On Feb 28, 1:53 pm, Boiler wrote:
> The downside of the refused visa is that you usually end up in
> Secondary, and then of course you may be asked why you applied for one
> in the first place.
As someone who spends 50% of her time passing through secondary...
I can comment it's not a pleasant situation if there's anything you
don't want to tell them... I've gotten some of the most nasty officers
ever in Secondary, and being yelled at only causes some of my anxiety
symptoms to show. (That's why they never go easy on me... nervous
because of hiding something, illness... it all shows the same... And
they don't take medical notes as proof unless it's concerning
medication. In Canada, money can pay any doctor to write anything
whether he's examined you or not... $15 gets me a note off work for as
long as I claim I can't work, so even bosses don't often take doctor's
notes as proof).
My advice, make sure you have all your "record" information with you.
Proof that your crime is not a CIMT, what your disposition was, that
your sentence is satisfied, etc. That way if you are accused of lying
on the card when you check "no" to the criminal offence questions, you
have proof to back up that you did not intentionally give false
information. If they ask if you've been arrested, you are going to
have to tell them. They always ask me if I've been arrested, they
never ask me if I've been convicted, sentenced, fined, etc. Just
arrested. So there's a good chance you will be asked that at some
point.
In my experience, I was never asked, not even once, until this past
year (2006). I think I was on my third or fourth trip into secondary
in my Immigration history by the time they asked me that. I guess they
figured based on my file, and everything they saw, that it was a fair
question to ask. I've already been asked every other question you can
think of, from medication, to bank information, addresses, living
arrangements, who pays the bills in my house, jobs (in detail, what do
I DO all day), about my spouse, about friends in the US and how I know
them, friends abroad, where my family comes from, when I immigrated to
Canada, when I last visited my birth country, what other countries
I've been to in the past 10 years, what it's like to ride Greyhound to
California, how I meet someone on the Internet... All my dad said, is
if someone is lying, they have to think of the answers and they dont'
make sense. Dad told me all this chitchat is because I have a disorder
that mimics behaviour they're looking for. By having a chitchat with
me about stupid crap that doesn't really matter to them that much
anyway, is a way to determine if my story is legit, if they can't be
satisfied any other way. I got asked how my camera works once and what
I took pictures of on my last holiday. One might say they are base
line questions (like a lie detector test) to see if I answer them the
same way.
I'm not worried... I'm not hiding anything, I answer all the questions
and I don't care. The worst that can happen is they'll decide I need a
waiver, but as far as the Immigration act goes, I don't think I need
one. The only warning I got was if I'm driving and I'm appearing to be
"too sick" that will be cause for concern, and that I'd better
satisify the officer that I'm capable of operating a motor vehicle.
I'm talkative, and when they go from grilling and interrogating to
letting me tell them about something, so to speak, it becomes apparent
to them what's going on.
S.
|