Man holding his families Passports in Canada to deny their entry

[mike lunch]

A co-worker of mine moved to Canada from the Philippines, He is here on a 3 year immigration contract.
He has a wife and 3 young children at home, but has been involved in a new relationship outside of his marriage. He has publicly mentioned that he will take the children to Canada and leave his wife in the Philippines.
He is in the final stages of the immigration process and is awaiting his Landed Immigrant status.
His wife has sent all of the family passports to him in Canada to be processed . He cut off contact with her and is holding the passports hostage so his wife can not immigrate. She has asked me to help her as she feels powerless.
The immigration application is for the whole family, but he has broken up the family without telling his wife all the details.


Any advice as to whom I can speak to or resources I can read to find the answers She will need to provide her family with the citizenship they have payed, sacrificed and waited for would be great,
Thank you

 

[Leon]

She should contact the RCMP and complain that he is refusing to return her passport. Maybe they will have a talk with him. She can however not force him to include her in his PR application. He can at any time say to immigration that the marriage has broken up and to remove his wife from the file or change her status to not accompanying.

As for him taking the children to Canada, that depends on the law in the Philippines. Who has custody of the children? If he refuses her a PR visa, she can also notify immigration and state that the children should not be given a PR visa either because he does not have sole custody of the children and she will not allow the children to move to Canada with him.

If she still wants to go to Canada, she could actually make that as an offer to him, he can send their passports and they will come to Canada and he will be able to have visitation with his children or if she doesn't send her passport, the children stay with her in the Philippines.

 

[mike lunch]

The application is in the final stages, as a family, the custody is joined as they are married, The wife only just found out that the affair is going on as she has not seen her Husband (my co-worker) in 3 years while he lives and works here in Canada. She sent him the passports of the children and hers as well, so the final documents could be drawn up here in Canada.

So technically they are married and the application is going forward as "normal" in the eyes of Immigration. He doesn't want to change anything as it may affect his process.

 

[lovely20]

The application is in the final stages, as a family, the custody is joined as they are married, The wife only just found out that the affair is going on as she has not seen her Husband (my co-worker) in 3 years while he lives and works here in Canada. She sent him the passports of the children and hers as well, so the final documents could be drawn up here in Canada.

So technically they are married and the application is going forward as "normal" in the eyes of Immigration. He doesn't want to change anything as it may affect his process.

What your friend can do is not let the children leave the Philippines until he settles this matter. As it is right now, it is joint custody for the kids which means the kids gets to stay in the Philippines until this matter is resolved between the husband and wife. The husband cannot force the kids to fly to Canada without the mom towing along.

 

[Leon]

The application is in the final stages, as a family, the custody is joined as they are married, The wife only just found out that the affair is going on as she has not seen her Husband (my co-worker) in 3 years while he lives and works here in Canada. She sent him the passports of the children and hers as well, so the final documents could be drawn up here in Canada.

So technically they are married and the application is going forward as "normal" in the eyes of Immigration. He doesn't want to change anything as it may affect his process.

Even with joint custody, if he takes the children to Canada without her consent, that is kidnapping. He has no way to win this game.

 

[lovely20]

Leon's advise is really the best thing to do if she wants to come to Canada too she can use the kids as a leverage (I know it doesn't sound right). She can let him finish the process and refuse to fly the kids later and bargain with him.

 

[wes786]

So obviously if the kids and wife don't fly, the VISAs will eventually expire so either he can choose to bring them all to Canada or no one(if the wife doesn't want to) he can't just force the kids to leave their mother. And as Leon mentioned that his wife cannot challenge the immigration system if he decides to cancel her sponsorship and not the kid's. So really if the process is finished he has to send the passports back for the kids to travel anyways! so its a win win situation.

 

[Leon]

I would assume that his plan is to keep/destroy the passport of the wife but bring the passports of the children back to the Philippines and attempt to take the children to Canada with him.

 

[visita44]

He can not take the children with him without the consent of his wife. So there it goes.. Better read carefully from now on any document that your husband want you to sign..

 

[wes786]

I would assume that his plan is to keep/destroy the passport of the wife but bring the passports of the children back to the Philippines and attempt to take the children to Canada with him.

Yeah, you got a point! well, as said earlier that it is like kidnapping if he takes the kids along with him without the consent of his wife so I am sure she can find some legal help to takecare of that.

 

[Stumpedmom]

So technically they are married and the application is going forward as "normal" in the eyes of Immigration. He doesn't want to change anything as it may affect his process.

Ok...my understanding of this quote is....he has or will not notify immigration about the break up because he needs the points for the kids and wife left in the Phillipines...the wife could always use this to help her or just to stop the whole process by notifying immigration, because he is misrepresenting himself through the final stages of the immigration process....Seniors correct me if I am wrong here...

 

[dair2dv8103100]

What is being brought up here as valid points ie joint custody means he cannot leave the Philippines with the children if she does not allow. Are these in actual fact laws in the Philippines. I mean we are talking about a country were divorce is illegal.

So my concern for the wife is... what are the true laws in the Philippines surrounding custody of children? Why did the wife send the passports to the husband? I thought the visa office in the country assessing the application requested the passports?

She should definitely report the denial of returning the passports to some authority here and in her own country I would think. I just wonder how safe it is for a woman there to make such demands and accusations?

I cannot imagine what she is going through and I wish I could give some definite advice. I really hope justice is served in the end!

 

[lovely20]

What is being brought up here as valid points ie joint custody means he cannot leave the Philippines with the children if she does not allow. Are these in actual fact laws in the Philippines. I mean we are talking about a country were divorce is illegal.

So my concern for the wife is... what are the true laws in the Philippines surrounding custody of children? Why did the wife send the passports to the husband? I thought the visa office in the country assessing the application requested the passports?

She should definitely report the denial of returning the passports to some authority here and in her own country I would think. I just wonder how safe it is for a woman there to make such demands and accusations?

I cannot imagine what she is going through and I wish I could give some definite advice. I really hope justice is served in the end!

Yes these are actual fact laws in the Philippines. The government will not allow a parent to get out of the country without the consent of the other. They need a clerance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the non-accompanying parent needs to sign a waiver at that office. I think the husband applied thru the skilled worker stream that's why the wife has to send all the passports to him so he can send it all together to Buffalo.
I think the catch here is the wife wants to go to Canada too, since the friend mentioned that they have sacrificed too much. My suggestion to the wife is to bargain with her husband. If she really wants to go to Canada she can use the kids as a leverage (I know it doesn't sound right but I think she left her with no choice but to do this) and then file for divorce once they are here. It will be beneficial for her because if she gets full custody of the kids he has to pay up child support for 3 kids, unlike in the Philippines when parents separate there is no clear cut law about child support.

 

[Leon]

I looked it up if the Philippines is a party to the Hague convention. This is an agreement between countries on custody where if a parent kidnaps a child from one country to another, they can run the case in their homeland to get the children returned. However, the Philippines do not seem to be a party to this agreement which could make the case difficult if he did kidnap the children.

At the moment, he can promise her all kinds of things about getting her PR visa in order for her not to sabotage his application but at the time he gets the visa, he could still destroy her passport and try to take the children. She and her family should watch the children carefully until a year from their medicals. At that point their visas will expire.

 

[dair2dv8103100]

Amazing what people will do to the ones they "love"...

I am really hoping she is able to "bargain" with him and get all of them here. Then she can also move on with her life.

Thing is he better have a decent job because even with joint custody, if the kids spend the majority of the time with her, he will have to pay support (my situation). And if she has to go on social assistance to get on her feet here he will also have to pay for that too. I imagine that is what he is trying to avoid because he knows he will have a lot of money to pay with all of them here and not living with them.