Bring Thai Girlfriend to Canada w/ Invitation

[ituck89]

Hello,

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum or not but any help would be greatly appreciated.

So I have a girlfriend from thailand who I met in August of 2018 when I was on vacation there. We have kept in contact every day since we met through calls and texts. I just returned from my second visit where we spent my entire 25 days together. I met her family and we travelled to several places within thailand. We did our first attempt at TRV while I was there. It was denied. Some of the documents we provided were:

Letter of Invitation(from me)
Bank statements for both of us
Consent letter from her
Photos of us and with her family too
Some chat history from when I was at home
Her land title, birth certificate for her and her son, her mom(All translated to english and stamped)

There were some other documents too, just can't remember what at the moment. I gave her 60,000 THB to pad her bank account too, not sure if that was enough or not as we said on the application that she would only be coming to visit for 3 weeks. I wrote in my invitation letter that any expenses she incurs while on vacation would be taken care of in full by me. I make about $80,000 CAD per year. She does not have a job(she used to work at a bar therefore has no job history either). She has been to Australia a couple times, as well as Austria and a couple other countries too. I've been sending her 25,000 THB for each month when I was at home after I met her. We used a visa shop in Thailand to help us with our application which cost me roughly 20,000 THB, but didn't seem to help much as we were still denied. We received her decision letter in just 5 days, of which only 2 were working days. Not sure why it was so quick.

Some problems with the application that I can think of is that she doesn't have a job or job history, and perhaps I didn't give her enough money to pad her account.

We plan to try again in january when she has 100,000 THB or more. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ituck89]

Also another problem may be that we haven't known each other long enough too. Not really sure if that matters.

Is there any place like a visa shop I can talk to to get help with this?

 

[scylla]

Order the GCMS notes before you reapply to see the detailed reasons behind the refusals. It will take approximately 30 days for the notes to apply.

Unfortunately you likely face an uphill battle getting an approval. When you reapply, you want to focus on demonstrating very strong ties to her home country and minimize her ties to Canada/you. She should demonstrate that she has sufficient funds available to pay for the trip herself and keep the trip to a reasonable length (e.g. 2-3 weeks). The main issue is that IRCC has concerns she has plans to come here and remain long term. She needs to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate she will return home after her visit. I personally would not recommend that she apply again until she has a job and has been working in that job for at least four months.

If you want help, then you would need to hire an immigration lawyer which doesn't tend to be cheap. I would stay away from "visa shops".

 

[ituck89]

I will order the notes as you said, thank you for that. Did not know that was possible.

Also, she lives at home with her family now in the country and there are very limited employment prospects there. Basically there are no employment prospects there. She can work with her mom farming chicken eggs and rice like that, but that isn't a tax paying job and would be for small amounts of cash only.

I will check into hiring an immigration lawyer, at this point I don't really care too much about the cost, I just want her to be here. I really don't understand why this is such a hard thing to do.

 

[scylla]

I will order the notes as you said, thank you for that. Did not know that was possible.

Also, she lives at home with her family now in the country and there are very limited employment prospects there. Basically there are no employment prospects there. She can work with her mom farming chicken eggs and rice like that, but that isn't a tax paying job and would be for small amounts of cash only.

I will check into hiring an immigration lawyer, at this point I don't really care too much about the cost, I just want her to be here. I really don't understand why this is such a hard thing to do.

The reason why this is hard to do is that in the past, too many people with her profile have abused their visitor visa privileges and remained or attempted to remain in Canada long term. So in short, she is being punished for the past visa abuses/violations of others.

I personally would not pay for the advice of a laywer. A lawyer cannot increase your chances of approval - all you'll end up doing is spending several thousand dollars extra. The reality is that her application is very weak since she has no employment, has a boyfriend in Canada, has minimal financials, etc. Unfortunately it makes sense that she was refused. I would get your GCMS notes and apply for a visitor visa one more time putting together as strong an application as you can on your own (no lawyer). If she is refused again and your relationship is serious, the next step is likely for you to get married and then sponsor her for permanent residency. You can also look into living together in Thailand for a full year and then sponsoring her for PR as your common law partner.

Sorry - I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. But better to know what you are facing.

 

[ituck89]

It's just funny because she's visited several other countries and never overstayed her visa, can't see why they think she would do it now.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, no, but very helpful regardless. I am prepared to do whatever it takes and so is she, even if that means we have to get married. If we get married, and I sponsor her for permanent residency, doesn't that take a lot longer than TRV decision?

Thanks again for all your help

 

[scylla]

It's just funny because she's visited several other countries and never overstayed her visa, can't see why they think she would do it now.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, no, but very helpful regardless. I am prepared to do whatever it takes and so is she, even if that means we have to get married. If we get married, and I sponsor her for permanent residency, doesn't that take a lot longer than TRV decision?

Thanks again for all your help

The difference between those places in Canada is that she has a boyfriend in Canada. This makes IRCC concerned you plan to married when she visits so that she can stay (i.e. use the TRV as a means of moving to Canada early).

Yes - unfortunately the PR process does take time. You're looking at about 1 year of processing time from the date the application is submitted.

 

[ituck89]

If we get married, hypothetically the TRV should be easier to get too, no?

When she went to australia, she did visa 3 seperate times, and had her boyfriend write her a guarantee letter. She also did not have a job then.

 

[scylla]

If we get married, hypothetically the TRV should be easier to get too, no?

When she went to australia, she did visa 3 seperate times, and had her boyfriend write her a guarantee letter. She also did not have a job then.

No - TRV will be harder once you're married. Once you are married, it will be pretty clear she has future plans to move to Canada. This will actually increase the changes of the TRV being refused.

 

[ituck89]

I see. So it seems that this is going to take some time no matter what. Maybe I have to look into moving to Thailand too.

Thanks again.

 

[ituck89]

Maybe next time it would be easier if she applies without an invitation letter from me? Not sure if that's possible now as we already did one application, and also not sure if that application comes into play when reviewing the next one.

 

[scylla]

Maybe next time it would be easier if she applies without an invitation letter from me? Not sure if that's possible now as we already did one application, and also not sure if that application comes into play when reviewing the next one.

She can certainly do that. Keep in mind however that her profile is very weak given she is unemployed. I would still be expecting a refusal.

The previous application and refusal reasons are stored in IRCC systems and will most likely be reviewed as part of the decisioning process for the new application.

 

[kohman77]

Just want to share a similar experience, not trying to discourage you and everyone's situation is different.

Back when I first knew my wife we applied for the same thing (not from Thailand but also SE Asia). It was denied for the same reasons. We tried everything but ultimately you are not going to be approved unless you can show she has a reason to go back to Thailand after the tourist visa is up. Padding money into her account won't do anything for you by the way and I hope she isn't the one telling you that. Is she leaving her kid? I would incorporate that into your application somehow as proof she needs to return. Any owned land or business would do wonders.
Just giving my opinion that you situation is extremely low chance to get a tourist visa.

I ended up moving to my wife's country and spent a couple years living with her and ultimately got married. We ended up applying for PR. Why not try that? You will also learn if you are truly ready to get married etc if you live together in her home country for a long period of time. If she can't accept that then I got bad news for you.

Bonus for you, Thailand is amazing. Can you take your work remotely? Or any potential jobs in Bangkok? Time to start saving.

Good luck - I wish you will just get your tourist visa approved, but be prepared that it isn't likely.

 

[ituck89]

She is leaving her kid, yes, and her entire family lives in thailand too. She owns land in her home town as well. We incorporated all of this into our first application and still denied.

I've considered moving there as well, but I can not take my work remotely, and probably won't be able to find a job in my field there either. Even if I did, I won't be making any money there. Basically any job that I could do there would pay so little money.

 

[ituck89]

And as for padding her bank account, I thought that she would need to show that she has enough money for her trip. The visa shop told us this.