Spouse Visa Refusal in Colombia and appeal in Family Class

[Richardm]

Hi,

I need some advice and opinions on my case as I am very frustrated.

I am a Canadian citizen by birth

I met a Colombian national about 4 years ago and started a relationship

Currently my wife is 23 and I am 56 and she has a 5 year old child from a previous relationship

We had a civil marriage in Jan 2012 and then applied for a family type sponsorship visa in Feb 2012A

Went for medical and it was OK for her and her kid, we filled all the immigration application forms carefully and detailed everything.

I did not retain an immigration lawyer as I thought it was all straight forward or so I thought!!!

We waited 1 year for my wife to go to an interview to the embassy; she went alone as I was working in Canada while we waited for the visa.

She was interviewed by the ambassador and drilled on every aspect of our relationship and knowledge of my family etc. Answered 95% of questions correctly

She failed to accurately answer 3 questions: name of one of my half-brothers whom I don’t have contact with, my full address in Canada and my current employer, I do contract work so she knew the name and all details of who I was doing contract work for, but not the name of the contracting company.

She was treated poorly in the interview by the ambassador and she was hurried to finish the interview as the embassy was closing, from the treatment she got and the attitude, she knew she was going to be refused.

About a month later she got refusal letter in Colombia and I got one in Canada

The letter stated this in brief:

The marriage is not genuine

It also said this:

Your husband is 35 years older than you. This is his 3rd marriage; His second marriage in 2008 only lasted a few months, the documents and information provided to demonstrate the strength of the relationship before your marriage is very limited. You do not know a number of important elements concerning your husband such as the name of his current employer, his current residential address, the name of one of his brothers, etc.

I am therefore satisfied that this is a not a genuine marriage.

As a result, for purpose of the regulations, you are not considered to be a member of the family class.


Questions:

Since when is it not permitted to marry anyone in Canada as long as they are of legal age?

Is there a law in Canada that says you can only marry so many times (my first marriage lasted 15 years, second one was a mistake and realized it quickly and ended it fast?

Why did the ambassador interview her, why was she treated poorly (she thinks it was because she was young of poor origins and that she is dark skinned)

If they want more proof of the strength of the relationship why don’t they ask for it in a list of requirements or would be good to have and to submit with the application

As for the strength of the relationship, we have lived together 3-4 months after we met, (going into 4 years) both of our families are aware of it, we provided all information asked by immigration in the applications (in detail) including numerous photographs, proof of shared visa card, financial support, phone call records.

All of our contact was living together and the short periods that I was away in business or in Canada we communicated via Skype, Email, Chat, calling cards, etc.

Since the refusal I have retained a reputable Canadian immigration lawyer (Patricia Wells, Toronto) and started an appeal with the immigrations appeal board and I am waiting since February 2013

Was told I would possibly get an appeal on Nov-Dec 2013 still waiting...

I have gathered a few items for the appeal,

Personal letters one written by me and another by my wife stating our backgrounds and story of our relationship.
About 6 notarized affidavits from neighbors/friends, Colombian and non-Colombian saying the they know we are a couple and we have lived together for more than 3 years, 1 of them from her family saying they are aware and approve of the relationship, and another from my kids and ex-wife (1st marriage) in Canada, saying they approve of the marriage and they know we are a couple and that my kids and everyone involved would benefit from me being back in Canada with my new wife.

I am also in the process of legally adopting my stepson here in Colombia, any implications there???

The bottom line is that I am now in Colombia as I came back to Colombia to support my wife after the refusal financially and emotionally, as she went into a bad depression after the refusal and got dangerously thin and we do not like being apart.

Currently I am living of my savings in Colombia until this is resolved and I can go back to Canada with her, we are both frustrated as both of our lives are in hold (already wasted almost 2 years waiting for this visa) as we do not want to start a business or venture here in Colombia or start new roots here as we would have to leave everything behind when she gets a visa and we go to Canada.

I thank you for reading this as I know it’s a long story and I need some opinions and advice and what else can I do to my case with the appeals board more favorable.

Thanks

Richard

 

[truesmile]

Well here are my 3 cents:

Point taken (by your questions), but that is not "their" point. Each one on it's own maybe has little merit but adding them all up they arrived at their own conclusion.

Getting 3 questions wrong?? No big deal (IMO), answering all questions 100% like a robot isn't how to pass an interview. Maybe they had it in for her (which would be wrong of course). Even the "civil" only wedding was likely a factor detracting from your overall application. Your attendance at the interview is not required of course, but it's unfortunate (in retrospect) you weren't there for that.

Since the proofs many present is such broad of a scope, they don't "list" it. They simply ask you to submit anything that YOU feel would prove even further the genuineness of your relationship.

No further advice, here . . . you've got an appeals lawyer, which is probably your best next step. Hopefully you're in good hands. I understand "appeals" have a high success rate.

 

[Sweden]

Also - the fact that you are currently living with her will be a plus at the appeal. So if you can - stay in Colombia as long as you can. Adopting your stepson is probably also good, as it shows genuine ties ( one more proof, would not mean anything on its own).

So - in short, you're doing what is the best in your case - staying with your wife, supporting each other, being part of each other's life. Do that until the appeal, keep the proofs that you are in Colombia, try and enjoy the country and go on outings together as much as you can, and wait for the appeal date. Once the appeal is near, make sure that you give your lawyer all the needed proofs, and hopefully all will go well and you can go to Canada together as a family.

As truesmile has said - most appeals are successful, and if you live together for all that time, it will serve as extra proof.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[SenoritaBella]

@truesmile, do you mind elaborating about the what is problematic with a civil wedding?

@Richard - so sorry you wife's application was refused. I spoke to an immigration lawyer and from what I could gather, age difference on its own is not necessarily a problem. But when taken in combination with other factors e.g. do they speak a common language, do they have similar backgrounds, education levels, compatibility, etc then yes, it could be a 'red flag' for them.

In my humble opinion, the officers have a very tough job. They are tasked with looking at photos, letters, forms, etc to "determine" whether relationship is genuine. They are bound to get it "wrong" sometimes. Personally, I don't know how they can even figure this out with a degree of certainty. The reasons they gave for denying your wife are so superficial, it would be comical if it wasn't so devastating. The other thing which concerns me is "personal bias" - how do they safeguard against it? There is no clear cut flow chart for what burden of proof an applicant must submit, so the officer seems to have a lot of discretion to be "satisfied" or not. I really think the interviews should be videotaped and audio recorded as well for reference. An officer will not be aggressive like that if they knew they were going to be accountable.

 

[truesmile]

On it's own, nothing is problematic with it. As part of the OP's overall story however I was merely stating it MAY have been as detrimental as the 'getting 3 questions wrong', is all.

 

[Richardm]

Hi,

Well just to elaborate my background is half Hispanic and half Canadian I am perfectly fluent in Spanish and I am fully aware of all the Hispanic customs as half of my family is Mexican and I lived in Mexico for 4-5 years in my teens.

As for the age difference well it might look a bit odd in Canada but in countries like Colombia it is perfectly normal and no one here bats an eye here at it.

As for education well I am far more educated than her (I am older) she came from a poor background and only has a 8 grade education but she is smart and a go getter and I am sure she will educate herself well in a good environment such as Canada.

My bitterness towards Immigration is because they make you feel like they are omnipotent and you are nothing but a worm trying to somehow beat the system to get your wife into Canada.

Detecting a genuine marriage is not really something I should have to prove, Canadian marriages fail at about a 50 percent rate and they don't check Canadians when they get married in Canada.

Our immigration system is so far behind what it could be, a simple visit from a private investigator hired by the embassy and that would be part of the immigration fees (police here say a private agency could do a check on someone which would include a few days surveillance (for less than a $100 US) and or a visit to the home, this would probably detect most fake marriages, people that say they are refugees and are wealthy or are government officials in their countries and just want to get out of there, or maybe drug dealers, crooks, thieves and just plain bad people.

That would be money well spent and I am sure someone that is honest in their application to immigrate would not mind at all if it would accelerate their approval and weed out the bad apples.

Just my two bits


Richard

 

[jomz]

"Detecting a genuine marriage is not really something I should have to prove, Canadian marriages fail at about a 50 percent rate and they don't check Canadians when they get married in Canada."

The last I heard they fail at around 60%....and yes you are right in all of your points and I think this type of personal assessment has to come to an end. On what is genuineness based? As you said, it is not something unusual for a man to be much older than a wife in Colombia, so if they really looked at your file without any prejudice your refusal would have never happened. The bottom line and the truth in all of this is if CIC really wanted to stop marriage fraud they would do as most agencies do by following money transactions (I read the $ people pay for marriage/sponsorship are often in tens thousands of dollars, and I would bet that the sponsoring party doesn't waste money to fly to see their spouse every couple months taking precious vacation days and time without pay from work (my case). But be it as it may I will fight and defend my marriage as should you. In addition after your appeal is completed your appeal will be made public, I would suggest to take it a step further, alert the media etc. the recent PR laws (Oct. 2012) were changed to make this process easier as the PR is conditional for 2 years (if relationship fails the sponsored spouse can be deported without any status) but the visa officers are on some type of a power trip and treat us tax paying citizens or PRs as criminals.

 

[mikeymyke]

Age difference is a factor when it comes to determining genuineness, however so are many other things. You are 35 years older than your wife, so that of course they viewed as a red flag. You are university educated, but she has only Grade 8, so they may have seen your educational differences as a red flag.

Don't view CIC as making you feel like you are trying to beat the system to get your wife in Canada, they just make you feel like your wife is trying to beat the system to get into Canada, and that's why its their job to determine marriage genuineness, and your job to prove it.

Detecting a genuine marriage is not really something I should have to prove, Canadian marriages fail at about a 50 percent rate and they don't check Canadians when they get married in Canada.

Yes but there's a difference, Canadian marriages fail at 50%, that's Canadians' business. We're talking about a foreign national trying to enter Canada. Foreign nationals have no rights to enter Canada, and are not entitled to anything. If a foreign national desires to enter here through family class sponsorship, then its their job to prove marriage genuineness.

I do agree that the VO's are idiots sometimes and its well documented that they can be rude. I read a couple refusal cases in Vietnam, where they considered a 4 year age difference a red flag and in that country, a majority of women marry men at least 5 years older.

 

[SenoritaBella]

The reason they are rude is because there is no process in place to ensure they are accountable. We have seen comments on here where people allege officers said certain things but because there is no video or audio recording of the interview, it is your word against the officer's.