Exclusion order vs lawyer feedback

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

My husband was excluded from Canada for 1 year for overstaying 3.5 years and working. The exclusion order expired February 2015. From what I've read the ban time be ones a part of the processing time and does not slow the application processing time.

We are using a lawyer and they pulled his immigration file which includes notes from the immigration officer that he didn't answer questions. He was asked a series of questions and said that he didn't know or he didn't remember. They also noted that he was asked what he would do if he was asked to go back to Poland and he said he wouldn't go back because there weren't any jobs. He was held in detention for three weeks, bought his own ticket and flew back. There was a hearing, and I showed for that and spoke on his behalf so that maybe they would let him out before he was flying back. They said no.

Lawyer said because he didn't cooperate when he was picked up, he will likely be interviewed and possibly refused and that we had to build a strong file to show we endured a genuine relationship. What do you think about the lawyers opinion?

 

[canadianwoman]

Whenever there are problems like this, you can expect more scrutiny of the PR application. So yes, I think you need more evidence your relationship is genuine than the average applicant from Poland would. CIC tends to be suspicious of PR applications from people who have demonstrated that they really want to stay in Canada and do not want to go back to their own country. The suspicion is that they will enter into a marriage of convenience.
Just collect as much evidence as you can that your relationship is genuine. Being interviewed does not mean he will be refused - it is just another chance to prove your relationship is genuine.
Good luck.

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

Whenever there are problems like this, you can expect more scrutiny of the PR application. So yes, I think you need more evidence your relationship is genuine than the average applicant from Poland would. CIC tends to be suspicious of PR applications from people who have demonstrated that they really want to stay in Canada and do not want to go back to their own country. The suspicion is that they will enter into a marriage of convenience.
Just collect as much evidence as you can that your relationship is genuine. Being interviewed does not mean he will be refused - it is just another chance to prove your relationship is genuine.
Good luck.

Thank you. Can you please help suggest what kind of proof would be considered more substantial than the average applicant to prove the genuine nature of the relationship?

 

[canadianwoman]

Just more of the same kinds of proof any applicant would have. So if an applicant from your husband's country usually submits 50 photos, for a problem application I would submit more - maybe 100. If the average applicant sent in a few emails over the course of the relationship, for this one I would send in many more.
Any financial proof is very good, as is all proof that you stayed together - living together, traveling together, visits, etc. Also get proof that your family and friends know about the relationship and approve (if they do).

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

Thank you. I have thought about what you said and the thing we have thats more than the average applicant is a you tube video of our first trip together after he was excluded from Canada. It shows me meeting him in Poland, and both of us travelling to Denmark to be Married and how we communicate and get along together.

My hubby included an explanation and appology for the overstay and why he didnt answer questions the day cbsa met with him.

Also i wrote an extensive essays on how our love developed.

We used a Lawyer and she didnt do anything to analyze our application to see if we prove genuinity well. She just gave us a list and told us she will print everything. The only main thing they did do to help is pull my Hubby's immigration file to see what notes the CBSA officer made about him. After I saw the file I decided to change my approach to be more explanatory and address the comments made in the notes.

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately the youtube video is useless. CIC won't look at any evidence online or on media (e.g. DVD). Everything has to be printed.

 

[dobes]

Thank you. I have thought about what you said and the thing we have thats more than the average applicant is a you tube video of our first trip together after he was excluded from Canada. It shows me meeting him in Poland, and both of us travelling to Denmark to be Married and how we communicate and get along together.

My hubby included an explanation and appology for the overstay and why he didnt answer questions the day cbsa met with him.

Also i wrote an extensive essays on how our love developed.

We used a Lawyer and she didnt do anything to analyze our application to see if we prove genuinity well. She just gave us a list and told us she will print everything. The only main thing they did do to help is pull my Hubby's immigration file to see what notes the CBSA officer made about him. After I saw the file I decided to change my approach to be more explanatory and address the comments made in the notes.

My common-law partner and I had to prove our relationship to CIC when we first came to Canada. At the time, we lived in Slovakia (he is Slovak, I am American), and, although we had lived together for more than a year, we didn't have a lot of the conventional ways to prove it. For instance, in Slovakia, joint bank accounts don't really exist, even for married couples. Everyone files an individual tax return, too - married or not. We didn't own the apartment we lived in, and the lease was in my name, because I rented it before I met him.

Because of that, I got several sworn affidavits from friends and family. They ended up actually being a lovely testament to our relationship! Each person recounted how they met us, things we had done together with them such as group trips, and mentioned things like visiting us at our apartment. We had been at each other's family weddings, birthdays, and funerals, and the affidavits mentioned that, too. Altogether, they presented an effective picture of a life being lived together, and CIC did not question us further.

When thinking about how to prove a relationship, think about financial things - do you own anything together? Have each other as beneficiaries on a life insurance policy? Document every financial area of your life that is joined together - property, bank accounts, credit cards, insurance. Then, consider integration of your lives - do you have friends together? Do your families know your spouse? Document with pictures and affidavits. Finally - communication. Save letters and emails to and from each other. Get records of phone calls, skype conversations, and texts. It's not that you have to show CIC the intimate content of your communication, but more that you should show that you DO communicate frequently.

Good luck!

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

My common-law partner and I had to prove our relationship to CIC when we first came to Canada. At the time, we lived in Slovakia (he is Slovak, I am American), and, although we had lived together for more than a year, we didn't have a lot of the conventional ways to prove it. For instance, in Slovakia, joint bank accounts don't really exist, even for married couples. Everyone files an individual tax return, too - married or not. We didn't own the apartment we lived in, and the lease was in my name, because I rented it before I met him.

Because of that, I got several sworn affidavits from friends and family. They ended up actually being a lovely testament to our relationship! Each person recounted how they met us, things we had done together with them such as group trips, and mentioned things like visiting us at our apartment. We had been at each other's family weddings, birthdays, and funerals, and the affidavits mentioned that, too. Altogether, they presented an effective picture of a life being lived together, and CIC did not question us further.

When thinking about how to prove a relationship, think about financial things - do you own anything together? Have each other as beneficiaries on a life insurance policy? Document every financial area of your life that is joined together - property, bank accounts, credit cards, insurance. Then, consider integration of your lives - do you have friends together? Do your families know your spouse? Document with pictures and affidavits. Finally - communication. Save letters and emails to and from each other. Get records of phone calls, skype conversations, and texts. It's not that you have to show CIC the intimate content of your communication, but more that you should show that you DO communicate frequently.

Good luck!

Thanks dobes, I will strengthen our portfolio to prove how often we do communicate and will have my hubby help on that too.

If they dont look at the video ever, I've lost nothing.

Financial...we have a joint account we used for a bit but then stopped. Lawyer says to keep it open so I have. I've never gotten an insurance policy and neither has he. We send each other western union transfers to help each other. We have a Costco membership together because we did our grocery together when he was here in Canada. I also paid for his gym membership on my credit card. And thats it as far as financial. We didn't live together and I couldn't because I wasn't married to him yet. I have letters from friends and family with their signatures but not sworn. I didn't want to trouble them. Also I have a hand written letter from my 11 ur old daughter who wrote about wanting him to come back and why.

 

[canadianwoman]

These are good pieces of evidence. You can take screenshots of the video and submit them.

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

These are good pieces of evidence. You can take screenshots of the video and submit them.

Ive taken a few screenshots but now i will assume they wont see the video and take screenshots of the entire video. Its over 2 hrs long

 

[canadianwoman]

You don't need too many - it is just one piece of evidence. I would take some screenshots from the beginning, middle, and end, and of any particularly good parts, and then add a note stating the whole video is available on youtube and give the link. They probably won't watch it - CIC states they won't - but the fact it is there is also evidence that your relationship is well known to friends and family.

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

You don't need too many - it is just one piece of evidence. I would take some screenshots from the beginning, middle, and end, and of any particularly good parts, and then add a note stating the whole video is available on youtube and give the link. They probably won't watch it - CIC states they won't - but the fact it is there is also evidence that your relationship is well known to friends and family.

Thats a good point of it being well known to friends and family. Thank you for your insight and your help

 

[Ravcat]

Thank you. I have thought about what you said and the thing we have thats more than the average applicant is a you tube video of our first trip together after he was excluded from Canada. It shows me meeting him in Poland, and both of us travelling to Denmark to be Married and how we communicate and get along together.

My hubby included an explanation and appology for the overstay and why he didnt answer questions the day cbsa met with him.

Also i wrote an extensive essays on how our love developed.

We used a Lawyer and she didnt do anything to analyze our application to see if we prove genuinity well. She just gave us a list and told us she will print everything. The only main thing they did do to help is pull my Hubby's immigration file to see what notes the CBSA officer made about him. After I saw the file I decided to change my approach to be more explanatory and address the comments made in the notes.

We accidentally went to the border unprepared for the bombardment of questions and stuff...at the time I was going to visit, but to them I was moving, with no ties to the states...etc...in short I was denied. It has caused us problems for about 2 years...

And my point:

We used lawyers at the start of our endeavor, and had similar results...high fees and vague answers...and for a fee of about 10-15k they would start processing our application for PR. 3k was for me to visit.

You will get way more information from people here than any lawyer will, all you can do is apply after you gathered enough information, find out IF they reject you why, and fix it...As some have said before, you will need to provide overwhelming evidence that things are genuine and not hold back information. There is a spot where you are to give any past grievances / issues /denials/ etc Write in detail YOUR point of view of what happened and such...it is important to be truthful throughout the whole process.

We did spousal PR (we got married 1 year ago), and we had 5 or so people write letters telling about our relationship etc...even though thats not even required. We sent in hundred or so pictures, on the back I wrote where we were, who was with us, and date.

I provided recipes to major purchases...and pictures. I even sent in parking tickets to cities we visited with ticket stubs of the movies, zoo, aquarium, whatever we were visiting. Even wrist bands I scanned...

I took SS of our FB conversations to show a time line of FB...sent pages and pages of skype logs, and a few hundred trees died when printing phone records.

In short, we had a minor bump in the road...and we painted no doubt in their minds our relationship was genuine. When he came to visit, we went somewhere. Dallas, Denver, Cancun (honeymoon), OKC, Toronto, and hometowns were very well documented. I also kept all airline tickets/luggage tickets.

Anyways, you cant over do it, and if that offends them, whatever. Id rather you over do it and bombard them with evidence than when they finally get to your application in the mountainous heap of apps, there is no questions for them to answer, no stone unturned.

 

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

We accidentally went to the border unprepared for the bombardment of questions and stuff...at the time I was going to visit, but to them I was moving, with no ties to the states...etc...in short I was denied. It has caused us problems for about 2 years...

And my point:

We used lawyers at the start of our endeavor, and had similar results...high fees and vague answers...and for a fee of about 10-15k they would start processing our application for PR. 3k was for me to visit.

You will get way more information from people here than any lawyer will, all you can do is apply after you gathered enough information, find out IF they reject you why, and fix it...As some have said before, you will need to provide overwhelming evidence that things are genuine and not hold back information. There is a spot where you are to give any past grievances / issues /denials/ etc Write in detail YOUR point of view of what happened and such...it is important to be truthful throughout the whole process.

We did spousal PR (we got married 1 year ago), and we had 5 or so people write letters telling about our relationship etc...even though thats not even required. We sent in hundred or so pictures, on the back I wrote where we were, who was with us, and date.

I provided recipes to major purchases...and pictures. I even sent in parking tickets to cities we visited with ticket stubs of the movies, zoo, aquarium, whatever we were visiting. Even wrist bands I scanned...

I took SS of our FB conversations to show a time line of FB...sent pages and pages of skype logs, and a few hundred trees died when printing phone records.

In short, we had a minor bump in the road...and we painted no doubt in their minds our relationship was genuine. When he came to visit, we went somewhere. Dallas, Denver, Cancun (honeymoon), OKC, Toronto, and hometowns were very well documented. I also kept all airline tickets/luggage tickets.

Anyways, you cant over do it, and if that offends them, whatever. Id rather you over do it and bombard them with evidence than when they finally get to your application in the mountainous heap of apps, there is no questions for them to answer, no stone unturned.

I love your passion to triumph and overcome the rifts in your path. I shall leave no stone unturned too my dear as I share your passion. Respec!

If trees must die, they shall for the greater good