Misrepresentation by new PR not declaring their new marital status.

[jomz]

I've been doing some research to find out if IRB really pursues misrepresentation by someone who landed and did not declare their spouse. I haven't come across many cases yet, reason may be that canlii does not contain all cases or even all appeals. But here is one which is fairly straightforward.

https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/irb/doc/2012/2012canlii99673/2012canlii99673.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAQQWxnZXJpYSBtYXJyaWFnZQAAAAAB&resultIndex=46

 

[therat]

I have been wondering about this. I realize the case you posted is about Muslim customary marriage. But for anyone in general, let's assume you got married and for whatever reason you did not declare your spouse before landing (there can actually be very practical reasons for this). Then, let's say a year or 2 later, you want to sponsor your spouse to become a PR as well. Of course at this point, it's clearly not a good idea to disclose that you have been married before you landed. But in my opinion, there is an easy way out of this pickle: just go get another marriage certificate. Many countries (US for example) don't check between states (or maybe even cities) whether someone was married already. Or just go to another country, even Canada, and get a marriage certificate. Who can know that you were married already before landing? I would think people who are in this situation just do this sort of thing to avoid any inquiry, so there wouldn't be many cases to begin with. It's a stupid rule to me anyhow I have to say.

 

[MilesAway]

So you are suggesting that people lie? CIC does their own checks and can find out if a person has been married before. There was a case where the sponsor did not disclose a marriage that had been done according to tradition and not registered. CIC found out and refused the application.

The rule is in place to prevent people from getting around the inadmissibility issue. If their spouse or children are not medically admissible, they would be able to not declare them, and then sponsor them later when they are excessive demand exempt. That is why the rule is there.

 

[scylla]

I have been wondering about this. I realize the case you posted is about Muslim customary marriage. But for anyone in general, let's assume you got married and for whatever reason you did not declare your spouse before landing (there can actually be very practical reasons for this). Then, let's say a year or 2 later, you want to sponsor your spouse to become a PR as well. Of course at this point, it's clearly not a good idea to disclose that you have been married before you landed. But in my opinion, there is an easy way out of this pickle: just go get another marriage certificate. Many countries (US for example) don't check between states (or maybe even cities) whether someone was married already. Or just go to another country, even Canada, and get a marriage certificate. Who can know that you were married already before landing? I would think people who are in this situation just do this sort of thing to avoid any inquiry, so there wouldn't be many cases to begin with. It's a stupid rule to me anyhow I have to say.

The second marriage may be picked up during the background check process (certainly a very high chance if you're from a country like the US). Then you'd be looking at a refused spousal sponsorship application, probably a ban of 5 years for misrepresentation and no possibility of sponsoring the spouse in the future. With that amount of lying in the spousal application, it's quite possible CIC may then go after the main applicant for misrepresentation at landing, revoke PR and send you home. (Just because you've landed doesn't mean your PR is safe. CIC can revoke your status at any time in the future if there is reason to.)

While you may believe there are practical reasons for not disclosing a spouse before landing - it's illegal (i.e. against the law). The fact you think it's a stupid rule simply shows you don't understand why this rule is in place (there are very logical and practical reasons).

I see you have recently received your COPR. If you have an undeclared spouse, declare them before landing unless you want to screw up your life.

 

[phamhainguyen68]

Hi everyone,

I would like to share my own situation regarding to this matter.

Short version: We (my wife and I) did hold engagement and wedding ceremony before I landed in Canada and retrieved my PR status. Upon arrival, I declared I was single. After that, I went back to my home country, signed the marriage certificated with her. Then I moved back to Canada, settled down here (i.e. finding job, buying house) and applied the sponsorship application for my wife. In the application, we DID proactively disclose everything and explain why we had done in that way. At the moment, our application is Approved for SA and In process for PA.

Long version

• Back in mid 2012, we decided to get married by the end of the year. At that time, I had been under sponsorship application (in which my step-father sponsored my mother and myself as a dependent child) for nearly 3 years. We were tired of waiting, because we had been dating since 2006. And 2012 is a perfect year for our age to get married, according to Lunar calendar. In our home country (Vietnam), choosing a date in Lunar calendar to hold the wedding ceremony is utmost important.

• Before engagement day, my mother got mail from CIC that she would be having an interview in November. The interview went well and the application got approved in early 2013. At the time we knew the interview went well and we would have the VISA sooner or later, we were really confused. Should we postpone the wedding? We had prepared everything, sent out the invitation already.

• Then we studied the laws and rules very carefully. CIC considers spouse is a legal marriage partner in both original country and Canada. And in Vietnam, the law accepts legal marriage only after the marriage certificate is signed by both parties (husband and wife). We do not have such things like common-law couple, conjugal couple or already-had-wedding-ceremony couple in our law system.

• With that in mind, and giving the fact that we had prepared everything for the ceremonies, and everyone was still in one city, one country, we keep following the plan. But we would not sign the certificate, not before I got the PR status in Canada.

• When we sent the application to CIC to sponsor my wife, we have disclosed all the fact and explained why we had to do that (like I explained above).

Hopefully our application would go well without any issue.

 

[Ponga]

Hi everyone,

I would like to share my own situation regarding to this matter.

Short version: We (my wife and I) did hold engagement and wedding ceremony before I landed in Canada and retrieved my PR status. Upon arrival, I declared I was single. After that, I went back to my home country, signed the marriage certificated with her. Then I moved back to Canada, settled down here (i.e. finding job, buying house) and applied the sponsorship application for my wife. In the application, we DID proactively disclose everything and explain why we had done in that way. At the moment, our application is Approved for SA and In process for PA.

Long version

• Back in mid 2012, we decided to get married by the end of the year. At that time, I had been under sponsorship application (in which my step-father sponsored my mother and myself as a dependent child) for nearly 3 years. We were tired of waiting, because we had been dating since 2006. And 2012 is a perfect year for our age to get married, according to Lunar calendar. In our home country (Vietnam), choosing a date in Lunar calendar to hold the wedding ceremony is utmost important.

• Before engagement day, my mother got mail from CIC that she would be having an interview in November. The interview went well and the application got approved in early 2013. At the time we knew the interview went well and we would have the VISA sooner or later, we were really confused. Should we postpone the wedding? We had prepared everything, sent out the invitation already.

• Then we studied the laws and rules very carefully. CIC considers spouse is a legal marriage partner in both original country and Canada. And in Vietnam, the law accepts legal marriage only after the marriage certificate is signed by both parties (husband and wife). We do not have such things like common-law couple, conjugal couple or already-had-wedding-ceremony couple in our law system.

• With that in mind, and giving the fact that we had prepared everything for the ceremonies, and everyone was still in one city, one country, we keep following the plan. But we would not sign the certificate, not before I got the PR status in Canada.

• When we sent the application to CIC to sponsor my wife, we have disclosed all the fact and explained why we had to do that (like I explained above).

Hopefully our application would go well without any issue.

Even though Common-Law is not recognized in your country, did you and your wife at any time live together for 12 consecutive months before you became a PR?

 

[phamhainguyen68]

Even though Common-Law is not recognized in your country, did you and your wife at any time live together for 12 consecutive months before you became a PR?

Hi Ponga,

Strictly speaking, we did not. My wife moved in on Nov 25th, 2012, and I landed Canada on Nov 19th, 2013.

 

[Ponga]

Hi Ponga,

Strictly speaking, we did not. My wife moved in on Nov 25th, 2012, and I landed Canada on Nov 19th, 2013.

That's good...because if you had, it would be devastating to her application.

 

[phamhainguyen68]

That's good...because if you had, it would be devastating to her application.

Thank you for your information, Ponga.

To be honest, I am not a guy who would take any risk. I am kind a a by-the-book one. However, we really wanted to get married (just not legal one ) at that time. Moreover, after she moved in, my company in Vietnam assigned me to a very long project in Singapore. So effectively, the time we spent together in 2012-2013 was only a few months. That was why I took another risk by landing Canada right before 365-day mark.