One issue during citizenship interview

[Hasni]

Dear friends,

I am in the process of moving to Canada for goods. I am working in Saudi Arabia and have recently moved my family, who travelled on exit / re entry visa. Now if they don't come back to Saudi (which most likely they are not going to do) within a specified time for which visa is issued, their visa will automatically cancelled. I shall also be joining them in March'15, but I will leave Saudi on proper exit visa. My question is .... Can my family's move ( going on exit re entry and not on proper exit visa and then not coming back to Saudi) be questioned at the time of citizenship interview !

Why I am asking this is that recently my friend's wife ( they had moved from UAE and his wife also went the way my family did, meaning not on exit visa but on exit / re entry visa) has been denied citizenship for this reason. She has been asked to produce a card from UAE (probably who leave UAE on exit get a card) and she has to re appear for interview now with that card. Now my friend is trying to get this card from UAE.

Please share your experience if anyone's family from Saudi has moved the way mine did.

 

[SinghLovCan]

Hi,
I am aware of what you are talking about. GCC countries have this tradition of holding employees as slaves and harassing them at all points of their life. I am more familiar with Kuwait rules , basically there is no such thing as re-entry visa in Kuwait. Sometimes employers hold passport and many employees leave and not come back. The company usually cancels the visa in shoon after the person has left the country. Once your visa is cancelled, dependent visa should be cancelled automatically.

As for your case.. Just leave Saudi Arabia and don't worry to much about Citizenship, you will get it if you qualify with the resident days. Just make sure that you clear all your financial obligations before you leave. CIC is more strict with people from UAE, bcoz lots of people go out with bank loans and unpaid bills, credit cards. I can understand when it comes to UAE. In Kuwait expats are not allowed to take out huge loans, or credit cards unless you have a good guarantor. I think SAUDI is similar.

 

[SinghLovCan]

Why I am asking this is that recently my friend's wife ( they had moved from UAE and his wife also went the way my family did, meaning not on exit visa but on exit / re entry visa) has been denied citizenship for this reason.

There is more to this story than just deny citizenship to someone who has a valid visa or maybe its just with UAE.

 

[newcomer]

Dear friends,

I am in the process of moving to Canada for goods. I am working in Saudi Arabia and have recently moved my family, who travelled on exit / re entry visa. Now if they don't come back to Saudi (which most likely they are not going to do) within a specified time for which visa is issued, their visa will automatically cancelled. I shall also be joining them in March'15, but I will leave Saudi on proper exit visa. My question is .... Can my family's move ( going on exit re entry and not on proper exit visa and then not coming back to Saudi) be questioned at the time of citizenship interview !

Why I am asking this is that recently my friend's wife ( they had moved from UAE and his wife also went the way my family did, meaning not on exit visa but on exit / re entry visa) has been denied citizenship for this reason. She has been asked to produce a card from UAE (probably who leave UAE on exit get a card) and she has to re appear for interview now with that card. Now my friend is trying to get this card from UAE.

Please share your experience if anyone's family from Saudi has moved the way mine did.

Well I immigrated from Saudi Arabia , though all of us got our visas cancelled before leaving . I would highly recommend you to get your family's visas cancelled as well alongwith yours . Why complicate things for you for no reason?? Getting an exit visa is free and pretty straight forward .If your family is not going to retuen to KSA then whats the process of keeping the visa. Although CIC is pretty strict with UAE applicants specifically but obviously its not a rule .

Secondly who knows what will be the rules (and CIC policy) after 4 years when you will apply for citizenship such as the process was very straight forward 3 years back but now they are getting stricter and stricter .

Good Luck !

 

[SinghLovCan]

Well I immigrated from Saudi Arabia , though all of us got our visas cancelled before leaving . I would highly recommend you to get your family's visas cancelled as well alongwith yours . Why complicate things for you for no reason?? Getting an exit visa is free and pretty straight forward .If your family is not going to retuen to KSA then whats the process of keeping the visa. Although CIC is pretty strict with UAE applicants specifically but obviously its not a rule .

Secondly who knows what will be the rules (and CIC policy) after 4 years when you will apply for citizenship such as the process was very straight forward 3 years back but now they are getting stricter and stricter .

Good Luck !

newcomer, his wife is already in Canada. The visa should expire or should have expired automatically by now.

There should be no problem with his non-cancelled visa. This isn't a issue. Just make sure that all financial obligations such as phone bills, rent bills, electric , water , traffic fines are all CLEAR.

 

[newcomer]

newcomer, his wife is already in Canada. The visa should expire or should have expired automatically by now. These GCC countries harass and treat expats from Asian countries like slaves and animals. They are not at all professional, highly uneducated. The system of governing employees as they do was used in the UK 300 years ago by holding and now it is banned. I have been in North America, Europe, Asia.. never I have seen anything like the GCC.

There should be no problem with his non-cancelled visa. This isn't a issue. Just make sure that all financial obligations such as phone bills, rent bills, electric , water , traffic fines are all CLEAR.

Well as I said earlier I myself moved from KSA so know the ME people mentality and culture very well . However here it has got nothing to do with the ME people . The issue is how CIC authorities are going to see his family s non- cancelled visa at the time of interview . I just advised based on my personal knowledge and opinion . In my view if going back for the family is expensive for him , (if possible) the minimum he could do is to get any document from Jawazat or Ministry of Interior that the visas have been cancelled and no longer valid . Its better to be safe than sorry !

P.S. @Hasni its obviously my own opinion based on the notion what I would have done ,as its hurts less when you are over-prepared than under prepared . Having said that , obviously you should do what you feel better for your family .

All the best !

 

[Donvalley]

A visa without FINAL EXIT stamp will raise suspicions and ambiguity on residency period like many earlier reported here to finally end up in RQ / interview with CJ / complications as a buy one get one free BONUS with an open visa!
PR card expiry is not considered PR status expiry in Canada until officially revoked/renounced. Even though visa in your PP is timed-out CIC might interpret it this way.
Proper way is to cancel your/family visa when you/they are moving out of the country. Follow the rules and regulations to avoid extra head aches in future.

 

[SinghLovCan]

A visa without FINAL EXIT stamp will raise suspicions and ambiguity on residency period like many earlier reported here to finally end up in RQ / interview with CJ / complications as a buy one get one free BONUS with an open visa!
PR card expiry is not considered PR status expiry in Canada until officially revoked/renounced. Even though visa in your PP is timed-out CIC might interpret it this way.
Proper way is to cancel your/family visa when you/they are moving out of the country. Follow the rules and regulations to avoid extra head aches in future.

Donvalley, I did extensive research on this. Yes, it is better to get the visa cancelled when you decide to move FINAL out of there, but even if the visa is not cancelled that should be fine because it does gets nullified after 6 months and in Kuwait after 6 months the sponsor goes to the SHOON office and gets it cancelled automatically. I did read about UAE, UAE has a more rough procedure of dealing with employees when it comes to visa cancellation. This is surely not the case in Kuwait and I think Saudi is similar. Most GCC rules are similar with minor and little changes here and there.

In Kuwait it is very very common to exit on non-cancelled visa. This is so common, because employers rarely give release, rarely cancel visa, because if they cancel visa they have to pay end of service benefits etc. etc. Usually the accountant or the GM is the person who wants to put your end of service benefit in his pocket.

I cant speak about UAE, but some people have multiple visas, my dad has UK, US, CANADA Visa on his passport along with Gulf. So is that going to be a problem? As long as you can show that you have full time consistent employment, this should be fine. In the beginning this forum made me really worried and paranoid with some of the things people write here. Some people just like to get the other person scared and worried. Seriously, this is a non-issue as long as you RESIGN, PAY YOUR DUES.

The problem that CIC is having is that in 2006 a lot of Lebanese-Canadians were discovered who never lived in Canada and committed residency fraud, most of these were from UAE. This is why CIC has taken tough steps with people from the Middle East. But if you are consistent in your residency in Canada and can show your ties, this should be fine.

On a side note I suggest keeping a copy of your resignation.

The other important thing is that you make sure that your financial obligations such as traffic fines, electric, water, phone bills, rent are all up to date and settled in Full. This is most important.

 

[Donvalley]

Donvalley, I did extensive research on this. Yes, it is better to get the visa cancelled when you decide to move FINAL out of there, but even if the visa is not cancelled that should be fine because it does gets nullified after 6 months and in Kuwait after 6 months the sponsor goes to the SHOON office and gets it cancelled automatically....

SighLovCan, thanks for the comment.
Nobody here can give a definite answer on this but CIC interprets everything on their own way; as many readers here will rememebr that during "pre/post test RQ terror era" most people who were slapped with RQ were applicants with no travel during relevant residency.
Proper way is to cancel your/family visa, get it stamped EXIT clear one day before you move and start residency here. Follow the rules and regulations to avoid extra headaches in future.

 

[on-hold]

Why are you all so obsessed with paying the various bills? Not doing so is not a criminal act (in Canada), and CIC is not going to go after people here as a favour to some Gulf police state. Many foreign workers get badly jerked around, and I wouldn't blame them at all with leaving their various financial obligations unpaid.

 

[kentTO]

I'm confused how holding a valid visa is different from retaining citizenship of another country??? You can go back anytime?

 

[SinghLovCan]

Why are you all so obsessed with paying the various bills? Not doing so is not a criminal act (in Canada), and CIC is not going to go after people here as a favour to some Gulf police state. Many foreign workers get badly jerked around, and I wouldn't blame them at all with leaving their various financial obligations unpaid.

Paying bills is important. If you have not heard of Bill C-43 , then read it. You cannot leave financial obligations behind. If you cannot afford to take the loan or buy that car, then don't buy it. How would you feel if someone took money from you and not return to you. In my entire life I have never taken a Loan, I know these things are risky.

 

[SinghLovCan]

Many foreign workers get badly jerked around.

I would say 80% of non-westerners have been jerked around in the Middle East, not because it was their fault. They system is designed to abuse the worker. Its about time the USA comes out with a stick.

 

[on-hold]

Without getting into morality, you can leave unpaid bills behind. Canadian credit scores and American credit scores are completely distinct, for example. In the West, most unpaid bills, perhaps all of them, are violations of civil law, not criminal law, and don't show up on a police report. Defaulting on a mortgage is no different from exercising an 'out' clause in a contract.

More specifically, foreign workers in the Gulf are abused and exploited -- don't try to tell me they all have some automatic moral duty to pay every bill they owe. I've lived in rural Thailand for years, I see how laborers are cheated and tricked and taken advantage of at every stage of the process of going abroad. When you live and work in a society where you have no rights, you also have no obligations. Do you have a specific reason why Saudi or Kuwaiti law is going to be able to reach into Canada and make these peoples' lives miserable? Because if you don't, I don't understand why you would be putting in bold letters Pay Your Bills!! Does it worry you that much that someone might leave a bill unpaid?

 

[SinghLovCan]

When you live and work in a society where you have no rights, you also have no obligations.

I don't disagree with you, but your obliged to pay your phone bills, traffic fines, rent in the Kuwait. If you don't pay this money then they don't let you out of the airport. I don't know about Saudi or UAE, but in Kuwait no one takes huge loans and default.

Do you have a specific reason why Saudi or Kuwaiti law is going to be able to reach into Canada and make these peoples' lives miserable? Because if you don't, I don't understand why you would be putting in bold letters Pay Your Bills!! Does it worry you that much that someone might leave a bill unpaid?

Yes, maybe you are not aware of Bill C-43, if you are convicted abroad, they can give you inadmissible hearing in Canada. Just check it out, its a new bill the conservative government passed.