Visitor Visa/Extension Headache

So, today I got in the mail:

"This refers to your application for restoration of TR status and a visitor record. Your application as requested is refused.

An application for restoration must be made within 90 days after loss of temporary resident status. Your temporary resident status expired May 29th, 2009. You are not eligible for restoration of your temporary resident status because your application was submitted after the regulated 90-day period that expired August 27th, 2009. Since you no longer hold temporary resident status in Canada your application for a visitor record is also refused."

Here's the issue.

I (American) entered Canada with my wife (who is Canadian) on May 24th 2009. The border officials gave me crap, blah blah blah, and gave me a five day visitors visa. I called CIC and spoke to two different people who told me to apply for an extension on my visitor's visa, and as long as I sent it in before the 29th everything would be hunkey dorey. Shoulda known most of the time they don't even know their own laws. I overnighted the money and application the next day.

On August 25th, 2009 I received a letter telling me that I needed to pay $125 to restore my temporary resident status. It said, "You have ninety days" to send in the $125. Considering my wife was supporting me while we were gathering up money for the PR application, it took us sixty days or so to be able to get the money, since during the time we moved into a new apartment. Today I get the letter above. Apparently they expected me to be able to send $125 dollars from Ontario to Alberta within a day and a half, considering we got our mail around 4 PM. Even over nighting it gets it there in two days. Nothing said "you have ninety days from the day you got here" or even hinted towards that at all. We 100% thought that for whatever reason, we had ninety days from the letter to send in the money. Now looking around online I see that you have 90 days from when it expires, although the letter didn't say that and I didn't think that I would have to research the letter further for hidden messages.

My wife and I have the PR application ready to go this very instant but I'm not sure what to do from here. In one thread over at canadavisa.com, the answer is basically "too bad, you gotta go" when someone's visa extension was declined. But in another thread where the hubby has overstayed his visitor's visa by two years everything seems a-okay as long as he's planning to file for PR.

I know something happened in 2005 that seemingly allows spouses who do not have legal status to stay in Canada while their applications are being processed but I'm not 100% clear on it. Returning to the US is simply not an option. This is my home and family and I personally don't believe the mistake was on our part at all. Even though we have struggled, we have done everything by Canada's laws - I don't work, we've paid and sent in everything that we thought we needed to. Although I don't want to cheese off CIC any more than I apparently already have, I'd like to dispute this ruling.

This is just a complete and total headache and I'm not sure where to go from here, especially with the conflicting advice on some forums. I was told that I could perhaps appeal the decision made about the extension and maybe I could find the answers in this forum. 

woe wrote: Also it would be great to know if it's an actual departure order. Apparently those have a "leave by" date and a number to contact CSBC. Or do you get that after getting the initial "please leave immediately" that's included in the letter?

You actually have 30 days to leave Canada after receiving a letter of refusal otherwise it becomes a removal order which can range from departure order,exclusion order or deportation order.

removal orders

Edited by job_seeker - 13 Feb 2010 at 1:38pm

woe wrote: After receiving it or after its sent? It was sent out on February the 5th and I just got it yesterday. How do I go about appealing the order, do I have to wait until it's a removal order? What's with the whole Joe Volpe thing in 2005? That spouses without status could still apply for PR? Can I still apply while waiting for the departure order? I guess I'm just confused in general. I don't understand how someone who was here for two years illegally has no issue applying for their PR but because of a mistake that I don't believe was on my part I have to up and go?

Hi,

I am not aware of the Joe Volpe thing but there had been cases of successful out of status spouse sponsorships. The 90 days start counting after your allowed visit (leave by date on your VR) and waiting too long to send in the $125.00 for the restoration did it for you.

CIC knows you are here; those cases where spouses had stayed for so many years were unknown. Sad but such is the case.

Guess forgot answering your query: upon receipt.

Edited by job_seeker - 13 Feb 2010 at 1:57pm

woe wrote: Yeah, I understand that's what did it, but if the letter had said "send it in 90 days by the date on your VR" instead of "you have 90 days to send it in" then I would have overnighted it anyways, even though it would have gotten there 91 or 92 days because of the time I got the letter. But it didn't. I don't think it was just a blonde moment as my spouse read the letter many times and found the same conclusion: We had 90 days to send in the $125 by the date of the letter. The Volpe thing I'm talking about is this: http://www.canada-law.com/news/0504.htm which is on the CIC website somewhere or another but I'm tired of looking through it. Quoted: "...announcing today that most                   spouses and common-law partners of Canadian citizens and                   permanent residents, regardless of their status, will be                   allowed to remain in Canada while their immigration                   application is being considered..."Be it that I'm a spouse of a Canadian citizen, regardless of my status, should I not be allowed to remain in Canada while my application is being considered? Is this only for inside based applications?

I think this is if you had already submitted your PR application. Have you submitted your application? I feel you're better off than some being an American citizen but you may have touched a sore spot of the POE officer who processed you entry last year. If you had made copies of the forms you submitted, including the postal receipts, it would probably show you tried to work with the system but delays in postal deliveries "did" it for you.

You can submit an "outland sponsorship app" and could have remained in Canada had it not been for the letter of refusal.

Edited by job_seeker - 13 Feb 2010 at 2:24pm

Foremost, it is usually, overwhelmingly, foolish for an American to file an "in Canada" PR application. Americans can file inland Canada sponsored PR applications. You can. The essential criteria is that you entered Canada legally, and you have a VR indicating you did, indeed, enter Canada legally. If you do that, it is probably (not sure by how wide a margin that "probably" goes . . . see other comments below) likely your app will be processed to completion prior to any deportation order.

Some considerations: why the five day VR to begin with? That's way, way out of the ordinary for an American entering Canada. There was some reason why. That reason, whether based on good grounds or not, is a factor. It looms not all that far off stage.

Returning to the States is probably your best recourse. Unfortunately, however, it is more complicated than that, too complicated to fully discuss accurately in this forum.

Filing an "out-of-Canada" spousal sponsored PR app is probably your best idea, and the sooner the better. A clearly qualified spouse of a Canadian who submits a carefully and thoroughly completed application should have a PR visa in hand in five or six months, at the most.

There are many "it depends" at play in your scenario. Obviously you are short of funds, so that looms large in how you go about things. That is a handicap that affects many in the world, some way way worse than others.

There is no process for an American citizen to apply for a "visitor visa" prior to seeking entry at the border. Americans are "visa exempt," so it is as if they have a visitor visa in hand when they approach the border . . . but even for those who do have a visitor's visa, they still must meet the requisites for foreign nationals visiting Canada to be allowed entry at any port-of-entry. Holding a visitor's visa does not guarantee the person will be allowed entry . . . they must still, at the border, show they are eligible to enter as a visitor.

Bottom line: it should not be all that difficult for an American to visit (I entered Canada somewhere between sixty and a hundred times as a visitor, too many times to keep track of, including times I was given only a few days to be in Canada, times I was given a couple months, and most times I was not limited explicitly). An American having trouble visiting is, probably, "flagged" for some reason. I don't know why you are flagged. It appears you are.

If you do the outland app process, however, you could be landing as a Permanent Resident by summer.


Edited by dpenabill - 16 Feb 2010 at 2:48am