How to appeal, please help needed!

[spirit-88]

Please I need help regarding my case,

My husband was working in Canada with a work permit in 2009, he applied for PR as single but made an official marriage certificate  before he got his PR by 3 months By proxy when he was in Canada as this step in our culture (Egypt) is made like an engagement
After he got his PR he came to Egypt and made the wedding, then went back to Canada and started my sponsorship process
After 8 months I was rejected as I'm not considered a family member because he didn't declare me before he got his PR
Now we have the chance to appeal, how can we do it? And can my husband start it while staying with me in Egypt? And travel to Canada only if they request a hearing? Will we need a lawyer?
We did a mistake that we didn't mean to, our culture consider the marriage certificate like an engagement and the full formal marriage is after wedding which we did it after his PR, we sent a letter explaining all this through the sponsorship process when we knew that we did a mistake, but I got rejected, is there anyway we can fix it?

Please help!

Please help

[CharlieD10]

You are up against Section 117 (9) (d) which is almost never overturned on appeal.  You definitely need an immigration lawyer.  For those who don't know what that section is about:

Excluded relationships

(9) A foreign national shall not be considered a member of the family class by virtue of their relationship to a sponsor if

(a) the foreign national is the sponsor's spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner and is under 16 years of age;


(b) the foreign national is the sponsor's spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, the sponsor has an existing sponsorship undertaking in respect of a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner and the period referred to in subsection 132(1) in respect of that undertaking has not ended;


(c) the foreign national is the sponsor's spouse and

(i) the sponsor or the foreign national was, at the time of their marriage, the spouse of another person, or


(ii) the sponsor has lived separate and apart from the foreign national for at least one year and

(A) the sponsor is the common-law partner of another person or the sponsor has a conjugal partner, or


(B) the foreign national is the common-law partner of another person or the conjugal partner of another sponsor; or

(d) subject to subsection (10), the sponsor previously made an application for permanent residence and became a permanent resident and, at the time of that application, the foreign national was a non-accompanying family member of the sponsor and was not examined.



Exception
(10) Subject to subsection (11), paragraph (9)(d) does not apply in respect of a foreign national referred to in that paragraph who was not examined because an officer determined that they were not required by the Act or the former Act, as applicable, to be examined


Your husband ought to have declared you as his spouse because he underwent the proxy marriage PRIOR to becoming a PR.  It doesn't matter that the proxy marriage is considered a formal engagement, the point is that at the time of that proxy marriage, for all intents and purposes (of Immigration) you became his spouse.  Only an immigration officer then had the right to decide whether or not you should be examined at that immediate point before your husband got his PR, but by taking that decision out of the immigration officer's hands by not declaring you, that choice has left you in this position of being excluded as his sponsorable family member.

Get a skilled immigration lawyer, if you can find one versed in Egyptian law and customs, that would be even better.  The chances are slim to none you can overturn this on appeal, but you must have a lawyer to help you.

Good luck.

[spirit-88]

Thanks Charlie for ur help, anymore suggestions from anyone?

[scylla]

I agree with Charlie. You need a lawyer - and a good one. Because your husband failed to declare you as his spouse before landing as a PR - you can never be sponsored. It doesn't matter that you notified CIC about this mistake while your sponsorship application was in progress - the damage was already done when your husband landed. I think you have an uphill battle ahead of you and it will be very difficult to overturn this decision. Again, get a good lawyer.