I am hoping to find someone who has been in this situation or can help direct me through.
My common law wife came to Canada from Guatemala in 2002 as a minor with her mother and brother and applied for refugee status. They were denied and a removal order was given. They did not comply. Her mother and brother were eventually caught and sent back home. She was not.
In November 2009 she turned her self in to the immigration office and went back to Guatemala.
Now we are trying to bring her back. I have no experience with immigration and am looking for some advice. I know the best way is through a lawyer but I would like to learn what I can before I take it to that step.
I have been told a pardon is needed first. She has no criminal offenses other that not complying with her removal order. When she turned herself in she was not kept in custody. How do I go about getting this pardon and where would I go from there?
Thank you for your time
What you're looking for is an Authorization to Return to Canada - sometimes called a Minister's permit. She needs to apply for that, and you need to apply to sponsor her for permanent residence, in order for her to be able to come back to Canada.
I don't have any personal knowledge/experience with ARCs, but if you do a search here for ARC, you might find something. Also, I think there are quite a few people/threads over at immigration.ca concerning ARCs. You should be able to get more specific information about how the ARC fits in with the sponsorship process by finding people who've been through it through the threads they've posted, and answers received from others responding.
Good Luck.
Thank you very much for your reply.
I had just learned about the ARC and read into it a bit. From what I understand it is necessary for people who had a PR card or granted refugee status or something like that. Since my wife had not been given any status (applied for refugee and was refused) I thought the ARC was not necessary. I was told a pardon is necessary because when she ignored the removal order that was an offense.
Are you certain that an ARC is necessary for this situation? If so does it take the place of a pardon or is that necessary as well?
Thank you again for your time
There's information in CIC's
OP1 Processing Manual, in Section 6, about ARCs. This should help you. I also did a google search for "authorization to return to Canada" and got some interesting hits.
According to the info in OP1, a pardon concerns criminal inadmissibility as the reason for deportation. That's different from being excluded or deported from Canada for issues like an overstay.
Thanks for the link, I will be reading through that tonight.
She was given the removal order because her refugee application was rejected. She was not deported for any sort of criminality. She did stay 4 years after her removal order was given. Not following the removal order is what I was told is a criminal offense and requires a pardon.
Does that sound right?
I found this in the link you posted,
• Unenforced removal order (individual failed to confirm departure or never left Canada) based solely on convictions for which a pardon has been granted
An ARC is not required. A pardon removes the underlying criminal inadmissibility with respect to a particular conviction. This renders a removal order based solely on that conviction ineffective. As the removal order has not been enforced, and can no longer be enforced, the foreign national
does not require an ARC.
This is the only thing I have read that makes me think an ARC is not required.
Nope, I think the confusion comes because a person (even a PR) can be deported if they commit a criminal offence. If someone is deported because of a criminal conviction that is later pardoned, they can come back to Canada - based on having been pardoned, or found not guilty - without having to apply for Authorization to Return. But not complying with an order to depart is not a criminal conviction - it does not make someone criminally inadmissible to Canada. It's an immigration offence - hence the requirement to apply for Authorization to Return. The "offence" was not leaving - the result was deportation - the remedy is applying for authorization to come back again. Someone who has been deported can't just come back to Canada - that's the point. They have to get permission, and the Authorization to Return is that permission. At least that's how I understand it.
It would probably be helpful to you to read some of the threads posted on various forums about ARCs and people who are in that actual situation. I wasn't having much luck doing searches for that, but I know there have been lots of comments and questions about ARC on immigration.ca One thing I did wonder about was whether your c/l partner was still a minor at the time the departure order was issued? And what about when her brother and mother were deported? That might make a difference if it can be shown that, as a minor, she was unable to understand what she was supposed to do as far as turning herself in. But if she was an adult when the order came through - and when her family left - she'll have no excuse for not complying.
Here's some other interesting information from a Government of Canada website:
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/uni...x?lang=eng Looks like it's from the London embassy - it just popped up in the Google search results.
I just read this information at that link, which seems to be contrary to what I've read otherwise . . . "If you are making another immigration application, such as a work, student or permanent residence application, you should not submit a separate application for an ARC. If your immigration application is approved, the authorisation to return to Canada will be dealt with in the context of that application. You will simply be asked to submit the fee for the ARC." I think you're best to consult with a Canadian Immigration attorney for more information and advice.
I will read in more detail information about ARCs. Everything you are saying makes sense. I am a bit confused because the few immigration paralegals I have quickly spoken to all said a pardon was necessary. Maybe they misunderstood the situation.
My wife and her brother were minors at the time the removal order was given. When her mother and brother were caught she was still under 18.
An ARC is required. A pardon is not (as she didn't commit a criminal offense). She's inadmissible because she was previously deported, not because she's a criminal.
Read ENF 10 section 34:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/m...10-eng.pdf
Note it's quite likely that originally she was issued a departure order. If I'm right about that, then even so when she failed to leave that automatically became a deportation order. Anyone who is deported needs an ARC in order to return to Canada.
"34.1. Requirements to return for deportation orders
Under R226(1), all persons who are the subject of an enforced deportation order always require
authorization to return to Canada under A52(1). Officers are reminded that
a departure order
becomes a deportation order, through operation of law, under R224(2) if the foreign national does
not meet the requirements to enforce their removal order under R240(1)(a), (b) and © within 30
days after the order becomes enforceable. When a departure order has been enforced at a
mission outside Canada, within or beyond the 30-day applicable period, all departure orders must
be enforced as deportation orders pursuant to R224(2) and require the authorization to return to
Canada pursuant to A52(1)."