Sponsoring Dependant child from Philippines - Biological Father AWOL

[VermiciousKnish]

Woman here who came from the Philippines 5 years ago. She has been working here for the last 5 years, sending money back home every week to support her mother and her 13 year old son. Her husband ran off with another woman soon after she arrived in Canada. She has not heard from him in 3 years and has no idea where he may be living. He does not visit his son and does not help support in any way. She has received divorce papers from Canadian court.

She applied for family class sponsorship. CIC requesting signed authorization form (with ID) from ex-husband allowing child to travel to Canada. Alternatively, they are asking for court docs showing she has sole custody. Also want this within 30 days. There is a very slim chance of finding the ex, let alone getting him to sign the authorization form. Possible chance of getting sole custody docs, but she would have to travel to Philippines, and may take extensive amount of time and money (which mother has neither of) to get this done. She can not afford to quit her job and go back there. She has to support 3 people right now.

Thoughts?

 

[scylla]

I supposed one option would be to change the child to non-accompanying so that the PR application can be finalized. Once the custody paperwork has been sorted out, the mother can then sponsor her child for PR separately.

Hopefully others will weight in.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I supposed one option would be to change the child to non-accompanying so that the PR application can be finalized. Once the custody paperwork has been sorted out, the mother can then sponsor her child for PR separately.

Hopefully others will weight in.

I agree that this is the only option at this time if the mother is unable to travel to the Philippines to obtain the necessary court documents.

Without permission from the father or the courts, IRCC cannot allow the child to immigrate to Canada.

 

[VermiciousKnish]

So how does changing application to non-accompanying help? They would presumably not grant the child PR status until mother gets full custody or father signs paperwork.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

So how does changing application to non-accompanying help? They would presumably not grant the child PR status until mother gets full custody or father signs paperwork.

This would allow the mother's current app to be approved and for her to become a PR. In the meantime, she can sort out the legal custody issues and then apply to sponsor her child once she has the proper documents.

 

[VermiciousKnish]

Just to clarify here,

The mother is already a permanent resident. She applied a few years back. She has been working in Canada for the last 4-5 years, originally through the LIC program. She did not sponsor her son back then because she was told she could not.

As an update to this story, apparently she can find out where the ex-husband is through some relatives back at home, but he only agreed to authorize the son to come to Canada if she agrees to sponsor him as well. She has nightmares of her ex finding her here in Canada.

 

[yvr1234]

Just to clarify here,

The mother is already a permanent resident. She applied a few years back. She has been working in Canada for the last 4-5 years, originally through the LIC program. She did not sponsor her son back then because she was told she could not.

As an update to this story, apparently she can find out where the ex-husband is through some relatives back at home, but he only agreed to authorize the son to come to Canada if she agrees to sponsor him as well. She has nightmares of her ex finding her here in Canada.

I hope she listed her son as non-accompanying dependent back then. If not, she can NEVER sponsor him.

BTW, there isn't a route to sponsor an ex-husband (divorce paper was served back then). Even if she had listed him back then, I don't think she has a chance to get authorization from her ex to let her son to come to Canada.

 

[VermiciousKnish]

I hope she listed her son as non-accompanying dependent back then. If not, she can NEVER sponsor him.

BTW, there isn't a route to sponsor an ex-husband (divorce paper was served back then). Even if she had listed him back then, I don't think she has a chance to get authorization from her ex to let her son to come to Canada.

She did list her son as a non-accompanying back then so that should not be an issue.

She has legal divorce papers here in Ontario (not sure how she obtained those) but ex-husband back in Philippines is saying he will only agree to sign if she sponsors him as well. I do not think he realizes that he can no longer be sponsored by his ex-wife here in Canada. As an aside, he has both verbally and physically abused his ex-wife when she was back in the Philippines. He has been away for last 3-4 years. Has nothing to do with his son and has not supported them financially. She is genuinely afraid to maintain contact with him.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Just to clarify here,

The mother is already a permanent resident. She applied a few years back. She has been working in Canada for the last 4-5 years, originally through the LIC program. She did not sponsor her son back then because she was told she could not.

As an update to this story, apparently she can find out where the ex-husband is through some relatives back at home, but he only agreed to authorize the son to come to Canada if she agrees to sponsor him as well. She has nightmares of her ex finding her here in Canada.

She can either start the court proceedings now and ask IRCC to put the app on hold until it is complete (which they may or may not do) or she can withdraw and re-submit when she has the proper documents.

She really should have started this court process years ago when she immigrated. At the very least, she should have had it sorted out prior to sponsoring the child. It really was pointless for her to apply without the proper custody documents.

There is no path for the ex to come to Canada through her.

 

[UA2014]

She will have to go to court to have either sole custody, or sever the father's parental rights. I don't know what the legal classifications are for Phillipines.
There isn't any way around this. She will have to return to deal with the legal issues or have a lawyer deal with it.

 

[VermiciousKnish]

She can either start the court proceedings now and ask IRCC to put the app on hold until it is complete (which they may or may not do) or she can withdraw and re-submit when she has the proper documents.

She really should have started this court process years ago when she immigrated. At the very least, she should have had it sorted out prior to sponsoring the child. It really was pointless for her to apply without the proper custody documents.

There is no path for the ex to come to Canada through her.

Is there any harm in letting application play out and then having it rejected? How would one even request to put an application on hold?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Is there any harm in letting application play out and then having it rejected? How would one even request to put an application on hold?

There isn't really any harm in letting the app be rejected but it's kind of pointless when it's easy to simply withdraw.

She can send IRCC a CSE showing proof that she's trying to obtain the necessary court documents and asking for an extension.