The post This Week’s Success Story: Finding of Medical Inadmissibility Overturned on Appeal Before the IAD first appeared on Bellissimo Law Group.

A:  To answer your question I will have to make at least three assumptions – one, that you are a Canadian citizen, two, that you and your boyfriend lived together for at least one year in the United States and three, he does not have a criminal record or other potential grounds of inadmissibility including for example, security, human or international rights violations, and or organized criminality.  If any of these assumptions are incorrect it will affect your application as follows:

One, if you are not a Canadian citizen you cannot sponsor your partner while living abroad.  You must resettle in Canada and ensure you remain a permanent resident, meaning meeting the residency requirements for one, before any sponsorship is filed.  Although meeting residency requirements in the United States and Canada may be possible it is not easy and ultimately you will have to remain in Canada for the processing of your sponsorship and permanent resident application.  If you are a Canadian citizen you will still have to demonstrate you intend to resettle in Canada by the time your partner/husband lands in Canada.

Two, if you did not live together for at least one year or do not get married before filing you would only be left with the option of a conjugal partner sponsorship which can be difficult to prove and in my opinion an application of last resort.  In part under conjugal partner sponsorships you must establish you have a view to marriage and you have been unable to live together which based upon you both living in the United States for over 12 months may be difficult to argue. It is important to highlight the intention to marry and not being able to live together is a position taken by visa offices as opposed to a requirement in the regulations.   You indicate though you intend to marry so this would eliminate the need to establish a minimum length of cohabitation and the need to resort to a conjugal partner application.

Three, if your boyfriend’s deportation from the U.S. was for criminality he would be inadmissible to Canada and depending upon when he completed his sentence he may need to apply for a certificate of rehabilitation and if not eligible for rehabilitation would have to seek special permission to enter Canada (which can be difficult to obtain).  If he was inadmissible for security, human or international rights violations, and or organized criminality other potential remedies would have to be explored but can be very difficult to overcome.  Assuming though my assumptions are correct you are a Canadian citizen, you will be married or common law partners and your future husband is not inadmissible to Canada, you will be able to sponsor him as a member of the family class.  Good luck!

For more information on Family-Class Sponsorship, please click here.

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The post This Week’s Success Story: Family Class PR Application Approved in Express Time! first appeared on Bellissimo Law Group.

1. Should economics be the overriding factor?
2. Are societal concerns really factored into the equation?
3. The cost/benefit analysis of legal, societal and economic consequences moving forward with terminations, retroactive & retrospective legislation, rapid amendment, and the applicability of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has not been fully explored.  Why not?
4. The lack of economic and social fusion across categories –i.e. think of the family class as more than a “non-economic” class and not rely on strict compartmentalization of immigrant applicants as economic and “other” has not been  fully explored.  Why not?

Key programs like the humanitarian and compassionate process cannot become a reluctant holdover from the past that is tolerated but not embraced. Our refugee system and discretionary provisions in immigration legislation infuse life and humanity into an increasingly technical and sterile compilation of rules, regulations and manuals.  In turn, we have a responsibility to protect our resources and our citizenry but that responsibility is not absolute. It must be tempered by the ability to address deficiencies within our own immigration programs and meet international obligations while building a country allowing for the necessary flexibility to assess persons and not simply regulations.

We should explore expanded immigrant categories for both permanent and temporary resident applicants reflective of the varied reasons for short and long term migration and an expanded family class to include for example siblings.  In other words, a balance to ensure not all is measured by economic contribution.

The challenge will be to end this reactive, myopic and disjointed overhaul and truly understand change to one area of the immigration system affects not only other areas of our immigration system but our society domestically and internationally.  Accommodating reasonable enforcement is a key to the integrity of any system but it must balance facilitation and harmonization. So key questions must be answered before we continue tearing down our system.  Waiting for the answers is worth the effort because after all in the end, the product is human.

Related articles:

RBC – Are Canadians Losing Their Jobs?

RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers, Mario D. Bellissimo’s Interview with CBC News. 

The post RBC Scandal, Refugee Intake Down 60%, Changes to the Family Class- Key Immigration Questions Facing Canada first appeared on Bellissimo Law Group.

Children born abroad through assisted human reproduction (AHR) and/or surrogacy arrangements undertaken by Canadian intending parents are not eligible for Canadian citizenship by descent when no genetic lineage to the Canadian parent can be established. This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides guidance for such instances.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2012/ob381.asp

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Operational Bulletin 396 – March 7, 2012 – Instructions to visa officers on making determinations on membership in the Family Class

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides instructions to visa officers when assessing applications submitted for permanent residence as members of the family class (FC).
In all FC cases, officers should make a decision as to whether the applicant is a member of the FC.  Based on all the information provided by the sponsor and the applicant, including information gathered at interviews, visa officers in all FC cases should make a decision as to whether the applicant is a member of the FC and the decision should be clearly recorded in the case notes; failure to do so may result in the IAD allowing the appeal on H&C considerations.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2012/ob396.asp

The post Immigration Updates! first appeared on Bellissimo Law Group.