5 Year Ban Misrep Failed to Respond Procedural Fairness Letter

[Harjap]

Hello, I need some help with my immigration matters. I applied for a visitor visa to Canada from India in 2018. I got my visitor visa application filled out by a travel agent in India. In the application my previous visa refusal for USA omitted because the travel agent didn’t ask me either about my previous refusals. After submitting my visitor visa application, I received a letter from the immigration department telling me to explain why I left out my previous refusals or else I would get a 5 year ban for misrepresentation. After I received the letter, I hired a lawyer (through my friend in Canada) who told me that he had replied on my behalf and that the 5 year ban will not become effective so I did not take any further interest in this matter. In 2019, I got married to a permanent resident of Canada. When my wife submitted my application for permanent residence, she received a letter from the immigration department that your husband is not eligible because he has a 5 year ban for misrepresentation. I am very stressed because I assumed that my lawyer had taken care of the matter back in 2018 when I got the letter to explain myself. What can I do now to fix this issue?

[Rajpal (Admin)]

It is unfortunate that you have had these issues in respect to your immigration matters. When your lawyer wrote the response to the procedural fairness letter, did he show you what was written? I am assuming that either your lawyer did not send response or the response was unsatisfactory to the officer. If you have been banned from sponsoring, you will have to wait 5 years from the day that your ban became effective. After this your spouse can sponsor you and you can be eligible to submit your application for permanent residence at the same time.