US Citizen, Married to Canadian, Denied entry, Unbelievable.

[sogwap]

Brief history.....
I am a US citizen and started daily communication with my (now Canadian) wife just over four years ago.
We met for the first time in October, 2007. We both have made numerous cross border tips to see each other.
August 2009 I sold my home in the States, quit my job, and moved to Ontario. To be with my future wife and to start a new life. I seriously doubt I would have committed to marriage if we did not live together....

October 2009 we married in Buffalo, NY. Since that time I have made a half dozen trips back to the US, to see my family, vacation and job interviews, in Buffalo, since I do not yet PR and can not legally work in Canada.

December 2009 I sent for the (infamous FBI) report. Just over three months later I received a letter from the FBI that they could not read my fingerprints. A few weeks later I sent two sets of fingerprints to the FBI, one done professionally. After three (more) months of waiting, I called the FBI., they misplaced my finger prints. Finally in August 2010 I received a "No Arrest Record Found". By this time after been in Canada for a year my wife said she was reluctant to sponsor me, because for the past year I was unable to work.

Today I went to Buffalo, NY for (two) job interviews. Upon my attempted to return to be with my wife in Ontario, the Canadian border patrol denied me entry. Based on the fact that I have been in Canada for the past 1.5 years......

As I titled my subject, Unbelievable!!! As I honestly expected the worse that might happen, would to get a limited "visitor record" (one month or less) so I could go be with my wife to sort this out. Instead we are now separated and the kicker is I have no where to go.

 

[waitingintz]

Hi Sogwap

Very unfortunate situation. We are all aware that entry into Canada is at the discretion of the immigration officer at the border and there are many reasons for which they may choose to refuse someone. I suppose in your case you have spent so much time in Canada, they do not believe that you will leave again (not surprising as you say you've spent a year and a half there, and have nowhere else to go).

My hope would be that if you are able to get a job in the US it will demonstrate to immigration that you do have somewhere else to be so they will let you in (hopefully will ease your wife's mind too)

My partner is also going to have to enter Canada before his PR is ready potentially and we are looking very carefully at how to make sure we can prove he still has a life to return to elsewhere so we don't have problems at the border.

Good luck

 

[HoneyBird]

you can only stay 6 months at a time.


btw did they write anything on your passport?

 

[scylla]

sogwop -

Sorry this happened to you. I suspect border officials felt that you had started behaving more like someone who was living in Canada rather than visiting and this is why you ran into problems. I know you mentioned that you received the FBI cert in August. Has your application now been submitted? If so, were you carrying proof that fees have been paid and the application submitted? (Apologies in advance if I've misunderstood the status of your application.)

If anyone else is reading this and is in a similar situation to sogwop (i.e. American spending most of their time in Canada and traveling back and forth to the States) BUT has not yet run into problems at the border - please get a Nexus card now.

 

[Baloo]

sogwop -

Sorry this happened to you. I suspect border officials felt that you had started behaving more like someone who was living in Canada rather than visiting and this is why you ran into problems. I know you mentioned that you received the FBI cert in August. Has your application now been submitted? If so, were you carrying proof that fees have been paid and the application submitted? (Apologies in advance if I've misunderstood the status of your application.)

If anyone else is reading this and is in a similar situation to sogwop (i.e. American spending most of their time in Canada and traveling back and forth to the States) BUT has not yet run into problems at the border - please get a Nexus card now.

I doubt that Nexus would help that much if you appear to be living in Canada when you are not meant to. So based solely on the information here, it is not that unbelievable that this happened.


Sorry to hear that Sogwap was dealt with this way. I think that looking at the original post:

August 2009 I sold my home in the States, quit my job, and moved to Ontario. To be with my future wife and to start a new life.

It is clear that Sogwap had moved to Canada, which is not what anyone is meant to do.

Certainly the detail of this needs to be looked at, otherwise everything here is just an assumption.

 

[Patricksgirls]

I am sorry this has happened to you. From what I understand you are not sponsored as of yet do to your wife being reluctant. I have crossed by the skin of my teeth twice since having a visitor record. This last time I was going to cross and then get my children for a later visit but I am down in the states for another few months before we attempt that because the IO at Pearson informed me I am being "watched". And I have only been to Canada four times in the past year months apart.

 

[scylla]

Baloo -

The Nexus card is definitely a positive for anyone who is crossing the border often since it (almost always) allows you to bypass speaking with a human at immigration. (Humans are the ones who make the call on whether someone is allowed in for the full six months, a shorter period of time or not at all.)

My husband technically lived in Canada for thee years as a visitor before being granted PR status. By "technically lived", I mean that he spent 80%-90% of his time in Canada during these years. He never stayed longer than six months in one go and never worked here (he also kept a house in the US as his primary residence). However I think we can all agree that he wasn't really behaving as a visitor given how much time he spent here. He crossed the Canadian border about 10 - 15 times each year. Each crossing was completed with a Nexus card and a few times he even had to speak with a human (they randomly send a small percentage of Nexus card holders to speak with an immigration officer). He didn't run into a single problem related to his travel behaviour or time spent in Canada the entire time.

The above strategy isn't without its risks. As I mentioned above, I will be the first one to admit that my husband was very likely spending too much time in Canada as a visitor from immigration's standpoint. I will also be the first to admit that I was nervous every time he cross because I knew there were risks. I certainly don't believe that his Nexus card eliminated these risks. However it definitely reduced them by removing the human element (i.e. immigration officer) from the majority of interactions. This is why I recommend the Nexus card to anyone who is planning on doing what we did.

 

[Patricksgirls]

I don't know if you can get a nexus card though once you have been denied entry. I wonder if his passport was marked or flagged or if he can try going a different route but still he did disobey the ever present visitor rule of six months or less.
It sometimes frustrates me that my fiance and I have friends in a similar situation as us yet she crosses to visit him months at a time, goes back for a weekend to see her kids, crosses again essentially living here and no one has said boo to her.

 

[Baloo]

I am sorry this has happened to you. From what I understand you are not sponsored as of yet do to your wife being reluctant. I have crossed by the skin of my teeth twice since having a visitor record. This last time I was going to cross and then get my children for a later visit but I am down in the states for another few months before we attempt that because the IO at Pearson informed me I am being "watched". And I have only been to Canada four times in the past year months apart.

At Pearson I have always had a really difficult time with IO's. Secondary every time, then lots of hassle.
OTOH at Ottawa, I still get directed to secondary, but the IO's are reasonable to the point of being friendly.

 

[scylla]

Patricksgirls -

I think you're absolutely right. If someone has been flagged in the system, then I don't think they will qualify for a Nexus card (both Canada and the US have to approve each Nexus card issuance). All the more reason to sign up before a problem occurs.

Hope you're doing well and have sorted out the meeting/visit between your fiance and daughter(s)! I know your situation is even more complex given there are kids involved...

 

[sogwap]

Yesterday before I was denied entry, I didn't think anything about it. As I went to Buffalo for a job interview. Upon my return it was dark 6:30 in the evening and snowing and I was more concerned about the potential extra long drive back in to Canada.
However the Border officials could care less. They were not interest why I should be allowed entry, only why they should deny entry.
In hind sight I made several mistakes.

1. I have overstayed my visitor status. Which is the primary reason I was denied entry. This still baffles me to no end that Canadian Immigration expect newly wed couples to either live apart or not work for the first 6-18 months.
2. I made the mistake of telling the truth that my wife is hesitant to sponsor me. When they called her she also told the truth that we did not have the money for sponsorship.
3. As they went through my wallet and asked about my Canadian bank card again I made the mistake of telling them the truth there wasn't much money in the account. I thought it would show I did not have strong ties to Canada. Instead they looked at it as having no means of support. When I tried to tell them my US bank card had several thousand dollars they didn't seem to care.
4. When they asked about how long I was staying, both my wife who they called and I did not know since I am hoping to secure a full time job in the States. That did not go well as to them that meant I was staying indefinitely. Which depending on my job situation is not the case.
5. If my wife would have been there, I believe they would have allowed us entry. Unfortunately she was working.

I find it quite disheartening that when I asked the Canadian border officer to call my Canadian wife and explain why they are refusing me, her husband entry, he flat out refused.

I have a copy of the "Assessment for entry into Canada", given to me from the border officer. I will make a separate post as not to cloud it with the emotion of this post. However I will say I was disheartened that when I asked the border officer to explain what all this (being denied entry) meant he refused to answer. Telling me that if I resisted, he would write up a refusal order that would deny me entry for one year with out exception.

 

[Patricksgirls]

Okay I say good news in all of this is that you did not get the one year order! However I think before you try to cross again you get a job, get strong ties in us like an apt. and get that app filed with wife. Also I would cross with your wife once you filed and had all of this. Check out the road to Canada site at they list ways to cross the border and stay after app has been filed however you still may have problems based on your overstay.

 

[Jurjen]

It's not very nice of the border IO to refuse information or even threaten you with extra denials. In such a case, can't you ask for his superior to at least file a complaint about his attitude?

 

[Leon]

You were denied entry because you broke the rules and overstayed your visit visa.

It is unfortunate that you had problems with the FBI report and that your wife is reluctant to sponsor you but those things are not really under Canada immigration control.

I am not sure how easy it would be for you to sponsor your wife to the US but if she had overstayed there, I am sure she would risk being denied entry too.

Hopefully your case will still have a happy ending. You get a job in the US. Come back to visit with a letter from your employer stating that you have a job in the US and that you have vacation only from date x to date y. Your wife can visit you too and then you can see if you can sponsor her or if she can sponsor you.

 

[Patricksgirls]

Leon for him to sponsor his wife in the US he would need to work here for at least a year or get a co-sponsor because there is an income requirement. Also the US takes much longer than Canada to decide on pr status.