Can My Wife Be Still Deported, Though I Sponsored Her?

Q: I am a Canadian citizen who met and fell in love with a person from Argentina. She is in Canada, claimed refugee status and was refused. Meanwhile, we married and live together with my son from my first marriage. After marriage, eight months ago, I submitted an application to sponsor her in Canad. So far we have no response from Immigration Canada.

Now, my wife faces deportation and the possibility of being separated from us. Is there any law to prevent her from being deported? We want to be together until the application is finalized. My wife is a healthy person and has no criminal record. This is crazy, can we stop the deportation?

A: You are not alone in this as there are thousands of people in your situation. Yes, even though you are married, your spouse can still be deported, depending upon where in the process you find yourself. Having a sponsorship application in the system does not preclude her from being deported.

If Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) decides they cannot wait until a decision on the sponsorship is rendered, then your wife may have has to leave Canada. In some cases it is better to leave voluntarily but not in all.

What many people do is challenge CBSA’s decision to deport your wife at the Federal Court of Canada. In certain cases, deporting a spouse may lead to what is called irreparable harm especially when children are involved. These types of cases may be very strong at the Federal Court of Canada.
Consult a lawyer immediately to see if you would qualify for this remedy as timelines can be very tight.

This is one area we continue to lobby the Government to change. The Government should not be pre-determining deportations before a marriage application has been decided.