Visitor Extension Denied Spousal Sponsorship Next Step?

[CanadaChai10]

I am a US citizen who came to Canada in Dec 2020 under the Family Reunification Covid Program to visit my Canadian citizen fiance. We got married here in Canada in Nov 2022. I have been extending my temporary status thru the visit record every 6 months the entire time. It lapsed twice but I applied for reinstatement within less than 2 wks both times and was approved. The plan has always been to do spousal sponsorship but I got overwhelmed at the paperwork and planned to do it this year when we could afford a lawyer to help with peace of mind during the process. However my latest application for an extension was refused. It says I must leave right away or at the end of my current visitor record which expired while the application was pending. I'm panicking.

Can I appeal the refusal? possibly adding a letter explaining our intent for sponsorship.
Can I just apply for sponsorship now? then appeal showing I have a sponsor application in progress. If so should I do inland or outland?
Do I need to leave to reset my status then return and apply for sponsorship? I'm terrified at leaving and not being able to come back because of my previous extensions. It would be extremely difficult on us both mentally if forced to be separated thru this lengthy process not to mention I would be forced to stay with family members as I no longer have a "home" in the US after 4 years here in Canada.

What do I do? What are the next steps? TY for any help/advice

 

[scylla]

I am a US citizen who came to Canada in Dec 2020 under the Family Reunification Covid Program to visit my Canadian citizen fiance. We got married here in Canada in Nov 2022. I have been extending my temporary status thru the visit record every 6 months the entire time. It lapsed twice but I applied for reinstatement within less than 2 wks both times and was approved. The plan has always been to do spousal sponsorship but I got overwhelmed at the paperwork and planned to do it this year when we could afford a lawyer to help with peace of mind during the process. However my latest application for an extension was refused. It says I must leave right away or at the end of my current visitor record which expired while the application was pending. I'm panicking.

Can I appeal the refusal? possibly adding a letter explaining our intent for sponsorship.
Can I just apply for sponsorship now? then appeal showing I have a sponsor application in progress. If so should I do inland or outland?
Do I need to leave to reset my status then return and apply for sponsorship? I'm terrified at leaving and not being able to come back because of my previous extensions. It would be extremely difficult on us both mentally if forced to be separated thru this lengthy process not to mention I would be forced to stay with family members as I no longer have a "home" in the US after 4 years here in Canada.

What do I do? What are the next steps? TY for any help/advice

Honest feedback... It was a very big mistake not to submit the sponsorship application sooner. You could have done this years ago and it's not surprising IRCC has run out of patience and refused your extension. You are not supposed to live in Canada on visitor status, which is what you have been doing. No lawyer is needed to apply for sponsorship. The vast majority of us here have applied without a lawyer.

Unfortunately these decisions have resulted in you creating a complicated situation for yourself. This situation is entirely your own doing and you need to own up to that in any communication to IRCC. IMO any letter indicating an intent to sponsor is meaningless. You've had years to apply and haven't. You need to get your act together and actually submit the sponsorship application ASAP.

Now for some of the more complicated bits...

- I would not leave Canada unless forced to. If you leave yourself I think you will have great difficulty returning as a visitor given how long you've been here.
- I don't think an appeal will succeed for the visitor extension refusal. You were correctly refused and are essentially living abusing your stay here as a visitor at this point. An appeal will be a waste of time and money.
- I would pay the fees and submit the sponsorship application asap and then try submitting a restoration of status application to get your visitor status back, in which you can include evidence that you've actually submitted the spousal sponsorship application. Get this done in the next week if you can. Again, I think any letter stating you intend to apply for spousal sponsorship has no value at this point.
- More complicated is whether to apply inland or outland. If you apply inland and end up being removed from Canada, you would have to reapply from scratch outland. However even if your status is not restored, it is still feasible to remain in Canada out of status with an inland application (provided CBSA doesn't force you to leave). This is a tougher call.
- You might get better advice from us if you post the exact text of the refusal letter you received, removing personal details like your name of course.

Tough situation. You need to get that sponsorship application in now. No more waiting.

 

[CanadaChai10]

I'm not trying to pretend I didn't get myself into this predicament. I know my situation is my own fault. I know a lawyer isn't required. I just got confused and overwhelmed at the process and trying to figure it out on my own (with my spouse obviously) was more than I could handle. In hindsight, staying here as a "resident visitor" was not the smartest decision I have made but I did the necessary steps to stay here legally the entire time. We had saved up the funds to hire someone when some unexpected medical issues came up and we had to tap our reserves and then save up again for a lawyer.

This is a copy-paste of the letter:

This letter refers to your application for a VR.
Based on your application and accompanying documentation that you have provided, I have
carefully considered all information and I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations. Your application as requested is
therefore refused.
Persons wishing to extend temporary resident status in Canada must satisfy an officer that they
will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay, that they will not contravene
the conditions of entry and that they do not belong in a category of persons inadmissible to
Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
In reaching a decision, an officer considers several factors, which include the applicant’s:
1. Reason for original entry and reason for requested extension;
2. Ties to country of permanent residence, including:
- employment and study commitments;
- family ties and responsibilities;
- status (citizenship or immigration status);
3. Financial means for the extended stay and return home;
4. Travel and identity documents;
5. Probability to leave Canada at the end of authorized stay.
After considering all the circumstances of your case, I am not satisfied that you meet the
requirements of the Act and Regulations.
You must leave Canada on or before the expiry of your current document or, if your
document has already expired you must leave Canada immediately. Failure to do so
could result in enforcement action being taken against you.

 

[scylla]

I'm not trying to pretend I didn't get myself into this predicament. I know my situation is my own fault. I know a lawyer isn't required. I just got confused and overwhelmed at the process and trying to figure it out on my own (with my spouse obviously) was more than I could handle. In hindsight, staying here as a "resident visitor" was not the smartest decision I have made but I did the necessary steps to stay here legally the entire time. We had saved up the funds to hire someone when some unexpected medical issues came up and we had to tap our reserves and then save up again for a lawyer.

This is a copy-paste of the letter:

This letter refers to your application for a VR.
Based on your application and accompanying documentation that you have provided, I have
carefully considered all information and I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations. Your application as requested is
therefore refused.
Persons wishing to extend temporary resident status in Canada must satisfy an officer that they
will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay, that they will not contravene
the conditions of entry and that they do not belong in a category of persons inadmissible to
Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
In reaching a decision, an officer considers several factors, which include the applicant’s:
1. Reason for original entry and reason for requested extension;
2. Ties to country of permanent residence, including:
- employment and study commitments;
- family ties and responsibilities;
- status (citizenship or immigration status);
3. Financial means for the extended stay and return home;
4. Travel and identity documents;
5. Probability to leave Canada at the end of authorized stay.
After considering all the circumstances of your case, I am not satisfied that you meet the
requirements of the Act and Regulations.
You must leave Canada on or before the expiry of your current document or, if your
document has already expired you must leave Canada immediately. Failure to do so
could result in enforcement action being taken against you.

How quickly can you get the spousal sponsorship application submitted?

 

[Ponga]

I'm not trying to pretend I didn't get myself into this predicament. I know my situation is my own fault. I know a lawyer isn't required. I just got confused and overwhelmed at the process and trying to figure it out on my own (with my spouse obviously) was more than I could handle. In hindsight, staying here as a "resident visitor" was not the smartest decision I have made but I did the necessary steps to stay here legally the entire time. We had saved up the funds to hire someone when some unexpected medical issues came up and we had to tap our reserves and then save up again for a lawyer.

This is a copy-paste of the letter:

This letter refers to your application for a VR.
Based on your application and accompanying documentation that you have provided, I have
carefully considered all information and I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations. Your application as requested is
therefore refused.
Persons wishing to extend temporary resident status in Canada must satisfy an officer that they
will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay, that they will not contravene
the conditions of entry and that they do not belong in a category of persons inadmissible to
Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
In reaching a decision, an officer considers several factors, which include the applicant’s:
1. Reason for original entry and reason for requested extension;
2. Ties to country of permanent residence, including:
- employment and study commitments;
- family ties and responsibilities;
- status (citizenship or immigration status);
3. Financial means for the extended stay and return home;
4. Travel and identity documents;
5. Probability to leave Canada at the end of authorized stay.
After considering all the circumstances of your case, I am not satisfied that you meet the
requirements of the Act and Regulations.
You must leave Canada on or before the expiry of your current document or, if your
document has already expired you must leave Canada immediately. Failure to do so
could result in enforcement action being taken against you.

I concur with @scylla

Since legal status is not a requirement for an Inland spousal sponsorship, that would be your best option if you plan to [hopefully] remain in Canada during the process.

You could return to the U.S. and submit the Outland sponsorship application, but that's probably not very appealing to you or your spouse...understandably.

Good luck!

 

[Copingwithlife]

You need to have had this sponsorship submitted yesterday
Instead of requesting a visitor extension, why didn’t you submit the spousal sponsorship
The IRCC is patient up to a point , but being here four plus years, two of them being married, there patience has run out .
I wouldn’t use the Canada is home now . You were always a visitor . How were you supporting yourself literally over the years ?
Plus you’ve had years to figure it out

 

[Ponga]

You must leave Canada on or before the expiry of your current document or, if your
document has already expired you must leave Canada immediately. Failure to do so
could result in enforcement action being taken against you.

As already mentioned by others, you need to deal with this ASAP. If you are removed from Canada, you could be banned for up to 5 years.

Since you are a U.S. citizen, it may make things a bit `interesting'.

It's logical for all FN (foreign nationals) to assume that CBSA knows when they leave Canada; it's apparently not the case in terms of a U.S. traveler.
Many here have reported that when requesting their CBSA Travel History, it did not show exits from Canada. In theory, it's possible that if you were to leave Canada and then return to Canada a few days (or longer) later, the CBSA officer would not know when you last departed Canada. This is obviously risky, since the officer could know that you left and had overstayed before you left.

Back in 2016 CBP and CBSA entered the third stage of the Beyond the Border Entry/Exit Program. You can read about it, here:
https://www.dhs.gov/publication/beyond-border-entryexit-program-phase-ii
Look for this link:

DHS/CBP/PIA-004(h) Beyond the Border Entry/Exit Program Phase III August 2016

CBSA's link is here:
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/eei-ies-eng.html

But, here's the rub:
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/brdr-strtgs/bynd-th-brdr/ctn-pln-en.aspx

Measuring Progress: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will measure the security benefits of exit measures via the identification of: persons detected overstaying their visa and immigration warrant closures; entry and exit records matched that indicate a lawful exit from either country; individuals who may have failed to meet residency requirements for permanent resident status or citizenship applications; and persons subject to a removal or departure order and who are recorded as having departed.
--

So, have you already triggered the Overstay? If so, how would you know?
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/ae-ve/trp-pst/audit-verification-eng.html

Monitoring overstay

66. The agency does not systematically monitor travellers' (including TRP holders) departure from Canada. All travellers are expected to comply with their visa/permit conditions.

Entry and exit data

73. A traveller's entry and exit records are needed in order to determine overstay. As of September 2022, exit data was not yet available for all modes of travel to determine and report overstays. Specifically, land data was available since 2019, while air data only became available in 2022Footnote 23.


74. TB was still designing this function and it was not yet operational. IEB was also developing guidance to determine how to use it.


75. Current limitations with the overstay function in Entry/Exit include:

• Some overstay data is only available from January 25, 2022 onwards, so information may be incomplete and inaccurate. As a result, the audit could not confirm the departure of all travellers with expired TRPs from the sample.
• The related overstay indicator in GCMS (once operational) will not trigger an alert to take action; and
• A list of overstays can only be generated by the Strategic Policy Branch, however each traveller's status has to be further validated individually.

76. Taking into account these limitations, the only way to determine a traveller's departure is to manually review a TRP holder's file.
--


In summary, since you have received the letter from IRCC indicating that you must leave Canada, I would say that time is your enemy right now.
What do you plan to do today to resolve this matter for you and your spouse?!

Good luck!