April 29, 2010

Is My Sister in Danger of Losing her Citizenship?

Q. Nine years ago, one of my siblings came to Canada as a refugee and eventually became a Canadian Citizen. When she came here as a refugee, she did not disclose her immediate previous residency information to either Canadian or US immigration authorities. And she only lived there for a couple of years. To my knowledge, she did not have any criminal records.

She married later to a Canadian, but they recently separated. Now her ex is blackmailing that he is going to inform the Canadian immigration about her past.

Is she going to have problems from Immigration? I mean, is her Canadian citizenship or her employment opportunities or travelling overseas going to be affected by this?

A. Interesting question. The fact that she lived in another country and did not disclose could be significant depending on her reason for concealing this fact. Was she approved as a refugee claimant or by virtue of a spousal sponsorship? This is important. Clearly Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency take misrepresentation very seriously but it must be a misrepresentation of a material fact to lead to removal proceedings. Further, except for the most serious of misrepresentations (one’s identity, war crimes, terrorism, etc) rarely is revocation of Citizenship pursued by authorities. Clearly what and perhaps why she withheld the information are the first two questions your sibling should explain when consulting with a professional. Peace of mind may be a phone call away. Good luck!