Study Permit in Canada While in the US Removal Proceedings?

[Njib]

Hello everyone,

I have a complicated case of Canadian study permit application. I have received a PhD admission offer from a reputed university with funding (I can also show family funding way more than what is required for 4-5 years of study and stay in Canada) and I have an IELTS band score of 8.5. My area of study is Physics which is very relevant to my undergraduate major of electrical engineering (with concentration on applied physics).

Problem is: good things about me has stopped just right there.

I am currently present in the United States. I entered the US with a valid F-1 visa with no intention other than study and I was doing well up to 2014. Things get downhill when my wife (who is also studying with F-1 visa here) got sick with a rare disease of diverticulitis within a year after my daughter was born. Since then I have been in tremendous personal pressure with wife's treatment and taking care of my daughter. I could not finish my studies and also missed the deadline of applying to change my status to F-2 (since my wife was and still is on valid F-1 visa). I was caught by the immigration agents and now in the removal proceeding. The initial hearing in front of the immigration judge is still pending due to courts' backlog.

At this point, as my wife is nearing the finish of her studies successfully (and recovering from her sickness), I want to come back on track with my career. I was a university lecturer back home before coming to the US and a PhD from this Canadian university essentially guarantees me an appointment at the professor level in the same university back home (already three people from my undergraduate alma mater have been appointed as such after they had their PhDs from this institution).

At the moment, I am at a loss on what path to take to have a slightest of chance of getting a Canadian study permit. Of course crossing the border from the US by land would be preferable to going back to my home country 8000 miles away since I already live in a bordering state. Please advise, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[scylla]

Crossing the border would be a very bad idea due to the safe third country agreement and because Canada will almost certainly look at you as an economic immigrate rather than a real refugee. Once your refugee case is refused and you're deported back home - it will become extremely difficult to get a temporary visa (including study permit or work permit) to Canada and many other countries in the future.

If you want to come to Canada, you should apply for a study permit through the normal means. Make sure you show evidence of the funding the university is providing along with the additional funds you have available.

 

[Njib]

Crossing the border would be a very bad idea due to the safe third country agreement and because Canada will almost certainly look at you as an economic immigrate rather than a real refugee. Once your refugee case is refused and you're deported back home - it will become extremely difficult to get a temporary visa (including study permit or work permit) to Canada and many other countries in the future.

If you want to come to Canada, you should apply for a study permit through the normal means. Make sure you show evidence of the funding the university is providing along with the additional funds you have available.

Thanks for your response. However, I am not going to apply as a refugee by any means. I have a valid admission offer from Canada and preparing to apply for a study permit. But as you can see from my original post, my stay in the US at the moment is not legal.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your response. However, I am not going to apply as a refugee by any means. I have a valid admission offer from Canada and preparing to apply for a study permit. But as you can see from my original post, my stay in the US at the moment is not legal.

You have to apply and hope for the best. You cannot apply at the border. You need to apply and be approved in advance of coming to Canada. If you are already out of status in the US - it's going to be pretty difficult to be approved. It will strengthen your position to return to your home country and apply from there. But it sounds like you don't want to do that.

Make sure you are 100% honest in your study permit application about your status in the US.

 

[Njib]

You have to apply and hope for the best. You cannot apply at the border. You need to apply and be approved in advance of coming to Canada. If you are already out of status in the US - it's going to be pretty difficult to be approved. It will strengthen your position to return to your home country and apply from there. But it sounds like you don't want to do that.

Make sure you are 100% honest in your study permit application about your status in the US.

Yes, I will definitely not apply at the border (that is probably not even applicable in my case). I will apply through CIC and state the reasons of my unlawful US stay in detail (with documentation of my wife's medical history etc.). I am also fine with going back to my home country and apply from there if that is safer and increases my chance. It's just I'm already in the US and Canada is very close from here. But going back home and then coming to Canada is an option too (albeit expensive).