Past study permit rejection before EE - Help!

[haris462]

Hi all

In a bit of a worry here, please help!
AOR: Nov-2022

IRCC has requested an explanation on why I did not disclose past immigration history on my EE application and to provide details of all past refusals.

I have had two study permits rejections. I was in no way trying to hide these as I imagined they already know. Since I filled the application so long ago, I can’t recall if I missed anything? Somehow my old biometrics come up on my new application so I think I did provide at least some details of my old UCI (can’t say 100%). I would also like to note that I have disclosed this information to all other countries where they ask for refusals of other countries (eg UK)

As requested I am writing the letter in an apologetic manner saying that it was honest mistake as there were too many documents and I was working through the checklist using the portal and do not remember there being a specific placeholder to provide this information
Second point is that i believe I provided application IDs which connects the application so I was not trying to hide anything.

I would like to know if my second point is valid? Or my assumption is incorrect? Secondly does old study permit rejections or this omission negatively affect my immigration application?

 

[haris462]

@legalfalcon Mate would be super grateful if you could give your two cents.

 

[scylla]

Hi all

In a bit of a worry here, please help!
AOR: Nov-2022

IRCC has requested an explanation on why I did not disclose past immigration history on my EE application and to provide details of all past refusals.

I have had two study permits rejections. I was in no way trying to hide these as I imagined they already know. Since I filled the application so long ago, I can’t recall if I missed anything? Somehow my old biometrics come up on my new application so I think I did provide at least some details of my old UCI (can’t say 100%). I would also like to note that I have disclosed this information to all other countries where they ask for refusals of other countries (eg UK)

As requested I am writing the letter in an apologetic manner saying that it was honest mistake as there were too many documents and I was working through the checklist using the portal and do not remember there being a specific placeholder to provide this information
Second point is that i believe I provided application IDs which connects the application so I was not trying to hide anything.

I would like to know if my second point is valid? Or my assumption is incorrect? Secondly does old study permit rejections or this omission negatively affect my immigration application?

There's a question that specifically asks if you have ever had a visa refused to Canada or any other country. Did you declare your study permit refusals there? It was mandatory that you do that.

IMO the second point is not really valid.

 

[haris462]

There's a question that specifically asks if you have ever had a visa refused to Canada or any other country. Did you declare your study permit refusals there? It was mandatory that you do that.

IMO the second point is not really valid.

Thank you so much for your reply. Honestly, cannot think how I could have missed such a crucial question, why would I hide something especially if the rejection was from the same country. Do you recall where this question is asked? before ITA or after ITA?
Shall I get legal advise before I go back them?

 

[scylla]

Thank you so much for your reply. Honestly, cannot think how I could have missed such a crucial question, why would I hide something especially if the rejection was from the same country. Do you recall where this question is asked? before ITA or after ITA?
Shall I get legal advise before I go back them?

Question is asked you submit your full application post-ITA. This is why IRCC has sent you the note asking why you failed to declare the past refusals. Past refusals are not an issue for your EE application as long as you declare them. If you fail to declare them, that is misrepresentation (potential for the application to be refused and potential for a 5 year ban). It's up to you if you hire a lawyer or not to respond. You may want to do some searching on this this forum for posts on misrepresentation and try to find threads where people have explained how they have responded to the IRCC letter. You'll want to confirm the refusals and provide the details around those refusals (i.e. what you applied for, when, why you were refused). You also want to try to explain why you failed to declare the refusals. Unfortunately I can't help you with that bit. Maybe others here can.

 

[haris462]

Question is asked you submit your full application post-ITA. This is why IRCC has sent you the note asking why you failed to declare the past refusals. Past refusals are not an issue for your EE application as long as you declare them. If you fail to declare them, that is misrepresentation (potential for the application to be refused and potential for a 5 year ban). It's up to you if you hire a lawyer or not to respond. You may want to do some searching on this this forum for posts on misrepresentation and try to find threads where people have explained how they have responded to the IRCC letter. You'll want to confirm the refusals and provide the details around those refusals (i.e. what you applied for, when, why you were refused). You also want to try to explain why you failed to declare the refusals. Unfortunately I can't help you with that bit. Maybe others here can.

I have realised that this was asked in the IMM5669 form that they asked me to fill. Was not required to fill this before so I have missed reading the full sentence which mentions most types of visas. Truly unfortunate that I may have wasted 2.5 years, but what’s done is done I guess and I shall explain what happened in a remorseful manner.

 

[scylla]

I have realised that this was asked in the IMM5669 form that they asked me to fill. Was not required to fill this before so I have missed reading the full sentence which mentions most types of visas. Truly unfortunate that I may have wasted 2.5 years, but what’s done is done I guess and I shall explain what happened in a remorseful manner.

I would not give up yet. Approval is still possible. You should respond, say it was an error and hope for the best. I have no experience in responding to a PFL and can't help you with any wording. Maybe others can. Or you can hire a lawyer.

 

[haris462]

I would not give up yet. Approval is still possible. You should respond, say it was an error and hope for the best. I have no experience in responding to a PFL and can't help you with any wording. Maybe others can. Or you can hire a lawyer.

gladly it’s not a PFL, it’s just a normal letter asking of why I did not mention my previous refusal and to provide details of all refusals. This may be similar to what they might ask on a PFL but taking this as a positive sign. I will attach my UK application snips to show that I disclosed this information on all applications (2019,2022) and is not something I am intentionally trying to hide.

 

[scylla]

gladly it’s not a PFL, it’s just a normal letter asking of why I did not mention my previous refusal and to provide details of all refusals. This may be similar to what they might ask on a PFL but taking this as a positive sign. I will attach my UK application snips to show that I disclosed this information on all applications (2019,2022) and is not something I am intentionally trying to hide.

I would recommend you treat it with the seriousness of a PFL.

 

[legalfalcon]

Hi all

In a bit of a worry here, please help!
AOR: Nov-2022

IRCC has requested an explanation on why I did not disclose past immigration history on my EE application and to provide details of all past refusals.

I have had two study permits rejections. I was in no way trying to hide these as I imagined they already know. Since I filled the application so long ago, I can’t recall if I missed anything? Somehow my old biometrics come up on my new application so I think I did provide at least some details of my old UCI (can’t say 100%). I would also like to note that I have disclosed this information to all other countries where they ask for refusals of other countries (eg UK)

As requested I am writing the letter in an apologetic manner saying that it was honest mistake as there were too many documents and I was working through the checklist using the portal and do not remember there being a specific placeholder to provide this information
Second point is that i believe I provided application IDs which connects the application so I was not trying to hide anything.

I would like to know if my second point is valid? Or my assumption is incorrect? Secondly does old study permit rejections or this omission negatively affect my immigration application?

What you have received is a Procedural Fairness Letter. IRC is providing you with an opportunity to respond before they make a decision. a PFL does not have PFL written on it. A letter that simple asks for an explanation based on which a decision will be made is a PFL.

All your visa refusals should be declared in your application, not doing so can lead to misrepresentation. As per law, you have an obligation to be truthful. Section

16(1) of the IRPA states:

• 16 (1) A person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce a visa and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.

See Tuiran v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 324 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/hr59k
Alalami v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 328 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/hr6r1>

____________________________________________________
Any application you file can be looked into and there should be no discrepancy if you have filed multiple applications. If you filed a TRV in which you did not declare a job, and then you claimed a job in your PR application, this is a discrepancy. Similarly, if you were refused a visa before, the same has to be declared in the subsequent application filed with IRCC.

If you file any application with IRCC, TRV, WP, PR etc, any of them can be looked into to review your current application and any inconsistency can be a cause of misrepresentation. All applications have to be consistent, and if they are not, a reason on why you omitted the information has to be provided. Even if the reason is that you inadvertently forgot to mention a prior refusal, you have to inform IRCC.

While answering the statutory questions you have to list all prior visa refusals. Failing to declare any prior visa refusal is misrepresentation and the federal court has ruled on it in the following decision:

Algohar v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 FC 1364 (CanLII), available at http://canlii.ca/t/j36dk

It is an applicant's duty to disclose all material information pertaining to ones information and answer all questions truthfully.

If you inadvertently forgot to mention a prior visa refusal, you can send a web form and inform IRCC. Irrespective of what stage your application is at, or if it has even been approved, if it is found that you failed to disclose any material information in your application, it can impact your PR status.

In Tuiran v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 324 (CanLII) the court held, " Section 16(1) of the Act requires visa applicants to answer all questions truthfully and produce all relevant documents and evidence reasonably required when making an application under the Act. The purpose of the misrepresentation provisions in the Act is “to ensure that applicants provide complete, honest and truthful information in every manner when applying for entry into Canada” (Jiang v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 942 at para 36; Khan v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 512 at paras 26-29; Wang v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2005 FC 1059 at paras 57-58, affirmed in 2006 FCA 345 [Wang])." I emphasize that it does not matter that the authorities may have the ability to catch the misrepresentation or not. What matters is whether the misrepresentation induced or could have induced an error in the administration of the IRPA.

_______________________________________

Does a prior visa refusal have an impact on the process of your PR application or a TRV?

The answer is maybe. It will depend on why the visa was refused. If it was refused for criminality, immigration fraud, HRV issues etc. then you will have to look into criminal inadmissibility and security inadmissibility issues. If the reason was just an administrative one, such as the via officer not being satisfied, then it will not have any impact as long as you have disclosed it.

Also, if you have a prior visa refusal from Canada, the same applies, as long as you have disclosed it. The criteria for PR and visitor's visa are different and except for what is listed above, it will not have an impact, provided you disclose it.

Question is asked you submit your full application post-ITA. This is why IRCC has sent you the note asking why you failed to declare the past refusals. Past refusals are not an issue for your EE application as long as you declare them. If you fail to declare them, that is misrepresentation (potential for the application to be refused and potential for a 5 year ban). It's up to you if you hire a lawyer or not to respond. You may want to do some searching on this this forum for posts on misrepresentation and try to find threads where people have explained how they have responded to the IRCC letter. You'll want to confirm the refusals and provide the details around those refusals (i.e. what you applied for, when, why you were refused). You also want to try to explain why you failed to declare the refusals. Unfortunately I can't help you with that bit. Maybe others here can.

The above statement is incorrect and misleading.

 

[haris462]

What you have received is a Procedural Fairness Letter. IRC is providing you with an opportunity to respond before they make a decision. a PFL does not have PFL written on it. A letter that simple asks for an explanation based on which a decision will be made is a PFL.

All your visa refusals should be declared in your application, not doing so can lead to misrepresentation. As per law, you have an obligation to be truthful. Section



See Tuiran v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 324 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/hr59k
Alalami v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 328 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/hr6r1>

____________________________________________________
Any application you file can be looked into and there should be no discrepancy if you have filed multiple applications. If you filed a TRV in which you did not declare a job, and then you claimed a job in your PR application, this is a discrepancy. Similarly, if you were refused a visa before, the same has to be declared in the subsequent application filed with IRCC.

If you file any application with IRCC, TRV, WP, PR etc, any of them can be looked into to review your current application and any inconsistency can be a cause of misrepresentation. All applications have to be consistent, and if they are not, a reason on why you omitted the information has to be provided. Even if the reason is that you inadvertently forgot to mention a prior refusal, you have to inform IRCC.

While answering the statutory questions you have to list all prior visa refusals. Failing to declare any prior visa refusal is misrepresentation and the federal court has ruled on it in the following decision:

Algohar v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 FC 1364 (CanLII), available at http://canlii.ca/t/j36dk

It is an applicant's duty to disclose all material information pertaining to ones information and answer all questions truthfully.

If you inadvertently forgot to mention a prior visa refusal, you can send a web form and inform IRCC. Irrespective of what stage your application is at, or if it has even been approved, if it is found that you failed to disclose any material information in your application, it can impact your PR status.

In Tuiran v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2018 FC 324 (CanLII) the court held, " Section 16(1) of the Act requires visa applicants to answer all questions truthfully and produce all relevant documents and evidence reasonably required when making an application under the Act. The purpose of the misrepresentation provisions in the Act is “to ensure that applicants provide complete, honest and truthful information in every manner when applying for entry into Canada” (Jiang v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 942 at para 36; Khan v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 512 at paras 26-29; Wang v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2005 FC 1059 at paras 57-58, affirmed in 2006 FCA 345 [Wang])." I emphasize that it does not matter that the authorities may have the ability to catch the misrepresentation or not. What matters is whether the misrepresentation induced or could have induced an error in the administration of the IRPA.

_______________________________________

Does a prior visa refusal have an impact on the process of your PR application or a TRV?

The answer is maybe. It will depend on why the visa was refused. If it was refused for criminality, immigration fraud, HRV issues etc. then you will have to look into criminal inadmissibility and security inadmissibility issues. If the reason was just an administrative one, such as the via officer not being satisfied, then it will not have any impact as long as you have disclosed it.

Also, if you have a prior visa refusal from Canada, the same applies, as long as you have disclosed it. The criteria for PR and visitor's visa are different and except for what is listed above, it will not have an impact, provided you disclose it.




The above statement is incorrect and misleading.

Thank you for such a detailed response. I understand that note that I missed this information in the recent 5669 Schedule form that I submitted last month. My AOR is Nov 2020 (correction as I realised I said 2022 in the first post).
In the initial application, don’t believe there was any place to declare this information and hence I was confused as to why I am being asked that I didn’t disclose past refusals when they did not ask for it. Any who, I am trying to come up with a response. Could you help me understand how I would have managed to link to old application with this new one? My old biometrics are clearly linked so I was not required to give biometrics.
The true reasons I am trying to provide the officer briefly are:
- Unintentional mistake as the question was not understood in its true substance
- I am an auditor working for a big4 and was working under a lot of pressure as it’s busy season for auditors. Have a promotion coming up and was covering for some senior was off sick
- it’s not something I am trying to hide as I declared it even to the UK authorities in my application in 2019 and 2022.
- Possibly that it’s not something I know I would want to hide as my old biometrics are already linked to current application due to which I was not requested for biometrics unlike my spouse last month

I would really appreciate if you could give your two cents based on your years of experience. More than happy to paste a well worded response shortly.

 

[legalfalcon]

Thank you for such a detailed response. I understand that note that I missed this information in the recent 5669 Schedule form that I submitted last month. My AOR is Nov 2020 (correction as I realised I said 2022 in the first post).
In the initial application, don’t believe there was any place to declare this information and hence I was confused as to why I am being asked that I didn’t disclose past refusals when they did not ask for it. Any who, I am trying to come up with a response. Could you help me understand how I would have managed to link to old application with this new one? My old biometrics are clearly linked so I was not required to give biometrics.
The true reasons I am trying to provide the officer briefly are:
- Unintentional mistake as the question was not understood in its true substance
- I am an auditor working for a big4 and was working under a lot of pressure as it’s busy season for auditors. Have a promotion coming up and was covering for some senior was off sick
- it’s not something I am trying to hide as I declared it even to the UK authorities in my application in 2019 and 2022.
- Possibly that it’s not something I know I would want to hide as my old biometrics are already linked to current application due to which I was not requested for biometrics unlike my spouse last month

I would really appreciate if you could give your two cents based on your years of experience. More than happy to paste a well worded response shortly.

The forum is not a substitute for professional legal advice and neither do I provide legal advice here. You can read about PFL at:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/service-delivery/procedural-fairness.html

You have to explain the reasons why you omitted providing a key detail. There is no correct or incorrect answer, as it always depends on individual circumstances.

Do your best and send a response on why you omitted it. In most cases, innocent oversight is a reasonable explanation, and IRCC will accept it and process your application further.

 

[Tolite07]

My eligibilty status has been changed to we are reviewing your eligibility since past eight days, i have not seen any update since. hope that is a good sign?

 

[scylla]

My eligibilty status has been changed to we are reviewing your eligibility since past eight days, i have not seen any update since. hope that is a good sign?

Wrong thread.

 

[haris462]

The forum is not a substitute for professional legal advice and neither do I provide legal advice here. You can read about PFL at:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/service-delivery/procedural-fairness.html

You have to explain the reasons why you omitted providing a key detail. There is no correct or incorrect answer, as it always depends on individual circumstances.

Do your best and send a response on why you omitted it. In most cases, innocent oversight is a reasonable explanation, and IRCC will accept it and process your application further.

I would recommend you treat it with the seriousness of a PFL.

@legalfalcon @scylla
Just a quick update. Everything worked out in the end gladly. Wrote a detailed explanation and was requested to pay the fee and today finally got the email for ready for visa. Thanks for the help.