I’m looking for advice on a Canadian citizenship application involving a family’s previous immigration history in India.
The family are Afghan nationals. They originally lived in Afghanistan, then moved to India around 2015 and lived there as refugees before eventually being resettled to Canada as permanent residents. They have now been Canadian permanent residents for approximately five years and are applying for Canadian citizenship.
The issue is Question 13 on the current Canadian citizenship application, which asks applicants to list immigration/permanent resident/citizenship status they held in countries outside Canada, including the exact status and the date it was obtained and, if applicable, when it ended. IRCC's current CIT 0002 instructions specifically give “refugee/protected person” as an example of a status to report.
The family has some documentation, but they are missing some of their older Indian immigration records.
Here is what they currently have:
The letter states that the family, who are nationals of Afghanistan, were recognized as refugees under the mandate of UNHCR in India and were registered under a UNHCR reference number.
The letter also gives the date the family entered India and the date they were registered with UNHCR. It later mentions that they had been granted Canadian visas and were scheduled to depart for Canada.
So we have clear evidence that they were recognized as refugees under UNHCR's mandate in India, but we are unsure whether the UNHCR registration date is necessarily the exact date their refugee status began.
The document says:
The problem is that they had other FRRO documents from earlier years, but those documents were lost. They believe the older records were electronic/PDF records rather than physical documents.
So we know they lived in India from approximately 2015, but we do NOT currently have documentation proving the exact date on which they first obtained refugee status.
We don't want to simply put 2015 as the refugee start date because entering India is not necessarily the same thing as becoming a UNHCR-recognized refugee.
We also don't want to automatically use the date just because that is the date on the FRRO document, because that may only be the date that particular visa extension/service was granted.
And we don't want to use UNHCR letter date just because that's the date of the UNHCR letter, because the letter appears to confirm a status that existed before the letter was issued.
We could report the refugee/immigration status as accurately as possible, attach the UNHCR and FRRO documents, and include a detailed explanation stating that older FRRO records were lost and the exact original date cannot currently be established.
IRCC's guidance says that when an applicant cannot obtain a document because of circumstances outside their control, they can provide a written explanation and supporting evidence. IRCC says an officer may then request more information, give more time, or decide the application can proceed with the available evidence.
The concern is that this could make what would otherwise be a straightforward citizenship application more complicated and potentially lead to requests for additional information.
Option 2: Contact the FRRO first
We could contact the relevant FRRO office and ask whether they can retrieve the family's historical electronic/PDF immigration records.
Since the documents were electronic, there is a possibility that older records still exist in their system.
If FRRO can provide the missing records, that would give us a much stronger chronological paper trail and might establish the actual date of the refugee-related immigration status.
Even if FRRO says they cannot locate the records or cannot provide copies, we would keep proof that we contacted them and attempted to obtain the records. That could then be included in the explanation to IRCC to show that we made a genuine effort to reconstruct the missing history.
Option 3: Make an ATIP request
We could make an ATIP request for the family's Canadian immigration/PR records.
The hope would be that their original Canadian PR/resettlement applications contain copies of the UNHCR refugee documentation, FRRO records, or other documents that establish their immigration history in India.
This could take some time, but it may allow us to recover documents that were previously submitted to the Canadian government.
Option 4: Use the date from the UNHCR document
The simplest approach would be to use the date available in the UNHCR documentation as the start date and the date they left India as the end date.
However, we are hesitant to do this because we don't know whether that date actually represents the beginning of their refugee status or simply their UNHCR registration/recognition documentation.
We don't want to put an inaccurate date on a citizenship application just because it is the only date currently available.
The family are Afghan nationals. They originally lived in Afghanistan, then moved to India around 2015 and lived there as refugees before eventually being resettled to Canada as permanent residents. They have now been Canadian permanent residents for approximately five years and are applying for Canadian citizenship.
The issue is Question 13 on the current Canadian citizenship application, which asks applicants to list immigration/permanent resident/citizenship status they held in countries outside Canada, including the exact status and the date it was obtained and, if applicable, when it ended. IRCC's current CIT 0002 instructions specifically give “refugee/protected person” as an example of a status to report.
The family has some documentation, but they are missing some of their older Indian immigration records.
Here is what they currently have:
- UNHCR documentation
The letter states that the family, who are nationals of Afghanistan, were recognized as refugees under the mandate of UNHCR in India and were registered under a UNHCR reference number.
The letter also gives the date the family entered India and the date they were registered with UNHCR. It later mentions that they had been granted Canadian visas and were scheduled to depart for Canada.
So we have clear evidence that they were recognized as refugees under UNHCR's mandate in India, but we are unsure whether the UNHCR registration date is necessarily the exact date their refugee status began.
- FRRO documentation
The document says:
- Visa type: Long Term Visa (L)
- Single entry
- Stay/visa extension related to the refugee mandate
- Relaxation type: UNHCR
- It contains a file number and other immigration information.
The problem is that they had other FRRO documents from earlier years, but those documents were lost. They believe the older records were electronic/PDF records rather than physical documents.
So we know they lived in India from approximately 2015, but we do NOT currently have documentation proving the exact date on which they first obtained refugee status.
We don't want to simply put 2015 as the refugee start date because entering India is not necessarily the same thing as becoming a UNHCR-recognized refugee.
We also don't want to automatically use the date just because that is the date on the FRRO document, because that may only be the date that particular visa extension/service was granted.
And we don't want to use UNHCR letter date just because that's the date of the UNHCR letter, because the letter appears to confirm a status that existed before the letter was issued.
The options we're considering
Option 1: Apply now with the documents we haveWe could report the refugee/immigration status as accurately as possible, attach the UNHCR and FRRO documents, and include a detailed explanation stating that older FRRO records were lost and the exact original date cannot currently be established.
IRCC's guidance says that when an applicant cannot obtain a document because of circumstances outside their control, they can provide a written explanation and supporting evidence. IRCC says an officer may then request more information, give more time, or decide the application can proceed with the available evidence.
The concern is that this could make what would otherwise be a straightforward citizenship application more complicated and potentially lead to requests for additional information.
Option 2: Contact the FRRO first
We could contact the relevant FRRO office and ask whether they can retrieve the family's historical electronic/PDF immigration records.
Since the documents were electronic, there is a possibility that older records still exist in their system.
If FRRO can provide the missing records, that would give us a much stronger chronological paper trail and might establish the actual date of the refugee-related immigration status.
Even if FRRO says they cannot locate the records or cannot provide copies, we would keep proof that we contacted them and attempted to obtain the records. That could then be included in the explanation to IRCC to show that we made a genuine effort to reconstruct the missing history.
Option 3: Make an ATIP request
We could make an ATIP request for the family's Canadian immigration/PR records.
The hope would be that their original Canadian PR/resettlement applications contain copies of the UNHCR refugee documentation, FRRO records, or other documents that establish their immigration history in India.
This could take some time, but it may allow us to recover documents that were previously submitted to the Canadian government.
Option 4: Use the date from the UNHCR document
The simplest approach would be to use the date available in the UNHCR documentation as the start date and the date they left India as the end date.
However, we are hesitant to do this because we don't know whether that date actually represents the beginning of their refugee status or simply their UNHCR registration/recognition documentation.
We don't want to put an inaccurate date on a citizenship application just because it is the only date currently available.
What we're trying to figure out
The main questions are:- For Canadian citizenship Question 13, should the family report their Indian status as refugee, given that the UNHCR letter explicitly says they were recognized as refugees under UNHCR's mandate?
- How should the FRRO Long Term Visa/extension be treated? Is it simply supporting evidence of the refugee/immigration status, or should the Long Term Visa itself be listed separately as an immigration status?
- If the exact date that refugee status began cannot be established because the older FRRO records were lost, what is the best way to handle the required “date obtained” field?
- Would it be reasonable to submit the application with the available documents plus an explanation of the missing records, or would it be better to try FRRO and/or ATIP first?
- If FRRO is contacted and says they no longer have the old records, would keeping proof of that request and response be useful evidence for IRCC?
