Working Holiday Visa Overstay

[gweeman93]

Hey all,

I overstayed my WHV by about 2 years. I was planning on getting a spousal sponsorship but Covid 19 happened and I had to return home due to my work closing and obviously no government support while out of work.

My question is, what are the chances i'll be able to return? I was reading about lack of exit control, and I wasn't issued a departure/removal order and didn't get into any trouble with the police. I'm from Ireland so I can change my passport name to our native language if that would make any difference at all.

Any help appreciated, cheers.

 

[scylla]

Hey all,

I overstayed my WHV by about 2 years. I was planning on getting a spousal sponsorship but Covid 19 happened and I had to return home due to my work closing and obviously no government support while out of work.

My question is, what are the chances i'll be able to return? I was reading about lack of exit control, and I wasn't issued a departure/removal order and didn't get into any trouble with the police. I'm from Ireland so I can change my passport name to our native language if that would make any difference at all.

Any help appreciated, cheers.

Assume IRCC will know when you left. While there are no exit controls, they have access to airline manifests. Changing your passport won't make a difference.

Spousal sponsorship won't be impacted as long as you are 100% honest in the application about your immigration history in Canada.

If you want to try to return earlier on an eTA, make sure you are 100% honest in the eTA application and hope that it's approved.

What you want to avoid beyond anything else is lying or omitting information in either the eTA or spousal sponsorship application regarding your time in Canada. That will put you at risk of a 5 year ban from Canada for misrepresentation.

 

[gweeman93]

Assume IRCC will know when you left. While there are no exit controls, they have access to airline manifests. Changing your passport won't make a difference.

Spousal sponsorship won't be impacted as long as you are 100% honest in the application about your immigration history in Canada.

If you want to try to return earlier on an eTA, make sure you are 100% honest in the eTA application and hope that it's approved.

What you want to avoid beyond anything else is lying or omitting information in either the eTA or spousal sponsorship application regarding your time in Canada. That will put you at risk of a 5 year ban from Canada for misrepresentation.

I'm not going to apply for Spousal Sponsorship anymore, with everything going on we decided it would be best if we just went our separate ways. I was thinking of applying for Express Entry when I finish my education in a few years, or even going back for a visit?

If I lie on the eTA application i'll get banned but am I not basically banned anyway?

Thank you so much for your reply

 

[scylla]

I'm not going to apply for Spousal Sponsorship anymore, with everything going on we decided it would be best if we just went our separate ways. I was thinking of applying for Express Entry when I finish my education in a few years, or even going back for a visit?

If I lie on the eTA application i'll get banned but am I not basically banned anyway?

Thank you so much for your reply

No issues with Express Entry - again, provided you are 100% honest about your immigration history in Canada.

You are not banned at this time. If you apply for an eTA, lie in the application, the lie is discovered and you are banned for 5 years - then you can forget about entering Canada for 5 years and submitting ANY sort of application to Canada for 5 years - this includes Express Entry.

Sorry if this is blunt, but it's a really stupid idea to lie in any application (eTA or EE). Lying is a really good way to mess up your history with Canada even more. Don't take one huge mistake and layer another huge mistake on top of that.

 

[gweeman93]

No issues with Express Entry - again, provided you are 100% honest about your immigration history in Canada.

You are not banned at this time. If you apply for an eTA, lie in the application, the lie is discovered and you are banned for 5 years - then you can forget about entering Canada for 5 years and submitting ANY sort of application to Canada for 5 years - this includes Express Entry.

Sorry if this is blunt, but it's a really stupid idea to lie in any application (eTA or EE). Lying is a really good way to mess up your history with Canada even more. Don't take one huge mistake and layer another huge mistake on top of that.

No don't apoligize you're literally explaining things to me that have been a constant in my mind for years. Thank you.

If you don't mind I just wanted to ask, I'm not banned even for a visit if I tell the truth? and if I tell truth on my Express Entry will the fact that I overstayed harm my chances yeah?

Thanks again for your help, really appreciate it.

 

[scylla]

No don't apoligize you're literally explaining things to me that have been a constant in my mind for years. Thank you.

If you don't mind I just wanted to ask, I'm not banned even for a visit if I tell the truth? and if I tell truth on my Express Entry will the fact that I overstayed harm my chances yeah?

Thanks again for your help, really appreciate it.

For any immigration application (e.g. Express Entry, spousal sponsorship) overstays are forgiven as long as you are 100% honest in the application.

For any temporary application (e.g. eTA), it may be held against you and result in refusal. Or you may be approved. However regardless, you wnat to be 100% honest since you do not want to end up with a 5 year ban.

 

[Buletruck]

Also realize that with a ban for misrepresentation, the 5 year ban is only the start of your troubles for a temporary visa for any other country as well. While it doesn’t exclude you from applying for and receiving an eta/trv/SV, past history of misrepresentation and a ban from any country doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that you’re the type of applicant they want in their countries, despite having served the ban.

 

[lostinquebec]

Personally, I don't think you should apply for any temporary permit (visitor, study, work). IRCC will either ban you or reject you because they will not believe you will leave Canada once the permit is over. Your only chance is to apply for PR and come clean about your intentions to stay in Canada permanently.