Reference no: EM133684775

Rovelyn Fuentes is an immigration consultant in Prince George, British Columbia. She specializes in family class sponsorship applications and sponsorship appeals to the Immigration Appeal Division of the IRB. Rovelyn is a sole practitioner and does not employ any assistants.

Six months ago, Rovelyn filed an in-Canada sponsorship application for Daewon Yun, the sponsor, to sponsor his wife, Sunghye Kim. There was no doubt in Rovelyn's mind that their marriage was genuine. The young Korean couple had started dating 3 years ago when Sunghye first arrived in Canada to work at Daewon's company. After a few months, they moved in together and have co-habited ever since. They travelled to Korea for their wedding last year.

Rovelyn submitted all the necessary forms, documents and supporting evidence required on the lengthy Document Checklist for in-Canada spousal sponsorships. Then they waited; these cases are usually processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in six months to a year.

On March 1, Rovelyn received correspondence from IRCC on the couple's file. Rovelyn had submitted all the required forms and documents, but IRCC was requesting further information, as they are permitted to do. IRCC requested current credit reports, a complete copy of their Canada Revenue (CRA) income tax returns and Notices of Assessment for the last three years, and the four most recent bank statements for any accounts held by the spouses jointly or by either spouse. There was also a series of questions for each spouse to answer regarding their relationship, plus a request for Sunghye to update her Schedule A - Background Declaration form.

They were given until March 15 to provide the information. Rovelyn knew this was not a challenging task and mentally ran through the steps: explain the various pieces required to the clients, have them obtain the necessary items, come in to review everything, complete the package, and upload it in the portal.

However, Rovelyn was extremely busy. She had a sponsorship appeal hearing the next day (March 2) and three more appeals scheduled the following week. These cases needed her full attention this weekend and all next week.

She could give this matter her full attention from March 10-15. That should still be plenty of time, as the task was not challenging. She was confident the clients would have the documents needed from third parties or could access them online quickly, and the rest of it they could prepare and sign in her office. She would book an appointment with the couple for March 12 or 13 to finalize and upload the package. Once she made this plan in her own mind, Rovelyn felt there was no point in sending IRCC's letter to the clients just yet - they would likely have several questions, and she did not have time to address them right now. She decided to wait until she had time to explain it properly and ensure they knew exactly what to do.

By late Friday March 9, her last appeal was finished. Rovelyn was ready to give this matter her full attention. On March 10, she left a voicemail for Daewon to call her, as an urgent matter had arisen on their file she needed to discuss with them. When there was no response by the next day, she left a voicemail for Sunghye with the same message. Hearing nothing by March 11, she emailed them both. In her email, she informed them they received a letter from IRCC asking for further information and it was urgent to call her. In her own mind, she started contemplating whether she might have to request an extension of time from IRCC. On the morning of March12 she received an email from Daewon. The were in Korea and had changed their SIM card, so did not get her calls, but just received her email. They had left unexpectedly March 6 due to the death of Sunghye's brother and would be back in Prince George late the next day, March13. They were just heading to the airport.

Rovelyn immediately sent another email asking if they could both to come into her office at 9am on March 14 to work on it. When the couple arrived at her office March 14, Rovelyn showed them the letter from IRCC with the whole list of items needed. Daewon asked for a copy, and she promised to photocopy it for them before they left.

First, they obtained the credit checks online for each spouse. When it came to ordering their CRA documents, Rovelyn learned that neither spouse had a CRA account. The tax company H&R Block had prepared them and they did not have a copy but could likely get it from the company. Rovelyn decided it would be quicker to set up a CRA account for each of them to access them. However, that seemed to take forever, and after a frustrating two hours, the CRA system crashed. She decided to concentrate on the rest of the package. They completed the relationship questions, accessed all the banking information online, and updated Sunghye's Schedule A form. Everything else was ready, but the CRA system was still down at the end of the day.

Rovelyn asked them to contact H&R Block in the morning and get a physical or electronic copy of their tax information. Since it was the last day, March 15, it was critical to get these to her as early as possible. If they were having any difficulty in the morning to let her know, and she would request an extension from IRCC.

While driving home that evening of March 14, Rovelyn hit a patch of black ice and her vehicle skidded off the road. She ended up in hospital, badly bruised and with a couple of cracked ribs. She was in excruciating pain, on pain killers making her very groggy for three days until she was discharged from hospital. When she was finally able to attend to her work matters on March 19, there were many frantic messages from Sunghye and Daewon. In one message, Daewon called from H&R Block' s office requesting a copy of the letter from IRCC to confirm the precise documents being requested. Another message to Rovelyn enclosed their entire CRA files. But the deadline had passed, and Rovelyn contemplated her next steps.

PART 1

An RCIC is required to comply with the Code of Professional Conduct in providing client services and must comply with all obligations under the Code at all times.

Identify at least five specific obligations arising under the Code which Rovelyn clearly breached based on the facts in this scenario. For each obligation you identify, please specify the precise provision of the Code which sets out the obligation. For each obligation you identify that Rovelyn breached, please describe the precise actions or omissions of Rovelyn which made up the breach, including when (identifying dates where applicable) the breach occurred.

Discuss what Rovelyn should have done instead. Part 2 deals with the correct course of action.

PART 2

Assume you were the RCIC who received the email from IRCC on March 1, facing the same schedule as Rovelyn. What specific steps would you take (after receiving this letter) to ensure that you did not breach any provisions of the Code?