Sponsoring a Spouse when the Sponsor is not residing in Canada?
January 14, 2012
Sponsoring a Spouse when the Sponsor is not residing in Canada? Residency Issues, Processing Spousal Applications – Quality Assurance Exercise – Abu Dhabi, U.A.E./April 2010: “Abu Dhabi processes FC1 applications from nationals and residents of all GCC countries (Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia; Kuwait, Bahrain; Qatar; Oman and, the United Arab Emirates) plus nationals and residents of Yemen.” “At some point during processing, visa officers take steps to ensure that the sponsors are either residing in Canada (for PRs) (Permanent Residents) or will reside in Canada (for CCs) (Canadian Citizens) once we issue the spouse’s the visa. If the visa officer is satisfied that the sponsor (CC or PR) is residing in Canada, the ready-for-visa letter is issued without conditions. If, on the other hand, the applicant and/or sponsor has informed us or we have reason to believe that the Canadian Citizen sponsor is not residing in Canada, we will send a ready for visa letter with conditions. The conditions vary based on the facts of the case but for the most part we ask for three documents:
1. Proof that the sponsor’s GCC country’s residence visa has been cancelled. Once cancelled the applicant has one month to leave the host country.
2. A letter from the employer in the GCC stating that the sponsor has resigned from his or her employment (assuming the sponsor is employed)
3. Proof that employment end of service benefits have been paid to the sponsor (if the sponsor is employed). If the sponsor is not employed, we will ask for other documents or information to satisfy the visa officer that he/she is intending to reside in Canada once the visa is issued.”
“We cannot request the applicant to resign from his/her employment because PRs need only spend 730 days in Canada in any 5 year period to maintain their Permanent Residence as per A28(1). If the PR sponsor is not residing in Canada, the Visa Officer determines if H&C considerations justify the issuance of a FCH visa. As an example, a PR sponsor might have traveled from Canada to visit her spouse and fallen ill and, according to a doctor, was, for an extended period of time, unable to return to Canada.”
“Documents requested to determine residency: Many FC1 sponsors live in Canada but a significant number (25% to 40%) do not and they are not always truthful about their current residency. Documents on file vary greatly from case to case but many applicants submit some of the following documents to establish that their sponsor (PR or CC) is residing in Canada. These include: copy of rental agreement; utility bills; copies of SIN, Health cards and driver’s licences; copies of bank statements and/or credit card statements; telephone bills; pay slips.” “Unfortunately most of these documents, if provided, are not convincing for the following reasons: [deleted under Access to Information]. CONCLUSION: Some sponsors go to great lengths to try and convince visa officers that they are residing in Canada when in fact they are not. Although our goal is to only issue PR visas to those who meet the requirements, this exercise clearly revealed that our refusal rate should have been higher.” “Had verifications been done up front we would have likely discovered that some sponsors who claim to be living in Canada are not. We would have therefore not issued the visa until we had asked them to cancel their Gulf residency.”
* Reproduced with permission from Richard Kurland (LEXBASE 2012, VOLUME 23, ISSUE 1)
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