Sponsoring spouse visa with criminal past - looking for advice.

[maplekitten]

Hello, I am a US Citizen and my fiance is a Canadian citizen. We would like to get married and apply for spouse visa next year.

The problem is, my Canadian spouse has a crime in his past that makes him ineligible to sponsor according to the website. I would rather not share the specific details of the crime on a public forum, but if you feel like you could offer better advice by knowing, please contact me via PM. In any case, the crime itself happened 9 years ago. After almost 2 years, my fiance finally went to trial, served a very short jail sentence, then had 3 years probation. My first question is if the five year waiver begins at the end of probation or at the end of the actual sentence? I am also not sure if the 5 year waiver applies to my fiance's specific crime? - if someone knowledgeable in this area could PM me I would be grateful. My fiance is definitely now a person in good standing, with full time employment for several years, etc., I'm not sure if anything like character witnesses or things of that nature could be used to bolster our case.

I've also read that in cases where you think your sponsor will be rejected, its a good idea to hire an immigration lawyer. Also to apply outland for the possibility of appeal, which is what we plan on doing. I can't find a lot of information about what kind of materials would be requested/used in the appeal process, so any information to that regard would also be very helpful. I would greatly appreciate any possible advice you have to offer.

Thank you!

 

[Alurra71]

If his crime would bar him from being a sponsor then you will want a good lawyer. The rehabilitation route (5 year thing) is usually used for the person being sponsored. I've not heard of anyone using it for sponsorship route. If it can be used, then the clock has begun at the COMPLETION of the sentence, which would mean the end of his probation.

I wouldn't worry about what kind of materials people use for appeals in this type of case yet. I would focus more on getting a good lawyer to get his sponsorship approved, that will be your barrier. So long as your record is clean and you don't have any criminal inadmissibility issues, such as DUI or other things, then your part of the application shouldn't pose too much of an issue.

Good luck. Make sure you get a lawyer who has practical work in your specific type of case, a consultant will NOT be a good choice in this area.

 

[scylla]

If his crime would bar him from being a sponsor then you will want a good lawyer. The rehabilitation route (5 year thing) is usually used for the person being sponsored.

100% agreed. If his offences fall under one of the categories of specific crimes that prevent sponsorship, the fact he has served his sentence / paid a fine isn't going to change anything. It's meant to be a forever ban. Agreed that rehabilitation applies to those being sponsored (applicant).

If he does in fact have an offence that prevents him from sponsoring - I would engage a lawyer before you start down the path of applying to make sure you aren't wasting your time.

Have you looked into immigrating independently through an economic stream? Is that feasible for you as an alterative?

 

[scylla]

OK - ignore the last part of my comment. I see we have discussed economic stream immigration in other parts of the forum and you are considering that as an option. I think that's good.

 

[taffy7]

If you decide to go this route and engage an Immigration lawyer, i would suggest you get all the court documents in advance.Sometimes what is on the documents are a little different to how we think things went down or what he is charged with . Good luck

 

[Rob_TO]

I think the 5 year rehabilitation for criminal offenses does apply to sponsors as well. The 5 year countdown would start only after the probation period is done. See here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip02-eng.pdf
5.28. Bars to sponsorship
Sponsors or co-signers convicted of either of these offences
where five years have not passed since the completion of the
sentence imposed, cannot sponsor unless:
• for convictions in Canada, they have been pardoned or
finally acquitted;
• for convictions outside Canada, they have shown, at least
five years after the expiry of the sentence, that they have
been rehabilitated, or there has been a final acquittal.

For the purposes of calculating the five-year period above, a
sentence includes probation, suspended sentences and
intermittent sentences. However, conditional discharges and
absolute discharges should not be considered for the purposes
of these provisions of IRPA.
See Assessing bars to sponsorship, section 14

 

[truesmile]

And I'm not sure if he's eligible yet, but looking at the first bullet in Rob_TO's post, it might be easier for him to get a "pardon" first. This could also eliminate other future hindrances that having this on his record may impose on him.

 

[maplekitten]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies, it has been very helpful! Rob_T0's link to the manual is especially helpful, it perfectly answers my questions and gave me some great reading about sponsorship. From the manual, it seems pretty clear that 5 years needs to pass since the completion of the sentence, which includes probation. For us that will be after July of 2017, which works for our timeline. We have already started gathering his documents together and have been researching lawyers online, but we're not really sure what constitutes a 'good' lawyer. We have plenty of time to figure that out though.I definitely don't have anything questionable in regards to my part of the application.

As for looking at other routes, I am but it is very discouraging. It seems like a very long and difficult process to get chosen for skills paths.

For getting a pardon, that is definitely something we are interested in doing but it will still be some time until he would be eligible.