Separation - Divorce but Covid-19 came in between.

[Anaya Virk]

My boyfriend is Indian passport holder, and he married a Canadian citizen in Alberta - Edmonton, in 2017 or 2018. She sponsored him, and then he got the permanent residence. Now it has been one and half year that they are married, and since there was no mutual understanding, he couldn't get along with her, he wants to get the divorce.
She says that she will get his permanent residence cancelled, I guess she can't do that. But is there any such thing where she can get his permanent residence cancelled? If his wife says that he married her per permanent residence, I believe she will have to prove that, right? She wants him to give her 40K Canadian dollars, in order to sign the mutual divorce papers. My boyfriend doesn't have that much money. He is in India, since january, due to this Covid-19, he couldn't go back to Canada on planned date, otherwise he would have changed his residence address, to show that he lives in separate house. Can this period be counted as to show separation? Because they are not under same roof anyways, at the moment. I am German and British passport holder, Is there anything that I can do to help my boyfriend come out of this? Can he change his address while staying in India?

 

[scylla]

My boyfriend is Indian passport holder, and he married a Canadian citizen in Alberta - Edmonton, in 2017 or 2018. She sponsored him, and then he got the permanent residence. Now it has been one and half year that they are married, and since there was no mutual understanding, he couldn't get along with her, he wants to get the divorce.
She says that she will get his permanent residence cancelled, I guess she can't do that. But is there any such thing where she can get his permanent residence cancelled? If his wife says that he married her per permanent residence, I believe she will have to prove that, right? She wants him to give her 40K Canadian dollars, in order to sign the mutual divorce papers. My boyfriend doesn't have that much money. He is in India, since january, due to this Covid-19, he couldn't go back to Canada on planned date, otherwise he would have changed his residence address, to show that he lives in separate house. Can this period be counted as to show separation? Because they are not under same roof anyways, at the moment. I am German and British passport holder, Is there anything that I can do to help my boyfriend come out of this? Can he change his address while staying in India?

His wife can only get his PR status revoked if she can prove he only married her to obtain PR status. She would need to provide evidence of this to IRCC. IRCC would then decide if there is enough evidence to conduct an investigation. If they investigate, he would be provided with a chance to defend himesel and prove the marriage was genuine. IRCC only investigates where there is strong evidence it was a marriage of convenience. In my opinion his PR status is most likely safe - this assumes he did in fact live with his wife for a while after becoming a PR and didn't leave her immediately after landing.

I don't know for sure, however my guess is that he can in fact count his time in India towards the 1 year separation.

Note that if he intends to sponsor you for Canadian PR, he will need to wait until five years have passed from the time he landed in Canada and officially became a PR before he can submit the application. For example, if he officially became a PR in 2019, then he would need to wait until 2024 to sponsor you.

 

[Anaya Virk]

Thank you very much for your answer. I am not concerned about my residence card, as I can always travel when I want to, being German and British citizen. Can he not change his address while being in India? Can she really ask him for that amount, I mean 40k CAD? They don't have any child. They were living in a rented property of his relatives, so they don't even have any property or mortgage.

 

[scylla]

Thank you very much for your answer. I am not concerned about my residence card, as I can always travel when I want to, being German and British citizen. Can he not change his address while being in India? Can she really ask him for that amount, I mean 40k CAD? They don't have any child. They were living in a rented property of his relatives, so they don't even have any property or mortgage.

In terms of the $40K, that's really not an immigration issue - it's a family law issue. He needs to hire a family lawyer to assist him through the financial end of this separation.