Working Holiday border entry

[JohnyDoey]

Hi everyone, so here is my situation:

So I came to Canada as visitor (from visa-free country) on 3rd of December in 2014. In meantime, while I was in Canada, I applied for WH Visa and I got POE letter. I had a return ticket to my home country on 23rd of May but since I got WH I thought of just going out of country to US and back to activate my Visa, which I did on 28th of May.

And here my nightmare begins. On 28th I was refused reentry in Canada by immigration officer under several reasons:
- ineligibility to apply for WH visa in the first place because I was supposed to be in my home country while applying
- lying to immigration officer while entering Canada (on 3rd of December)
- not leaving Canada in time

I believe that I didn't do any of those offenses and I have a hearing this Friday to explain myself.

As of ineligibility to apply for WH visa, it says that I have to be resident of my home country at the time of applying, and which I believe I was since (according to law as well) to be a resident of my country doesn't require me to be physically present in my country. And in doesn't say that I can't apply from within Canada as well. If I am wrong please correct me.
Lying part and not leaving Canada in time comes from the fact that I didn't leave country on 23rd of May, like I said I would when I was entering, but my explanation for that is that circumstances changed (I got my POE letter for WH visa) and that I still did comply with period of being a visitor for max of 6 months (without extending) and left Canada in that period... It was 178th day when I left Canada.

Also, immigration officer asked me to see my balance and transactions on both of my Canadian and home-country bank accounts. I know that he has right to ask for balance in order to see if I have sufficient funds for my stay and so on, but does he has right to ask me to see my transactions as well? In my country nobody can see transactions without the warrant and I doubt it's different here since bank account is private property and sensitive information.

All info is welcome, thank you in advance. And sorry for bad English.

 

[scylla]

What country are you from? It doesn't matter what the rules of your country are with regards to being a resident. What matters is what rules are specifically spelled out in the IEC regulations. Having said that, generally you can apply from Canada. But again, for us to comment on this question we'd have to know what country you are from.

When you entered on December 3rd, is there any chance your passport was actually stamped with a specific date for your departure? While visa exempt visitors are generally given a six months stay - this isn't always the case and sometimes officers will stamp a passport with an earlier departure date. I would look at your passport to confirm that you weren't given an earlier date to leave Canada (i.e. May 23rd).

Good luck.

 

[JohnyDoey]

Thanks for reply, I come from Croatia.

And no, I don't have stamp with departure date; I only have stamp with date when I came to Canada.

Can you perhaps point me (with link or something to IEC regulations) where it says that I can actually apply from Canada? I tried searching for it but I couldn't find it anywhere...

Thank you

 

[scylla]

Program details are here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/

If one of the requirements includes "must be a resident of <insert your country name here>" then the duration of your stay in Canada may in fact be a very valid issue since you've been here for close to six months.

If that requirement is absent, there should be no issues applying from Canada.

 

[scylla]

Also check out this table:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/temp/work/opinion/experience/bilat.asp

 

[scylla]

Thanks for reply, I come from Croatia.

Sorry - I missed you were from Croatia in my first read-through of your reply.

You may be out of luck. Croatia has a residency obligation and you need to be living in Croatia at the time you apply. You can certainly try arguing that you were only visiting Canada at the time you applied and were technically still "residing" in Croatia. I have no idea if they will accept this explanation or not given the duration of your visit to Canada. You should be prepared for the possibility that you may have to return home.

Good luck on Friday... Let us know how it goes...

 

[JohnyDoey]

That's what I want to know; what makes me a resident of Croatia? According to Croatian law, I am resident of Croatia still to this day... So now I want to see what does Canadian law says about this.

It doesn't say I have to be ''physically present in Croatia at the time of applying'' or ''physically absent from Canada at the time of applying'' for WH visa but only a resident of Croatia. So now I want to know, what is considered ''a resident of Croatia'' in there by Canadian law because it's nowhere defined on IEC site. I did find from Canada Revenue Agency determining individuals residance status and there it says that you can be resident of multiple countries at the same time but it's only for tax purposes so I don't know if it's valid for my situation as well.

 

[Marlee]

I am shocked. I was in Canada on a WHV while applying for my YP visa and I also had to claim that my country of residency is Germany. In order to activate my YP visa, I merely flagpoled at the US border and everything went well. They never asked me any questions or wanted to see my bank statements (they did back then at the airport though when I originally came to Canada on the WHV). I guess it really depends on the officer you are facing. I am really, really sorry to hear that. Good luck with your hearing - keep us updated about the outcome!

 

[scylla]

I am shocked. I was in Canada on a WHV while applying for my YP visa and I also had to claim that my country of residency is Germany. In order to activate my YP visa, I merely flagpoled at the US border and everything went well. They never asked me any questions or wanted to see my bank statements (they did back then at the airport though when I originally came to Canada on the WHV). I guess it really depends on the officer you are facing. I am really, really sorry to hear that. Good luck with your hearing - keep us updated about the outcome!

Big difference is that Germany doesn't have a residency requirement to qualify. Croatia does.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/temp/work/opinion/experience/bilat.asp

 

[Marlee]

That explains why. Thanks, scylla!

 

[scylla]

That's what I want to know; what makes me a resident of Croatia? According to Croatian law, I am resident of Croatia still to this day... So now I want to see what does Canadian law says about this.

It doesn't say I have to be ''physically present in Croatia at the time of applying'' or ''physically absent from Canada at the time of applying'' for WH visa but only a resident of Croatia. So now I want to know, what is considered ''a resident of Croatia'' in there by Canadian law because it's nowhere defined on IEC site. I did find from Canada Revenue Agency determining individuals residance status and there it says that you can be resident of multiple countries at the same time but it's only for tax purposes so I don't know if it's valid for my situation as well.

I can't answer your specific questions. However I would strongly recommend that you bring proof to show that you are still a resident of Croatia when you appear for your interview on Friday. I think there's a very good chance you're going to be asked to demonstrate that Croatia is your primary place of physical residency. (Regardless of how Croatia defines "residency" for IEC purposes CIC seems to regard it as "the place where you physically live"). Good proof would be things like: proof of property ownership or rental under your name, proof of taxes paid as a resident of Croatia, proof of bank accounts / credit cards, etc. If you have proof of recent employment there - that would be good as well. Again, good luck.

 

[JohnyDoey]

Regardless of how Croatia defines "residency" for IEC purposes CIC seems to regard it as "the place where you physically live"

That is why I asked if someone can point me to the right law which describes what is residency... I did find in tax-related laws and family Law, but not an immigration one... And these that I found, basically say that I am still considered a resident of Croatia. And like you mentioned, bank account and student ID from my country should be enough. But I still want to find where does it says for immigration purposes because I don't want to give immigration officer a chance to say something like "But this is not for immigration".

But thanks guys, and yes I will definitely post what happened so that people will know what to do if they will have similar problem...

 

[JohnyDoey]

Bump

 

[scylla]

I'm not sure what you're looking for exists (although maybe it's buried deep in some manual). You would need to find the "residency" definition CIC has specific to working holiday visas - not immigration in general.

If you're asking about immigration in general, "residency" is generally defined as physical presence in a country. For example, the citizenship residency requirement and permanent residency requirement both define "residency" as physical presence.

 

[JohnyDoey]

Yeah, exactly that... And I found it. Thank you!

"Residency requirements will be established by the permanent address provided through the Kompass application process" from IEC Bilateral agreements

Although I would still like you to point me in Immigration Act or whichever place you found information that permanent and citizenship residency defines residency as physical presence.