Will I be denied entry to Canada?

[harupit200281]

Hi All,

History:
My wife got PR in 2005. After that she did not spend much of time in Canada. She went back to canada during pregnancy, to give birth to our daughter. Hence, our daughter is now Canadian Citizen. I applied for after birth of my daughter and became PR in June 2010. We visit Canada once a year and spend a month in Canada. In 2011, we planned that we will move to Canada for good. My wife applied for renewal of her PR on humanitarian ground in 2011. I applied to Canadian schools for my masters and all. But I was rejected by a top school in Canada. I do have proof emails and all from school. Later, I was accepted in one of the world's top 5 schools in france and I decided to go ahead with that course. During these two years my wife stayed back in Canada. I spent nearly 100K on my masters and was in debt. Still, I tried to look for job in Canada after my masters. But unfortunately, I did not get a single call for interview. The biggest hurdle was Canadian experience. Hence, taking a logical step, I accepted an offer from my campus. The position was based in Dubai and pay was wonderful (roughly CAD 150K taxfree). Last July my wife joined me in Dubai for a year and yesterday she went back to Canada. Now that I have paid back the debt I am thinking to move to Canada in August.

When my wife landed in Canada yesterday evening, she was sent to immigration. An officer advised that the whole history of our file is on the records. He was of opinion that my wife applied on humanitarian ground stating that we are moving to Canada for good and we did not move to canada. But circumstances were such that actually I did not move to Canada. My wife and daughter were in Canada for whole two years.

My original plan was that my wife goes to Canada in June and I will follow her in August. My PR is supposed to expire on 25Jun 2015. I did not complete my residency obligation. Counting the days that I was in School and the days I spent in Canada, it will be somewhere around 680 days if I move in August and stay till my PR expires. However, now, once the officer questioned my wife on airport, I have doubts whether I should resign from my high paying job, and come to canada.

I have two options.
1. Resign from my from Dubai and look for new job in Canada and continue life in Canada. I am afraid if airport authority will deny my entry. I will end-up losing from both sides if that happens.

2. On the safe side, I may decide to stay back in dubai and let my wife complete one more year in Canada and apply for the Citizenship once she completes one more year in Canada. Will there be any problem if she alone applies for citizenship? (with the background that she applied on humanitarian ground for renewal of PR on the promise that we will move to canada?)

Thank you all in advance for your input and views. Based on your inputs I will either decide to resign in a week or ask my family to comeback to Dubai for good.

 

[Alurra71]

Hi All,

History:
My wife got PR in 2005. After that she did not spend much of time in Canada. She went back to canada during pregnancy, to give birth to our daughter. Hence, our daughter is now Canadian Citizen. I applied for after birth of my daughter and became PR in June 2010. We visit Canada once a year and spend a month in Canada. In 2011, we planned that we will move to Canada for good. My wife applied for renewal of her PR on humanitarian ground in 2011. I applied to Canadian schools for my masters and all. But I was rejected by a top school in Canada. I do have proof emails and all from school. Later, I was accepted in one of the world's top 5 schools in france and I decided to go ahead with that course. During these two years my wife stayed back in Canada. I spent nearly 100K on my masters and was in debt. Still, I tried to look for job in Canada after my masters. But unfortunately, I did not get a single call for interview. The biggest hurdle was Canadian experience. Hence, taking a logical step, I accepted an offer from my campus. The position was based in Dubai and pay was wonderful (roughly CAD 150K taxfree). Last July my wife joined me in Dubai for a year and yesterday she went back to Canada. Now that I have paid back the debt I am thinking to move to Canada in August.

When my wife landed in Canada yesterday evening, she was sent to immigration. An officer advised that the whole history of our file is on the records. He was of opinion that my wife applied on humanitarian ground stating that we are moving to Canada for good and we did not move to canada. But circumstances were such that actually I did not move to Canada. My wife and daughter were in Canada for whole two years.

My original plan was that my wife goes to Canada in June and I will follow her in August. My PR is supposed to expire on 25Jun 2015. I did not complete my residency obligation. Counting the days that I was in School and the days I spent in Canada, it will be somewhere around 680 days if I move in August and stay till my PR expires. However, now, once the officer questioned my wife on airport, I have doubts whether I should resign from my high paying job, and come to canada.

I have two options.
1. Resign from my from Dubai and look for new job in Canada and continue life in Canada. I am afraid if airport authority will deny my entry. I will end-up losing from both sides if that happens.

2. On the safe side, I may decide to stay back in dubai and let my wife complete one more year in Canada and apply for the Citizenship once she completes one more year in Canada. Will there be any problem if she alone applies for citizenship? (with the background that she applied on humanitarian ground for renewal of PR on the promise that we will move to canada?)

Thank you all in advance for your input and views. Based on your inputs I will either decide to resign in a week or ask my family to comeback to Dubai for good.

You would not be denied entry as long as you arrive before your PR card expires. You might be reported upon entry for not meeting the RO and then have to appeal to keep your status but you would be allowed to enter Canada while this happens. Because your wife was pulled into secondary inspection and given a lecture about your families current status, I would make a decision based on what is more important to you. Either live in Canada or live in Dubai, but you can't do both. You can safely assume that you will not be allowed to keep your PR based on H & C reasons. CIC fell for it once, it will not happen again.

The new rules for citizenship are now in effect. Please check them out before assuming your wife can file for citizenship in one more year. The new rules are you must be living in Canada 4 out of 6 years, with 1460 days in Canada and at least 183 days (1/2 the year) living in Canada in the last 4 years. Your wife will not meet these requirements in one more year.

 

[harupit200281]

Thank you very much Alura for prompt response. I highly appreciate your feedback.

 

[Msafiri]

harupit200281,

1. If you can make it a Canadian POE you will be admitted once its proven you have been landed and you have not lost this status. You have not lost the status as CIC/CBSA are not aware of the breach at this time and have not reported you. CBSA may or may not report you at re-entry. Chances are higher they will report since there appears to be substantive notes on file in regards to your family and the chances they already have had given. To clarify only days you have been physically present in Canada count so I'm not sure how you deem the days studying abroad figure in meeting the RO?

2. At this time the key focus should be on your spouse not breaching her RO. It seems she is on very shaky ground. Did she get reported at this recent entry or was she warned again to watch her time? The problem with most PRs is that they know of the RO but they ignore it based on the validity of their PR card. If she got the PR Card based on the minimum 730 days and/or H&C grounds then she can't think she will always get a 'get out of jail' card.

3. If she can secure her RO then she can sponsor you for PR if you get reported at re-entry.

4. You need to decide if you are willing to give up your CAD 150K tax free income - once you make this decision then relocation to Canada will be an obvious decision. If you are not willing to give this up then your other sacrifice is family separation with your spouse remaining in Canada until she obtains citizenship.

5. She will be applying under the new citizenship law. This will require 4 years of physical presence within the 6 year period prior to the application date. I haven't done the math but your spouse will likely lose most of the physical days she has in Canada to date because they will fall out of the 6 year window which is rolling forward daily. The new act also requires tax residency 183 days minimum physical days and payment of taxes - based on your tax ties to Canada CRA might/will need their cut of the CAD 150K which if tax free may be sizable so get some tax advice!!

The PR RO conundrum based on case law seems to affect a very high proportion of Gulf based PRs - human nature being what it is they want the financial perks of working in the Gulf with the Social/educational/health/immigration perks of Canadian status but when this status is PR then the RO sword hangs high over your head!

 

[harupit200281]

Msafiri, thanks for reply:

1. I believe that days spent out of Canada for studying counts towards your residency.

2. She was not reported because she meets her RO.

 

[scylla]

Msafiri, thanks for reply:

1. I believe that days spent out of Canada for studying counts towards your residency.

1. No - days spent out of Canada studying certainly do not count towards your residency.

 

[Leon]

If you want to keep your PR, make sure your wife spends enough time in Canada to continue to meet the PR residency requirements. Once you are ready to move, she can return to Canada and sponsor you if you lose yours.

 

[harupit200281]

Thank you all members for your valuable inputs.

@PMM it would be kind to advise whether I should resign from my job and come to Canada or it would be too risky. Till now I was under impression that days spent out of Canada as student counts towards residency obligation. But if that is not case, I will be risking both sides if I resign and come to Canada.

 

[Leon]

Thank you all members for your valuable inputs.

@ PMM it would be kind to advise whether I should resign from my job and come to Canada or it would be too risky. Till now I was under impression that days spent out of Canada as student counts towards residency obligation. But if that is not case, I will be risking both sides if I resign and come to Canada.

Are you ready to give up your job now in order to move to Canada?

If you manage to enter Canada without being reported, you can go about your daily life and remain a PR even though your PR card may expire etc. You should not leave again and you should wait 2 years before you attempt to renew your PR card.

If you get reported on entry to Canada, you could appeal for your PR and state your reasons of studying overseas. You would remain a PR during your appeal processing and you would be allowed to remain in Canada while you wait for the processing which can take 1-2 years. Time spent in Canada under appeal only counts towards the residency requirements if you win the appeal. I'm not saying you have a good chance at winning an appeal with your reasons of studying overseas but by the time of your appeal hearing, you will have a better chance if you have stayed in Canada during the appeal processing as well as because you have a PR wife and your child living in Canada as well. However, worst case, if you were to lose your appeal, you would lose your PR and be asked to leave Canada. Your wife can then sponsor you again but this would not be good for your job situation, you may have a job by then and because you must leave Canada, you may have to start from scratch when you return. The processing time for sponsorship can be anywhere from months to a couple of years depending on the processing country.

Another option would be if you get reported to simply accept your loss of PR, visit your wife for a holiday and then go back to Dubai and resume your job. This would however require flexibility from your employer that you are leaving and may or may not come back to resume your job. You could then continue working in Dubai while your wife applies to sponsor you for PR again. You can apply for a multiple entry visit visa in order to visit your wife as your wait for sponsorship.

 

[Msafiri]

Msafiri, thanks for reply:

1. I believe that days spent out of Canada for studying counts towards your residency.

2. She was not reported because she meets her RO.

1. Sorry you believe wrong.
2. She would be ok to sponsor (if you lost or relinquished your PR) but must reside in Canada until you get your PR.

No one on the forum can make decisions for you. You have the information you need. As its been repeated your job situation is clouding your judgement - decide first if you want Canadian PR or not then take it from there. If and when your spouse gets Canadian Citizenship then under the IRPA any time you are accompanying her (as per case law anytime you are together) abroad count as in Canada Days which is the mother of all loopholes in any immigration law if I ever saw one! So you might find relinquishing your PR, getting re-sponsored giving you a fresh 5 year RO window and accompanying your Citizen spouse works with your desired lifestyle.

 

[harupit200281]

Thank you PMM and Msafiri for all your support. It has been wonderful interacting with you.

@Leon: I have been discussing with my wife about this issues and we have decided that we want to move. I had actually spoken to my boss about my plan to depart from company yesterday. Could you tell me whether I need to hire lawyer if I am required to make an appeal? If so, how much cost one should consider?

 

[Leon]

Thank you PMM and Msafiri for all your support. It has been wonderful interacting with you.

@ Leon: I have been discussing with my wife about this issues and we have decided that we want to move. I had actually spoken to my boss about my plan to depart from company yesterday. Could you tell me whether I need to hire lawyer if I am required to make an appeal? If so, how much cost one should consider?

You don't have to hire a lawyer to make an appeal but with studying overseas as your grounds for not meeting the RO, that's not really a good chance for an appeal. You chose to study overseas but you could have studied in Canada instead.

 

[alico]

The new rules for citizenship are now in effect. Please check them out before assuming your wife can file for citizenship in one more year. The new rules are you must be living in Canada 4 out of 6 years, with 1460 days in Canada and at least 183 days (1/2 the year) living in Canada in the last 4 years. Your wife will not meet these requirements in one more year.

Hi,
i wonder where i can find more information about these changes? Is it already in effect? Because cic page still states the same information as before..
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=355&t=5

 

[CanV]

Hi,
i wonder where i can find more information about these changes? Is it already in effect? Because cic page still states the same information as before..
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=355&t=5

Those will take effect around June-July 2015. Before then, the 3/5 years still applies.

 

[Mike Z]

If you want to keep your PR, make sure your wife spends enough time in Canada to continue to meet the PR residency requirements. Once you are ready to move, she can return to Canada and sponsor you if you lose yours.

Dear Leon,

Can you please explain how can she sponsor him if loses PR? How long does it take? Do they ask why the husband lost his PR and does it affect the sponsor process if he was absent due to work out side Canada, and decided to come back and work in Canada. Consider the wife is living in Canada for 3 years.