exploring options for next steps after refusal letter

[jasmar]

My girlfriend and I are wondering what options we have from here and any insight would be greatly appreciated -- here's some quick info:

- I am Canadian Citizen and she is a US citizen
- We applied for a visitor extension back in June and received the refusal letter almost 2 weeks ago (end of July)
- As of today, she has technically been in Canada 2 weeks past the typical 6-month visitor allowance and needs to leave "immediately"
- I am currently fully supporting her financially and I have a clean record (in terms of crime/tax/debts/etc)

I feel that maybe our initial application was weak. All we really included was a letter of financial support. In hindsight maybe we should have included some bank statements or something, not sure. Anyways, I'm wondering what you guys think would be the best course of action from here:

1. Apply for a restoration of status? Is it still even viable if you already got a refusal letter?
2. Appeal the refusal letter? not sure if that's a thing or if at all possible
3. Bite the bullet and leave Canada for now

Thank you!

 

[scylla]

My girlfriend and I are wondering what options we have from here and any insight would be greatly appreciated -- here's some quick info:

- I am Canadian Citizen and she is a US citizen
- We applied for a visitor extension back in June and received the refusal letter almost 2 weeks ago (end of July)
- As of today, she has technically been in Canada 2 weeks past the typical 6-month visitor allowance and needs to leave "immediately"
- I am currently fully supporting her financially and I have a clean record (in terms of crime/tax/debts/etc)

I feel that maybe our initial application was weak. All we really included was a letter of financial support. In hindsight maybe we should have included some bank statements or something, not sure. Anyways, I'm wondering what you guys think would be the best course of action from here:

1. Apply for a restoration of status? Is it still even viable if you already got a refusal letter?
2. Appeal the refusal letter? not sure if that's a thing or if at all possible
3. Bite the bullet and leave Canada for now

Thank you!

An appeal doesn't make sense. Either apply for restoration or leave Canada. What's her reason for wanting to remain in Canada longer? Yes, you should have included bank statements with the application.

 

[jasmar]

An appeal doesn't make sense. Either apply for restoration or leave Canada. What's her reason for wanting to remain in Canada longer? Yes, you should have included bank statements with the application.

Thanks, yeah I didn't think an appeal was an option. The main reason for wanting to remain is to continue living together and after a year maybe claim for common-law. Do you know if applying for a restoration of status would let her legally stay in Canada while the application is being processed? It would at the very least help buy some time for her to transition going back to the US instead of scrambling to go back "immediately" as the refusal letter stated.

 

[scylla]

Thanks, yeah I didn't think an appeal was an option. The main reason for wanting to remain is to continue living together and after a year maybe claim for common-law. Do you know if applying for a restoration of status would let her legally stay in Canada while the application is being processed? It would at the very least help buy some time for her to transition going back to the US instead of scrambling to go back "immediately" as the refusal letter stated.

Appealing is technically an option. But it's a long and very expensive process and IMO does not make sense in your case.

Restoration allows her to remain in Canada while she waits for the results of the restoration application. However this does not make her status legal while she waits. She would still be classified as being in Canada out of status.

I would recommend applying to restore her status to visitor vs. leaving Canada. Although you have 90 days to do this from the date of the refusal, do not wait. Apply as soon as you can.

- Make sure you include proof of financials (e.g. bank statement) in the application. Failing to do that the first time around was an error. If she has any savings, she should show evidence of hers along with yours.
- I don't know what you gave as her reasons for wanting to remain in Canada longer. You should specifically state that she is requesting to stay longer so that you can achieve 1 year of living together continuously to become common law so that you can sponsor her for PR. If you did not say this in the extension that was refused, that was unfortunately a mistake too.

Note that to sponsor her as your common law partner, you have to live together continuously for one full year. Continuously means without any breaks. Max break you would want to have is 2-3 weeks. Otherwise this breaks the "continuous". So all the more reason for her to try to remain in Canada if that is your intention.

 

[jasmar]

Appealing is technically an option. But it's a long and very expensive process and IMO does not make sense in your case.

Restoration allows her to remain in Canada while she waits for the results of the restoration application. However this does not make her status legal while she waits. She would still be classified as being in Canada out of status.

I would recommend applying to restore her status to visitor vs. leaving Canada. Although you have 90 days to do this from the date of the refusal, do not wait. Apply as soon as you can.

- Make sure you include proof of financials (e.g. bank statement) in the application. Failing to do that the first time around was an error. If she has any savings, she should show evidence of hers along with yours.
- I don't know what you gave as her reasons for wanting to remain in Canada longer. You should specifically state that she is requesting to stay longer so that you can achieve 1 year of living together continuously to become common law so that you can sponsor her for PR. If you did not say this in the extension that was refused, that was unfortunately a mistake too.

Note that to sponsor her as your common law partner, you have to live together continuously for one full year. Continuously means without any breaks. Max break you would want to have is 2-3 weeks. Otherwise this breaks the "continuous". So all the more reason for her to try to remain in Canada if that is your intention.

Thank you so much for the insight and suggestions, appreciate it