Question on sponsoring and then getting divorce

[navneetgarg120]

I am curious to know whether PR granted to sponsored spouse will be revoked if he/she got divorced within a year. Will CIC consider this as crime for obtaining PR?

 

[Leon]

Not necessarily. They will not even know that they got divorced unless somebody makes a complaint. If the spouse who sponsored them complains and says that it was marriage fraud, immigration may investigate and it is then possible that they could lose their PR.

 

[HoneyBird]

Additionally, there are moves to change the laws with regard to pr via marriage. Its all in the works but there is expected implementation next year...for e.g. it is the thinking that the spouse will only get a temporary pr for 2 years so they have to stay married for 2 years or that if they divorce the person that sponsored the applicant cannot get married within a particular time frame. Its getting tricker as they are breaking down on marriage fraud.

 

[Leon]

Yes, it seems that they are planning on changing the rules but the minister seemed to be rather vague when he talked about it what exactly they would change.

The US has a 2 year temporary green card for spouses but it isn't a perfect system. If you have no protocol for abuse, some spouses would stay in an abusive relationship for 2 years to avoid getting deported. If you do have protocol, some scammers will lie about abuse to get out of the marriage earlier. Then you will have real marriages that break down before 2 years and that means deportation, even if they have children at this point.

The US also has fines and prison time for US citizens who are found guilty of having entered into a fraudulent marriage to get somebody a green card.

 

[HoneyBird]

http://www.canadianimmigrant.ca/settlingincanada/immigrationlaw/article/7916

 

[Leon]

I saw that too. Like I said, he is being rather vague.

JK: The public consultations are over. So now we have moved to the policy development phase on how we can strengthen the laws in Canada to better protect possible victims of marriage fraud and reinforce the integrity of our immigration rules. I’m hoping to move forward on that quite quickly; let’s say the very early part of 2011.

The single most common proposal coming from the public in our consultations is that we ought to have a probationary period for sponsored spouses similar to what exists in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, etc., so we are giving that a serious look. I’m not going to prejudge what our policy changes will be, but that is very much on the table, and there seems to be pretty broad consensus on that idea.

Some of the other recommendations that came up were that if someone sponsors a spouse and that turns out to be a sham marriage then they should be prevented from sponsoring another spouse for a number of years … Others have suggested that we should have more public awareness campaigns about the risks entailed for Canadians sponsoring spouses.

So you see, nothing is set in stone yet and we will know what they new policy will be when they post it on their website.

 

[HoneyBird]

Honestly it bothers me to see someone post a question like this..which is why i immediately ran to the proposals....

 

[navneetgarg120]

Lets slow down first. All said hasn't been implemented yet but it is the need that some policy needs to be formulated against such frauds.
Other members will get benefit from it if they are in doubt that their relationship with spouse is not going to continue in the coming time.

 

[Leon]

Lets not judge. The original question isn't necessarily about fraud. It could be a person who has come to Canada through sponsorship, maybe very much in love at the time, but now be in the situation that it is now less than a year but the marriage has already broken down. For somebody in that situation, it is helpful to know if their decision to get divorced will cause them to be deported.

It can even be an amicable divorce where both parties are on a friendly basis, might have children and would stay married for as long as need be to avoid one of them being deported.

 

[navneetgarg120]

Very true Leon. You judge the right situation.