Canada: Citizenship Act

canada: According to the decision, Mohd Rabi Morelly, who previously lived in Kuwait, had his citizenship denied by Citizenship Judge Veronica Johnson in 2017 on the basis that he failed to establish a physical presence in Canada for three years as required by the Citizenship Act, according to The Chronicle Herald. In her ruling, Johnson said it was impossible to determine, on a balance of probabilities, how many days the applicant was actually present in Canada, because there is insufficient credible evidence of his continued physical presence during the periods that he claims to have been in Canada. In his April 4 decision, Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes ruled that the citizenship judge ignored relevant evidence and instead was preoccupied with prior fraudulent conduct by the applicant. But Barnes ruled there was plenty of evidence for Morelly's presence in Canada during the necessary time period, which was Morelly's involvement in an immigration fraud prior to the residency period. According to Johnson's notes, which were summarized in the Federal Court decision, Morelly accepted cheques from Al-Awaid's company, which he paid for in cash, to give the illusion that he worked in Canada. Morelly was at one time a client of immigration consultant Hassan Al-Awaid, who pleaded guilty in May 2014 to nine charges of counselling misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and 10 charges of misrepresentation under the Citizenship Act. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.