Countries like Australia and England require that a sponsored person live with their spouse for three years before being given permanent resident status, which is what a Toronto-area MP said he’d like to see implemented in Canada to help prevent marriage fraud.

Bramalea-Gore-Malton Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi said that within his riding alone, he hears of between two and three instances each month of spousal sponsorship where once the spouse comes to Canada, they disappear.

The case of Ashpreet Badwal, a resident of Toronto, has been published in several different media outlets over the past few days. Badwal met her husband online, flew to India to marry him and tried to sponsor him, but was rejected on the grounds that it was suspected to be fraudulent. She appealed and won, granting her husband permanent residence. But when she went to pick him up at the airport, he never showed and called her to tell her he wasn’t meeting her.

Because Badwal sponsored her husband, she is also legally responsible for him for three years.

The MP has sent a letter to Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney asking for the husband to be deported immediately.

Immigration fraud through marriage, or marriages of convenience (MOC) , most importantly make it even more difficult for those who are trying to sponsor their loved ones to come to Canada after much time apart for legitimate reasons.

Whether these proposed changes do take place, the current reality is that Visa Officers stationed at Canadian Embassies take an increasingly strict approach to processing spousal sponsorship applications. For a successful application, it is essential to have a well documented application package and for the applicant to perform well at his or her interview overseas–otherwise you will likely find yourself in appeals court.

I am very very thankful to Katherine Yang forever.

She handled my sponsorship appeal so well that it succeeded. She had worked very  hard and very closely on my file.

It was impossible without her strong effort and understanding. Her submission was so great and considerable. Because of her help, my wife and I will be living together soon!

Thank you Katherine and Niren and Associates again.

Bill

A landmark ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal held that Immigrant Sponsors are not automatically required to pay back immigrant debt of the relatives they sponsored despite having signed a Sponsorship Agreement. Rather the Province now has to proceed with the debt collection of Sponsors in the same manner, with the same measure of fairness, as with other government debt scenarios. This means that the government must take into account the full context of the situation of the immigrant sponsors and treat each debt collection on a case-by-case basis.

Despite the somewhat overstated headline in today’s National Post by Natalie Alcoba, the Court’s ruling does not mean that immigrant sponsors are “off the hook” when it comes to sponsorship dept collection. The government will still require that, in most cases immigrant sponsors will have to pay back the money their relatives collect from the government. However, with his ruling, the government has to exercise discretion in the collection process.

This ruling  is a welcome change. Not a free pass. Cases where, for example, spouses are sponsored from overseas only to leave the matrimonial home days after arrival, suggest possible “immigrant fraud” on the part of the relative who used the immigrant sponsor to get Canada. Such cases require a degree of fairness and compassion on the part of the government in the debt collection process. Many well meaning, unsuspecting immigrant sponsors are indeed taken advantage of by savvy suiters who promise love and companionship. Months or days later after arriving, bags are packed along with a new Canadian Permanent Resident Card.

They say “love is blind” . Well, if this is true, then its true for immigrant sponsors. Fairness not forgiveness should be the order of the day. Remember that immigrant sponsors are Canadians and Permanent Residents and should be afforded the same level of understanding that the rest of us have come to expect when being asked to pay back our debts.

Hello Mr. Niren,

I would like your opinion on my sponsorship. My husband was refused because of my previous marriage. Canada Immigration jumped to the conclusion that my second marriage is not bona fide because of my previous marriage was brief . I have reapply with more proof that my marriage is genuine. What do you think will happen? Do you think I should have appealed the case?

Thank you

Lilian

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Having a previous marriage is not itself enough for a Visa Officer to conclude that your current marriage is not genuine resulting in a refusal. In your Sponsorship Application you must have not properly documented your relationship. When there is a refusal in such circumstances, the usual course of action would be to appeal the decision to the IAD within 30 days of notification of refusal. At the IAD you can show though additional documents and testimony, that your case has merit. If you are too late in filing the appeal, you can re-apply but make sure in your application, you address the concerns of the first refusal and try to get access to the computer notes regarding your case.

My appeal was allowed through the IAD (Immigration Adjudication Division) on 2 August 2008 and the Canadian High Commission opened my file after 3 months of the decision. They said that they did not get letter from IAD that my appeal is allowed.  I then submitted the same letter to them and they advised that they would start the processing of my file. Now all the formalities are completed and it has been more than  3 months since I submitted my passport to the Embassy. They still have not responded and when I tried to contact them, I was advised that my file was in the queue. How long is this going to take? My appeal was successful but I am still waiting?

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It looks like you may have “won the battle but not the war” . Congratulations of winning your sponsorship appeal at the IAD. But as you now realize, there is more work to be done. Once an appeal is allowed, the Visa Post has to receive notification of this from the Court and then start processing the paperwork overseas to finalize the application. This can sometimes take months and months. If you find it is taking too long, it would be advisable to retain the services of an immigration lawyer to act on your behalf to ensure that the Visa Post is in fact doing its job after being notified of the IAD decision on your case. There could also be delays due to expiry of medical or criminal background checks.

As reported by Torstar News, government documents reveal that just under 50% of spousal sponsorship applications are refused from certain regions  such as southern China, Western Africa. In other areas refusal rates are also unacceptably high.

MP Olivia Chow calls this high refusal rate “cruel and arbitrary”. I cannot agree more.  At our office, we see and handle an increasing number of spousal sponsorship refusals. Of course, some of these rejected applications are indeed justified where there is a clear “marriage of convenience” between the parties.  However, in many cases, there is no reason for such refusals. Spouses who have been separated in some cases, for many months or years are bewildered by these refusals and are faced with further delays in being united as they must appeal these decisions to the Immigration Adjudication Division (IAD).

We have found that the while there are no guarantees for sponsorship approvals, making sure your application is very well documented goes a long way towards reducing your risk of rejection. Knowing that your relationship with your spouse or partner is legitimate and genuine is not enough to ensure a positive result for your sponsorship application. Visa Officers, these days, appear to assume the worst and you have to go the extra mile in terms of preparation to overcome their  suspicions.

We have written about immigration application refusals in a previous blog here.  And if your sponsorship or any other immigration application was refused, it is important to take decisive and timely action to secure your rights to appeal.