Will illegal entry into another country prevent a visitor visa being approved

[dbsmith]

We are getting ready to apply for my partner's visitor visa for Canada so that he can meet my family. The only thing we are worried about right now is the fact that he was living in England for 8 years without documents. This is where we met and where our child was born.
Do we need to mention that he was there for that long and that he entered illegally? He has no criminal record there and left on his own without being deported, and as far as we know there are no records of him being there.
In the travel history section of the application, if we don't add this detail is there any way for them to find out that he lied, and will lying affect a spousal sponsorship application in the future.

 

[scylla]

Yes - you need to be 100% honest in the visitor visa application. Yes - they can absolutely find out if you lie. If you lie - you can expect the application to be refused and for him to be issued a five year ban from entering Canada. Once that refusal happens, it will be extremely difficult to be approved for a visitor visa to Canada in the future and it will also impact his visa applications to other countries.

The illegal stay could impact his ability to get an approved visitor visa depending on how long ago this was, where he's living now and how strong his ties are to his current place of residency. If the illegal stay happened a while ago and he can demonstrate strong ties - it's possible to be approved.

No matter what you do - don't lie in an immigration application. Only bad things can come of this.

 

[scylla]

Also keep in mind that if he gets the five year ban - this will impact your ability to sponsor him for PR. In other words, you won't be able to sponsor him for the five year period during which he is banned.

The truth is that it's possible his illegal stay won't be discovered if you lie in his visitor visa application - however it will absolutely be discovered if you lie in his PR application (background / security checks for PR applications are extremely thorough). You do not want to end up in a situation where you've lied in his visitor visa application and then have to contradict this information in his PR application. CIC keeps all applications on record and absolutely does compare the details. So even if you get away with it in the visitor visa application - you'll then be significantly complicating the PR application process.

 

[dbsmith]

How long ago is a long time? We left 2 years ago to move to his home country.

 

[scylla]

2 years is OK - longer would have been better. Has he established strong ties to his home country? Full time job for two years? Ideally property ownership? Are you working there full time as well? What ties can you demonstrate?

 

[lossada]

We are getting ready to apply for my partner's visitor visa for Canada so that he can meet my family. The only thing we are worried about right now is the fact that he was living in England for 8 years without documents. This is where we met and where our child was born.
Do we need to mention that he was there for that long and that he entered illegally? He has no criminal record there and left on his own without being deported, and as far as we know there are no records of him being there.
In the travel history section of the application, if we don't add this detail is there any way for them to find out that he lied, and will lying affect a spousal sponsorship application in the future.

contact any immigration lawyer in Canada
if there no record, you should not mention on the visitor application, but
if you are going to ask any migration status in Canada, he will need a Police Certificate Clearance if you mention that

 

[dbsmith]

2 years is OK - longer would have been better. Has he established strong ties to his home country? Full time job for two years? Ideally property ownership? Are you working there full time as well? What ties can you demonstrate?

He has been working here full time for almost 1 year, and the first year we spent with his parents working on their farm. I am not working as I am staying at home to take care of our baby. He doesn't own property, but the house we live in is owned by his mother.
We are really hoping to be able to visit my mother as she is too unwell to travel to us.

 

[dbsmith]

contact any immigration lawyer in Canada
if there no record, you should not mention on the visitor application, but
if you are going to ask any migration status in Canada, he will need a Police Certificate Clearance if you mention that

The problem is when applying for our sponsorship application it will be pretty hard to explain how we managed to meet, conceive a child, and give birth to a child while living in 2 different countries, so I know that the question will come up eventually. And if lying now will make prevent us from applying later I think it's probably best to be honest.

 

[scylla]

contact any immigration lawyer in Canada
if there no record, you should not mention on the visitor application, but
if you are going to ask any migration status in Canada, he will need a Police Certificate Clearance if you mention that

Worst advice ever. You're encouraging someone to commit fraud in their application which is an immigration crime and potentially setting them up for a five year ban from Canada.

The overstay needs to be declared in the visitor visa application. Any decent immigration lawyer in Canada will tell you it needs to be declared.

 

[dbsmith]

We a

2 years is OK - longer would have been better. Has he established strong ties to his home country? Full time job for two years? Ideally property ownership? Are you working there full time as well? What ties can you demonstrate?

we are trying to fill out all his travel and work details but need some advice. As he did not enter England through legal means, he has no proof of entry and can't remember the exact date he entered. He also worked so many different jobs, but ver under his real name. We really don't want to risk getting a 5 year ban for lying, but a lot of this stuff will be hard to prove and may be taken as a lie if we can't prove it.

 

[Wonderland_1010]

We a

we are trying to fill out all his travel and work details but need some advice. As he did not enter England through legal means, he has no proof of entry and can't remember the exact date he entered. He also worked so many different jobs, but ver under his real name. We really don't want to risk getting a 5 year ban for lying, but a lot of this stuff will be hard to prove and may be taken as a lie if we can't prove it.

How did he enter England? Where is he from? And also you said he worked many jobs under his real name?