Valentine’s Day just passed, and for some couples, it might be difficult to find the time to spend together. Sometimes it’s because of work, conflicting schedules or even a shared disdain for the holiday. However, one can’t think of any good reason for a pair of young newlyweds not being able to spend to holiday together – unless they work at the United States and Canada border.

Democrat and Chronicle told the story this week of a couple, Matt and Heather Lopresto. Mr. Lopresto is from the United States, and Mrs. Lopresto is from Hamilton, Ontario – a Canadian citizen. They met in school in 2005 and hit it off, marrying recently in Canada.

They were under the notion that once married, Mrs. Lopresto would be able to gain United States permanent residence (Green Card) easily and be able to live with her husband in the United States. All was well and good, with back and forth visits until the day before their wedding in Canada. Mr. Lopresto was turned away at the US border when he said “marriage” was his reason for visiting. He had to scramble quickly to prove he had a job in the United States, a decent income and a place to live as well as that he definitely planned to return home – all on the day before his wedding. More border issues arose when each attempted to cross into the US again, albeit separately. Matt was told at the border that he could be charged with smuggling an illegal alien if he lived with his wife at home in the United States, and again he had to prove their relationship as legitimate. Their passports are flagged, and they are questioned every time they cross over the border, together or not.

Reasonably, the governments of both countries would want to ensure the marriage is legitimate. However, the couple was unaware of the paperwork, fees and required procedures for Mrs. Lopresto to become a legal resident of the United States.

Situations like this are why something as simple as an international romance can become a tangled immigration legal matter. At our office we often enconter such mishaps and  unfortunatly, the saying “love is blind”  oftten applies to the immigraton context.

Matt and Heather would have been well served to have consulted with an immigration lawyer, in order to avoid their frustrations at the US/Canada border. They would have been fully aware of what they needed to file a US Spousal Petition to have Mrs. Lopresto well on her way to becoming a legal resident of the United States.

I applied for a Canadian Immigration almost a year ago as a same sex couple with my partner as my sponsor. The attorney’s office asked for a lot of things that we considered to be personal (photos, cards, emails, letters,etc) and assured us all this was necessary to establish the truth in the relationship…at times we thought there was nothing more they could ask for..it has taken almost a year but I am happy to say that this week I received in my hand my passport with my Canadian Permanent Residence Visa inserted.

All along the way we dealt with several folks at Niren and Associates, but we are most happy with Johanna Karatsoreos…she made sure that we were kept informed of any new developments in our case, and did not hesitate to provide us with answers to any questions that we had. Her professionalism and dedication to the client made us comfortable with the entire process. And to the rest of the folks at Niren and Associates, we appreciate all your hard work and dedication in making our dream become a reality.

Sincerely Robbie H.

Mary,

I meant to get back to you sooner.  We did go to the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo on Tuesday and all went well.  We came back the same day, landed in Canada as immigrants with no problems.  I have even managed to get a drivers license, applied for an OHIP card and Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN).

Thanks so much for all your help.  We are so delighted by how smoothly and quickly this all went.

-Janine

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.

Dear Mary and Victoriya,

As of Monday, July 13th at 6:00 am I am a Canadian landed immigrant .

I would like to express my deepest thanks and appreciation for all your work and help throughout this lengthy, sometimes frustrating, process.
Your hard work, commitment, support, follow ups, up dates, encouragement, always returning my calls right away and all was done with a warm
smile (yes you can “hear” the smile over the phone) was always highly appreciated.

Yael R.