My wife is here on a temporary residence permit and it is good until December 2018. She is eligible for criminal rehabilitation at the end of October. When she was 18, she shoplifted a $50 shirt in the USA and got caught. She went to court, did not receive jail time or probation or community service but had to pay a $250 dollar fine. She paid it and got a misdemeanour shoplifting charge. We were all ready to submit her PR application before I found out she would probably be rejected due to criminality. So, we applied for a TRP at a border crossing and got it within a week. We were told to come back in October and apply for rehabilitation at the port of entry (it will make 5 years since the crime in October). We were told to bring all documents pertinent to the crime/case.
Now, after asking questions online, I've been told by some people on reddit that it's impossible to apply at the border and that I'll have to apply via mail and it will take over a year to get a response. I'm so sad. We built our lives this past year around the idea that we could apply at the border and get an answer in a month, then apply for PR right after so my wife could officially move here and start her life. Here are some questions:
1) Is it possible to apply at the border or not? Why were we told that this was possible?
2) Can we submit the application for rehabilitation BEFORE October so that we can get a response sooner? I'm assuming they wouldn't even get to the application before October anyway.
3) Is it possible to submit the application for rehabilitation at the same time as the application for spousal sponsorship?
4) If you applied for criminal rehabilitation for a misdemeanour crime in the USA, how long did it take to get an answer?
Now, after asking questions online, I've been told by some people on reddit that it's impossible to apply at the border and that I'll have to apply via mail and it will take over a year to get a response. I'm so sad. We built our lives this past year around the idea that we could apply at the border and get an answer in a month, then apply for PR right after so my wife could officially move here and start her life. Here are some questions:
1) Is it possible to apply at the border or not? Why were we told that this was possible?
2) Can we submit the application for rehabilitation BEFORE October so that we can get a response sooner? I'm assuming they wouldn't even get to the application before October anyway.
3) Is it possible to submit the application for rehabilitation at the same time as the application for spousal sponsorship?
4) If you applied for criminal rehabilitation for a misdemeanour crime in the USA, how long did it take to get an answer?