The Guidelines for Assessing Bars to Sponsorship

·      Review the self-declaration by the sponsor

·      Verify the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) and,

·      Request a Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) check from the sponsor (where warranted)

Similarly, offices of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will need to:

·      Ensure that the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) contains information about permanent residents in prison, even if for relatively minor convictions and,

·      Verify through the Correctional Services Canada offenders management system

·      Review the self-declaration by the sponsor

·      Verify the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) and,

·      Request a Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) check from the sponsor (where warranted)

In addition, the Case Processing Centre (CPC) will need to send the cases to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for follow-ups, in case it suspects or knows about any convictions.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will need to:

·      Verify the court records

·      Confirm the relationship with the victim and,

·      Advise the Case Processing Centre (CPC) of the results

At this point, the Case Processing Centre (CPC) will:

·      Consider the sponsor ineligible in case five years have not passed since the completion of the sentence imposed or in case the authorities have not granted a pardon, in the case of a conviction in Canada

·      Consider the sponsor ineligible in case the authorities have not made a final determination of acquittal or if a period of five years or more has not passed since the completion of the sentence imposed and the sponsor has not demonstrated that they have been rehabilitated in the case of a conviction outside of Canada

·      Consider probation, suspended sentences and intermittent sentences as sentences, for the purposes of calculating a sentence. Officers would not consider conditional discharges and absolute discharges for the purposes of these provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and,

·      Inform the sponsor of the ineligibility

Although the Criminal Code does not have a specific ‘family violence offence’, the authorities could charge abusers with an applicable offence. For applicable offences that equate to family violence when committed against a family members, officers would need to refer to Appendix D. This appendix also contains details of the applicable sexual offences.

Offences against a family member for which the officers enter a conviction after the person has ceased to be a family member (i.e. post divorce) continue to remain convictions against a family member.

For more information on rehabilitation, officers would need to go through the provisions specified in ENF 14 / OP 19 Criminal Rehabilitation.

·      Review the ‘Previous Default’ field in the Case Processing Support (CPS) module of the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) for information on previous defaults and,

·      Verify directly with provincial social assistance office in case the information on the sponsorship application indicates that the sponsor might have defaulted on a previous undertaking

In case a social assistance agency reports that a sponsor is not supporting a member of the family class, the staff at the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga (CPC-M) will need to:

·      Determine whether the undertaking is still valid

·      Confirm with the social assistance office that the sponsor is in default

·      Enter the default information in the Case Processing Support (CPS) module of the Field Operations Support System (FOSS)

·      Remind the sponsors in writing of their obligations

·      Inform the sponsors that they are not eligible to sponsor again unless they make the necessary arrangements for repayment and that the authorities could take collection action against the sponsors and,

·      Warn the sponsors that they will continue to remain liable for repayment even after the expiry of the validity period of the undertaking

In case, the social assistance authorities confirm that the sponsors have resumed their obligations and repaid the payments made to the family member, the staff at the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga (CPC-M) will need to:

·      Reflect the details of the repayment in the ‘Remarks’ or ‘Work in Process’ history

·      In case, during the investigation of a sponsor, a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer discovers information that reveals that the sponsor is in default, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer will need to enter a Non-Computer Based Entry (NCB) in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) describing the details

·      In case there is a case of documented abuse (e.g. police reports, shelter reports etc.) between the sponsor and the sponsored person:

o   The province will need to make an assessment whether active collection activity should take place

o   The Case Processing Centre in Mississauga (CPC-M) will need to include a notation in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) and the Case Processing Centre (CPC) files of the sponsor and the applicant where appropriate

o   Collection activity could exacerbate an already difficult situation, which might make officers pause this activity, if appropriate, in cases of abuse between the sponsor and the sponsored person; but, this will not cancel the sponsor’s obligations and the authorities could consider disqualifying the sponsors from sponsoring subsequently, if they have not resolved their default issues

·      Sponsors who are unemployed or have marginal income might have been unable to meet obligations under previous undertakings

·      Sponsors who report social assistance as income, are also likely to be subject to that bar

Notes

If the sponsorship is not in the Case Processing Support (CPS) module of the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) e.g. in MISS, officers will need to enter a Non-Computer Based Entry (NCB) in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) [watch-for] to alert officers that a sponsor has defaulted.

The provincial social assistance officer will need to determine whether to provide any social assistance. It might require the sponsored member of the family class to sue the sponsor for support as a pre-requisite to receiving social assistance.

The Non-Computer Based Entry (NCB) in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) is Type 12 and not ‘Type 01 Watch for’.

Note: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will typically not enforce undertakings in such cases.

·      Review the sponsor’s self-declaration and,

·      Review the sponsor’s financial evaluation, which might indicate the possibility of default

·      View the Immigration Program Accounts Receivable (IPAR) to verify if the sponsor has defaulted on an immigration loan

·      View SAP to verify the information about debts related to bonds and,

·      Call Collection Services at 1-800-667-7301 for querying information on a loan account

·      State on the IMM 1344A Application to Sponsor if they are bankrupt based on the provisions specified in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act – Refer to the section titled ‘The Bars to Sponsorship’ i.e. section 5.28 of IP 2

The staff at the Case Processing Centre (CPC) will need to:

·      Verify the information provided and,

·      Inform the provincial social assistance offices who might report that sponsored members of the family class are receiving welfare because their sponsor is bankrupt

·      Verify through contact with provincial social assistance officials if the sponsor is receiving social assistance payments other than for reasons of disability