Sponsorship refused by CPC-M. Please help.

I just received my sponsorship refusal letter today from CPC-M.

 

The reason being "you did not declare your dependent to CIC at the time you submitted your own application for permanent residence nor he/she declared at the port of entry or at the local Immigration office when you were granted permanent resident status in Canada. Cosequently, he/she does not appear to be a member of the family class under Regulation 117(9) d."

 

I am horribly confused, and very sad.

 

I am in a same-gender relationship and had applied to sponsor my conjugal partner. This has been my story so far...

 

Oct 1996 - Met my same-gender conjugal partner while doing my graduate studies in India

(We did not stay together during this time; we stayed in our own parents' homes)

(During this time we were in a close same-gender conjugal relationship)

May 2001 - Left India to USA for post-graduate studies

Dec 2002 - Visited my conjugal partner for 4 weeks

Feb 2006 - Visited my conjugal partner for 4 weeks

Mar 2006 - Landed in Canada as a Skilled Worker from USA

(Could it be that the Immigration Officer felt that after almost 10 years of knowing each other, I should have declared my conjugal partner on my IMM0008?)

Mar 2006 - Returned to USA after 3 days

Jan 2007 - Visited my conjugal partner for 4 weeks

Mar 2008 - Applied for US visit visa for my conjugal partner, which was denied

Jan 2009 - Left USA; permanently migrated to Canada; began job search

Feb 2009 - Visited my conjugal partner for 3 weeks

Jun 2009 - Got a job and began working in Canada

Aug 2009 - Applied for Canadian TRV for my conjugal partner, which was denied

Oct 2009 - Applied to sponsor my conjugal partner

Nov 2009 - Received refusal letter + refund of fees (minus $75) + application returned

 

MY THOUGHTS: The decision does not seem right to me. I clearly remember reading that a conjugal partner is not supposed to be included when declaring family members on the IMM0008. I was under the impression that family members only included spouses, common-law partners, dependent children and children of the spouses or partners. 

 

I also checked Regulation 1(3) which says:

 

Definition of “family member”

you essentially have 2 options:

 

1) you can indeed try to appeal this refusal to the IAD. HOWEVER...because section 117(9)(d) is involved, when you do file your notice of appeal, after some time (usually rather quickly, a matter of few months) you will get a letter from the IAD stating that they don't have jurisdiction to hear the appeal because your partner is not within the "family class." At that point, you (or, if you decide to retain a lawyer, your lawyer) can file written arguments outlining why the IAD should take jurisdiction in your case, referring to the relevant case law dealing, for instance, with deliberate vs. unintentional non-disclosure as well as the socio-cultural reality in India (non-existance of "common law partner" concept, etc.) However, you must know right from the get-go that you are facing an uphilll battle at the IAD;

2) you can file a new sponsorship application accompanied by H&C arguments and in the written submissiosn you must make explicit reference to Appendix F of OP-4 which was designed specifically for situations such as this one (involving 117(9)(d) sponsorship refusals) as well as some of the recent Federal Court decisions tackling this issue. Because of the complexity of the sponsorship, the processing might be longer than the average, and it may involve an interview, for which both of you should be very well prepared.

 

If you would like to find out more information about me, you can refer to http://www.migrate-2-canada.com as well as http://www.gaytoronto.com/ralph

 

good luck,