I teach at a university in Quebec. I am a Canadian citizen by birth, my wife is a Pakistani citizen. She has a multiple entry student visa. She arrived in July 2012 and was stamped in until Dec. 30, 2012. The visa is good until May 2013 but she should have exited and re-entered on Dec. 30. She did not do so because she was led by the university to believe that she would be in implied status on Dec. 30 and had a right to remain. She is now preparing to apply for restoration of her visit visa status. Could any of you fine folks advise us? What does she need to say in the application for restoration?
The situation came about because of advice from university representatives. The university offers free French classes to professor's spouses, but they need a study permit to take the classes for more than 6 months. Therefore university representatives (who deal with such cases on a regular basis, and whom we trusted had sound knowledge of immigration regulations) advised my wife to apply for a study permit. As we came closer to Dec. 30th, I emailed the university representatives asking whether after submitting her study permit application my wife would be in implied status until a decision was made. I emphatically told them that if this were not the case, I needed to book tickets for her out of the country, otherwise she would be "in violation of the law." They did not answer in writing but they did answer my wife in the positive face-to-face, and are willing to admit this in writing. We also emailed our lawyer who similarly said that after submitting her study permit application my wife would be "legally allowed to remain in the country."
Of course as we have discovered too late, all of this advice was wrong. We can however, prove through emails and the statement that the university representatives are willing to make, that we were misinformed by authorities in whom we placed our trust. Otherwise she could easily have left the country and even re-entered, since her visa is, in total, valid until May 2013.
In my understanding, the officer "shall" — i.e., must — restore temporary resident status to an applicant for restoration of status who applies within 90 days of losing TRV status and who meets the initial requirements for their stay and has not failed to comply with any other conditions imposed (Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations section 182).
If my wife applies for restoration, and we show that she did not intend to overstay her visit, but imagined that she had a legal right (through implied status) and indeed an obligation to remain in the country past Dec. 30th, and did not violate any other conditions of her status, is this all that we need to ensure restoration of her visitor status?
Some other questions:
- I've read of a case in which an applicant was denied restoration of worker status because he didn't know that had to submit an application for extension of his work permit along with the restoration of status application. Does my wife similarly need to submit an additinal application for extension of her visit visa?
- if, God forbid, CIC for some reason insists that she has overstayed, does this affect our spousal sponsorship application, which should be approved by the end of 2013?
- would it be useful for me to provide financial documents and so on showing that I continue to support my wife financially and so on, as I did when she applied for the visit visa in the first place, or is this redundant?
Thanks!
The situation came about because of advice from university representatives. The university offers free French classes to professor's spouses, but they need a study permit to take the classes for more than 6 months. Therefore university representatives (who deal with such cases on a regular basis, and whom we trusted had sound knowledge of immigration regulations) advised my wife to apply for a study permit. As we came closer to Dec. 30th, I emailed the university representatives asking whether after submitting her study permit application my wife would be in implied status until a decision was made. I emphatically told them that if this were not the case, I needed to book tickets for her out of the country, otherwise she would be "in violation of the law." They did not answer in writing but they did answer my wife in the positive face-to-face, and are willing to admit this in writing. We also emailed our lawyer who similarly said that after submitting her study permit application my wife would be "legally allowed to remain in the country."
Of course as we have discovered too late, all of this advice was wrong. We can however, prove through emails and the statement that the university representatives are willing to make, that we were misinformed by authorities in whom we placed our trust. Otherwise she could easily have left the country and even re-entered, since her visa is, in total, valid until May 2013.
In my understanding, the officer "shall" — i.e., must — restore temporary resident status to an applicant for restoration of status who applies within 90 days of losing TRV status and who meets the initial requirements for their stay and has not failed to comply with any other conditions imposed (Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations section 182).
If my wife applies for restoration, and we show that she did not intend to overstay her visit, but imagined that she had a legal right (through implied status) and indeed an obligation to remain in the country past Dec. 30th, and did not violate any other conditions of her status, is this all that we need to ensure restoration of her visitor status?
Some other questions:
- I've read of a case in which an applicant was denied restoration of worker status because he didn't know that had to submit an application for extension of his work permit along with the restoration of status application. Does my wife similarly need to submit an additinal application for extension of her visit visa?
- if, God forbid, CIC for some reason insists that she has overstayed, does this affect our spousal sponsorship application, which should be approved by the end of 2013?
- would it be useful for me to provide financial documents and so on showing that I continue to support my wife financially and so on, as I did when she applied for the visit visa in the first place, or is this redundant?
Thanks!