meeting with Chris Alexander.

 

[jack87]

That is very unfortunate Lexy... I would still try to contact the nearest Afghan embassy regarding the police certificate after you send the visa office the letter - if they say they cannot issue a police record for him because he was residing on a military base, you have lost nothing, and if they say they can then you don't have to worry about getting his military file from NATO. It's worth a try, in addition to contacting your MP.

 

[O_guy]

Hello!
My situation is like this: my spouse is an ex Special Forces military man. He served under NATO contract last year in Afghanistan for about 8 month. We got married after his return in Bucharest, Romania. He was denied entrance as a tourist in Canada before marriage and after marriage, so we started the sponsorship file. I decided to get a lawyer, thinking that his case is not a case that they normally encounter, just to discover that I am doing all the papers on my own and the lawyer is there to cash our money and file the papers that I am doing. They approved me as a sponsor, now after 6 month they opened the file at the visa office in Bucharest and they are requesting "original and recent Afghan police certificate", which is something that we can't provide. He was a soldier deployed there under a NATO contract. The problem is that the lawyer in the introduction letter that she attached to the forms she messed up the dates when he was deployed (on the forms, the dates are Ok) and it looks like he was there for one year.
At this point I don't know if I should cancel my lawyer and continue doing it on my own or not?
She made some mistakes in the forms too, but we caught them in time, but the letter was too late. She already sent them when she e-mailed me that letter to check it, which is dumb.
In regards of the "original and recent Afghan police certificate" we decided to write a letter to explain them the situation and my husband has his military ID from there to attach it, and hoping that they will accept this.

Any ideas?

The visa office knows that no one goes to Afghanistan for tourism. Write a letter and explain the situation. You can do better job with his help than a third party (i.e. the lawyer). People put too much faith in immigration lawyers. My friend paid $3000 for a lawyer and his sponsorship was still denied. Here is a simple concept: You know your own case better than any lawyer!! And immigration rules are all out in the open on various CIC webpages. Bottom line, you can do this better than your lawyer.