Does Canadian Embassy do Background Check?(i.e marriage,DUI,etc)

[mynboi]

hello guys does canadian embassy do background check?i do have a problems and dont know where to start,i am the sponsor and i sponsored my hubby and canadian embassy emailed us today.read the story and please advice us thank you.

Date: 31 May 2013
File: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear xxxxxx
The assessment of your application for a permanent resident visa as a member of the family class is being completed. It appears that you may not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada.
Section 117(9) of the regulations states that no foreign national may be considered a member of the family class by virtue of their relationship to a sponsor if
(c) the foreign national is the sponsor’s spouse and
(i) the sponsor or foreign national, was, at the time of their marriage, the spouse of another person.
Subsection 40(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that a “foreign national is inadmissible for misrepresentation for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the administration of this Act”. Paragraph 40(2)(a) specifies that the foreign national continues to be inadmissible for misrepresentation for a period of two years following, in the case of a determination outside Canada, a final determination of inadmissibility under subsection (1).
It appears that you misrepresented your civil status when you submitted the following with fraudulent or altered information:
- Advisory on Marriages supposedly issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on July 19, 2012
The determination was reached after background checks were conducted revealing your marriage to a certain ms. xxxxxx on September 21, 1990. That marriage was not declared to this office and did not show in the Advisory on Marriages you provided. The misrepresentation could have induced errors in the administration of the Act. You could have gained status in Canada as a spouse under the Family Class when in fact you are not a spouse because your marriage to your sponsor is void.
Before a final decision is made on your application, you may submit a written explanation regarding the above concerns.
You must provide the information/documents within forty-five (45) days from the date of this letter. If we do not receive additional information, the decision will be based on the information on file, which may result in the refusal of your application.
Sincerely,

 

[Sweden]

CIC will indeed check on the applicant's background - in the second stage of the application, at the Visa Office outside of Canada.

In your case, it appears that your husband was still married to somebody else when he married you.
If that's the case, your marriage is not valid, hence you can not sponsor your husband under family class.

If your husband was indeed married still (and not separated or divorced) when he married you, then your application will be refused.

If he was separated when he married you but didn't declare that he was still married when applying, it's misrepresentation, and the PR will mos likely be refused.

If your husband was not married, or was separated when he married you, then you should send the proofs to the embassy.
Sweden

 

[Steph C]

I have to say that sometimes the NSO is mistaken, especially if people have similar names. I read a story on a blog online where a girl requested a CENOMAR and got back an Advisory on Marriage, but it was for her sister with a similar name.

The Embassy seems to think your Advisory on Marriage is fraudulent. It's possible to order another one online and get it sent straight from the National Statistics Office to the Embassy so that it's clearly not tampered with.

How did you get married? In Canada or the Philippines? Was his first marriage not registered in the NSO?

If your husband really was married in 1990 and didn't disclose that, you will have some explaining to do, but I don't think it's totally without hope.

For example, my partner was married in the Philippines in 2000. He was unable to get an annulment and just got his Visa as my Conjugal partner. He will arrive in Canada next week. He is still legally married in the Philippines.

All these things are possible - just the embassy isn't a huge fan of deception

 

[Steph C]

Hi, I just read some of your other posts. You're Muslim? Then there must be some kind of exemption under Sharia law to prove that your marriage isn't considered bigamous in the Philippines.

 

[scos]

I think the biggest problem will not be the former marriage, there are ways around that (like Steph said with going conjugal, etc). At this point the important thing is whether you knowingly tried to deceive CIC. If you can convince them no deception was involved then I would figure you could resubmit an application under conjugal later. But as Steph said, they don't like deception.

 

[mynboi]

thank you SCOS yes we were trying hard to find solutions on how and where to start.thanks for your time reading.enjoy your day!

 

[canadianwoman]

Did your husband marry someone else in 1990? If he did, and he did not mention this marriage on the immigration forms he sent in when you sponsored him, this is clearly misrepresentation. The likely consequence is that his PR visa application will be refused and he will be banned from Canada for two years.

If he did not marry someone else in 1990, and it is a mistake on the government's part, then find out what kind of mistake it was and send a letter explaining. A lawyer would be helpful here.

If he did marry someone else in 1990, but the marriage was annulled, or they divorced, or his wife died, then he should still have mentioned the marriage on the current application. However, maybe if you send in a letter explaining this situation, with proof, the visa officer will accept it.

The problem is that if he married someone before you, and then they separated but did not divorce or get the marriage annulled, his marriage to you is void. Canada does not accept a 'second' marriage in these circumstances, even for Muslim applicants with a legal 'second' marriage in their own country: the marriage has to be legal in the country where it was performed, and in Canada. If you have lived with him for a year, you could apply common-law. If not, you might be able to apply conjugal.

 

[Steph C]

Did your husband marry someone else in 1990? If he did, and he did not mention this marriage on the immigration forms he sent in when you sponsored him, this is clearly misrepresentation. The likely consequence is that his PR visa application will be refused and he will be banned from Canada for two years.

If he did not marry someone else in 1990, and it is a mistake on the government's part, then find out what kind of mistake it was and send a letter explaining. A lawyer would be helpful here.

If he did marry someone else in 1990, but the marriage was annulled, or they divorced, or his wife died, then he should still have mentioned the marriage on the current application. However, maybe if you send in a letter explaining this situation, with proof, the visa officer will accept it.

The problem is that if he married someone before you, and then they separated but did not divorce or get the marriage annulled, his marriage to you is void. Canada does not accept a 'second' marriage in these circumstances, even for Muslim applicants with a legal 'second' marriage in their own country: the marriage has to be legal in the country where it was performed, and in Canada. If you have lived with him for a year, you could apply common-law. If not, you might be able to apply conjugal.

From what I understand - I hope she doesn't mind me writing it here but I think senior members can really help if they know the details.

The first marriage was a Muslim one. It was not registered in the National Database. It was done according to their customs. But it was not made 'official' They divorced according to Muslim tradition, a verbal agreement.

The second marriage, hers, was done legally according to the Philippines. There is record of it in their National Statistics Office unlike the first one. That's why they were allowed to marry in the first place. They must have found out about the first one in a background check, so there must be a record of it in the town.

Filipino Muslims are allowed to govern themselves by Sharia law... they have been in the Philippines long before the Spanish Catholics came. So they are actually allowed to take more than one wife. However, Canada does consider this to be bigamy. But the plus side is they're allowed divorce, unlike others

I think the fact that the first marriage was done according to local customs and was dissolved according to their customs is a saving grace. You would have to explain that you didn't mention it in the first place because you didn't think it would be seen as a legal marriage anyways.

 

[scos]

From what I understand - I hope she doesn't mind me writing it here but I think senior members can really help if they know the details.

The first marriage was a Muslim one. It was not registered in the National Database. It was done according to their customs. But it was not made 'official' They divorced according to Muslim tradition, a verbal agreement.

The second marriage, hers, was done legally according to the Philippines. There is record of it in their National Statistics Office unlike the first one. That's why they were allowed to marry in the first place. They must have found out about the first one in a background check, so there must be a record of it in the town.

Filipino Muslims are allowed to govern themselves by Sharia law... they have been in the Philippines long before the Spanish Catholics came. So they are actually allowed to take more than one wife. However, Canada does consider this to be bigamy. But the plus side is they're allowed divorce, unlike others

I think the fact that the first marriage was done according to local customs and was dissolved according to their customs is a saving grace. You would have to explain that you didn't mention it in the first place because you didn't think it would be seen as a legal marriage anyways.

In that case they could argue that since the original marriage was not in the NSO that it would be confusing to include it in the app (since checking to verify the info via NSO would turn up no marriage). Though even in that case it would probably have been a good idea to include a letter explaining the situation in the original application. I would go with a lawyer at this point. If what you are saying is correct the second marriage is legitimate and they might be able to salvage this application. That would save all the time needed to submit a new application later.

 

[Steph C]

It sounds like the kind of thing that if refused could win on appeal. But if they do 'due diligence' now, it has a chance of being saved.

 

[canadianwoman]

The first marriage was a Muslim one. It was not registered in the National Database. It was done according to their customs. But it was not made 'official' They divorced according to Muslim tradition, a verbal agreement.

The second marriage, hers, was done legally according to the Philippines. There is record of it in their National Statistics Office unlike the first one. That's why they were allowed to marry in the first place. They must have found out about the first one in a background check, so there must be a record of it in the town.

Filipino Muslims are allowed to govern themselves by Sharia law... they have been in the Philippines long before the Spanish Catholics came. So they are actually allowed to take more than one wife. However, Canada does consider this to be bigamy. But the plus side is they're allowed divorce, unlike others

I think the fact that the first marriage was done according to local customs and was dissolved according to their customs is a saving grace. You would have to explain that you didn't mention it in the first place because you didn't think it would be seen as a legal marriage anyways.

OK, the OP has 45 days to submit documents to answer the visa officer's questions and concerns.
You will have to explain what Steph C did here. Explain that the first marriage was a customary Muslim marriage, it was not registered, it did not need to be registered according to Philippine law, and that the marriage ended in a customary Muslim divorce, which is also allowed in Philippine law. Therefore the second marriage is legal in the Philippines.
Further explain that you did not mention the first marriage on the forms because you thought as it was not officially registered, it did not count. (Or whatever explanation best fits your circumstances.) If you have some other explanation, it might be a good idea to tell us what it is, because an explanation like "We thought if we mentioned it, we would not get the PR visa" will ruin your chances.
Keep in mind that the average Canadian visa officer may know nothing about Muslims in the Philippines, so give them the background they need to understand this. Make it clear that all this is legal in the Philippines, and that in no way was your husband married to two women at the same time. I would get a lawyer in the Philippines to help explain this, and he or she should be quoting Philippine law.

 

[mynboi]

i agree with steph..to those who share thier support and comments i thank you all from the bottom of my heart.....muslims are allowed to marry more than 2 or 3 and i know a lot here in our community from pakistan and middle east has more than 2 wives.but was able to come to canada.my case was i did insist my husband not to include or mention the first wife because it would be too long for us to provide everything and yes the 1st marriage wasnt in government database or NSO(national statitics office).

 

[mynboi]

thank you everyone for giving me hope been waiting it for so long and i really need to be with my husband we are not getting any younger....i am a single mom since 2002 and raised my son alone who is now turning 19 in august.sooner or later my son is going to college and need to meet both ends to survive i dont have any family here in canada nor relatives just a few friends i must say.i am dying to be with my husband to start a new life,i came to canada when i was 21 y/o and now i am in mid 40's.being alone here in canada is not easy.i am not on welfare or did apply for,hope you guys understand that in my case i am desperate not because of my urge or something, i need to have a normal life and start a family of my own.god bless us all!

 

[canadianwoman]

.muslims are allowed to marry more than 2 or 3

Not in Canada.

and i know a lot here in our community from pakistan and middle east has more than 2 wives.but was able to come to canada.

This is because they lied on their application forms, and CIC did not find out. No one can sponsor two or more wives to Canada at the same time. If a man is legally married to two or more wives in a country where that is legal, fine, but it is not legal in Canada and he will not be able to sponsor them to Canada. CIC will consider the first wife to be the legal one.
There was a famous murder case in Kingston last year where an immigrant man from Afghanistan had two wives: the second one was sponsored as his wife; the first one was never mentioned as a wife, and came as a visitor as his 'cousin'.

In your case it is no longer possible to just ignore the other wife, because CIC has found out about her. All you can do now is explain the circumstances. Stress that your husband is divorced from his first wife and so your marriage to him is valid. Do not base your explanation of your situation on the fact that it is OK for Muslims in your country to have two or more wives: this will make no difference to their decision.

my case was i did insist my husband not to include or mention the first wife because it would be too long for us to provide everything and yes the 1st marriage wasnt in government database or NSO(national statitics office).

This is not going to be an acceptable reason. Not including family members or previous marriages because it would prolong processing times is never OK with CIC. It would be better to say that because it was a customary marriage that was not registered, and a customary divorce as well, you did not realize you had to mention them.

I think at worst they will reject the PR visa application and ban your husband for two years for misrepresentation. However, after that you can apply to sponsor him again - this time including the information about the first marriage and divorce. I know people who have been successfully sponsored after a ban, so you should be OK. I would not bother appealing this case. It would probably be quicker to reapply after 2 years anyway.
At best: there is always hope they will accept your explanation and either issue him the visa or at least not ban him.

 

[mynboi]

lol...its only my opinion or was trying to say it here but we already hired a lawyer to settle everything.am just hoping for the best...thanks canadian woman for sharing your wonderful advises.kudos!