How to answer "have you ever been refused a visa or permit, denied entry or ordered to leave Canada or any other country?"

[justbeelieve]

I am at a loss here. Here's a brief summary of what happened to me:

I was born and raised in the Philippines. I was granted permanent residency at birth because my parents were already permanent residents at the time of my birth. About five years ago, while filing for a change of address, the bureau of immigration looked into my file and said that I shouldn't have been issued native-born permanent residency as my parents weren't permanent residents yet when I was born (I don't know where they got this info from). They asked for an explanation and our agent just told them I was young and a nice person and all, without providing sufficient evidence as to why I was a rightful permanent resident cardholder (evidence that my parents became permanent residents months before I was born). They were not satisfied with the explanation, which led to them issuing an order forfeiting my native-born status and asking me to downgrade and to secure the appropriate visa (my agent told me not to downgrade because once I did, I would not be able to fight for my PR status again). I was a dumb teenager at the time and didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

About two years ago, I realized that they were wrong to downgrade my status. We got another agent and I gave them all the evidence showing that my parents were already lawful permanent residents when I was born. A motion for reconsideration was filed and the bureau of immigration looked into my file again, and after about a year, they issued another order stating that I was qualified under the native-born category and reinstated my status as a permanent resident. My agent told me that my status is clear now and it would show as if nothing ever happened, but I am still worried.

I don't know what to do now. Should I check yes or no for this question? I'm so scared. Moving to Canada has always been my dream and years of my life have already been taken from me. Can you please help me?

 

[steaky]

You were downgrade but did they order you to leave the Phillippines?

 

[justbeelieve]

You were downgrade but did they order you to leave the Phillippines?

I was not ordered to leave the Philippines, just to secure the appropriate visa, which I did not do. I don't know if this would count as overstaying? I didn't have to pay any fees for overstaying and got my status back about a year ago.

 

[justbeelieve]

I think the short and honest answer to the question is "no". You have not been refused a visa or permit. From what you have said, long ago you were told to apply for one, as a result of being "downgraded". You say you took your agent's advice and you did not apply. So you were not refused.

Also, you were not denied entry, 'di ba? You were already there, in the RP. Equally, from what you have said, you were not "ordered to leave" (leaving aside the nice question of "Leave to where?").

Finally, it seems all was made right as a result of the BIR reconsideration decision, restoring your PR status. I trust you have copies or the relevant BIR order and correspondence. For what it's worth, I would add my view that your restoration of status would, in effect, be retroactive. You always were a PR. Any document from long ago saying otherwise would now be a nullity, of no legal effect.

Hi! Thank you so much po for taking the time to reply to my post. I'm really glad to hear that this would mean that I've always been a PR. I spoke with my mom and she told me that we were actually applying to get our i-card/PR card renewed when this whole thing happened. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but as far as I know, i-card renewal application and visa application are two different things, right? So, it doesn't really mean anything that this was refused?

I do have copies of the old and new BI orders, but there is one thing I am concerned about. I know that the old order no longer has any legal effect, but after my visa got canceled (December 2015), I continued working at a non-profit for a few months (until July 2015). I started working there fresh out of college, before my visa even got canceled and my agent didn't inform me of my visa cancelation until it was too late. I stopped working as soon as I found out, but I am still worried. Would this cause any issues? If not in the Philippines, then would visa officers of other countries see it as a red flag if I end up having to present my BI orders and they see from my work history that I continued working even after the visa cancellation date?

Thank you so much once again. I truly appreciate your help!

 

[justbeelieve]

Correct, ACR I-Card renewal application and visa application totally different.



As I have said, my best view of things is that once your PR status was restored, the legal effect would be that you were always a PR, so I do not think it could fairly be said there was a time when you were working illegally, without a visa. It should cause no issues in the Phils. Equally, it should not cause issues elsewhere. Moreover, it's not the kind of information that visa officers outside the PI would become aware of, unless you laid it all out for them, and I do not see why that should ever become necessary. You will be dealing with them as a permanent resident of the PI and I cannot reasonably foresee a circumstance where they would be asking you about a time in which you appeared to be anything other than a permanent resident.

Got it! Thank you so much for helping me and for putting my mind at ease. I really appreciate it!

 

[Parmeet kaur67]

Hello, I am a permanent resident of Canada and this questions is regarding my spouse. We will be applying his PR application next month but we have a question. For the question, have you been refused entry to any country or Canada, he was in New Zealand and came to India in 2018, he had a valid work visa at that time, but as he was having some issues with his employer, he cancelled his work visa which he was not aware off. He had his ticket booked the same year as were thinking the visa is valid, like I mentioned we were not aware of the cancellation, so he has his ticket via Thailand and Thailand immigration told that his visa his cancelled and cannot go to New Zealand. He got a call from NZ immigration at the airport and he was told by the immigration officer that your visa is cancelled. SO he could not go to new Zealand. we got an email from new Zealand immigration that if my spouse was not thinking of working for the same employer, why did not he find another employer and change his visa to study or some other sort of visa. We told them about the employer misbehavior and why he left the work, but the immigration officer said they have to cancel his visa and it was cancelled by employer(closed work permit) and we got a visa cancellation email saying your visa is cancelled as you were out of NZ and you are not working for XYZ employer since.....2018. They mentioned in the letter that he can apply for new visa and which be judged as a new application but immigration has to judge it as per recent rules.
This is all that happened, so I am confused that whether should be reply yes or not to the question- have you been refused visa or entry to any country?

Your help will be appreciated. Thank you

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hello, I am a permanent resident of Canada and this questions is regarding my spouse. We will be applying his PR application next month but we have a question. For the question, have you been refused entry to any country or Canada, he was in New Zealand and came to India in 2018, he had a valid work visa at that time, but as he was having some issues with his employer, he cancelled his work visa which he was not aware off. He had his ticket booked the same year as were thinking the visa is valid, like I mentioned we were not aware of the cancellation, so he has his ticket via Thailand and Thailand immigration told that his visa his cancelled and cannot go to New Zealand. He got a call from NZ immigration at the airport and he was told by the immigration officer that your visa is cancelled. SO he could not go to new Zealand. we got an email from new Zealand immigration that if my spouse was not thinking of working for the same employer, why did not he find another employer and change his visa to study or some other sort of visa. We told them about the employer misbehavior and why he left the work, but the immigration officer said they have to cancel his visa and it was cancelled by employer(closed work permit) and we got a visa cancellation email saying your visa is cancelled as you were out of NZ and you are not working for XYZ employer since.....2018. They mentioned in the letter that he can apply for new visa and which be judged as a new application but immigration has to judge it as per recent rules.
This is all that happened, so I am confused that whether should be reply yes or not to the question- have you been refused visa or entry to any country?

Your help will be appreciated. Thank you

1. The answer is YES, his visa was cancelled and he was refused boarding to Australia.

 

[Parmeet kaur67]

Hi



1. The answer is YES, his visa was cancelled and he was refused boarding to Australia.

Thanks you. I forgot to mention that he has applied for work visa canada in 2020 through a lawyer . I just checked the forms submitted at that time and it said no to this question of being refused entry to any country. His visa was refused stating he is very mobile as he has visited many countries in the past and they feel he will not leave canada. I ordered gcms notes n with info sharing for New Zealand,it says NRT. I feel even at that time the answer should be yes to this question. We will be doing this application ourselves this time, so will respond yes , but the last time when it was submitted the ans was no. Do you think it is going to be okay as we are providing the right answer to this question this time? Thank you for your time.