Failed to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

[YYC787]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

The amount of threads about this that I have read lately is crazy. Even on the express entry forum, people don't seem to understand they need to declare everyone. CIC is either not making it clear enough during the application process or people just ignore it (or deliberately lie) and hope for the best.

Maybe if CIC had a "grace period" whereby new PR's who landed without declaring family members could still have them added after landing, with the understanding that if the family member failed medical or background checks etc the whole application is rejected and the new PR has status revoked. It would save a lot of heartache for families and wouldn't be a loophole for medical inadmissibility.

Maybe there should be a grace period, but one could argue that people would take advantage of such a policy. They would apply as a single person, and then add a spouse at the very end, to cut down on the processing time.

This is unrelated and off-topic, but I don't even understand why people feel the need to use an immigration consultant...you don't have to be a lawyer to understand this stuff. Just fill out the forms, get your documentation in order, and you're fine. Why would you waste thousands of dollars on an immigration lawyer who has absolutely no control over the immigration process? If a lawyer says "we guarantee that we can get your PR done quicker", they are lying through their teeth.

But it all comes down to just being aware of the process, really. I'm not trying to be unsympathetic to the OP, but you're absolutely right. In my limited time on this forum, I have seen a huge number of threads where the person tried to skate around the system, deliberately ignored proper procedures, or just plain didn't know how to read simple instructions.

There was one thread where the OP was planning to get married to someone who was living in Canada on an expired work visa, and wanted to know how to sponsor them for permanent residency. The work visa had expired two years prior, and the person was living in Canada illegally. REALLY?!

People like that are the very reason why genuine applicants have to suffer and wait for 2 years!

Sorry for the rant...and again, I'm not trying to be unsympathetic to the OP's situation. But I have to be honest...when I read this thread, my first thought was, "How did you just happen to forget to mention the fact that you got married? How is that even possible?!"

OP, I really do sympathize with your situation. But you're sort of between a rock and a hard place right now. Like others have said before me, your best bet is to have your spouse apply under Express Entry (although this may put your own PR in jeopardy for misrepresentation), or give up your PR and start all over again.

 

[immigrationteacher]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

Having the husband apply and qualify independently on economic class is without any legal foundation. When the husband declares himself as married and puts in the name of wife on IMM0008, plus the date of marriage- the inadmissibility of the wife is automatically discovered. Do not forget that once the wife is determined inadmissible, the spouse automatically is. Read IRPA 42 (A)



I always maintain, in my past observations CIC may or may not charge somebody. Read ENF 5 to know when and why officers will choose to charge anybody for inadmissibility report.

Somebody mentioned giving up PR and starting all over. That doesn't cure the inadmissibility. Remember the exclusion order for 5 years ?

But If it happens, the husband is also excluded but for temporary travel he doesn't need (subsection A52(1)), ARC (authorization of an officer) in order to return to Canada [R225]. Also do not forget the benefit of TRP in exceptional situations for husband. This is one.


I do not see any other way than to fight the charge , if laid, in the court. I have great confidence that the fight is winnable.

 

[zardoz]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

Having the husband apply and qualify independently on economic class is without any legal foundation. When the husband declares himself as married and puts in the name of wife on IMM0008, plus the date of marriage- the inadmissibility of the wife is automatically discovered. Do not forget that once the wife is determined inadmissible, the spouse automatically is. Read IRPA 42 (A)



I always maintain, in my past observations CIC may or may not charge somebody. Read ENF 5 to know when and why officers will choose to charge anybody for inadmissibility report.

Somebody mentioned giving up PR and starting all over. That doesn't cure the inadmissibility. Remember the exclusion order for 5 years ?

But If it happens, the husband is also excluded but for temporary travel he doesn't need (subsection A52(1)), ARC (authorization of an officer) in order to return to Canada [R225]. Also do not forget the benefit of TRP in exceptional situations for husband. This is one.


I do not see any other way than to fight the charge , if laid, in the court. I have great confidence that the fight is winnable.

Do not confuse inadmissibility with the 5 years exclusion for misrepresentation. They are not linked.

 

[Ponga]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

I do not see any other way than to fight the charge , if laid, in the court. I have great confidence that the fight is winnable.

How would a lawyer defend someone that blatantly lied like this? What possible defence could there be...especially if there's evidence that the OP was asked, during her landing appointment/interview, if her marital status had changed since submitting the application?

I'd be curious to hear if you think this similar case would also be winnable:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/undeclared-child-what-to-do-t372011.0.html

 

[Rob_TO]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

Having the husband apply and qualify independently on economic class is without any legal foundation. When the husband declares himself as married and puts in the name of wife on IMM0008, plus the date of marriage- the inadmissibility of the wife is automatically discovered. Do not forget that once the wife is determined inadmissible, the spouse automatically is. Read IRPA 42 (A)



I always maintain, in my past observations CIC may or may not charge somebody. Read ENF 5 to know when and why officers will choose to charge anybody for inadmissibility report.

Somebody mentioned giving up PR and starting all over. That doesn't cure the inadmissibility. Remember the exclusion order for 5 years ?

But If it happens, the husband is also excluded but for temporary travel he doesn't need (subsection A52(1)), ARC (authorization of an officer) in order to return to Canada [R225]. Also do not forget the benefit of TRP in exceptional situations for husband. This is one.


I do not see any other way than to fight the charge , if laid, in the court. I have great confidence that the fight is winnable.

I think you are confused. While not declaring a spouse/dependent is a form of misrepresentation, it is not grounds to make the PR suddenly inadmissible. In fact I don't think it's legally possible for someone who is already a PR to be deemed inadmissible, they would need to have their PR status revoked first.

There have been many cases where PRs did not declare spouse/dependents before landing, and then later tried to sponsor them. CIC recognized the non-declaration, and according to the rules deemed the spouse/dependents were not a member of the family class so the sponsorship app was rejected. PRs have then taken this to court with appeals, and in practically all cases the courts also uphold the ruling and the rejection stands.

So even though CIC is well aware of the initial misrepresentation, they practically never actually revoke the PR's status and give them a ban. They usually only do this for more severe cases (such as forging documents or relationship fraud). With non-declaration cases it seems that having your spouse/dependents effectively banned under family class is punishment enough.

If the spouse can qualify to immigrate in one of the economic or other non-family classes, this is what they should be pursuing. They will indicate on their app they are married, and that their spouse is a PR of Canada. It's incredibly unlikely CIC will start to investigate the PR spouse, unless the non-declaration would have made them ineligible for PR in the first place (such as if they were sponsored as a dependent by their parents so would not have been a dependent or qualified for PR if they were married).

And likewise if another immigration stream is not possible, the rule for spouse not being recognized for non-declaration is only under family class applications. Renouncing PR status and re-applying with spouse included this time (and everyone going through medicals), would also work.

 

[keesio]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

you don't tell CIC because you simply didn't think about it, I really don't think it's right for it to fundamentally screw up people's life like this.

The officer doing the landing is supposed ask if there has been a change in your family status since you filed your application. I don't how someone just forget that they got married a month ago.

When my wife landed, they asked her plainly if there has been any change in our family status since the application was filed and even asked us if we were still married or if we had any children.

 

[mikeymyke]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

That's right, I don't know how someone could just conveniently "forget" that they have a spouse or a child. It's one of those things that you should know immediately. Also, they would ask a bunch of questions about your marital status or changes, giving you plenty of chances to declare.

 

[Rob_TO]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

How would a lawyer defend someone that blatantly lied like this? What possible defence could there be...especially if there's evidence that the OP was asked, during her landing appointment/interview, if her marital status had changed since submitting the application?

I'd be curious to hear if you think this similar case would also be winnable:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/undeclared-child-what-to-do-t372011.0.html

Even if the OP wasn't explicitly asked by CBSA, it's still their fault for not informing CIC of the marriage before they landed. The COPR package you get has a document that says you must notify CIC of any change in your status.

So basically there is no defense against this that I know of. To anyone that thinks otherwise, I would ask just 1 case of someone with a successful appeal here for non-declaration of spouse, from the many cases documented on Canlii.

 

[SamHom]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

Even if the OP wasn't explicitly asked by CBSA, it's still their fault for not informing CIC of the marriage before they landed. The COPR package you get has a document that says you must notify CIC of any change in your status.

So basically there is no defense against this that I know of. To anyone that thinks otherwise, I would ask just 1 case of someone with a successful appeal here for non-declaration of spouse, from the many cases documented on Canlii.

The problem is always that CIC won't be specific. For example the website states certain things that you have to contact them about, while most emails says you have to contact them about any change. That's why I got confused if we have to tell them of my wife's new job or that my parents now live at a different address. I was told no on here.

 

[rugrat907]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

The problem is always that CIC won't be specific. For example the website states certain things that you have to contact them about, while most emails says you have to contact them about any change. That's why I got confused if we have to tell them of my wife's new job or that my parents now live at a different address. I was told no on here.

CIC is actually quite clear about this though and it's one of the specific bullet points in much of their documentation and in emails they send - very specific mentions of reporting to CIC if there's been a marriage or divorce.

And the entire purpose of the trip to India was to get married - you just don't "forget" that.

 

[Rob_TO]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

The problem is always that CIC won't be specific. For example the website states certain things that you have to contact them about, while most emails says you have to contact them about any change. That's why I got confused if we have to tell them of my wife's new job or that my parents now live at a different address. I was told no on here.

Employment details and parents address is not information that is stated on the official COPR document you do your PR landing with. But your marital status and if you have any dependents, clearly is stated. Upon landing you also must sign the COPR where it asks you to acknowledge that all the information presented on it is true and accurate.

So really there is no excuse for someone to land with a COPR that clearly states they are single, and then sign that same document stating all the information is true and accurate... when they are in fact married.

Even if the CBSA officer doesn't ask, you are still responsible for reviewing the info on the COPR and signing that it is all true.

 

[MilesAway]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

CIC is crystal clear about any change in family composition. This is taken directly from my wife's PPR:


Change in Family Composition:

You must notify our office in writing if there are or will be changes in your life circumstances before using your visas, such as:

• Family status (e.g. marriage or common-law union, divorce, annulment, legal separation, birth, adoption, death of the sponsor, principal applicant or any accompanying family member); or

• You or any of your family members being charged or convicted of a criminal offence



Failure to inform us of any of these changes may delay processing, may result in the cancellation of your immigrant visas, or may render you and/or your family members inadmissible to Canada. Failure to inform us of dependent family members during your application processing will permanently exclude them from later sponsorship in the Family Class.


I added the part in bold. So it's written clearly here that not telling them will forever exclude their spouse or children, but people continue to lie. And it doesn't say before issuing your visa, but before using your visa. I don't know how much clearer they need to be.

 

[SamHom]

Re: Forgot to notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

CIC is crystal clear about any change in family composition. This is taken directly from my wife's PPR:


Change in Family Composition:

You must notify our office in writing if there are or will be changes in your life circumstances before using your visas, such as:

• Family status (e.g. marriage or common-law union, divorce, annulment, legal separation, birth, adoption, death of the sponsor, principal applicant or any accompanying family member); or

• You or any of your family members being charged or convicted of a criminal offence



Failure to inform us of any of these changes may delay processing, may result in the cancellation of your immigrant visas, or may render you and/or your family members inadmissible to Canada. Failure to inform us of dependent family members during your application processing will permanently exclude them from later sponsorship in the Family Class.


I added the part in bold. So it's written clearly here that not telling them will forever exclude their spouse or children, but people continue to lie. And it doesn't say before issuing your visa, but before using your visa. I don't know how much clearer they need to be.

It's just funny, in this information they are making it clear that you only have to inform them if an accompanying family member dies, while at the website it just says plain and simple "family member".
Life circumstances, how would one even define that lol. It's definitely clear when it comes to marriage and what not but so many other things that aren't.

 

[scylla]

Re:notify CIC about getting married before receiving PR

Thanks everyone for your time and advice.

I never intended to hide my marital status from CIC. I should not have said that I forget to notify but did not know that I have to notify. I misunderstood between CPR and becoming PR. I was under impression that I have to let CIC know about any change before receiving my CPR. I misunderstood that PR landing is actually becoming PR not receiving CPR. I hope you all understand that I was not trying to hide anything.

Thank you All

It's too bad you misunderstood. Unfortunately this doesn't change the answer. You cannot sponsor your spouse.

 

[immigrationteacher]

Most of you are too harsh on Darshana. The max penalty for her mistake is inadmissibility and perhaps (not for sure) loss of PR. If she is penalized for misrep and if the IRB concurs then she loses PR but then loss of PR is not that direct and instantaneous. There are HC factors to be considered. If she loses PR and receive exclusion for misrepresentation for the next 5 years.

I am willing to bet anybody on this forum, lawyer or consultant that she will not lose PR. All she needs is a tenacious lawyer to represent her. We can revisit this forum and stay in touch with Darshana to see what happens.