When I first joined the forum, this is the question I wanted to ask. I saw that others had asked it but the answer was either vague or never answered to my satisfaction.
I am writing this thread, not to ask the question myself but to answer the question for anyone who needs the answer in future.
Please note that this is NOT legal advice and I am NOT qualified to answer any follow up questions.
This thread will ONLY detail my personal experience from start to finish and can not cater to your specific situation.
With all that said; I wish to share my experience to provide some insight and hope.
Conventional wisdom says the answer is no. My experience says;
The answer is Maybe.
------------------------------------------
Background
My wife is a Canadian permanent resident. She had lived there since she was 2 but came to live in the UK with me, 6 years ago. For all intents and purposes, she no longer met the requirements to maintain her permanent residence but was able to renew this on compassionate grounds (Being separated from family by not having residence etc).
I applied for FSW - Outland.
My CRS breakdown was as follows
CRS – Human Capital – Age 105
CRS – Human Capital – Level of Education 120
CRS – Human Capital – First Official Language Proficiency 133
CRS – Skill Transferability – Education 25
CRS – Skill Transferability – Foreign Work Experience 50
CRS – Additional – PR or Canadian Sibling 15
Your overall points score
448
At the time of my Invite to apply, the threshold CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 445
So as you can see, Every point I claimed was absolutely necessary and in fact, I have since had my birthday. My score is now 443.
Now as you can see from my CRS, the Invite to apply was sent to me based on a score that has Permanent resident or canadian sibling points. I do not, myself, have direct blood family in Canada. So how can this be?
I will detail below, the steps that I took. What happened and the results of this process. If you have questions about what I did. I'll do my best to answer. I can not tell you what you should do.
--------------------------------
My wife is a permanent resident of Canada. She lives in the UK with me.
When I applied, I listed her as accompanying me. I also filled the options indicating she is a permanent resident of Canada. This meant that when the application section for personal family information was reached, I had the option to indicate her brother lived in Canada and also providing his information.
This got me the ITA on December 12th. I applied on December 19th and got my AOR then.
When it came to applying, I had to provide evidence for everything including my wife's permanent residence, her relationship to her brother (birth certificates for both), his residence in Canada etc. All the things you'd expect.
As a natural part of our application, I also provided our marriage certificate which includes my Wife's Father's name by law.
So they now have paperwork indicating;
I am married to my wife
Her brother (same parents) is a citizen of Canada and lives in Canada.
Application submitted!
I paid up front for an application for TWO people.
When I was finally given the "real" UCI, (i.e. the first update after R10 is complete). I noticed, IMMMEDIATELY that my wife had been removed from the application. Checked my bank card and the payment for her half of all fees had been refunded.
This is normal. Due to duty of care, IRCC is obligated not to repeat work etc.
It was still a little worrying. Now that my wife is removed; Has her brother been removed too? If so, my application has just lost 15 points! My score is now 428! Well below the threshold number.
Concerned; I called IRCC. Checked why she was removed (She's a PR. They don't need to re-process her). The person on the phone confirmed, obviously he could not make a decision/call but "He's your family too, right? It stands to reason." We joked about how I hope the primary officer feels the same way.
Nerves not withstanding, I left it as is.
No updates for 4 months. 28 days until the 6 month mark and I get an Additional Document Request. They want "Additional family information". This form just wants me to list who i'm married to, who my parents are. Who my siblings are. Where everyone lives.
"Oh no. This is it. They're going to see I don't have relatives in Canada and reject my application." I'm thinking.
I have 7 days to fill the form. It's 1am and I know i'm not going to sleep until it's done. So I fill the form (Don't do this. Looking at what I submitted I'm amazed they accepted it. It's full of typos and just...wow. Not great.).
I get to siblings and I think "Okay, look. If it was your parents who got married and they had children from unrelated marriages, you'd be allowed to write those kids in as "step sibling" and claim their living in Canada as your right to points. Why should it be different to write "Brother in law" when it's clear he is your wife's brother?"
So I did! I gave my wife's full name (unchanged) in the married to section and I listed her brother as my sibling on this additional document request for more family information. I wrote he is my brother in law. I wrote his full address (In Canada).
[It is my belief that this ADR was the agent thinking 'I can not see how they have claimed these points' and seeking further information. I believe that I was right to do this.]
The next day, the online portal showed the documents are being processed. The day after I get a ghost update and I call IRCC. For the first time since February when I submitted my Biometrics, there has been movement on my file. Eligibility now marked as Pass.
Relief. No other words for it.
1am GMT, close of business Monday 27th in Canada, I get the Ready for Visa email.
-------------------------------------------------
So; Can you claim points for family who are the siblings of your Married partner? Conventional wisdom says no. My experience says yes.
If I had to guess, I feel the below factors were why this was successful.
1. Married "In attendance".
2. Applied as Spouse accompanying and paid for both
3. Step 2 allowed me to provide full documentation for my brother in law as part of the application.
4. I listed my Brother in law under siblings AS my brother in law and it is clear he and my wife have the same last name and all associated documentation indicates they are related.
Perhaps its situational. Maybe I got lucky.
But if I got lucky. Who's to say you won't? Don't take anyone who tells you it can't be done at face value. If a reasonable and rational person who wants to help could read your explanation or application and say "Yes, this makes sense to me." Then in my opinion, you have a chance.
Best of luck to anyone in a similar experience. See you all on the other side.
I am writing this thread, not to ask the question myself but to answer the question for anyone who needs the answer in future.
Please note that this is NOT legal advice and I am NOT qualified to answer any follow up questions.
This thread will ONLY detail my personal experience from start to finish and can not cater to your specific situation.
With all that said; I wish to share my experience to provide some insight and hope.
Conventional wisdom says the answer is no. My experience says;
The answer is Maybe.
------------------------------------------
Background
My wife is a Canadian permanent resident. She had lived there since she was 2 but came to live in the UK with me, 6 years ago. For all intents and purposes, she no longer met the requirements to maintain her permanent residence but was able to renew this on compassionate grounds (Being separated from family by not having residence etc).
I applied for FSW - Outland.
My CRS breakdown was as follows
CRS – Human Capital – Age 105
CRS – Human Capital – Level of Education 120
CRS – Human Capital – First Official Language Proficiency 133
CRS – Skill Transferability – Education 25
CRS – Skill Transferability – Foreign Work Experience 50
CRS – Additional – PR or Canadian Sibling 15
Your overall points score
448
At the time of my Invite to apply, the threshold CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 445
So as you can see, Every point I claimed was absolutely necessary and in fact, I have since had my birthday. My score is now 443.
Now as you can see from my CRS, the Invite to apply was sent to me based on a score that has Permanent resident or canadian sibling points. I do not, myself, have direct blood family in Canada. So how can this be?
I will detail below, the steps that I took. What happened and the results of this process. If you have questions about what I did. I'll do my best to answer. I can not tell you what you should do.
--------------------------------
My wife is a permanent resident of Canada. She lives in the UK with me.
When I applied, I listed her as accompanying me. I also filled the options indicating she is a permanent resident of Canada. This meant that when the application section for personal family information was reached, I had the option to indicate her brother lived in Canada and also providing his information.
This got me the ITA on December 12th. I applied on December 19th and got my AOR then.
When it came to applying, I had to provide evidence for everything including my wife's permanent residence, her relationship to her brother (birth certificates for both), his residence in Canada etc. All the things you'd expect.
As a natural part of our application, I also provided our marriage certificate which includes my Wife's Father's name by law.
So they now have paperwork indicating;
I am married to my wife
Her brother (same parents) is a citizen of Canada and lives in Canada.
Application submitted!
I paid up front for an application for TWO people.
When I was finally given the "real" UCI, (i.e. the first update after R10 is complete). I noticed, IMMMEDIATELY that my wife had been removed from the application. Checked my bank card and the payment for her half of all fees had been refunded.
This is normal. Due to duty of care, IRCC is obligated not to repeat work etc.
It was still a little worrying. Now that my wife is removed; Has her brother been removed too? If so, my application has just lost 15 points! My score is now 428! Well below the threshold number.
Concerned; I called IRCC. Checked why she was removed (She's a PR. They don't need to re-process her). The person on the phone confirmed, obviously he could not make a decision/call but "He's your family too, right? It stands to reason." We joked about how I hope the primary officer feels the same way.
Nerves not withstanding, I left it as is.
No updates for 4 months. 28 days until the 6 month mark and I get an Additional Document Request. They want "Additional family information". This form just wants me to list who i'm married to, who my parents are. Who my siblings are. Where everyone lives.
"Oh no. This is it. They're going to see I don't have relatives in Canada and reject my application." I'm thinking.
I have 7 days to fill the form. It's 1am and I know i'm not going to sleep until it's done. So I fill the form (Don't do this. Looking at what I submitted I'm amazed they accepted it. It's full of typos and just...wow. Not great.).
I get to siblings and I think "Okay, look. If it was your parents who got married and they had children from unrelated marriages, you'd be allowed to write those kids in as "step sibling" and claim their living in Canada as your right to points. Why should it be different to write "Brother in law" when it's clear he is your wife's brother?"
So I did! I gave my wife's full name (unchanged) in the married to section and I listed her brother as my sibling on this additional document request for more family information. I wrote he is my brother in law. I wrote his full address (In Canada).
[It is my belief that this ADR was the agent thinking 'I can not see how they have claimed these points' and seeking further information. I believe that I was right to do this.]
The next day, the online portal showed the documents are being processed. The day after I get a ghost update and I call IRCC. For the first time since February when I submitted my Biometrics, there has been movement on my file. Eligibility now marked as Pass.
Relief. No other words for it.
1am GMT, close of business Monday 27th in Canada, I get the Ready for Visa email.
-------------------------------------------------
So; Can you claim points for family who are the siblings of your Married partner? Conventional wisdom says no. My experience says yes.
If I had to guess, I feel the below factors were why this was successful.
1. Married "In attendance".
2. Applied as Spouse accompanying and paid for both
3. Step 2 allowed me to provide full documentation for my brother in law as part of the application.
4. I listed my Brother in law under siblings AS my brother in law and it is clear he and my wife have the same last name and all associated documentation indicates they are related.
Perhaps its situational. Maybe I got lucky.
But if I got lucky. Who's to say you won't? Don't take anyone who tells you it can't be done at face value. If a reasonable and rational person who wants to help could read your explanation or application and say "Yes, this makes sense to me." Then in my opinion, you have a chance.
Best of luck to anyone in a similar experience. See you all on the other side.
Last edited:
