Parents Sponsorship – misrepresentation

[arachchiges]

Hi,
I’m sponsoring my mother. The first step is done in Canada and my mother apply PR in back home Sri Lanka. However, my mother got rejected for “Misrepresentation”.
What happens: My mother does not know English and she had a lady helping to fill out applications. The lady did some mistakes and embassy in back home found that and rejected the application. My mother sent a letter explaining the mistakes before the rejection but, the embassy didn’t care. My mother is inadmissible Canada for two years. She doesn’t have any criminal records or any other issue.
I cannot appeal in Appeal division since this is a parental sponsorship. The only option left is the federal court.

What is the chance of winning such case in the federal court?
Does anybody know a good lawyer? And how much does it cost approximately? (I’m living in Guelph, ON)
Can I get legal aid?
Do you know any other way of getting out trouble?

Thanks you very much in advance for your Help

 

[Anik]

Hi, I'm sponsoring my mother. The first step is done in Canada and my mother apply PR in back home Sri Lanka. However, my mother got rejected for “Misrepresentation”. What happens: My mother does not know English and she had a lady helping to fill out applications. The lady did some mistakes and embassy in back home found that and rejected the application. My mother sent a letter explaining the mistakes before the rejection but, the embassy didn't care.
...

Hi arachchiges
If it is not too personal, maybe you could give an example of what they deemed misrepresentation in your case - significant enough to reject (just to understand how significant those mistakes were in your case)?
Unfortunately, I do not have much advice for you but being in the process of application I am really worried of making some mistakes in my parents app that would be deemed misrepresentation.

I did find a link to their operational manual and it seems that they should have given your mother a chance to explain. Did they request an explanation or rejected right away? I am not yet allowed to post links but you can google something like "manuals immigration ip02" (see 5.35 in that document)

 

[CharlieD10]

The OP said his mother sent a letter of explanation, so it is likely that the mother WAS provided with an opportunity to respond to the embassy's concerns regarding what was construed as a misrepresentation. They would not summarily reject her on that ground before asking her to explain what may have caused her to provide the information she did.

Unfortunately, "the consultant/person helping her made a mistake" explanation is regarded by CIC as right up there with "the dog ate my homework". Every applicant is responsible for the information he/she provides to CIC, and it is not enough to blame someone else if they didn't do it properly when they were assisting you. That is why you sign a declaration stating that the information provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge and you understand that you will be liable for the consequences if it is not.

 

[Baloo]

Unfortunately, "the consultant/person helping her made a mistake" explanation is regarded by CIC as right up there with "the dog ate my homework".

This made me smile....

 

[Anik]

The OP said his mother sent a letter of explanation, so it is likely that the mother WAS provided with an opportunity to respond to the embassy's concerns regarding what was construed as a misrepresentation. They would not summarily reject her on that ground before asking her to explain what may have caused her to provide the information she did.

Unfortunately, "the consultant/person helping her made a mistake" explanation is regarded by CIC as right up there with "the dog ate my homework". Every applicant is responsible for the information he/she provides to CIC, and it is not enough to blame someone else if they didn't do it properly when they were assisting you. That is why you sign a declaration stating that the information provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge and you understand that you will be liable for the consequences if it is not.

I agree with you in general.

The reason I asked my questions is that being in a process of completing those applications for my parents (who do not speak english) I am being really paranoid - I would not want to cause any misrepresentation accusations but in some cases my parents have to recall some information without any supporting documentation (e.g. some really old addresses or months of address change), so they try to recall the best they can (e.g. recall whether it was in winter or any associations with past events). Another example would be membership in some youth organizations or trade unions (which in old times were almost mandatory in our home country during certain periods of person's lives - I am talking about Eastern Europe, soviet times). Nothing to be concerned about or hide about these 'formal' memberships but we can only try to 'guesstimate' months years based on typical ages etc.
ALso, my parents are not sure about birth places for their parents (who are all deceased) - and they do not have documents either...

So, what should we do to avoid misrepresentation accusations - write the explanation for every month/year or unknown information that they are not sure about (that would be painful)? OR just say something in general that for this and this piece of info my parents tried to do the best to recall the information or that we do not know/remember? We have no intention of lying - just do not always know and have no supporting documentation.

That is why I was kind of curious what the orginal poster's issue was and what they deemed material enough to be misrepresentation (but I understand that it is personal and the poster may not reveal it)

 

[CharlieD10]

Where you cannot provide specific information, be sure to highlight this right away for CIC. Bring it to their attention, don't wait for them to notice it. Especially in the case of sponsoring parents, it is not likely a person is able to remember every detail of where they lived or what organizations they belonged to and when. If you don't remember accurately, do your best to estimate BUT be clear with CIC that you are estimating.

 

[Anik]

Where you cannot provide specific information, be sure to highlight this right away for CIC. Bring it to their attention, don't wait for them to notice it. Especially in the case of sponsoring parents, it is not likely a person is able to remember every detail of where they lived or what organizations they belonged to and when. If you don't remember accurately, do your best to estimate BUT be clear with CIC that you are estimating.

Thanks! Those were my thoughts too