(Re-)applying citizenship after misrepresentation case

[Kay33]

Hello,

Maybe someone in this forum can give us some tips/advice on this case.

Me and my wife are currently living in the Netherlands, and are interested to immigrate to Canada.
However my wife has a history of misrepresentation with the CIC. Here are the outlines of the 2 cases:

1. About 15 years ago my wife (south Korean)was studying contemporary dance in Canada with a student visa.She started getting invited to perform for some dance performances/festivals as a guest artist, (she was not getting paid for it, only travel costs were covered.) At that point she wanted to apply for a working visa to stay in Canada and was "wrongly" counseled by a legal adviser to apply stating in her application that she was already working in the dance field. The CIC officer denied her application on the ground of illegal working activity, since according to him she was already working and getting paid. She was subsequently asked to leave the country, to which she appealed and was rejected.

2.Then, the same legal adviser told her to try leaving the country and re-applying with a slightly different name by changing one letter of her surname! A stupid advise i know. She was young and naive and didn't think about the repercussions. She was of course refused re-entry to Canada under misrepresentation. This event happened about 11 years ago now.

Now we would like to know if we have a chance to apply for citizenship after this past history?
Should we contact an immigration lawyer?
Note:I am french but have Canadian members in my family (Mother and brother).

Any tips welcomed, thanks!

K.

 

[Taxed]

Did they give her any notice that she is barred from Canada for 5 years or permanently for example?

And if she change a letter in her surname, how did they find out she is the same person? This is interesting.

 

[scylla]

She doesn't qualify for citizenship. She will need to become a permanent resident of Canada first. Once she becomes a PR she will qualify to apply for citizenship approximately four years later.

She is free to apply for PR along with you (assuming you qualify to apply). She must be honest in her application about her past misrepresentation and all refusals. Note that she was in fact working illegally when she performed as a guest artist. Having your travel costs is a form of payment. Her appeal was correctly refused.

 

[Kay33]

Thanks for replies!

No barring notice, only official rejections of her past applications, stating reasons of untruthful statements regarding the application, illegal working activity, and unconvincing evidence that she intended to study and leave the country after her studies.

In any case, what are the laws regarding reapplying after such events? i hear on this forum 2 , 5 or sometimes 10 year "rehabilitation" periods. Does that apply to her?

Thanks!

K.

 

[scylla]

In any case, what are the laws regarding reapplying after such events? i hear on this forum 2 , 5 or sometimes 10 year "rehabilitation" periods. Does that apply to her?

Rehabilitation and misrepresentation are two different things. Rehabilitation is for those who have committed crimes - it doesn't apply to you. You have a misrepresentation situation. At the time she committed the misrepresentation, the ban was 2 years. So she's well past that. It was recently increased to 5 years. As long as she's 100% honest about her immigration history in her application for PR, there shouldn't be any issues.

 

[Kay33]

Thank you Scylia for your quick reply, much appreciated!