Sponsoring wife and child - Request for Additional Information

This email was recieved from Joan who forwarded a query with respect to an ongoing sponsorship file. As mentioned in a previous entry, when a Immigration officer suspects foul play, he or she may request additional documents to determine the true merits of the case. In the following scenario, the officer reviewing Joan's file is asking for her passport to verify whether he has been visiting his spouse who is abroad.

Since the applicant was previously married, the officer is also requesting a copy of the death certificate. In this way, the officer can proceed with the file. If Joan lied on his application and he is still married to his wife who in reality is still alive and well, he MUST provide a divorce judgement. In reality, the officer is trying to determine if Joan is still married to his ex-wife. If he is, he is not eligible to sponsor his wife abroad.

Also worth noting is the fact that there is a son who is also being sponsored by Joan. The officer has also requested Joan to provide a DNA test. This is not unusual. Again, the officer is simply trying to determine if Joan is the father. Even though Joan might have provided a copy of his son's birth certificate which lists him as the father, documents can always be forged. The officer is simply verifying the facts of the case.

Bruce, an Immigration Consultant in good standing with CSIC, provides his opinion as well

Kevin RODRIGUES

Dear Bruce,
When I was sponsoring my wife, they asked me to submit my
passport as evidence of visiting her in my home country. There is every evidence
that my passport is lost in the process centre because they can’t find it.

Secondly, they had asked me to submit a death certificate of my
deceased wife who was dead more than two decades ago. Simply, if I have to give
them something like that, then it will be a new one, which they will not accept.
I am still waiting for the result because I keep calling to ask about my
passport which seem to been lost again and again they are asking me to do a DNA
to proof my blood relation with my son who I am sponsoring in addition to my
second wife.
Please Bruce, tell me why immigration will ask me to submit a
death certificate of someone who was dead twenty years ago? Tell me why they
need a DNA done even as I have all the documents to proof that the boy is my
real son. And again do you think it is right for them to loose my Passport? Is
there any one over and above Immigration Canada so I can report all these to
them?

Joan