Refused, Re-apply or Appeal?

[tuyen]

Thanks Tuyen,

Given that we got married,and we will go to common law category,CIC requires atleast 1 straight/whole year of cohabitation which i think it very impossible to happen with the situation of my partner.

If you're married, then you won't fall under the requirements of common law. The common law category is for people who are living together but not married. So if you get married, your application will be as a married couple, and not as common law, which means there won't be any 12-month requirement to live together.

 

[MidDawn]

If you're married, then you won't fall under the requirements of common law. The common law category is for people who are living together but not married. So if you get married, your application will be as a married couple, and not as common law, which means there won't be any 12-month requirement to live together.

Thanks Tuyen,

You sound right...i will discuss it with my partner...i am so grateful for all the responses...it helps a lot...

 

[canadianwoman]

...here in the Philippines,same sex marriage is not legal,so there is no way that the Philippine law and the VO in Manila will recognize such marriage, more so,that we can apply for a common-law category.

The VO in Manila is a Canadian. On the few occasions that I have heard of a VO in a Canadian embassy who was not a Canadian, they are still working for Canada. The VO will recognize a same-sex marriage (as long as it was legal where it was done and legal in Canada), because that is the law in Canada.
If you do get married, you apply as a sponsored spouse, not under the common-law category. You do not have to have lived together for a year if you are married.

 

[computergeek]

The VO in Manila is a Canadian. On the few occasions that I have heard of a VO in a Canadian embassy who was not a Canadian, they are still working for Canada. The VO will recognize a same-sex marriage (as long as it was legal where it was done and legal in Canada), because that is the law in Canada.
If you do get married, you apply as a sponsored spouse, not under the common-law category. You do not have to have lived together for a year if you are married.

While I agree that the visa office must follow Canadian law, I have noticed there are often subtle cultural biases between the visa offices. Manila is notorious for disliking anything but marriage. Last year I counseled a same sex couple going through FSW. They had gone to great lengths to document their common-law same-sex relationshp. The visa office refused to recognize it and removed the partner from the application.

I've seen a lot of 179 exclusions come out of Manila (pre-existing undeclared relationship, partner/spouse is excluded from the family class) and I've seen a number of declared pre-existing common-law relationships refused by Manila. Bottom line is that they really prefer marriage in Manila.

I wonder how many of the visa officers abroad are dual nationals?

 

[MidDawn]

While I agree that the visa office must follow Canadian law, I have noticed there are often subtle cultural biases between the visa offices. Manila is notorious for disliking anything but marriage. Last year I counseled a same sex couple going through FSW. They had gone to great lengths to document their common-law same-sex relationshp. The visa office refused to recognize it and removed the partner from the application.

I've seen a lot of 179 exclusions come out of Manila (pre-existing undeclared relationship, partner/spouse is excluded from the family class) and I've seen a number of declared pre-existing common-law relationships refused by Manila. Bottom line is that they really prefer marriage in Manila.

I wonder how many of the visa officers abroad are dual nationals?

Thanks Computergeek,

I totally agree with you,that's really my concern about getting married.even if we do,the marriage certificate that we can provide will most likely be a crap piece of paper or worst be an aggravating factor to refusal,it might give the VO an impression that is just only a marriage for convenience/for Canada immigration purposes only.this is my personal judgement though.but i am include this matter into discussion with my partner. Thanks really for the reply. Godspeed

 

[Steph C]

While I agree that the visa office must follow Canadian law, I have noticed there are often subtle cultural biases between the visa offices. Manila is notorious for disliking anything but marriage. Last year I counseled a same sex couple going through FSW. They had gone to great lengths to document their common-law same-sex relationshp. The visa office refused to recognize it and removed the partner from the application.

I've seen a lot of 179 exclusions come out of Manila (pre-existing undeclared relationship, partner/spouse is excluded from the family class) and I've seen a number of declared pre-existing common-law relationships refused by Manila. Bottom line is that they really prefer marriage in Manila.

I wonder how many of the visa officers abroad are dual nationals?

Manila also seems slightly biased towards cross cultural marriages between (white) Canadians and Filipinas. They seem way more accepting of Filipino-Filipina marriages, and I think it's very cultural.

 

[ice45]

Hello Computergeek,

Thanks for your reply,i truly appreciate it. We have a legal representative and he is Atty. Battista from Toronto, he has been our legal representative since from the beginning of our application and now that we got refused he told my partner to proceed with the appeal and my partner did file the appeal last November 2012.

As what you have mentioned,appeal case in Toronto will take 2-2.5 years to get a hearing date unless the case will go to ADR which is much quicker.I have a concern and i hope you can give your opinion about this..

My partner and i were thinking of dropping the appeal case and he will going to come here in the Philippines and we will do things that would establish our conjugal partnership like opening a joint bank account which we believe,we lack such in our first attempt that reached to refusal. Would it make more sense if we will go to that route? Or would it be much wiser to just continue the appeal?

Thank you and God bless us all.

Hi MidDawn, I'm sorry to hear your refusal but don't give up, you still have a shot. So you hired Atty. Battista's services for your case. I thought he's well known for same-sex sponsorship cases and have higher approval rates compared to other lawyers. It sounds like even if you hire a reputable lawyer like him for that case doesn't mean it's a sure win in the end. I have been contemplating on getting his services but now I'm confused if we ever have a shot with our case as it's also a complex one.

 

[gsize]

please be aware....I was told the waiting time in Toronto was 12 -18 months. This was not true in my case. I had to wait 28 months to get my Hearing. I wish I knew that when I did the appeal. Perhaps, a new app. would have been better ?

In any event, most appeals are allowed ! Please check waiting times, and if they tell you 12-18 months- then they are not up to date !

 

[computergeek]

I've made that point a number of times gsize - the appeal time in Toronto before IAD is insane, and is one reason I sometimes suggest people file inland - the "ability to appeal to IAD" is overrated when you must wait 2.5 years just for a hearing, especially since all you get then is a return back to CIC, complete with a reset clock.

Personally, I'd rather head to court. They have narrower grounds on which to decide BUT they are much faster and if the issue is a legal or procedural error they have subject matter jurisdiction.