Why Leaving Gaps in Your Immigration Forms Can Harm Your Application
One of the biggest mistakes that applicants make when they submit immigration applications without the help of an immigration lawyer is leaving out questions on their immigration forms or leaving gaps in their personal, educational or travel history.
What can happen when you leave gaps in your personal history?
There is a high chance that your application will be returned to you because it is incomplete, or an immigration officer will reach out and ask you to complete the forms again and provide complete information. Either way, this slows down your application and creates processing delays. In some cases, if there is a cap to your application category (for example, a parental sponsorship application) you could miss out on applying until that application process opens back up again the following year.
In the best interest of you and any family that you may be sponsoring to come to Canada, remember to always provide full and complete information.
We often have people ask us about periods of time when they were between jobs, between semesters at university or in the process of moving to a new state or country. In these situations, when you are not working or studying, you must indicate that you are unemployed or traveling, whichever best fits your scenario, and indicate the exact time periods. Even if you have a one month gap, your application will not be processed without complete information.
Another important note is to make sure that you are going back far enough in time. Generally, applications ask you for your history for the last 10 years or since you turned 18, whichever is most recent. For example, if you are 20, then you would provide your history from the time you turned 18 until the day you sign off on submit your application. If you are 40 years old, you would provide information from the time when you were 30 until the day you sign off on the forms.
You should also take the time to make sure the information you are providing is accurate. If you cannot remember the exact month when you left a job a few years ago, it is worth it to take the extra time and find your last pay stub or employment letter to confirm the date and get it right. Immigration officials can ask for evidence, and depending on the type of application you are submitting, you may already be required to submit proof of your work or education experience. These dates will be cross-referenced when your documents and background details are reviewed.
Similarly, if you are providing dates of travel history or time spent in or outside of Canada, take the time to review your passport stamps, travel itineraries and flight details. We strongly recommend that you take the extra time to look at your documents up front, before you are in a situation where you realize that you have provided incorrect or misleading information in your application. Even if your error or omission was not intentional, you could seriously jeopardize your application or be determined to have misrepresented yourself, which can create a barrier to you immigrating or traveling to Canada in the future.
If you need assistance confirming that your forms and documents are complete, or are unsure what information you need to include in your application, reach out to our experienced team at Keyork Immigration Law.
