Urgent Advice Needed: PR/Citizenship Application Mismatch

[ON8723]

Hi All,

Advise would be much appreciated on the following situation;

I am currently eligible and have applied for Canadian Citizenship under the news rules in October 2017. Currently at AOR stage and expecting IP any day now

I decided a couple of days ago to review my Permanent Residency Application (CEC 2014). I currently hold 2 European passports and on review of the PR application it appears I only included the Passport/Citizenship of my Citizenship of birth (passport connected with all previous work permits, visas and PR). So it appears that I missed a second citizenship which I thought I included. This was a honest mistake and does not give any advantage by not declaring. In additional, I have never used my second citizenship/passport for travel purposes.

I have included both citizenship documents in my Canadian Citizenship application and now I am very concerned this will flag as a discrepancy / misrepresentation in the PR application

Has anyone on the forum experienced this type of situation and can advise the best course of action in this situation. I see two options;

1) Not sure if the PR application is re-reviewed or not and cross checked with Citizenship application. One option is to do nothing and wait for a response from CIC

2)Send a addendum/attachment to my application explaining the above situation and send a full photocopy of my second passport showing no travel / passport stamps. This option my be the most logical but may open a can of worms.

As mentioned above I thought that everything was included in the PR application and this is an honest mistake which does not benefit me in the slightest and have no gain from withholding

Thanking everyone for their responses/opinions in advance. I would like to react to the best option prior to IP stage

Thanks Again

 

[ChippyBoy]

Hi All,

Advise would be much appreciated on the following situation;

I am currently eligible and have applied for Canadian Citizenship under the news rules in October 2017. Currently at AOR stage and expecting IP any day now

I decided a couple of days ago to review my Permanent Residency Application (CEC 2014). I currently hold 2 European passports and on review of the PR application it appears I only included the Passport/Citizenship of my Citizenship of birth (passport connected with all previous work permits, visas and PR). So it appears that I missed a second citizenship which I thought I included. This was a honest mistake and does not give any advantage by not declaring. In additional, I have never used my second citizenship/passport for travel purposes.

I have included both citizenship documents in my Canadian Citizenship application and now I am very concerned this will flag as a discrepancy / misrepresentation in the PR application

Has anyone on the forum experienced this type of situation and can advise the best course of action in this situation. I see two options;

1) Not sure if the PR application is re-reviewed or not and cross checked with Citizenship application. One option is to do nothing and wait for a response from CIC

2)Send a addendum/attachment to my application explaining the above situation and send a full photocopy of my second passport showing no travel / passport stamps. This option my be the most logical but may open a can of worms.

As mentioned above I thought that everything was included in the PR application and this is an honest mistake which does not benefit me in the slightest and have no gain from withholding

Thanking everyone for their responses/opinions in advance. I would like to react to the best option prior to IP stage

Thanks Again

If I were in your situation at this moment, I'd immediately apply for a pcc from the second country in case IRCC asks you for one.

 

[links18]

There is a chance nobody ever catches the discrepancy, but if they do--its possible misrepresentation and denial of your application or even revocation of your citizenship later on. That kind of makes the decision easy doesn't it?

 

[dpenabill]

Hi All,

Advise would be much appreciated on the following situation;

I am currently eligible and have applied for Canadian Citizenship under the news rules in October 2017. Currently at AOR stage and expecting IP any day now

I decided a couple of days ago to review my Permanent Residency Application (CEC 2014). I currently hold 2 European passports and on review of the PR application it appears I only included the Passport/Citizenship of my Citizenship of birth (passport connected with all previous work permits, visas and PR). So it appears that I missed a second citizenship which I thought I included. This was a honest mistake and does not give any advantage by not declaring. In additional, I have never used my second citizenship/passport for travel purposes.

I have included both citizenship documents in my Canadian Citizenship application and now I am very concerned this will flag as a discrepancy / misrepresentation in the PR application

Has anyone on the forum experienced this type of situation and can advise the best course of action in this situation. I see two options;

1) Not sure if the PR application is re-reviewed or not and cross checked with Citizenship application. One option is to do nothing and wait for a response from CIC

2)Send a addendum/attachment to my application explaining the above situation and send a full photocopy of my second passport showing no travel / passport stamps. This option my be the most logical but may open a can of worms.

As mentioned above I thought that everything was included in the PR application and this is an honest mistake which does not benefit me in the slightest and have no gain from withholding

Thanking everyone for their responses/opinions in advance. I would like to react to the best option prior to IP stage

Thanks Again

My non-expert sense, overall:

The failure to disclose citizenship and present a Travel Document in the PR application was a bigger deal than you appear to recognize, but the odds are probably good this will NOT cause you any significant problems. Those odds, that is the risks of a serious problem, however, are dependent on many other factors in your history and circumstances.

My sense is that all you need to do is to be prepared to answer questions about this (which if there are any, they will probably be asked in the interview).

You have already submitted the information, so there is nothing to correct or revise or update now.

There is a significant probability that information in your PR application process will be compared with the information in your citizenship application. Well, some is for sure compared. And I would guess that status in other countries is something which, in particular, is compared. Likelihood, thus, is the discrepancy will be overtly obvious. Whether or not it is given much if any attention is a big unknown.

My guess, however, is that this is NOT likely to cause problems. Perhaps some questions about this asked of you in the interview, which it appears you can readily answer. Nothing problematic.

But of course that is not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario (allegation of misrepresentation in PR application leading to loss of PR status) could be very problematic. I just doubt you need to worry about the worst case scenario . . . unless there are other aspects of your case, your history or circumstances, suggesting a nefarious motive or suggesting deliberate deceptiveness.


Thus, to my non-expert view, emphasis on NON-expert, there is no compelling reason to submit any addendum or supplemental information at this stage. You have now disclosed to IRCC that you have the second citizenship and respective passport. There is nothing else (it appears, based on your account) that you have submitted in the citizenship application which is untrue, misleading, or which constitutes the omission of requested or material information.

Thus there is nothing to correct or revise or update. At the most, you could explain/clarify the error made years ago in a prior process.

That is, you have, in a tangible, literal sense, come clean, giving IRCC the information you previously failed to disclose. And that was the best thing to do, to truthfully and accurately and completely provide the information and document-copies requested, including disclosure of all citizenship (and status) in all countries, and a copy of the biographical pages of ALL passports. It may have been a good idea to add a supplemental page to the citizenship application, acknowledging the omission in the PR application process, and explaining it. But you did not. The application is now in-the-hopper, so to say, and so far as your account of the situation goes, it does not appear there is any information which needs to be corrected or revised or updated. IRCC now has all the correct information.

In particular, as you report things, the material omission was in the earlier application. That's a done deal. That is history. Yes, that could potentially be perceived to have been a material omission, and if it is also perceived to have been a willful omission it could be grounds for alleging a material misrepresentation in the process of obtaining PR status, which could support a decision rendering you inadmissible, terminating your PR status. Alternatively, if you are granted citizenship, it could later be the basis for revoking citizenship and then determining you are inadmissible.

That does NOT seem likely. Not by a long shot. Many, many people make all sorts of mistakes, and IRCC is well acquainted with this. And far more serious mistakes have not derailed an immigrant's status in Canada or path to citizenship. But again, this can depend on many other facts and circumstances in your history and circumstances.

In the absence of some indication of a nefarious motive, some overt indication you were overtly attempting to conceal who you are or where you have lived or what you have done, there does NOT appear to be any reason why IRCC will have concerns about this.

But there is no guarantee. As noted, other facts, history, or circumstances can make a difference.

To be more sure, more confident, you could obtain a consultation with a reputable, experienced lawyer. A paid-for consultation, scheduled specifically to obtain a legal opinion about this one specific matter. That opinion will still be just an opinion, but one rooted in more expertise and based on a more informed understanding of the facts (the lawyer could and should go into enough of the details to put this in perspective) and of IRCC policies and practices.

There are some relevant nuances regarding errors, especially omissions, and what impact these can have at various stages in an immigrant's life in Canada, but unless there are some other circumstances which might suggest evasiveness or concealment, a deceptive motive, delving into those here and now would be more distracting than helpful.

Mistake made. A little to worry about but probably no serious concerns to worry about. You have informed IRCC now of information you failed to disclose before. You appear ready to answer any questions that might trigger. That should suffice.

 

[alphazip]

I agree with dpenabill. You have disclosed your second citizenship in your citizenship application, so there is nothing in the application that is being hidden/misrepresented. There is also nothing you can do now to correct your PR application. So, my suggestion is to do nothing. If IRCC questions the discrepancy, you can show the entire second passport (showing no travel) at that time.

 

[ukulele]

Do not listen to those who say it is a misrepresentation. It is not. It is an honest mistake. If you included the copy of that passport that you did not put in the application, how could it be misrepresentation?

If you listen to a bunch of "perfect immigrants" on this forum. Everything that you do that they did differently is considered to be misrepresentation. They usually just want to reinforce their belief that their way is the only way.

Mind you, not even 10 per cent of all prospective immigrants read this forum. I bet you EVERY second application has mistakes on it. Not because people are frauds (though some are), but because MOST, I REPEAT MOST PEOPLE fill out their forms carelessly without even knowing what misrepresentation is. Every single friend of mine calls me paranoid just because I am careful. All of them fill the forms out and do not even check them. They just send them in.

My point is - if your mistake was considered as misrepresentation, every second immigrant would have probably be deported due to misrepresentation.

 

[sns204]

Do not listen to those who say it is a misrepresentation. It is not. It is an honest mistake. If you included the copy of that passport that you did not put in the application, how could it be misrepresentation?

If you listen to a bunch of "perfect immigrants" on this forum. Everything that you do that they did differently is considered to be misrepresentation. They usually just want to reinforce their belief that their way is the only way.

Mind you, not even 10 per cent of all prospective immigrants read this forum. I bet you EVERY second application has mistakes on it. Not because people are frauds (though some are), but because MOST, I REPEAT MOST PEOPLE fill out their forms carelessly without even knowing what misrepresentation is. Every single friend of mine calls me paranoid just because I am careful. All of them fill the forms out and do not even check them. They just send them in.

My point is - if your mistake was considered as misrepresentation, every second immigrant would have probably be deported due to misrepresentation.

Since we are talking about a government agency specifically looking for discrepancies, they will generally assume the worst as it should be their job to do so. It's not that people that have responded so far are saying the OP willfully misrepresented the PR application, rather they are saying that IRCC may well assume misrepresentation, which would likely prompt some additional attention and possibly questions to answer.

 

[links18]

I misread the OP and thought they had omitted the additional citizenship on their current citizenship application. Still, in any situation where there may be any possibility that a mistake could be interpreted as misrepresentation it would seem to me to behoove the person in question to very strongly consider correcting it.

 

[alphazip]

I misread the OP and thought they had omitted the additional citizenship on their current citizenship application. Still, in any situation where there may be any possibility that a mistake could be interpreted as misrepresentation it would seem to me to behoove the person in question to very strongly consider correcting it.

But there is no way to correct the PR application; the OP is already a PR! I personally don't think it's advisable to contact IRCC to say, in effect, "you granted me PR, but I didn't tell you everything." In my opinion, that's more likely to create a problem than just allowing the citizenship application (which is complete and accurate) to proceed. In the unlikely even that the OP is questioned about the discrepancy, it can be dealt with then.

 

[links18]

But there is no way to correct the PR application; the OP is already a PR! I personally don't think it's advisable to contact IRCC to say, in effect, "you granted me PR, but I didn't tell you everything." In my opinion, that's more likely to create a problem than just allowing the citizenship application (which is complete and accurate) to proceed. In the unlikely even that the OP is questioned about the discrepancy, it can be dealt with then.

Right. If the mistake was made on the citizenship application, it would be totally different. In fact, the OP would be a fool not to correct it, as concealing an additional citizenship would almost certainly raise concerns about the existence of another travel document that is not being reported and lead to concerns about overall credibility.

 

[Alberto SK]

Hey ON8723 I have almost the same issue, the only difference is that I haven't sent my application for citizenship yet. Can you share how it is going so far? It would be great to hear from you.

BTW my post is here https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/is-it-misrepresentation.545335/