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John-Barry Livingstone and Vilma-Rosa Morales-Rodriguez smile in a photo from their wedding in Cuba on Christmas Eve 2007.
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By:
Nicholas Keung
Two years after his Cuban wife left him, John-Barry Livingstone is left with more than a broken heart.
When his three-year
financial commitment as spousal sponsor to Vilma-Rosa Morales-Rodriguez
ended last April, the Toronto architect received a $3,800 bill from the
province for the welfare benefits his wife has collected.
Stories like his — and
that of a Brampton woman whose tale of crushed Cuban love appeared in
Thursday’s Star — occur often, according to immigration lawyer Sergio
Karas. Many of his clients come seeking help after a sponsored spouse
abruptly leaves — five or six a year from the Dominican Republic alone.
“On a resort, in the
tropic sun, when you have too many margaritas and pina coladas and these
guys are sweet-talking you, you are vulnerable,” Karas said. “I have
people coming into my office, saying, ‘I met this person; I want him
here; how quickly can he be here?’ Then (the sponsored spouses) came
here and leave them.”
In the past decade,
10,563 Cubans came to Canada as permanent residents, the majority under
spousal sponsorships or family reunification.
According to an
immigration official, marriages of convenience have become a concern at
the Havana visa office. In a quality assurance exercise in 2011,
officials contacted a sample of Canadians who had married and sponsored
Cubans. About one-third of those relationships had ended soon after the
new spouse’s arrival in Canada. Fraud and misrepresentation were often
cited as the reason, leading officials to review applications more
closely than before.
Livingstone, 56, said
he met Morales-Rodriguez, 27, at a park in Cuba in April 2007 while he
was on a bike tour. After four return visits, he married her on Dec. 24,
2007, and sponsored her to Canada.
The former Cuban civil
servant joined him in April 2009. But Livingstone said she left his
home as soon as her 11-year-old daughter arrived in Toronto a year later
— while he was on a business trip to Chicago.
The Star tried to reach Morales by phone for comment, but the number was no longer in service. An email to her was not returned.
“It’s the allure of
the Caribbean. It’s the novelty of a young woman showing attention to an
old guy like me. You do things sensible people don’t do,” Livingstone
said ruefully. “My friends had warned me to be careful, but I never
listened. I have myself to blame.”
The story of Brampton
single mom Erin Standen, whose Cuban husband left her three days after
arrival, has drawn an online debate about the flaws of Canada’s
sponsorship program and the sponsors’ willingness to gamble on a
relationship born during a vacation fling.
“It is a sin when this
happens and it is crazy that some women actually didn’t know the
intentions of their husbands. Sending the money on a regular basis and
supporting their boyfriends is a number one alarm,” said one online
comment.
“If they still love you and want to be with you when you don’t support them your relationship might have a better chance.”
Livingstone said he was emotionally fragile after losing both his parents in January 2007, just months before he went to Cuba.
In the months after,
he sent Morales-Rodriguez $200 to $250 a month to support her. He said
he gave her his mother’s 1-carat diamond engagement ring, which she
still has. He also bought a $322,000, two-bedroom condo so he could have
room for Morales and her daughter.
Livingstone said he didn’t see any warning signs, other than her being “huffy” and reluctant to get intimate.
He said
Morales-Rodriguez started taking English lessons and computer courses at
George Brown College shortly after her arrival. He said she would fly
to Cuba to visit her daughter every three months, at his expense.
He said he was devastated when she left and decided to email her in the summer of 2010. Miraculously, she responded.
At a meeting at
Scarborough Town Centre, Livingstone said, Morales-Rodriguez claimed she
had moved to a shelter because he yelled at her and it upset her
daughter. He said she’s planning to divorce him once legal aid comes
through.
Livingstone said
officials at the Canada Border Services Agency said he couldn’t withdraw
his sponsorship after his wife had arrived. He is now stuck with the
$3,800 bill, under a Supreme Court ruling that provinces have the right
to collect such payments from sponsors.
Under more recent
immigration rules, sponsored spouses must remain married for two years
before receiving permanent resident status. It can be revoked if they
are found guilty of marriage fraud, but the process is lengthy and
lawyer Karas said Ottawa needs to expedite it by banning appeals.
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