Taking Guardianship Over Relative While Applying For Visa

[IPreferCats]

Hi, my husband is sponsoring me for a spousal visa and my niece was kidnapped by her grandparents. My sister (her mom) is afraid of getting social workers involved because they might decide that being kidnapped is better than giving her back custody. My husband has a stable job with good pay and we live in the family house, which would look really good to said social workers (if they overcome the fear of moving her). She's a US citizen though, would it be possible for us to take custody of her and bring her over here? How would that work?

This isn't really anyone's ideal situation but thanks in advance for advice.

 

[scylla]

Hi, my husband is sponsoring me for a spousal visa and my niece was kidnapped by her grandparents. My sister (her mom) is afraid of getting social workers involved because they might decide that being kidnapped is better than giving her back custody. My husband has a stable job with good pay and we live in the family house, which would look really good to said social workers (if they overcome the fear of moving her). She's a US citizen though, would it be possible for us to take custody of her and bring her over here? How would that work?

This isn't really anyone's ideal situation but thanks in advance for advice.

Short answer is no. You cannot bring her in any permanent capacity. Being her guardians does not give her the right to move to Canada permanently or be included in your sponsorship application. To be included in your application as a dependent, her parents would need to be deceased and you would need to formally adopt her. That's not the situation here. The most your sister can do is apply for her to come to Canada temporarily on a study permit. Tuition will be around $15K per year for public school (more for private). However if your sister doesn't have custody at this time, I'm not sure that's even possible. I would forget about bringing her to Canada and address this issue through the US court system.

 

[IPreferCats]

Thank you, that's what I was afraid of.

 

[scylla]

Thank you, that's what I was afraid of.

BTW - I assume you mean that the courts awarded temporary custody of your niece to her grandparents. If she was actually kidnapped, then I assume your sister would be getting police involved.

 

[IPreferCats]

No, they were given temporary custody, but it expired. It was some time before they sought it again and I believe they were denied. At that point, they worried the mom would come looking for her baby and they moved without telling anyone. They won't answer her calls unless it's an out of state number. My sister was worried no one would care.