Bringing my wife and step-kids to the UK

Hi everyone,
I am a UK citizen by birth & lived in the UK all my life up until the year 2000. I met a woman on the internet in 98, she was from Canada & we started commuting between countries to see each other over the next few months. In 2000, I went to Canada on a regular visitor passport, but overstayed the 6 month limit. We married shortly after the overstay and have been married for four years now. We planed to save money so we could move back to the UK along with her two children (My step-children, and before anyone asks the kids birth father is fine with them moving).

Recently however, Immigration Canada found out I was here after following up on a work visa I submitted when I first arrived and I have been ordered to leave the country by the end of the month. Obviously with me having my wife of 4 years here and my two step kids, this was devastating. However we are trying to turn it into a positive by all of us moving to the UK.

Now for the big question, I have a letter confirming I have a job offer in the UK from my former employer. My family has also offered to give us some initial financial help. My sister has said that we were welcome to stay with her she lives alone with her baby son and has a home with plenty of room for all of us. She will also give me a ‘Letter of Invitation’ inviting us to stay with her for as long as we need.

I contacted the British High Commission in Ottawa and described our situation, they told me the fees and said they could not see a problem; they made the process sound very simple and straight forward. Pretty much telling me, You have been married for 4 years, and lived together for a year prior, you have evidence supporting that, you have a job offer, help from family and a place to stay, don’t worry it sounds like a straight forward application you are looking at a 10-15 day processing time.

We are going to talk to them on Monday, but I have one worry, my sister is a single mother and receives some sort of ‘mothers benefit’ which pays her rent (it’s not low income housing; it’s rented privately, but the ‘mothers benefit’ pay her rent for her).

I know that I would not be able to bring my wife if I was receiving assistance, so will the fact that my sister’s house is paid for via assistance affect us? Or would it even come up, there is really nothing on the application forms that ask that question? Also, we don’t have a ton of money in the bank, so do you think that the job offer and offer of assistance from family would be enough? I am a 26 year old Computer Tec and I’ve only been unemployed for 2 weeks in my working life.

Can someone please tell me I am worrying for no reason? PS: I don’t think we have any other complicating factors, none of us have ever been charged with anything illegal, the only problem I ever had in my life was the overstay in Canada.

1. The situation you describe is one where you are sponsoring your wife and step-children to enter the UK. Your wife is the actual applicant and it is her who primarily needs to meet the requirements of the immigration rules to enter the UK as the spouse of a person present and settled in the UK.

2. I would recommend you to start by reading my responses to britel and Ge whose situations mirror yours to an extent.

3. The key factor in your favour is: - The Home Office has amended the immigration rules such that the spouses of those settled in the UK are granted Indefinite Leave To Enter the UK where the marriage has been subsisting for at least 4 years.

4. IMHO the first issue the Entry Clearance Officer at Ottawa will focus on is that of 'ability to maintain' without recourse to public funds. Your job offer and thus income takes care of this issue - however it has to be a bonafide proposition i.e. if its from a well established company expect the ECO to be fairly content but if its a personal friend/ not so well known firm expect the ECO to dig some more and possibly ask for the company's VAT and Corporate tax history + registration details to establish its existence.

5. IMHO the second issue the ECO will focus on is that of 'ability to accomodate' without recourse to public funds. On paper your sister's offer sounds o.k. but actually may be a problem - it appears that your sister is on a single parent income support and has her rent paid by the relevant local authority. The consent of the local authority and/or landlord for this accomodation offer is required by the ECO. However there may be issues around the benefit if she has more people in the house. You need to demonstrate that you will be there short term and there will be no overcrowding.

6. IMHO the third issue the ECO will focus on is the two step-children. The father may be 'fine with the move' but this must be documented by way of a formal letter of consent certified/ notarised before a public notary or a lawyer registered with the relevant provincial bar.

7. This is more of a personal issue I hope you don't mind me bringing up - your UK move has been initiated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada catching up with you after your lengthy illegal presence there. The flight to the UK may be a natural knee jerk reaction in relation to the unexpected news (they were going to catch up with you eventually) and the comfort factor it brings - but is this necessarily the best option? I don't know what if any steps you took to regularise your stay in Canada - have you thought about trying to do this despite the removal order. Note there may be issues with a future return to Canada for you which will manifest itself on say when your wife visits her family and you can't just get on the same flight with her. If your heart is set on the UK as opposed to it being a temporary way out of your 'CIC' situation then its wise to proceed with the UK visa applications. Make sure you leave Canada before the relevant date - you may have to leave your family behind and they will catch up with you later. Getting an appeal against CIC's removal order on Human and Compassionate grounds buys you time to sort out your family's UK visa and ensures you don't get deported.

Best wishes for the future and I hope things work out for you and your family whatever you decide.

thanks for your response.
I was told i could not regulise my stay here in Canada. The immigration officals told me that. I agree that filing an appeal would be a good idea and buy me some time. The problem is that now I do not have a job and cannot work and my wife is not working. So that is a problem. My wife already has to apply for social assistance to help her live while I am gone and is working on moving to the UK. My heart is not neccesarily set on the UK or canada, I do not care where we live as long as we are together.
Where do you go to appeal? who do you ask? do you need a lawyer?
I can also stay with my Grandmother when i get to the UK. She has a 4 bedroom house and as far as I know owns the house and is not on any assistance, just living on an old age pension. Do you think that would be sufice?
The compant that is giving me the job offer is a small company, family owned, about 15 yrs old and I worked there when I met my now wife and had worked there for about 3 yrs .
Getting a letter from my wife's ex-husband will not be a problem.
thanks for your input.

I am not particularly familiar with the issue of removal orders under the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act but know that CIC will say you can't appeal - that's their job....the reality is that you can always appeal/ apply to remain in Canada on H&C grounds if there are no grounds around criminality. However it is easier to get your Canadian immigration situation resolved by departing and returning as the spouse of a Canadian citizen with work rights from day 1. You need to get some immigration advise ASAP - check your yellow pages for lawyers. Call around and see who offers initial/ free interviews.

You will probably be advised to apply/ appeal on H&C grounds to buy you time to gather your wife's and kids paperwork together for the UK application. Once this comes through you can travel to the UK either on your own for a short term or with your family. If you wish to return to Canada you can then go through the sponsorship route as the spouse of a Canadian Citizen. The process takes from 6 to 12 months via the Canadian High Commission in London and the Case Processing Centre in Missisauga.

If pursuing the 'I will take my family to UK route' you need to ask your friends to submit a letter of registration and latest tax returns for their business to show the viability of their firm - better if they can submit 3 years of returns. The ECO will ask for this so its better you have it to save time. Certified copies will do. IMHO the offer of accomodation from your nan is a better option - you still need to submit relevant paperwork though i.e. mortgage deeds and utility bills as proof of ownership and residence. The ECO may also enquire as to your nan's immigration status - submit a copy of her passport bio data page if she has one or failing that a copy of her pension approval letters. Not sure of your situation regarding your parents as you have not mentioned them but its always helpful to have them on your side in these situations - their support can be invaluable.

You can also depart Canada before the due date, start working for the family firm, sort out accomodation and then forward the relevant documents to your spouse to start the application process. You also need to organise documents showing the subsistence of your marriage in Canada i.e. utility bills, financial statements, tax returns etc.

Its a shame you never sorted yourself out as you would be a Canadian Citizen by now. My other concern with a H&C application is how you have been surviving for the last four years - if your spouse was in receipt of social assistance despite your income (presumably not declared) then there may be issues around fraud.

I guess you miss read the post about my wife. She was not getting assistance.
She was in college and then went to work part time, I was working as well and the company was making out the checks to her, and had to pay taxes on the money as she claimed it. The bookeeper said it was legal to do that.
Now is when she will have to collect assistance as I have to leave.
She was laid off in March and does not work.

My parents are not able to help finacially.
You can appeal a removable order under humanitarian and compasionate grounds. As far as getting a lawyer, that is not possible as I have no money or job now.
Money is the biggest issue as to why I did not sort out myself in the first place. I needed to feed my family and that is what I did.
I came here on a work permit, it wad denied, my (now) wife's divorce took longer than expected and I over stayed.
We got married and needed income, So i went to work. If I had not done that we would of been in a real mess.I was not able to afford the fees for changing my status or applying for landed immigration.
We had made the plan to move to the UK in two years. We knew we were on borrowed time and tried our best to make changes, but money was always the problem.

My uncle is now going to let us stay in his place. I do not see why the ECO would need to know his immigration status as he is born and raised in the UK.

Hello there,

Just my little 0.01% as I believe kayalami has given you the appropriate advice.

Please review Division 7 Right of Appeal of The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Updated to 31 December 2003). Here is the web site to the Act: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/I-2.5/

You will find that an appeal is a waste of time.

Although Rule 25 states:
1) The Minister shall, upon request of a foreign national who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on the Minister's own initiative, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligation of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to them, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected, or by public policy considerations

(2) The Minister may not grant permanent resident status to a foreign national referred to in subsection 9(1) if the foreign national does not meet the province's selection criteria applicable to that foreign national

I can not see that you will be a winner on this ground because the authorities will simply say ' well let him abide to the order then apply legally from his countrey' If you have a Canadian child this could have been a different scenario.

There are some facts that you need to consider before taking your decision
1- We do not wish the removal order to come into Force.
2- Application of your wife and the children for settlement in the UK can be refused if you do not have the supporting documents.
3- If your wife’s application was refused then the situation will be more difficult.
4-At present, time is running against you.

I would therefore advice you with the following
1- Leave Canada in time
2- Find your feet in the UK
3- Prepare for your wife and the children’s application appropriately then ask her to apply. In the unlikely event of refusal, they would stand a good chance to win any appeal because you are as a sponsor would be already settled in the UK. You can have a free legal advise and representative. It is your country.
4- While you are all here in the UK, you may apply to settle in Canada.

I appreciate it is painful to leave your wife and the children but you need to win. Sometimes when you play a game of chess, you sacrifice a piece or more for a check mate. If you are a commander of a battle you need to use your tactics to achieve a victory. Please remember you are one of those who controlled the world one day.

The decision is yours

Good luck .