Immigration sent me someone else's papers to us

[JIM0511]

The CIC wants to know why were late filing my husband's restoration of status. He was denied his restoration of status because of this.

They sent us someone else's personal immigration letter, and not our own, and didn't give us time to file.

 

[addntox]

OK so you filed for restoration of status and it was denied, this was because they sent you someone else's letter and as a result you missed the 90 day cut off for restoration?

did they send you a letter about this that was adressed to you?

What did it say? i can possibly give you some insight here i had to deal with something similar to this in 2005, i was eventually able to get back "in status" but need a bit more information from you

 

[JIM0511]

Ok here's what happened...

My (now) husband came to canada from the US March 2009, our son was born in May. We applied for a visitor extension in late July before his 6 month period was up.
We moved in late October, I had my mail forwarded to the new address, we called the CIC to let them know our new address as we didn't receive any reply to our extension. They wouldn't take our new address down because my husband didn't have his client ID yet, and they wouldn't talk to him about his case. We didn't know his status because no one would tell us, they said to wait for the letter because they couldn't tell us over the phone. My husband kept calling and asking to change his address, and he finally got through to someone (I guess by that time they had processed his request) and they told him his client ID number and took our new address and told him they would forward the letter.

A letter came in late December, the label had my husbands name and address but when we opened the letter, it was addressed to someone else. We then called and they said they would mail out the letter again, by this time we are in mid January, and the letter came (finally).
It said there wasn't enough evidence of a relationship and that the extension was denied. My husband called the CIC to see what he options were to remain in status.

They said that he only had 3 more weeks to file an restoration of status, so we tried are best and rushed to get that paper work together. We were 4 days over our 90 day grace period to have the paperwork in (March 1 we sent it in) It was due by Feb 26 2010). We never heard anything from CIC until June 6 2010, they said they sent our request to the local CIC office in Missisauga, and would have a decision in due course. We received a letter dated July 27, 2010 that he was to leave Canada immediately because they received his restoration of status late.

One big struggle.

Now we have to go to the border and try to enter back into Canada and explain what happened.

 

[iarblue]

You might be out of luck with that choice.The Canadian POE will know he was ordered to leave.They may tell him he has to apply from the US for his PR.Now i know sometimes they dont even check passports of US citizens and that is the chance you will have to take,but just be prepared if they dont let him back in.He might even now have to apply for an ARC.

 

[JIM0511]

Sorry what is ARC?

 

[plumosa]

Authorization to Return to Canada

 

[addntox]

Ok here's what i did, a smilar thing happened to me if you havent filed a PR app yet you need to file it ASAP, you dont need an ARC, he hasnt been issued a removal order he's just been told he had to leave as the restoration of status was denied due to you not meeting the 90 day time limit. Now the tricky part is the border. Take every shred of evidence you have to convince the CBSA agent of your situation. But for me the sticking point was the PR application as at that time we hadnt filed it yet. I was refused entry so i stayed in the states for a couple of weeks and filed the PR application, then came back to the border with proof the PR app had been filed i photocopied everything from the envelopes with the post marks down to every page of the application. I went back to the border again after doing this and they gave me a 12 month visitor record.

You have to be very meticulous with what you do here because as soon as you approach the border they can pull up his file in FOSS and see everything. Complete honesty and disclosure, make sure you have kept the letters, and try to get that PR application in right away if you havent filed yet. Unfortunatly at this point you must do the border crossing if you want him to get back in status. You can file the inland PR app without your husband correcting his status but then you risk a good chance of the application being refered to the local office because of the status problem which can add a year onto the processing time, and he still can be at risk of removal at any time.

 

[JIM0511]

Thank you for your reply. We should file outbound then? They only problem with that is we haven't got the FBI clearance yet, that could take up to 3 or 4 months to get. We do have all the proof it is ready to go, we made copies of everything. I want to file outbound, but inbound we don't have to wait for the FBI clearance. Help!

 

[JIM0511]

Authorization to Return to Canada

My husband is not under deportation order, he just received a letter stating he must leave Canada immediately due to receiving his restoration of status 2 weeks late.

 

[addntox]

Its hard to say what to do. With a US passport its hard to exactly predict what will happen. Its likley that if the CBSA officer swipes the passport and takes a look in FOSS you're going to get a grilling. Make sure you have everything you can to convince the CBSA officer you're doing what you say you're doing, and take evidence of the miscommunication between yourselves and CIC vergreville. 90% of the time they will show a little sympathy where an error has been made on CIC's behalf, the 10% is reserved for the CBSA with a power trip problem. I've had one of those in my time the rest of them have been nice people. If you're filing outl;and, evidence youve sent for the police clearances (registerd mail, recipts for payment etc)

Read the OP manuals on the CIC website for dual intent, to help you better prepare for what they might ask you if you are unlucky and get a grilling. The only 100% thing i can tell you is have everything in order, all your bases covered when you're organised it makes the CBSA aware you are genuinly trying to correct status and not abuse the system.

you should read as a good prep

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/enf/enf04-eng.pdf

 

[AllisonVSC]

Thank you for your reply. We should file outbound then? They only problem with that is we haven't got the FBI clearance yet, that could take up to 3 or 4 months to get. We do have all the proof it is ready to go, we made copies of everything. I want to file outbound, but inbound we don't have to wait for the FBI clearance. Help!

You can file outland even though you haven't received the FBI clearance yet. Just include a note that the fingerprints have been submitted (show proof of receipt from your courier), you understand that current processing times are 3-4 months, and that you will forward the results when received. I am following the outland through Buffalo thread and a number of forum members have done this. You might also start a new thread called "submit Outland Buffalo w/o FBI clearance?" or something similar and the people who have done this will give you advice/reassurance.


Whatever you decide regarding processing, I think you should go ahead and pay all your application fees and keep copies of the receipt. I think addntox has given you good advice about getting prepared for crossing the border if eventually that is what you decide you need to do. I think you and your child should go with him too. That you should explain the situation about how he ended up out of status (like you explained here and bring the proof, hopefully you kept that first letter and the reason for refusal letter and the change of address as proof that you moved during processing of his extension and whatever other proof of this timeline), explain your working dilemma (show proof of income) and not having affordable child care options if he is not able to be in Canada during processing, and all the proof that you have applied outland as addntox described.

I'm not sure how this would all play out if you went to the border with all that stuff and an inland app in process. I suspect they would recognize that he needs to be in Canada for the processing to continue, and thus I hope would have more sympathy for your situation, but even as I type that I think they won't care. But if you did file inland went to the border and weren't able to get him back into Canada, then when you cancel your inland app you only lose the $75 application fee, right?

Good luck with getting this all straightened out. Allison

 

[JIM0511]

Thanks for all of your input. We will be heading to the border next week before the 30 days is up, we will file outbound like you all suggested and print off every shred of evidence we have along with the FBI receipt and hope for the best.

Any other ideas or thoughts

Thanks! Good luck to you all.

 

[plumosa]

in addition to what addintox said, I would bring proof of funds and health insurance for at least six months as well. This will make things go much more smoothly at the border!

 

[addntox]

Yes this is true, usually spousal details of bank account / employment are enough to satisfy you will be supported during your stay in canada. I was never asked for health insurance, but it wouldnt hurt to get some just incase they ask, i have read of forum posts where people have been asked for it. Inlude statement for last 3 months as proof of funds.

Interesting you got a similar refusal to mine, mine said not fmaily ties to canada...i guess wife and 2 kids isnt ties enough. CBSA later told me this is because by that time they expect you to have filed the PR application and the refusal was more than likley because you havent yet filed. Needless to say in our case it worked we got our buts into gear and filed. It took 5 years to process LOL but at least it was done.

 

[JIM0511]

5 years????? Wow, did you file inland? I hope we don't have to wait 5 years, I need him to be able to work like - yesterday lol

I have a good job, but not a lot of money in the bank. I don't know how much money they expect us to have. We have a joint account here in Canada too.