Immigration & Disability

[luckyhirang]

Would like to ask your insight regarding Immigration & Disability. I have two queries/scenarios that need enlightenment:
1. My fiance is a natural born Canadian and he is in ODSP. We are in 6.5 years relationship and we are planning to get married early next year. Once we got married and would sponsor me and while on going process of spouse sponsorship, would he be able to still continue receiving his ODSP despite being married? Or granted, once spouse sponsorship is approved that's the only time he will inform ODSP of being married? Would there be a way that ODSP will find out that my fiance is already married and receiving ODSP as single?Would need your valuable insight on this?
2. Once we got married and would process spouse sponsorship application, what are the chances that my case as a spouse is denied? I have a congenital left amputee-below the knee; I have a prosthesis since 5 years old but my disability is never become a hindrance because after my college graduation I was immediately got an employment and until now I am working as a IT Project Management & IT Transformation Consultant in an IT provider in the Philippines. The query is: would there be possibility that the spousal sponsorship will be denied due to my disability even I will have a proof that I am employed since 1998 to present? Your insight is highly appreciated.

Appreciate your insights to my queries.

Thanks and best regards,
Lucky
Maria Lucky V. Hirang

 

[JulianaAndrew]

The query is: would there be possibility that the spousal sponsorship will be denied due to my disability even I will have a proof that I am employed since 1998 to present?

Absolutely not. The application cannot be refused because of your disability, as the sponsored persons from spousal sponsorship are exempt of the excessive demand rule. No need to worry about this one at all.

 

[luckyhirang]

Absolutely not. The application cannot be refused because of your disability, as the sponsored persons from spousal sponsorship are exempt of the excessive demand rule. No need to worry about this one at all.

Thank you Ms. JulianaAndrew for your prompt reply.

 

[scylla]

Would like to ask your insight regarding Immigration & Disability. I have two queries/scenarios that need enlightenment:
1. My fiance is a natural born Canadian and he is in ODSP. We are in 6.5 years relationship and we are planning to get married early next year. Once we got married and would sponsor me and while on going process of spouse sponsorship, would he be able to still continue receiving his ODSP despite being married? Or granted, once spouse sponsorship is approved that's the only time he will inform ODSP of being married? Would there be a way that ODSP will find out that my fiance is already married and receiving ODSP as single?Would need your valuable insight on this?
2. Once we got married and would process spouse sponsorship application, what are the chances that my case as a spouse is denied? I have a congenital left amputee-below the knee; I have a prosthesis since 5 years old but my disability is never become a hindrance because after my college graduation I was immediately got an employment and until now I am working as a IT Project Management & IT Transformation Consultant in an IT provider in the Philippines. The query is: would there be possibility that the spousal sponsorship will be denied due to my disability even I will have a proof that I am employed since 1998 to present? Your insight is highly appreciated.

Appreciate your insights to my queries.

Thanks and best regards,
Lucky
Maria Lucky V. Hirang

Your case is not quite as straight forward as the poster above would indicate. I do think you will be approved, provided you put together a strong application and address key issues up front.

It's correct that you cannot be refused due to your disability. It's also accurate that there are no income requirements to sponsor a spouse. Having said that, we have seen a number of refusals here over the years in situations where the sponsoring spouse was on ODSP and CIC had concerns the applicant would end up requiring financial support as well. So it's absolutely possible for a spousal sponsorship application to be refused for financial reasons.

Your application is at risk for this happening since your spouse is on ODSP and you yourself are disabled (or some might classify you that way). The very good news is that you have been working for two decades now - this will server as very strong evidence that you plan to work once in Canada as well. In your application, I would very strongly recommend that you provide tax returns, income slips and a letter from your employer to prove your employment in your home country. I would also recommend you include a write up somewhere in your application stating that you have every plan to continue working in your profession once in Canada and have already started researching potential employers.

If you do this - I don't see any issues.

 

[luckyhirang]

Your case is not quite as straight forward as the poster above would indicate. I do think you will be approved, provided you put together a strong application and address key issues up front.

It's correct that you cannot be refused due to your disability. It's also accurate that there are no income requirements to sponsor a spouse. Having said that, we have seen a number of refusals here over the years in situations where the sponsoring spouse was on ODSP and CIC had concerns the applicant would end up requiring financial support as well. So it's absolutely possible for a spousal sponsorship application to be refused for financial reasons.

Your application is at risk for this happening since your spouse is on ODSP and you yourself are disabled (or some might classify you that way). The very good news is that you have been working for two decades now - this will server as very strong evidence that you plan to work once in Canada as well. In your application, I would very strongly recommend that you provide tax returns, income slips and a letter from your employer to prove your employment in your home country. I would also recommend you include a write up somewhere in your application stating that you have every plan to continue working in your profession once in Canada and have already started researching potential employers.

If you do this - I don't see any issues.

Thanks for your reply scylla. Yes, I would provide such documents as proof of my employment, also I would provide a financial plan which I would attach in the requirements as well.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your reply scylla. Yes, I would provide such documents as proof of my employment, also I would provide a financial plan which I would attach in the requirements as well.

Sounds like you're good.

 

[luckyhirang]

Hi Scylla,

I really appreciate your time replying to my queries. I’ve been exhaustively researching regarding the Spousal Sponsorship under Family Class Sponsorship. I am really thankful and grateful to this forum because since day one of my research, I have found very comprehensive and very helpful information.

I am almost done with my research but again, I was confused with some details of me and my fiancé’s situation. We are both frustrated with what we have read while we know that spousal relationship applications are case to case and depending of the supporting documents presented to the immigration officer. Actually, we are already confused, very nervous, getting hopeless due to many questions we usually asks for ourselves and that we don’t know yet the answers. Here is our whole story so that you would be able to fully understand where will our doubts and questions are coming:

We met online in 2011. We are 6 years and 8 mos. relationship as bf/gf to be exact. He is 10 years older than me, he is 50 y.o. and I am 40 y.o. We are both Roman Catholic and we are both single. I am from the Philippines.

Frequency of our conversation:
We usually talk twice a day everyday maximum of 2 hours. We also exchange messages aside calls. He already came to visit me three times (years 2014, 2015 & 2016). He wasn’t able to visit this year because we plan to get married early next year (March 2018) and he should save funds for it too. Also, we are gathering all documents in support for our Spousal Sponsorship Application.

It would have been perfect however there are circumstances that we see CIC might refuse our Spousal Application. Hereunder are the concerns/circumstances:

1. My fiancé is receiving ODSP, he is unable to work due to different injuries from his shoulders and knees. This hinders him from working. My fiancé has his own house and living by himself. My fiancé is already firmed decision of going out of ODSP once he will be going to the Philippines for the wedding.

2. I have disability (Congenital left foot amputee- below the knee or transtibial)

Let me explain each circumstance:

For No. 1:
As you also said and we know that ODSP is not a welfare, and it wouldn’t hinder sponsor to apply for sponsorship however, based on the experiences of the people here in the forum, almost all who are in ODSP that applied for sponsorship were denied and they also have undergoing appeal. Some are luckily approved their spousal application.

He is planning to sell his house and will be moving to New Brunswick to his parents before going to the Philippines for the wedding. Moreover, he is also planning to buy a house for us after he get back to Canada after the wedding. From there he will apply for outbound Spousal Sponsorship.

Queries:
Would CIC going to question the proof of his income after he would be out of ODSP? Would CIC ask his bank account and other supporting documents knowing that he is previously an ODSP recipient or Would he be refused of his Spousal Sponsorship due to his being recipient of ODSP? (He is already planning to go out of ODSP before going to the Philippines of the wedding next year).

For No. 2:
I have left foot amputee since birth and I am using a modular artificial leg. However, my disability is not a hindrance because after graduating in the university I was already working as a Training Consultant and Project Management/IT Practitioner since 1998 to present (Employed in different companies since 1998 to present).

Queries:
Would CIC refuse my application as a principal applicant (AP) due to my disability? What would be the requirements that I will prepare as supporting documents? (Employment history & certificates), what more?

We are worried and concerned regarding the aforementioned. You might be wondering why we just decide to get married all this time. To mention, we had bad experience regarding processing thru consultancy in 2012-2013, we were scammed. We want to be together soon that we got a consultancy to fix the processing but nothing was processed, they took a big bucks of money from us instead. On 2014, I was planned to apply for a TRV/tourist visa however, I didn’t continue the processing because we planned to get married instead. We moved the plan of getting married because we learned that having an ODSP recipient, it has a great effect on the amount he received monthly. Also,we learned that I would be included in the ODSP even I am not in Canada yet. Having an ODSP recipient takes a toll on us. it is difficult for both of us if we would be under ODSP, thus we agreed to research on what is the best option.

Unfortunately, after 2 years of researching we already talked about getting married because it’s been too long that we are far apart from each other and it’s so difficult being in a long distance relationship. We want to be together to start a family together.

We want to present to CIC our Spousal application in a way that they will consider the same and will be approved. However, we are just worried and have asked ourselves too many questions that we almost do not want to continue the application no more. More so, my fiancé decided to go out on ODSP soon, and that is a big sacrifice on his part. I really don’t want him to do that but if we would not take the risk what happen to our relationship? Where will our relationship go?

Would like to know your insight or take on our situation. Please kindly enlighten us.

Thanks and best regards,
Lucky
Maria Lucky V. Hirang

 

[canuck78]

Very lucky that your fiancee was able to afford to go to the Phillipines and be able to travel while being on ODSP. I don't qualify yet I can't even make it down the street most days. If your fiance sells his house he will most likely have too much money to qualify for ODSP so he will have no choice but to go off ODSP. I am assuming he won't take a loss on the house.

 

[luckyhirang]

Very lucky that your fiancee was able to afford to go to the Phillipines and be able to travel while being on ODSP. I don't qualify yet I can't even make it down the street most days. If your fiance sells his house he will most likely have too much money to qualify for ODSP so he will have no choice but to go off ODSP. I am assuming he won't take a loss on the house.

Hi Canuck78,
You mean you are not qualified on ODSP currently? Why? what did they say?
Lucky? well, if you call it that way, but he was so tight with his budget just to visit me. He never even go out to buy some basic commodities for him because it is expensive. He sacrifice a lot for his wanting to visit and be with me even just for a week.

He was responsible for his plane ticket while I am responsible for his accommodation. I have my own flat so its not really a problem for his accommodation and every time we go somewhere else we shared with the expenses.

He is really decided to go out of ODSP soon so that we would start the Sponsorship processing after the wedding and in parallel to which, he will sell the house and move closely to his parents in New Brunswick. I am praying too that he wont take a loss on the house.

 

[canuck78]

Unless he lives in a remote/small community he likely will make a profit which will likely make him ineligible for support. The housing prices in NB are much lower allowing him to end up ahead in the end.

 

[luckyhirang]

Unless he lives in a remote/small community he likely will make a profit which will likely make him ineligible for support. The housing prices in NB are much lower allowing him to end up ahead in the end.

That's true. That is actually the plan, to move back to NB or parts of NB so that houses cost is much lower compared to Ontario. But the question is, would not be CIC question him regarding his previous income? Because in the IMM5532E application form there is a question of Sponsor's employment history over the past five years. He had jobs before however, it was all freelance and then when he became an ODSP recipient that's the only time he stopped working freelance. Would he state that he is in ODSP for year so and so then, next year it would be his income say selling the house?

Appreciate your prompt reply. Greatly appreciate it.