Sponsoring spouse from Philippines - advice and help please

[justinrmc]

Hello everyone.

I'm a Canadian citizen 48 yrs old living in Canada. My wife is a Filipina living in Philippines 31 yrs old. We were married Dec 15th 2017. We met online in May 2017 and I first visited her on her birthday in Taiwan where she was working on June 13th 2017. We had applied for TRVs before getting married but they were refused mainly because she was unemployed and had no assets. Now I'm a bit paranoid about making a mistake on the sponsorship application so I just wanted some advice and some help checking over forms and how much information to provide with our PR sponsorship application.

So far I've written a cover letter saying who we are and what we're applying for. How we met, time spent daily chatting and the methods of communication. I wrote about visiting her 2 times in the Philippines and what we did together and with friends & family. I wrote about going on a pre-wedding honeymoon because of time constraints with marriage license and pre-marital seminar appointment and being 10-15 mins late for our wedding. She wrote a similar letter about how we met and how she felt and fell in love and what we did together the times I visited. I think this is what they're looking for based on what I'd read online.

As far as photos goes, I'm thinking 50-100 photos total with 4 or 6 per page on photographic paper with captions. Broken into each visit/location and the wedding. Pics of us together, selfies, with family & friends. Photos from the wedding and honeymoon.

Then for skype chat I thought maybe 4 screenshots per page 10-20 pages over the 7-8 months of our relationship would be good. Facebook is harder to go back and capture with dates and we chat so much it would take forever to go to the beginning. I downloaded my Facebook history but the format isn't ideal so I'm going to have to work on that and include screenshots of when we first started chatting that I had saved and maybe some in the middle.

Thanks in advance.

 

[WorkerInCanada123]

It sounds like you have done your research and you are on the right track!

Have you thought about taking out life insurance leach each other as your beneficiary? These kinds of documents are listed on the document checklist and would add further support to your application.

Do you have any financial ties? How was the wedding paid for? Money transfers between each other (or even better listing your wife as a secondary user on your credit card) would also certainly help.

What about your taxes? Do you report to the CRA that you have a spouse? Any documentation listing your spouse would also help.

Can your family or hers write letters verifying your relationship?

Re the photos - make sure you do through the document checklist, there is a maximum of 20 photo's you are allowed to submit. Make sure you select a range of photos from different times and events that represent your time together. They also have specific requirements for the captions (also written on document checklist).

 

[Miraclejj]

Hello everyone.

I'm a Canadian citizen 48 yrs old living in Canada. My wife is a Filipina living in Philippines 31 yrs old. We were married Dec 15th 2017. We met online in May 2017 and I first visited her on her birthday in Taiwan where she was working on June 13th 2017. We had applied for TRVs before getting married but they were refused mainly because she was unemployed and had no assets. Now I'm a bit paranoid about making a mistake on the sponsorship application so I just wanted some advice and some help checking over forms and how much information to provide with our PR sponsorship application.

So far I've written a cover letter saying who we are and what we're applying for. How we met, time spent daily chatting and the methods of communication. I wrote about visiting her 2 times in the Philippines and what we did together and with friends & family. I wrote about going on a pre-wedding honeymoon because of time constraints with marriage license and pre-marital seminar appointment and being 10-15 mins late for our wedding. She wrote a similar letter about how we met and how she felt and fell in love and what we did together the times I visited. I think this is what they're looking for based on what I'd read online.

As far as photos goes, I'm thinking 50-100 photos total with 4 or 6 per page on photographic paper with captions. Broken into each visit/location and the wedding. Pics of us together, selfies, with family & friends. Photos from the wedding and honeymoon.

Then for skype chat I thought maybe 4 screenshots per page 10-20 pages over the 7-8 months of our relationship would be good. Facebook is harder to go back and capture with dates and we chat so much it would take forever to go to the beginning. I downloaded my Facebook history but the format isn't ideal so I'm going to have to work on that and include screenshots of when we first started chatting that I had saved and maybe some in the middle.

Thanks in advance.

As long as you are 100% honest and truthfully to provide all the required information on the application, you will be fine. Don't try to hide or omit any facts.
As far as the supporting documents, don't send in unnecessary photos or chat logs, quality over quantities. They only ask for max. 20 photos and 10 pages communications of all kind, so pick those wisely to demonstrate to them that your relationship is genuine, continuous, while keep evolving. The letters you talked about are fine, and you better get more supporting letters from parents, close relatives and friends from both sides. Anything, I mean anything that you think cannot be clarified on the application, you need to prepare an explanation letter.

You gotta understand that you guys do have some red flags, such as large age gap, short courtship and maybe something else, plus the county of origin that you wife comes from, I bet CIC will initially treat your case as marriage of conviniece, until proved otherwise, so if I were you, I wouldn't rush to send in the application. Take more time, collect more evidences and think thoroughly, if it is necessary, find a reputable immigration lawyer to help.

Btw, I spend more than half year alone, just to prepare the applicaton.

 

[justinrmc]

It sounds like you have done your research and you are on the right track!

Have you thought about taking out life insurance leach each other as your beneficiary? These kinds of documents are listed on the document checklist and would add further support to your application.

Do you have any financial ties? How was the wedding paid for? Money transfers between each other (or even better listing your wife as a secondary user on your credit card) would also certainly help.

What about your taxes? Do you report to the CRA that you have a spouse? Any documentation listing your spouse would also help.

Can your family or hers write letters verifying your relationship?

Re the photos - make sure you do through the document checklist, there is a maximum of 20 photo's you are allowed to submit. Make sure you select a range of photos from different times and events that represent your time together. They also have specific requirements for the captions (also written on document checklist).

I have never thought about life insurance because I have a lot of assets and no debt. I am just recently married so I haven't even changed my will yet. I'll look into life insurance and other things.

The wedding was a civil ceremony at the municipal hall so it cost almost nothing and we just went for dinner later at a nice restaurant. I have sent her money over the past 6 months and I could try to add her to my credit card but that might be difficult since she's not a resident of Canada yet.

I haven't filed taxes since we married but I will put married on this year's filing.

I'm sure we can get family members to write letters. I've met all of her family but she has met none of mine.

Thanks for letting me know about the photos. I missed that. I noticed applications years ago some submitted 250 photos! I guess that's why they have a limit now. Quality over quantity. Thanks.

 

[justinrmc]

As long as you are 100% honest and truthfully to provide all the required information on the application, you will be fine. Don't try to hide or omit any facts.
As far as the supporting documents, don't send in unnecessary photos or chat logs, quality over quantities. They only ask for max. 20 photos and 10 pages communications of all kind, so pick those wisely to demonstrate to them that your relationship is genuine, continuous, while keep evolving. The letters you talked about are fine, and you better get more supporting letters from parents, close relatives and friends from both sides. Anything, I mean anything that you think cannot be clarified on the application, you need to prepare an explanation letter.

You gotta understand that you guys do have some red flags, such as large age gap, short courtship and maybe something else, plus the county of origin that you wife comes from, I bet CIC will initially treat your case as marriage of conviniece, until proved otherwise, so if I were you, I wouldn't rush to send in the application. Take more time, collect more evidences and think thoroughly, if it is necessary, find a reputable immigration lawyer to help.

Btw, I spend more than half year alone, just to prepare the applicaton.

Yes, I missed the 20 photo limit, that makes sense. That should be easier to pick quality over quantity anyway. I noticed one of the questions on the form was have you been married 2 years, so that's a no. Will have to get letters from family members. Best to get letters from her family that have met me not my family who haven't met her? Any examples of what the letters should look like?

I didn't think the age thing was that bad, it's not like she's 20 and I'm 70, but I know that age range is a bit much for regular Canadian couples so maybe that's why it's a red flag. I thought 6 months was a good courtship period but again maybe 1-2 years is more normal? So far I've been working on the application for a month or so and plan to spend another month or more on it.

Thanks for the help and advice.

 

[Miraclejj]

Yes, I missed the 20 photo limit, that makes sense. That should be easier to pick quality over quantity anyway. I noticed one of the questions on the form was have you been married 2 years, so that's a no. Will have to get letters from family members. Best to get letters from her family that have met me not my family who haven't met her? Any examples of what the letters should look like?

I didn't think the age thing was that bad, it's not like she's 20 and I'm 70, but I know that age range is a bit much for regular Canadian couples so maybe that's why it's a red flag. I thought 6 months was a good courtship period but again maybe 1-2 years is more normal? So far I've been working on the application for a month or so and plan to spend another month or more on it.

Thanks for the help and advice.

While age gap beyond the normal range, short courtship (less than a year), civil marriage (Especially no families or friends to attend your wedding) and etc., aren't decisive factors to make your application denial or approval, they do accumulat and compound togather to make your case look a little less than a straight forward case, in the eyes of CIC. In order to overcome those negative factors, you really need to take a bit time to have all the supporting documents that you can collect, such as changing your will, add her to be the beneficiary of your insurance policy, and etc.

Also, it is better to have family (specially from parents from both sides), friends and anyone knowing your relationship, from both sides to provide some supporting letters. There isn't any particular way to write it, just use their own words to express their thoughts about your relationship, such as who they are, how they met you, and why they think your relationship is a geniune one. And any letters that are not in English or French, you have to have them translated into either English or French.

If you have means to afford a good immigration lawyer, I suggest you to hire one. It can save a lot your headaches and time for preparing the application, along with all supporting documents.

I hired one, that cost me $7,000, but it did helped me.

 

[justinrmc]

While age gap beyond the normal range, short courtship (less than a year), civil marriage (Especially no families or friends to attend your wedding) and etc., aren't decisive factors to make your application denial or approval, they do accumulat and compound togather to make your case look a little less than a straight forward case, in the eyes of CIC. In order to overcome those negative factors, you really need to take a bit time to have all the supporting documents that you can collect, such as changing your will, add her to be the beneficiary of your insurance policy, and etc.

Also, it is better to have family (specially from parents from both sides), friends and anyone knowing your relationship, from both sides to provide some supporting letters. There isn't any particular way to write it, just use their own words to express their thoughts about your relationship, such as who they are, how they met you, and why they think your relationship is a geniune one. And any letters that are not in English or French, you have to have them translated into either English or French.

If you have means to afford a good immigration lawyer, I suggest you to hire one. It can save a lot your headaches and time for preparing the application, along with all supporting documents.

I hired one, that cost me $7,000, but it did helped me.

All her family members attended who were local. She had no friends locally because we weren't in her home province. The wedding was also on short notice because we weren't sure the documents would be approved in time while I was there and the rest of her family lives far away in the province and my dad and brother were in Canada so I thought that seemed reasonable why they didn't attend.

I'm going to have to look at everything take my time preparing the application so we have the best change to get approval. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Miraclejj]

All her family members attended who were local. She had no friends locally because we weren't in her home province. The wedding was also on short notice because we weren't sure the documents would be approved in time while I was there and the rest of her family lives far away in the province and my dad and brother were in Canada so I thought that seemed reasonable why they didn't attend.

I'm going to have to look at everything take my time preparing the application so we have the best change to get approval. Thanks again for the advice.

The fact that your family didn't attend the wedding is a negative factor, I believe that there is a particular item on the form to ask if both parents and any relatives attended or not, if not, then you need to come up with some valid reasons. Of cause the distance is a valid reason, but you better come up a more strong reason, such as family affair, health or life schedule reasons for it.

Again, the sad and unfortunate fact is that if your wife was from a more advanced country, some of those negative factors shouldn't be any problem. But since Philippine is a country that has much higher fraudulent risks, you should expect a longer and much thoroughly review from CIC and a possible interview, unless you present them a really strong case to overcome all the negative factors.

So, don't treat it lightly, because you don't want to go through the lengthy appeal process (years), just because you want to rush it in to save a month or two

 

[mikeymyke]

If your family did not attend, it's best to provide a good explanation as to why. Also the fact your wife has 5 TRV refusals will be a negative factor, so you should explain why those refusals dont mean she's desperate to come here, but rather it's just her wanting to try to visit you. And since your wedding was just a simple civil ceremony rather than an elaborate traditional one, you'll need to provide a good explanation as to why you guys chose to have your wedding this way. It might not seem like such a big deal, but they do look upon these situations negatively because it might appear you guys simply did a rush wedding to speed up the immigration process rather than have a serious elaborate one that involves family members.