Filipiniana News -
October 2013
RHYME & REASON
Amidst the public warnings and stricter
government scrutiny of this class of immigration applications, cases of spousal sponsorship
fraud still seem to abound. I have
spoken with a number of Canadian sponsors who, after learning that their
foreign spouses only married them for purposes of gaining immigration status in
Canada, wanted to know how they can have their sponsored spouses deported. At this point, the sponsored spouses have
already been granted permanent residence and the sponsors cannot simply revoke
the three-year undertaking to support that they submitted with the sponsorship
application. As much as they would want
these alleged fraudsters deported immediately, they are disappointed to learn
that the legal processes which need to be undertaken before the sponsored
spouse can be deported from Canada can take a long time.
Meanwhile, there are couples in genuine,
committed and loving relationships who are forced to endure prolonged family
separation due to the immigration officers’ overzealous attempts at disputing
the genuineness of marital/common law/conjugal relationships. For instance, in highly-intimidating
immigration interviews, visa officers rarely consider the fact that “failure”
in such interviews can often be attributed to language barriers, nervousness or
even cultural differences or misunderstandings.
To avoid these unfortunate situations, it
is very important first and foremost, that the prospective sponsor fully
understands the implications of a spousal sponsorship undertaking aside from
being certain of the sponsored spouse’s
intentions. Unfortunately, there is no
foolproof way to determine the future of any relationship and that a short-term
relationship does not necessarily mean that it was not genuinely entered into
at the outset. Hence, the sponsor must
be fully aware of the potential consequences if the relationship turns out to
be fraudulent and/or breaks down unexpectedly within the three-year period of
the sponsorship undertaking.
Once the sponsor fully understands the
nature and implications of the undertaking, the sponsorship application must
not only be thorough and comprehensive, but also presented in such a way as to
avoid any doubt or confusion on the part of the reviewing officer. CIC, on the other hand, will do well to
conduct further training of visa officers to facilitate a better understanding
of cultural differences and personality types that will avoid a one-size-fits-all
standard for determining the genuineness of married, common-law or conjugal
relationships.
Separation of Live-in Caregiver Applicants and their Families
Another type of family separation which has
been sadly and pervasively affecting many prospective permanent residents
involve live-in caregivers and their families.
Participants of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) initially enter
Canada on work permits and are not allowed to bring their families at this
time. It is only after having satisfied
the requirements of the LCP (two years
of full time live-in caregiving work within four years of arrival) would they
qualify to apply for permanent residence for themselves and their families,
which could easily take several more years to be processed.
In this type of permanent residence
application, the caregiver is applying concurrently with her family members and
not “sponsoring” them. As such, they are
all required to pass the medical and security clearance requirements. Although changes to the LCP regulations
removed the requirement of a second medical examination for the principal
applicant caregiver, the accompanying family members would still need to
undergo the medical and security checks at the permanent residence application
stage. Even if the family members are
declared to be “non-accompanying dependents,” they are still required to
undergo medical and security checks. If
one family member is found to be inadmissible, this would render everyone,
including the principal applicant caregiver, inadmissible to Canada.
There are all sorts of complicated
scenarios that may arise from this requirement. First and most prevalent of all, a married
caregiver who has been away from her family for many years while working as an
overseas worker, often ends up with a broken home – i.e. a philandering spouse
and/or alienated children who refuse to finish school or become addicted to
vices. When it is time to process the
family’s permanent residence applications, these family members could either
refuse to undergo the required medical examinations, provide the necessary
police clearances or worse, fail them for various unfortunate reasons. For caregivers who have become estranged
from their husbands, they would also need to obtain a legal separation,
annulment or divorce if they want them removed from their permanent residence
applications. As these further legal
processes not only take time but also drain the live-in caregiver’s extremely
limited financial resources, many find themselves trapped in a situation where
their permanent residence applications are long delayed or worse, denied, for the simple reason that they and their
dependents are unable to meet the additional requirements within a prescribed
period of time.
The conflict of law issues involved (e.g.
the differences in Philippine and Canadian and family laws such as the lack of
divorce and prohibition against collusion in annulment cases in the
Philippines) could result in further complications not only in the caregivers’ permanent
residence applications but also in the legal status of their marriage and
family lives. While obtaining a divorce
in Canada or entering into a separation agreement with spouses may be a quick
solution for some in having their permanent residence applications finalized,
it is also important to be fully aware of the implications of such remedies,
which could haunt the spouses even long after the permanent residence
application had been granted or denied.
The above are provided for information
purposes only and not meant to be taken as legal advice. If you have related concerns, it is highly
recommended that you consult with an immigration legal professional to discuss
your particular circumstances.
***
On a personal note, I would like to send happy
birthday wishes to my dearest niece Francesca (October 14) and to her mom Cora
(October 31). Take care and God bless!
The author is an immigration lawyer in
the GTA and may be reached at deanna@santoslaw.ca.
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