H&C Appeal After Spouse Sponsorship Refusal – Seeking Advice

[Janix]

Hi everyone,

I’m posting on behalf of my brother regarding a humanitarian & compassionate appeal after his spouse's sponsorship was refused. Here’s the situation:

• He obtained Canadian PR in 2024 and listed his marital status as “Single” in his PR application.
• He had been in a long-term relationship and later married his partner, but did not declare her as a common-law spouse because, coming from the Philippines, he believed “common-law” required legal marriage.
• IRCC refused the sponsorship because she was not declared in the PR application.

He is now submitting an H&C appeal, highlighting:

1. Genuine relationship: They have been together for years, supported each other emotionally and financially, and maintained commitment despite long-distance periods.
2. Honest misunderstanding: He did not intend to misrepresent anything; he misunderstood Canadian common-law rules.
3. Emotional hardship: Separation and the inability to see each other in person are causing significant stress.
4. Financial & personal stability: He has built his life and employment in Canada; leaving would mean losing everything.
5. Future contribution: His wife has professional skills (pharmacist) that would allow her to contribute to Canadian society, and they hope to build a stable life and family in Canada.

Questions for the forum:

• Has anyone successfully had a spouse sponsorship approved on H&C grounds under similar circumstances?
• How strongly do you think emotional hardship and genuine relationship arguments weigh in H&C cases?
• Any advice on how to best present this to maximize chances of approval?

Thanks so much for any guidance or insights!

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

I’m posting on behalf of my brother regarding a humanitarian & compassionate appeal after his spouse's sponsorship was refused. Here’s the situation:

• He obtained Canadian PR in 2024 and listed his marital status as “Single” in his PR application.
• He had been in a long-term relationship and later married his partner, but did not declare her as a common-law spouse because, coming from the Philippines, he believed “common-law” required legal marriage.
• IRCC refused the sponsorship because she was not declared in the PR application.

He is now submitting an H&C appeal, highlighting:

1. Genuine relationship: They have been together for years, supported each other emotionally and financially, and maintained commitment despite long-distance periods.
2. Honest misunderstanding: He did not intend to misrepresent anything; he misunderstood Canadian common-law rules.
3. Emotional hardship: Separation and the inability to see each other in person are causing significant stress.
4. Financial & personal stability: He has built his life and employment in Canada; leaving would mean losing everything.
5. Future contribution: His wife has professional skills (pharmacist) that would allow her to contribute to Canadian society, and they hope to build a stable life and family in Canada.

Questions for the forum:

• Has anyone successfully had a spouse sponsorship approved on H&C grounds under similar circumstances?
• How strongly do you think emotional hardship and genuine relationship arguments weigh in H&C cases?
• Any advice on how to best present this to maximize chances of approval?

Thanks so much for any guidance or insights!

Is he working with a lawyer? If not, he needs to be working with a very good immigration lawyer.

 

[Janix]

Is he working with a lawyer? If not, he needs to be working with a very good immigration lawyer.

We recently consulted with two immigration lawyers, and both advised not to proceed with the appeal.


Instead, they recommended reapplying for sponsorship in the future, and they seemed fairly confident that this would be a better approach than pursuing H&C.


This left us a bit confused, so we’re hoping to get more perspectives from those who may have seen similar cases.


Our questions:

• Why would lawyers recommend reapplying instead of pursuing H&C, given that non-declaration issues are involved?
• Is there a higher success rate with reapplication compared to H&C in these types of cases?
• What are the risks of abandoning the H&C route and starting over?
• Has anyone had success reapplying after a refusal due to undeclared common-law partner?

We understand every case is different, but we’d really appreciate hearing from anyone with similar experiences or knowledge in this area.


Thank you very much for your time.

 

[scylla]

We recently consulted with two immigration lawyers, and both advised not to proceed with the appeal.


Instead, they recommended reapplying for sponsorship in the future, and they seemed fairly confident that this would be a better approach than pursuing H&C.


This left us a bit confused, so we’re hoping to get more perspectives from those who may have seen similar cases.


Our questions:

• Why would lawyers recommend reapplying instead of pursuing H&C, given that non-declaration issues are involved?
• Is there a higher success rate with reapplication compared to H&C in these types of cases?
• What are the risks of abandoning the H&C route and starting over?
• Has anyone had success reapplying after a refusal due to undeclared common-law partner?

We understand every case is different, but we’d really appreciate hearing from anyone with similar experiences or knowledge in this area.


Thank you very much for your time.

You'll need to ask the lawyers those questions.

I don't see how reapplying later is going to work. The common law partner wasn't declare and can never be sponsored.