SPOUSAL SPONSORSHIP DISASTER!
I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH AN INCOMPETENT SPOUSAL SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION BEFORE! It is not uncommon for clients to switch counsels when they are not satisfied with their current representative. When a new client complains about their former counsel, I always listen to their concerns understanding there are two sides to every story. This couple claimed that their Immigration Lawyer had applied to extend the applicant and his dependent sons visitor status after they had submitted an In-Land Spousal Sponsorship. This refusal dated April 19th 2021 from IRCC seemed totally illogical to me since they had already submitted a spousal sponsorship application. Immigration has never refused any of my clients visitor extensions when they are being sponsored by their spouse!
At the request of a colleague, I actually met with this couple In-Person last Saturday. They were the first potential client I had met with In-Person for the first time since June of 2020. They provided proof that immigration had refused a visitor extension. They also showed me a covering letter on their lawyers letterhead that the Lawyer was going to submit for restoration of the applicant and his dependent sons visitor status. They claimed some information in the letter was outdated and incorrect.
In the restoration letter for their visitor extensions the Lawyer wrote,
“We had initially submitted our sponsorship application in March 2020 (Application number: XF000******) but it was returned in December for more information”.
I know there is a pandemic but 10 months to pre-screen a spousal application before returning it for being incomplete!
Then her restoration of visitor status letter went on to read,
“We recently re-submitted the application on March 2, 2021”.
After reading this Lawyer’s letter and receiving other verbal details I agreed to accept this genuine couple as clients in to attempt to resolve matters.
When taking over an existing application it is normal to ask for copies of the file. I politely emailed the Lawyer asking for the COMPLETE file. Their file was provided by the Lawyer within one day. The Lawyer also issued a statement of account at the same time she learned that this couple had retained a different counsel before I requested the file.
When reviewing the copied file, I noted there was no correspondence from immigration detailing why the file was returned, This Lawyer appeared to deliberately not provide the reasons the file was returned. I wrote her another email questioning why the requested reasons the file was returned had not been provided by her in the file she had sent to my office. I also saw commented that I had seen her covering letter dated February 2021 for the resubmission of their spousal sponsorship also did not include any mention as to why the file had been returned. No comment saying please find the requested documents sorry for my mistake, etc. etc.
After a few emails back and forth I was provided with two pages from Mississauga CPC on Wednesday afternoon . One was green in colour and one grey in coulour detailing which documents were missing.
Mississauga CPC claimed the following documents were never submitted,
marriage certificate,
passport,
birth certificate or applicants biological son,
Applicants dependent sons Mothers death certificate,
Sponsors most recent Notice of Assessment,
Sponsors proof of Canadian Citizenship status,
Sponsors letter detailing proof of employment in Canada,
Mississauga CPC noted that the Immigration Lawyer was using an outdated required documentation list and explained to her that there are dates on each document in the bottom left hand corner and to please use current documents..
I wonder if the fact that the documents from Mississauga CPC detailing which documents were missing from the spousal application are in two different colours could mean that the file was returned twice?
Roy Kellogg
cvimmigration.com
