Sponsor my family - Default against me!!!!

[Crazycanook]

Hi,

Long story here, try to keep it to a minimum.

I am a Canadian living in Australia. My wife passed away 5 years ago leaving me with our 2 children. I remarried a Ukrainian girl who brought her son. We since had a daughter together. We are all Australian citizens.

So we have decided to move to Canada. I applied for my passport (which expired). I received a call saying they could not give me a passport as I have a default out against me (child support in Canada (I had a wife there before moving here)). Anyways, I called the Maintenance Enforcement in Canada and spoke with them and asked why (I knew I owed money but had made arrangements 3 years ago and have never missed a payment including adding all of my income tax every year). They said that I should have been removed from this but hadn't and as far as they were concerned I was ok. I still have arrears around $15,000 thought, but as I said make all of my arranged payments.

They said they would send me a letter to state that I was cleared of this. I would still be under a minor vehicle restriction (drivers license for 1 year) but other than that clear. They said this could take up to 35 days for the Federal Gov't to make official.

Anyways, so here I am wanting to apply for all of my family's visas and am very worried we may not be able to move back to Canada at all! I noticed on the Canadian website that it said "Sponsors can not be in default for child support". Can anyone tell me will I be able to sponsor my family if I have been making regular payments for the past 3 years? As I mentioned they are sending me a letter to say that I have and will be removed from this "black list" I guess it's called. The other questionis should I wait for 35 days prior to applying for the sponsorship or do you think that the letter I receive will be enough?

Any help is much appreciated. I am very stressed!!!!

 

[scylla]

I would wait until you're sure your name is off the "black list" before applying. I would also include a letter with the application indicating that you were mistakenly put on the black list, the letter confirming you were removed off the black list and something (bank statement?) proving that you are making regular payments.

 

[Crazycanook]

Thanks for that Scylla.

I guess I'll wait it out and make sure. I am going to call the Justice Department in Canada on Monday and see if they can remove it.

Anyone else have any stress like this with a default child support that they fixed? Any positive stories would help

 

[Harju]

You say that you are $15,000 in arrears but make regular arranged payments. Are these arranged payments paying off arrears or are they just the original regular court ordered periodic payments? (it sounds like you are in a payment plan to pay off the arrears but just to confirm)

According to the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, a licence/passport denial application will not be made if the debtor enters into a payment plan that is acceptable to the provincial enforcement service and that the making of the application is not reasonable in the circumstances.

As long as you have made acceptable arrangements to pay the arrears that should not prevent you from getting a passport. It appears that at one time they did make a license denial application against you but it was fixed and you were mistakenly not removed from the black list.

For immigration the guide just says that where you are in arrears you need to "resolve the family support matter". I would think that proof of a payment plan accepted my Maintenance Enforcement and compliance with the payment plan would "resolve the family support matter." I think you should be okay once you get it sorted which appears to be well in progress.