Single mum & kids seeking asylum..how do I go about it?

[Yerwagal]

Hello everyone

We have our US visas.
We will visit the States in 2 weeks time, from there we will apply for a Canadian tourist visa.

Please guide me with these questions:

1- how can we apply for the Canadian visa in the States? And how long will it take to get the visa?

2- if we got the visa, what are the first things I should do?
The document we need.
Where do we go to apply in Montreal?
When you apply for asylum does the government give you a lawyer who will assist your process or you get your lawyer your self?

3- which asylum category is best for us? In our case our house was attacked my terrorist and a guard was killed.. We have newspaper publication of the attack. It was political.

4- will the gov provide us with accommodation?

5- how about health care issues?

Thank you

 

[scylla]

I'll help with one question. Yes - you can apply for a visitor visa from the US. Processing can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months. So you may have to wait quite a while before you have an answer. Make sure you bring enough funds with you to be able to live in the US for a several months while you wait for a decision.

 

[Buletruck]

If you are landing in the US first and since you have no family in Canada (previous posts), the Safe Third Country agreement will be enforced. This means you will need to apply for asylum/refugee status in the US. You will be turned back if you come to Canada and claim it here.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/menu-safethird.asp

 

[scylla]

If you are landing in the US first and since you have no family in Canada (previous posts), the Safe Third Country agreement will be enforced. This means you will need to apply for asylum/refugee status in the US. You will be turned back if you come to Canada and claim it here.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/menu-safethird.asp

Ah - I missed that. Agreed - with no family in Canada, you have to claim asylum in the US.

 

[Rob_TO]

If you are landing in the US first and since you have no family in Canada (previous posts), the Safe Third Country agreement will be enforced. This means you will need to apply for asylum/refugee status in the US. You will be turned back if you come to Canada and claim it here.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/menu-safethird.asp

I think that's only for claiming asylum at land borders. If one can get a Canadian TRV, they would be able to enter Canada and then claim asylum from inside Canada at a later date, and I don't think Safe 3rd Country agreement will apply anymore.



Where the Agreement is in effect


The Safe Third Country Agreement applies only to refugee claimants who are seeking entry to Canada from the U.S.:

• at Canada-U.S. land border crossings
• by train or
• at airports, only if the person seeking refugee protection in Canada has been refused refugee status in the U.S. and is in transit through Canada after being deported from the U.S.

 

[Buletruck]

I saw that and it's all a bit unclear in some respects, given this precedes those clauses:

Under the Agreement, refugee claimants are required to request refugee protection in the first safe country they arrive in, unless they qualify for an exception to the Agreement

 

[Rob_TO]

I saw that and it's all a bit unclear in some respects, given this precedes those clauses:

Right but literally thousands of people (without TRVs) get around this by crossing into Canada illegally from the US and claiming asylum. Majority are allowed to continue with their asylum claims, and are not turned back to the US.

So same would apply to someone inside Canada already with a TRV, they should be allowed to claim asylum here no matter through which country they arrived.

Safe 3rd country is just for the land border. Once you are inside Canada either illegally or with a TRV, you can claim asylum here.

 

[Yerwagal]

Thank you!

 

[Yerwagal]

A

Right but literally thousands of people (without TRVs) get around this by crossing into Canada illegally from the US and claiming asylum. Majority are allowed to continue with their asylum claims, and are not turned back to the US.

So same would apply to someone inside Canada already with a TRV, they should be allowed to claim asylum here no matter through which country they arrived.

Safe 3rd country is just for the land border. Once you are inside Canada either illegally or with a TRV, you can claim asylum here.

thank you kind people
I appreciate your kindness