Need advice. Rejected as ineligible to sponsor. I am person with disability.

[CdnUser001]

Hello, I'm wondering if someone can give advice or suggestion on what to do next.

Sent out application to sponsor my spouse January 2013 from inside Canada (we have been living together for over 4 years now, I lived with my spouse in her country for a few months, then we flew to Canada together).

I was working back then making good money as a software developer. 6 months later her temporary work permit was approved. Things took a turn for the worse end of 2013 where my depressive/suicidal symptoms returned and I was unable to work. Lost my job as a result. March 2013 we find out our application was approved and are to go to immigration meeting to get her permanent residence. But this meeting didn't come until June 2014.

Around April I realize my money is run out, I was looking for work but couldn't find anything, and my depressive symptoms got progressively worse. Finally decide near end of April 2013 to go apply for welfare since neither of us could find a job. On that day they give me application to apply for PWD, and I am also taken to hospital for my suicidal thought.

Note, I applied for disability years early because of the depression, but by the time they got around to reviewing my case (9 months later) I was working and felt better, so decided to not pursue an appeal when they rejected me. Turns out my depression was not gone for good, medication stopped helping after about year and half, and it all came back.

It was 2 months before I got referral to a psychiatrist because of the wait, at which time I was seeing a psychologist on a weekly basis. We went to permanent resident meeting in June 2014, only to find out there that we never received a letter which said "because you are now on welfare, you are no longer eligible to sponsor her." So 3+ years of paperwork and waiting down the drain over night.

End of June 2014 I finally had a psychiatrist, he filled out the documentation for my person with disability, this time because of my extensive medical history it was approved by October 2014. Same time I found a new job and started working again in software development and making good money again. My depressive symptoms are under control now, but I am also approved for PWD should my symptoms return (because it is categorized as "cyclical").

Back in June 2014 I appealed the ruling under the condition that I had a disability. I sent them medical documents from my many psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. And I told them once the PWD is approved, I will send those documnets too. So in October I sent them that document to show them I was recognized as a PWD as well.

Today after months of waiting, we finally received a response, and it again is the same letter they sent in June 2014. There is no new information, it again repeats: "You are in receipt of social assistance for a reason other than disability. As such, you do not meet regulation 133(1)(k). Please refer to the immigration and refugee protection regulations below for details."

Where it says the exact same thing: "(k) is not in receipt of social assistance for a reason other than disability."

Technically, I was receiving "welfare" until October 2014, at which point my social assistance was put under the "PWD" category. But am I wrong in believing they made a mistake in judgment? 133(1)(k) does not specifically distinguish between types of social assistance, it just uses the terms "a reason other than disability." I was on social assistance because my disability made me unable to work (I have the years of medical proof as well).

Also, would I have any protection in this case from Charter of Rights Section 15?

Should I start a new application in this case, or should I appeal with the help of a lawyer?

Her temporary work permit is good until end of 2015. Should I apply for an extension in the event we cannot resolve this case with immigration before then? I just started new job and don't want to be leaving the country this soon, but otherwise either it would uproot us and force us BOTH to leave Canada (as we spent 2 years apart before we started living together, and it was too painful to bare, we can't go through that again). Or, if we can't pull that off, I might seriously end up killing myself this time. April of 2013 was the closest I've ever been to suicide, and to throw away all these years of waiting would be something I can never get over. The pain and stress of being separated from my spouse again would be too big for me to handle. I don't know what to do.

 

[scylla]

Don't bother appealing - you'll just be wasting money and time. Being on welfare / social assistance prohibits you from qualifying as a sponsor - regardless of the reason. And you need to qualify as a sponsor at the time you apply - not later. For you to be classified as someone who is receiving social assistance due to a disability you need to be receiving the disability version of social assistance - otherwise no dice.

Now that your social assistance is officially classified under "disability", you should submit a brand new application. I really think that's the best course of action. Depending on where your partner is from, it may be wiser to submit an outland application (you can do this while she is in Canada).

 

[Rob_TO]

If it was me, I would just submit a brand new app from scratch. You will be off welfare as of the time the app is submitted, and all during the process, so there should be no reason for rejection of the new app.

If you continue the appeal of current app or taking it to higher courts, you are looking at countless thousands of dollars in lawyers fees and possible years of waiting through the court process. Also I doubt you have a chance to win any further appeal, as the rules for getting welfare anytime during the application process is pretty cut and dry. It's all about how the social assistance you got was labelled at the time.

You could also look at submitting an outland app. Since your spouse has a valid work permit in Canada for at least 1 year, could request CPC-Ottawa to process the outland application which is typically pretty quick and any potential interview would be in Canada. Though of course there's the chance CIC could send it to office based on her citizenship, in which case you'd have to hope no interview is required or she would need to fly to home country for it.

 

[canadianwoman]

Agree with above. Reapply outland (though tell us what country she is from). On the application you can ask the visa officer to take humanitarian and compassionate reasons into account.

 

[CdnUser001]

Hi, thank you for your response.

She is from South America. To apply outside would be 2 months + 14 months. I don't think I can do this anymore if that is the case.

Would that mean she has to leave when her temporary work permit expires? Is there any possibility for us to get an extension on that so we can stay in Canada until we have to go for a potential meeting in South America?

What do I tell them in the application about why I'm applying outside Canada? Do I have to wait 1 year from the last date I got welfare before I'm eligible to be a sponsor, or is that no longer a concern because of my PWD status?

I worry that the stress from this will make me go back into depression. I don't think I'll be able to make it this time. I feel completely powerless at how we cannot talk to anyone at immigration about our case. I feel completely devastated at all the years of work and waiting that have been wasted. I spent so much hard work and worry waiting for this application. Years keep passing and our life has been put on hold because we cannot settle anywhere because of the immigration uncertainty. I just can't do this anymore.

 

[canadianwoman]

She can stay in Canada and still apply outland. Her work visa expires at the end of 2015? That might be enough time. You could apply inland again, in which case she certainly can stay. Only the sponsor was rejected. They did not say the relationship was suspect.
You don't have to wait one year after getting off welfare. Provide proof in the application that the previous welfare was because of disability.
You might want to contact your MP to see if he or she could help you. Some are very helpful.

 

[Jonesy319]

Can your partner apply on her own under a different classification?

Otherwise from what I have read here, you can apply as Outland whilst still living in Canada. The only difference would be for her to 'land' she'd have to cross the Canadian border which is easy to do.

Good luck and I feel for you with the depression. It's not an easy thing to get past, both my Mother and previous husband were dogged by it.

Jonesy

 

[brucem]

Hi, thank you for your response.

She is from South America. To apply outside would be 2 months + 14 months. I don't think I can do this anymore if that is the case.

Would that mean she has to leave when her temporary work permit expires? Is there any possibility for us to get an extension on that so we can stay in Canada until we have to go for a potential meeting in South America?

What do I tell them in the application about why I'm applying outside Canada? Do I have to wait 1 year from the last date I got welfare before I'm eligible to be a sponsor, or is that no longer a concern because of my PWD status?

I worry that the stress from this will make me go back into depression. I don't think I'll be able to make it this time. I feel completely powerless at how we cannot talk to anyone at immigration about our case. I feel completely devastated at all the years of work and waiting that have been wasted. I spent so much hard work and worry waiting for this application. Years keep passing and our life has been put on hold because we cannot settle anywhere because of the immigration uncertainty. I just can't do this anymore.

I really feel for your situation I know working with a lot of people with depression how difficult this condition can be. However, on the up side I think you have actually a good chance of sorting this out quite quickly by following advice from the senior members above. Clearly the issue was around you the sponsor....if you submit a new outland application you will find out relatively quickly if you now qualify. The 14 months is not usually an accurate figure as 80% of applications are processed quicker than this. You could join the thread for your spouses visa office to see how quickly applications are being processed at the moment.

If you manage to qualify to sponsor that it a lot of your stress reduced and is far far quicker than going down the appeals route. Keep positive...you will do it!

 

[CdnUser001]

Hey, wow this has been a rollercoaster of emotion. All last night and this morning has been a stressful exercise of trying to stay focused in reality because I keep getting lost in my head and thought of fear, worry, and being overwhelmed.

Thank you for your kind responses, they're really helping me to cope in this dark time.

My spouse spoke with immigration today and they said we can apply from within Canada again, so at least that means she can still stay here with me until the application is processed (if I'm not mistaken). I think the time from within Canada compared to outside is roughly the same, so I think it's worth it to save on having to travel or leave my new job.

My wife is devastated because she wanted to go visit her family after not seeing them in 3 years, so if we do this, again she won't be able to leave the country until the application is processed, for fear of not being allowed back to live with me.

But we will still try to continue with the current application. The truth is that I was excempt from looking for work from the first day I was on welfare because of the medical exemption, and from that first day they gave me the PWD application to get it filled out. So I will ask social assistance to write a letter for me to show I was exempt for medical reasons from the first day, and I will try to send that along with my own letter asking for humanitarian and compassionate reasons that they review the decision.

I think from a purely technical standpoint, it is a moot cause to have me send a new application with duplicate paperwork, which they will approve this time no question because of my pwd status, when that is purely putting us through a senseless wait of another 2 years, further blocking the immigration process for other applicants, and spending taxpayer dollars on a decision that can be made right now.

My spouse and I do not have a criminal record, we're friendly and kind people, I'm a working professional in a lucrative IT field that has the potential to make a big impact in the local economy through my talent, I'm paying lots in taxable income to the government, we are even thinking of adopting children within the next few years. But all of that benefit to our community won't happen if we're forced to leave Canada. If my spouse can't stay, I'm going with her, taking my taxable dollars to be paid to a South American country, as I'll be working from home over the internet there. I don't see myself coming back to Canada after that, starting our life over for a forth time after again waiting over 2 years for the slow Canadian immigration process.

I don't know, just seems like maybe it is time for us to consider other options. We're both really tired from this process. We have doubt about staying in Canada.

 

[Rob_TO]

My spouse spoke with immigration today and they said we can apply from within Canada again, so at least that means she can still stay here with me until the application is processed (if I'm not mistaken). I think the time from within Canada compared to outside is roughly the same, so I think it's worth it to save on having to travel or leave my new job.

No, the times are very different.
INLAND you are looking at 14 months for stage 1 approval, then another 8 months for stage 2 so around 22 months total (+/- depending how times change over the coming year).

OUTLAND you are looking at around 1 year total. Unlike inland times, processing times given on CIC site for outland processing, are more worst-case times and more often than not apps are actually done quicker then posted times.

And with an outland app in progress, she could leave the country for a visit back home and not have to worry about the app being cancelled.

I'm not sure if it's possible to continue with current application. With an Inland app, there are no appeal rights. So if you are rejected, I think that's the end of the line and the only recourse is to re-apply with a brand new application package.

All the rest of what you said makes sense and is very logical. Unfortunately though CIC is neither logical nor do they make decisions based on common sense. A visa officer will not care whatsoever about forcing applicants to re-do an entire application, what positive impacts you will have on Canadian society, or that you may leave Canada to work elsewhere. You simply need to accept that CIC often does things backwards and inefficiently, and jump through whatever hoops they tell you to.

 

[CdnUser001]

Hey, I don't know if we can do this. If we can't get them to review the decision, we will be out thousands of dollars. The provincial health care agency will want us to refund thousands in ineligible expenses because our application was denied. We'll also need to get new documents for my spouse's birth certificate, police background check, etc because they won't return the originals, and we only have photo copies. Then we'll have to pay for all of those to be translated from Spanish again. Then we'll have to pay the fees for a second time.

Oh, and to get another police background check from her country we have to fly to other side of Canada to get finger printed because they don't have a consulate here.

The amount of financial damages as a result of this will be $10,000+, on top of the 16-22 month wait, and extreme mental anguish and uncertainty.

I don't think applying again makes any sense. I'm going to talk to a lawyer to see if I have a chance at a human rights complaint in regards to bring protected as a PWD. We can't afford to do all of this over again. It really well be a fight to the death, because if Iose this, it really will be the end of me.

 

[sierose]

what is PWD means? My husband recieved an email too saying he was not eligible to sponsor me because he was on income assistance

Now we are going to get letter from income assistance administration that he is getting off..

But i dont have staus in canada anymore..my application of the open work permit was included in my spousal application but

never recieved one..please help...can we apply again?

Thanks to all

 

[MilesAway]

Hey, I don't know if we can do this. If we can't get them to review the decision, we will be out thousands of dollars. The provincial health care agency will want us to refund thousands in ineligible expenses because our application was denied. We'll also need to get new documents for my spouse's birth certificate, police background check, etc because they won't return the originals, and we only have photo copies. Then we'll have to pay for all of those to be translated from Spanish again. Then we'll have to pay the fees for a second time.

Oh, and to get another police background check from her country we have to fly to other side of Canada to get finger printed because they don't have a consulate here.

The amount of financial damages as a result of this will be $10,000+, on top of the 16-22 month wait, and extreme mental anguish and uncertainty.

I don't think applying again makes any sense. I'm going to talk to a lawyer to see if I have a chance at a human rights complaint in regards to bring protected as a PWD. We can't afford to do all of this over again. It really well be a fight to the death, because if Iose this, it really will be the end of me.

Why was your spouse's original birth certificate sent in? Did they specifically ask for it?

I don't think that trying to appeal would be much use, since if I'm reading it correctly, your assistance was changed to PWD status a few months, which means the first months were not PWD, therefore CIC was correct in the refusal.

Look at your other options. Does your spouse qualify under any other immigration categories? That might be a possibility.

I hope things work out for you. I understand the struggle with mental health issues.

 

[technotrance22]

Im in the similar situation except I have disability tax credity which states i have been disabled since 2011. officially on ODSP in 2015. while on ontario works my doc has been signing limited participation agreement forms which should have been under the ODSP umbrella. they changed their computers in nov. and have no record keeping of these forms , I had a copy saved and made them give me a letter saying i was on ontario works medical reasons and that i would be pursuing ODSP. Now im waiting for my MP to help me , if its no go I will be reapplying again I guess. ITs BS because I applied in Jan for sponsorship while the ODSP only backdates to FEB. So that one month different their trying to say im not dissabled But the facto f the mater is I was disabled 1 month previously and i have the disability tax credit which states From 2011 ive been disabled . CRA Tax Credit is Federal CIC is Federal. So im awaing a reply from MP about the situation. Technically ODSP or ONtario works are both social assistance programs, It should be the doctor that states from when i was disabled not from when i applied for the program. This is a MAJOR loophole in my opinion Hopefully they Grant me the sponsorship IF not then I will RE APPLy lesson learned. ANd morally unacceptable!

 

[CdnUser001]

Your only option will be to get an M.P. to help you. I spoke with an immigration lawyer in my case, and she showed me case law of previous applicants who tried to fight the ruling in court of appeal, and judge sided with CIC. It's all based on legal status as a disabled person, not on medical status. The only way you could overturn that is to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada at this point. It doesn't matter if you suffered from mental illness for the last 10 years, if you only got legal status for it through Ontario recently, that is all they will awknowledge. You might have a better chance contacting a legal association that helps people with disability law, than contacting an immigration lawyer, as they will have better understanding of disability related cases, humanitarian applications, etc.

In my case, we asked for CIC to return the documents from our previous application, and they refused. So we spent nearly $1,000 and 4 months just to obtain another copy of the police background check, translating it to English, etc. And I spent over 60 hours putting together a new package, filling out forms, annotating documents, it was a nightmare. Total costs were around $2,000 again. But we managed to send the application a few weeks ago, including for an open work permit. Hopefully we don't have any trouble this time.

This is all the fault of CIC for making it take 2+ years to process a few pieces of paper. I think they purposely make the wait this long so they can reject as many applicants as possible. I absolutely hate Canada's immigration process, and hope that the entire organization is audited for destroying lives of Canadian citizens.