Help please

[makisabrina]

Hello

My husband applied for permanent residence through skilled worker problem in 2012.
His application was approved in march 2013. We met, fell in love and got married in July 2013 before he travelled in August.
He has been travelling back and fort to visit me in Africa. Last year, I applied for visit visa to come visit him and I got the visa.

We are currently in Canada. He wanted to apply for me to remain in Canada but he did not change his status to married.

We are hearing they might revoke his PR for misrepresentation.
It was just an honest mistake.
He did not know he was to declare change in status.

We have 2 children together. They are with me in Canada.

What can we do to remain in Canada legally?

Please help us with honest solutions


Thank you

 

[zardoz]

Hello

My husband applied for permanent residence through skilled worker problem in 2012.
His application was approved in march 2013. We met, fell in love and got married in July 2013 before he travelled in August.
He has been travelling back and fort to visit me in Africa. Last year, I applied for visit visa to come visit him and I got the visa.

We are currently in Canada. He wanted to apply for me to remain in Canada but he did not change his status to married.

We are hearing they might revoke his PR for misrepresentation.
It was just an honest mistake.
He did not know he was to declare change in status.

We have 2 children together. They are with me in Canada.

What can we do to remain in Canada legally?

Please help us with honest solutions


Thank you

Assuming that you are now excluded from being sponsored as a member of the Family Class under the IRPR 117(9)(d) "http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor-2002-227/section-117.html", you will need to qualify for permanent residence in your own right. The options available are described on the IRCC Web Site. This is regardless of his PR being revoked for misrepresentation or not.

 

[Leon]

True. Mistake or not, immigration notifies applicants that they need to inform the visa office immediately if there is a change in their family composition. Your husband was single when he applied. He got his visa as a single person. He should have notified immigration when he married and had you added to his application. You would have had to pass background checks and medicals and you would have gotten your visas together.

Now, he did not do that so he is guilty of having misrepresented himself when he landed while married on a visa that said he is single. If he tries to sponsor you and admits that you got married before he landed, immigration will know that he misrepresented himself. They could revoke his PR and they will certainly never allow him to sponsor you. He could however sponsor your children as long as they were born after he got his PR.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hello

My husband applied for permanent residence through skilled worker problem in 2012.
His application was approved in march 2013. We met, fell in love and got married in July 2013 before he travelled in August.
He has been travelling back and fort to visit me in Africa. Last year, I applied for visit visa to come visit him and I got the visa.

We are currently in Canada. He wanted to apply for me to remain in Canada but he did not change his status to married.

We are hearing they might revoke his PR for misrepresentation.
It was just an honest mistake.
He did not know he was to declare change in status.

We have 2 children together. They are with me in Canada.

What can we do to remain in Canada legally?

Please help us with honest solutions


Thank you

As mentioned, he can never sponsor you for PR under family class. So basically you have only 2 options:
1. You immigrate to Canada independently, if you qualify under one of the current immigration streams.
2. He renounces his PR status, and tries to apply again from scratch under one of the current immigration streams but this time including you in his application. Of course once he renounces PR, he'll need to stop working immediately and may need to leave Canada until he can get PR again. There's a risk on any new application, CIC may consider the previous misrepresentation in a negative way, nobody knows.

 

[martha1901]

Get a good immigration lawyer. From what you said you fell in love and got married after his PR got approved, as well as his been travelling in and out of Canada and only recently you joined him here in Canada, I could see that as an honest mistake and him not totally understanding the significance of disclosing that to CIC. It could be a case of lack of understanding from his part about the system and who knows it might be considered for compassionate grounds especially that there are young kids involved. Again I am not expert on this, I strongly advised for a good lawyer.

Good luck.

 

[Rob_TO]

Get a good immigration lawyer. From what you said you fell in love and got married after his PR got approved, as well as his been travelling in and out of Canada and only recently you joined him here in Canada, I could see that as an honest mistake and him not totally understanding the significance of disclosing that to CIC. It could be a case of lack of understanding from his part about the system and who knows it might be considered for compassionate grounds especially that there are young kids involved. Again I am not expert on this, I strongly advised for a good lawyer.

Good luck.

A lawyer can't do anything and would basically be a big waste of money. There have been countless cases of this, all with the same result. Any lawyer who even takes this case without warning her upfront it's a practically guaranteed refusal in the end, is a bad lawyer just looking for a quick buck.

 

[martha1901]

A lawyer can't do anything and would basically be a big waste of money. There have been countless cases of this, all with the same result. Any lawyer who even takes this case without warning her upfront it's a practically guaranteed refusal in the end, is a bad lawyer just looking for a quick buck.

It's best for them to seek legal or expert advised given their case. They have to be well informed before making that big decision. I understand each case is different, we don't know the exact story, most likely there's more to the story that could be a good ground for consideration. If truly that's an honest mistake you have to explore all options to keep your family together.

 

[Rob_TO]

It's best for them to seek legal or expert advised given their case. They have to be well informed before making that big decision. I understand each case is different, we don't know the exact story, most likely there's more to the story that could be a good ground for consideration. If truly that's an honest mistake you have to explore all options to keep your family together.

Doesn't matter if honest mistake or not, the rules are firm. If you don't declare a spouse, they can never be sponsored. End of story. Go read the hundreds of cases on Canlii of this rule and how all of them end regardless of the intentions.

Lots of lawyers out there give bad advice. Others take cases that are doomed to fail just to collect the payment. Any lawyer that gives the OP any hope their case would be successful, is one of these lawyers.

Sure they can seek legal advice, but what they need to know is that any lawyer who is not completely honest with them upfront that their case has practically no chance at all of succeeding, is not a good or honest lawyer.

 

[Leon]

Agreed, the rules are firm. CIC has been very unforgiving in these situations in the past. People who have forgotten to declare a new baby for example have lost their PR over it.

Basically they feel that they warn you beforehand to let them know immediately if your family situation changes before you land. They see this as enough warning for you not to do this. They will not accept that is could have been a mistake.

 

[makisabrina]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I feel so depressed

 

[scylla]

You will need to start looking into options for immigrating to Canada independently (on your own) - for example as a skilled worker through Express Entry. Alternatively, your husband can give up his PR status, return home and apply for PR from scratch - this time including you and your children in the application.

 

[dania12]

I am currently living in Canada on PR with my 7 months baby who is born in Canada. I became on PR on Aug 4 2013.My husband in pakistan. I wana ask can I go and live my husband in Pakistan.. is there any way for the extension of PR period? Can I contact CIC. Will they allow me to live one or two years in Pakistan then I continue here? My husband cant come here bcz he is government Officer and he have taken resign but still it is in process. And its really difficult for me to live here.

 

[Leon]

I am currently living in Canada on PR with my 7 months baby who is born in Canada. I became on PR on Aug 4 2013.My husband in pakistan. I wana ask can I go and live my husband in Pakistan.. is there any way for the extension of PR period? Can I contact CIC. Will they allow me to live one or two years in Pakistan then I continue here? My husband cant come here bcz he is government Officer and he have taken resign but still it is in process. And its really difficult for me to live here.

As a PR, you must spend at least 730 days (2 years) in Canada every 5 years. It does not have to be an unbroken period, it can also be accumulated. If you have been living in Canada for the past 2 years, you would be safe to leave for up to 3 years. If you have been visiting your husband in the past 2 years, you would have to subtract that time from the 3 years. Say if you visited him for total 2 months in the past 2 years, you may spend up to 2 years and 10 months outside Canada and you would still meet the residency obligation. However, it would be smart not to leave it until the last day. For example, your PR card is probably valid until 2018. To avoid problems in the future, you should return to Canada before it expires and stay for a few months while you renew it. However, keep in mind that the residency obligation is not tied to the PR card period. Once you have been a PR for 5 years, you always have to be able to look back at the past 5 years and say that you have spent 730 days in Canada.

Another option would be to stick it out for a little longer and get citizenship yourself. The government is planning to change the citizenship law again and only require 3 years residency. You almost have that. You would have to apply and best to wait until you get it and once you get it, you remain a citizen forever, even if you leave.