URGENT American overstay, Exclusion order hearing

[AmericanHubby]

Hello! I last entered Canada in July 2016 (no visa needed, so implied visitor status) and recently had a status check as a result of a traffic stop. I have now been scheduled for an exclusion order hearing (A56) for next week (CORRECTION: it is an appointment with a minister's delegate). My common law partner and I have an immigration attorney we have been working with for immigration, but nothing has been filed yet as we have been gathering all the required documentation, etc. I do not work in Canada and she solely supports me financially. I have a completely clean criminal record. The most trouble I have been in over my life are a couple speeding tickets. We are deeply in love and have been together now for 14 years.

I sought the advice of three lawyers and one immigration consultant and am unfortunately getting different advice/scenarios from each of them and I don't know what to think. Two of them tell me that the officer I will see will have discretion about whether to allow me to stay in Canada and to allow me to regularize my status. Two say the facts are clear that I did overstay and that for sure they will issue a departure order and that I will have to leave Canada (in likely one week notice) and be barred for one year! I cannot fathom being away from my wife for a year. I have made a horrible mistake just prioritizing the paperwork and letting the date slip away from my mind without filing for the extension.

Does anyone know if the officer does have any discretion or 100% for sure they are going to ask me to leave? Secondly, what is the format of these hearings? Is it me and my wife with an officer across the table from us or is it more of a court room type setting with public spectators, etc.

Any help is much appreciated. We are heartbroken and I just don't know what our options are.

Thanks in advance!

 

[browning911]

Hello! I last entered Canada in July 2016 (no visa needed, so implied visitor status) and recently had a status check as a result of a traffic stop. I have now been scheduled for an exclusion order hearing (A56) for next week. My common law partner and I have an immigration attorney we have been working with for immigration, but nothing has been filed yet as we have been gathering all the required documentation, etc. I do not work in Canada and she solely supports me financially. I have a completely clean criminal record. The most trouble I have been in over my life are a couple speeding tickets. We are deeply in love and have been together now for 14 years.

I sought the advice of three lawyers and one immigration consultant and am unfortunately getting different advice/scenarios from each of them and I don't know what to think.

Two of them tell me that the officer I will see will have discretion about whether to allow me to stay in Canada and to allow me to regularize my status. Two say the facts are clear that I did overstay and that for sure they will issue a departure order and that I will have to leave Canada (in likely one week notice) and be barred for one year! I cannot fathom being away from my wife for a year. I have made a horrible mistake just prioritizing the paperwork and letting the date slip away from my mind without filing for the extension.

Does anyone know if the officer does have any discretion or 100% for sure they are going to ask me to leave? Secondly, what is the format of these hearings? Is it me and my wife with an officer across the table from us or is it more of a court room type setting with public spectators, etc.

Any help is much appreciated. We are heartbroken and I just don't know what our options are.

Thanks in advance!

Are you able to submit all the documentation for common law sponsorship as soon as possible?

If I were you I would gather all the required documents, which you probably have a lot of since you have been together for a while and submit the application and pay the fees.

I would pay the fees first (make sure you keep 4 copies of the receipt).

Complete the application and required documentation and submit. Bring proof of your completed application to the hearing and hopefully they will be compassionate and allow you to remain until the application is completed.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[AmericanHubby]

I just found out there is a distinction to the type of proceeding I have been asked to attend. It is a meeting with a minister's delegate, which I have been told is a more informal type of interview, and not at this point an exclusion order hearing. The delegate does have the power to issue an exclusion order apparently, but I take some sort of hope that perhaps there is a little more flexibility and discretion and perhaps I can either be allowed to remain in Canada while the rest of the application is processed or that at least they do not bar me from being in Canada for a year. That prospect is heartwrenching.

 

[spousalsponsee]

If you entered Canada in July 2016, your visitor status expired, and you had to leave by January 2017. You would only have implied visitor status if, before the expiry of your visitor status, you applied for something (extended visitor status, study permit, work permit, etc), and had not yet heard back. In that case, you would have implied status between the expiry of your visitor status, and the yes/no on whatever you had asked for.

If you had not applied for anything new, then there is no doubt you have overstayed for several months. You certainly could be excluded, as you are currently an illegal immigrant. Whether or not that happens depends on things like how you come across in the meeting, and how compelling they find your explanation for why you overstayed.

Whatever happens, you certainly won't be in a courtroom-type meeting. Think of it more like being interviewed by police (sorry, this may not be helping you clam down!). What I mean is, the early interviews are all closed doors, just the people directly involved. You'll only have an audience if you get excluded, and then appeal and it goes to actual court.