ETA pending for information for not answering truthfully

[sandra7320]

Hello,

I wanted some help about my situation. It will be a little long so thanks for reading!

So I have asked a ETA for me as I will be traveling with my wife and baby in July to Canada to visit family.
I just got an answer today telling me that my request is pending more information and when I opened the letter it was because I didn't answered truthfully on my application. See below:
As a result, I have concerns that you do not meet the requirements of the Act, namely, to answer truthfully all questions.
Before I make a final decision, you are provided with an opportunity to submit the requested information above as well as any additional information relating to these concerns. You have ten(10) days from the date of this letter to send your submission to our office.

It was on the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? "
I think I may have read the question wrong because I answered NO when I should have answered YES.

To give more details, I'm Pakistani and I got my French citizenship in 2021.
Or in 2020 I applied with my Pakistani passport for a tourist visa for Canada. First I got rejected because of the following reason "failing to establish to the immigration officer that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay ". I reapply immediately with more document (marriage certificate to a French-born national and house ownership certificate) and I got the visa.
Unfortunately with Covid we were unable to travel until now.
But now, I have applied with my French passport and I thought the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? " was referring to my French passport. Re-reading the question, I feel a little stupid because they are asking for both.

Now they are asking why I didn't answer truthfully and I don't know what to do.
My reason seems stupid now that I'm re-reading the request but is there a chance they will accept the reason above that it was an honest mistake on my part and accept my visa?
If not, can I reapply or will I be ban?

If I tell them that I have an ESTA from USA as I will travel there in May, will it help?

Thank you for reading and any help you can provide

 

[Naturgrl]

Hello,

I wanted some help about my situation. It will be a little long so thanks for reading!

So I have asked a ETA for me as I will be traveling with my wife and baby in July to Canada to visit family.
I just got an answer today telling me that my request is pending more information and when I opened the letter it was because I didn't answered truthfully on my application. See below:
As a result, I have concerns that you do not meet the requirements of the Act, namely, to answer truthfully all questions.
Before I make a final decision, you are provided with an opportunity to submit the requested information above as well as any additional information relating to these concerns. You have ten(10) days from the date of this letter to send your submission to our office.

It was on the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? "
I think I may have read the question wrong because I answered NO when I should have answered YES.

To give more details, I'm Pakistani and I got my French citizenship in 2021.
Or in 2020 I applied with my Pakistani passport for a tourist visa for Canada. First I got rejected because of the following reason "failing to establish to the immigration officer that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay ". I reapply immediately with more document (marriage certificate to a French-born national and house ownership certificate) and I got the visa.
Unfortunately with Covid we were unable to travel until now.
But now, I have applied with my French passport and I thought the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? " was referring to my French passport. Re-reading the question, I feel a little stupid because they are asking for both.

Now they are asking why I didn't answer truthfully and I don't know what to do.
My reason seems stupid now that I'm re-reading the request but is there a chance they will accept the reason above that it was an honest mistake on my part and accept my visa?
If not, can I reapply or will I be ban?

If I tell them that I have an ESTA from USA as I will travel there in May, will it help?

Thank you for reading and any help you can provide

Is there any mention of a 5 year ban because then you got a procedural fairness letter. You need to apologize and explain that you misread the question. You state the dates of when you were refused for any visa for any country. There are no timelines so can take weeks or months. You may still be refused an ETA but not get a 5 year ban (if mentioned).

 

[scylla]

Hello,

I wanted some help about my situation. It will be a little long so thanks for reading!

So I have asked a ETA for me as I will be traveling with my wife and baby in July to Canada to visit family.
I just got an answer today telling me that my request is pending more information and when I opened the letter it was because I didn't answered truthfully on my application. See below:
As a result, I have concerns that you do not meet the requirements of the Act, namely, to answer truthfully all questions.
Before I make a final decision, you are provided with an opportunity to submit the requested information above as well as any additional information relating to these concerns. You have ten(10) days from the date of this letter to send your submission to our office.

It was on the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? "
I think I may have read the question wrong because I answered NO when I should have answered YES.

To give more details, I'm Pakistani and I got my French citizenship in 2021.
Or in 2020 I applied with my Pakistani passport for a tourist visa for Canada. First I got rejected because of the following reason "failing to establish to the immigration officer that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay ". I reapply immediately with more document (marriage certificate to a French-born national and house ownership certificate) and I got the visa.
Unfortunately with Covid we were unable to travel until now.
But now, I have applied with my French passport and I thought the question "Have you ever applied for or obtained a visa, an eTA or a permit to visit, live, work or study in Canada? " was referring to my French passport. Re-reading the question, I feel a little stupid because they are asking for both.

Now they are asking why I didn't answer truthfully and I don't know what to do.
My reason seems stupid now that I'm re-reading the request but is there a chance they will accept the reason above that it was an honest mistake on my part and accept my visa?
If not, can I reapply or will I be ban?

If I tell them that I have an ESTA from USA as I will travel there in May, will it help?

Thank you for reading and any help you can provide

Having the ESTA and traveling to the US will not fix the issue. The issue you need to fix is why you failed to declare a previous refusal in your application. This has nothing to do with the ESTA. You need to provide the full refusal details as you have said above (reasons you were refused, date) and provide a rationale for why you did not answer this question truthfully. Your eTA is now non standard because of this. Processing for non standard applications can take months to complete.

We don't know if they will accept your answer. If they do not and simply refuse, then you can reapply. If you are given a misrepresentation bad, then you won't be able to apply again for 5 years.

 

[sandra7320]

Is there any mention of a 5 year ban because then you got a procedural fairness letter. You need to apologize and explain that you misread the question. You state the dates of when you were refused for any visa for any country. There are no timelines so can take weeks or months. You may still be refused an ETA but not get a 5 year ban (if mentioned).

Hello and Thank you for your answer.
There is no mention of ban on the new letter, they are just requesting more information to take a decision.
I will, of course, apologize for my stupidity and explain my mistake.
I was also planning to join the first letter of rejection (on my Pakistani passport) and photo of the visa I got.
It is the only rejection I got but should I also mention all the other visa that got approved on my current and old passport? (there are quite a lot as I travel for work too)
And in case of rejection, can I reapply for an ETA immediately?

 

[scylla]

Hello and Thank you for your answer.
There is no mention of ban on the new letter, they are just requesting more information to take a decision.
I will, of course, apologize for my stupidity and explain my mistake.
I was also planning to join the first letter of rejection (on my Pakistani passport) and photo of the visa I got.
It is the only rejection I got but should I also mention all the other visa that got approved on my current and old passport? (there are quite a lot as I travel for work too)
And in case of rejection, can I reapply for an ETA immediately?

You can certainly mention that you were subsequently approved for a visa but this is really irrelevant. The issue is not that you were refused. The issue is that you were refused and did not declare this in your application. You failed to answer a question truthfully in your application. Your response needs to focus on addressing this.

Yes, you can apply again immediately if you are refused but not banned. Good luck.

 

[sandra7320]

Thank you everyone for your answers.
I will now write a letter to address their concern and hopefully they will take into consideration my answer.
I will post here the follow-up on my situation if that can help other person.
Thank you again

 

[sandra7320]

Hello again,

Just wanted to update the post with the follow-up on my situation.
I wrote a letter with all the document (rejection on my Pakistani passport and then the visa I got after reapplying) and explain why I answered like this.
I also apologize for the misunderstanding.
And thankfully my ETA application was accepted.
It was pretty quick so I'm thankful for that and I can plan my trip with my family.
Thanks again for your help.