Visitor Visa Rejected - Canadian Spouse

[barzanistan]

Hello everyone. I am a Canadian citizen (Canadian-Canadian) who has been living and working in Northern Iraq for the last three years. I intend to keep living here for at least another few years. This was stated clearly in the application.
I got married last year while living here. I wanted to bring my wife home to Canada over the summer to visit my family before coming back to Iraq with me.

We made an application for a visitor visa, which was rejected based on a lack of travel history. So I took my wife on a few vacations to Turkey and Lebanon to get a few more stamps on her passport.
I re-applied for her visitor visa and it was refused today because they said we need to apply for a sponsorship visa instead. But that's the part I don't get. We have no intention of living in Canada for at least another 5 years and that is exactly why we were applying for a visitor visa. It seems dishonest to apply for permanent residence given that we will not be residing in Canada for more than 4 weeks out of the year.
I had supporting documents from my member of parliament, as well as ample evidence of work ties and her family ties here (as well as my work ties here to Iraq).

It really feels to me as if the immigration officer did not properly read through the application and suggested something contrary to our wishes. Is there some kind of appeal request? I feel simply applying a third time for a visitor visa is not helpful. I have heard of people contacting the ambassador where they are located has led to some success. Any other advice? Thank you.

 

[bellaluna]

You are right, it is fruitless to apply again for a TRV (you can't appeal, but apply again) after two previous refusals.

If you apply for her sponsorship and it is successful and she becomes a permanent resident (you will be taking her to Canada for her landing anyway, have the holiday when she has to do that), I believe the time she spends with you even when you are in Iraq will be counted towards her residency obligation. If my interpretation of the RO is correct, then the TRV seems like an unnecessary step in the first place, and the VO was doing you a favor by suggesting sponsorship instead.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=727&top=4

Time spent outside Canada may also count towards the two years if you are:

travelling with your spouse or partner who is a Canadian citizen,

Seniors can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Jalex23]

We made an application for a visitor visa, which was rejected based on a lack of travel history. So I took my wife on a few vacations to Turkey and Lebanon to get a few more stamps on her passport.

You do not need to have travel history to get a TRV. You need to show similar travel to other countries than the one you are requesting for Canada. For example if she requested a 2 months visit to Canada CIC will want to see similar trips of 2 or more months for her. This usually happens when people request or very long stays or their purpose of travel are do not match the profile of the requestor.

It really feels to me as if the immigration officer did not properly read through the application and suggested something contrary to our wishes.

It reads more to me that you are not tackling the concerns expressed by CIC. So these concerns should be solved before reapplying.

As Bellaluna mentioned appealing serves no purpose, will take longer and most probably will fail.

You need to provide more detail on your application, like documents submitted, length of stay, travel plans, trip accomodations, etc. The more details the more we can help you.

 

[scylla]

Hello everyone. I am a Canadian citizen (Canadian-Canadian) who has been living and working in Northern Iraq for the last three years. I intend to keep living here for at least another few years. This was stated clearly in the application.
I got married last year while living here. I wanted to bring my wife home to Canada over the summer to visit my family before coming back to Iraq with me.

We made an application for a visitor visa, which was rejected based on a lack of travel history. So I took my wife on a few vacations to Turkey and Lebanon to get a few more stamps on her passport.
I re-applied for her visitor visa and it was refused today because they said we need to apply for a sponsorship visa instead. But that's the part I don't get. We have no intention of living in Canada for at least another 5 years and that is exactly why we were applying for a visitor visa. It seems dishonest to apply for permanent residence given that we will not be residing in Canada for more than 4 weeks out of the year.
I had supporting documents from my member of parliament, as well as ample evidence of work ties and her family ties here (as well as my work ties here to Iraq).

It really feels to me as if the immigration officer did not properly read through the application and suggested something contrary to our wishes. Is there some kind of appeal request? I feel simply applying a third time for a visitor visa is not helpful. I have heard of people contacting the ambassador where they are located has led to some success. Any other advice? Thank you.

It's not at all unusual for a visitor visa to be refused in this situation since CIC often suspects the spouse has plans to remain in Canada long term.

Appealing isn't worth it. Too long and expensive with no guarantee of success. I would suggest reapplying instead and providing stronger evidence if possible. What evidence did you provide to show ties to Iraq (including your ties) and demonstrate you have no plans on remaining in Canada?

FYI - for travel history they are looking for travel to countries requiring visas like the US, UK, Europe, etc. So the travel your wife has done unfortunately isn't helpful and a refusal based on travel history is accurate / valid.

 

[riasat.abir]

Hello everyone. I am a Canadian citizen (Canadian-Canadian) who has been living and working in Northern Iraq for the last three years. I intend to keep living here for at least another few years. This was stated clearly in the application.
I got married last year while living here. I wanted to bring my wife home to Canada over the summer to visit my family before coming back to Iraq with me.

We made an application for a visitor visa, which was rejected based on a lack of travel history. So I took my wife on a few vacations to Turkey and Lebanon to get a few more stamps on her passport.
I re-applied for her visitor visa and it was refused today because they said we need to apply for a sponsorship visa instead. But that's the part I don't get. We have no intention of living in Canada for at least another 5 years and that is exactly why we were applying for a visitor visa. It seems dishonest to apply for permanent residence given that we will not be residing in Canada for more than 4 weeks out of the year.
I had supporting documents from my member of parliament, as well as ample evidence of work ties and her family ties here (as well as my work ties here to Iraq).

It really feels to me as if the immigration officer did not properly read through the application and suggested something contrary to our wishes. Is there some kind of appeal request? I feel simply applying a third time for a visitor visa is not helpful. I have heard of people contacting the ambassador where they are located has led to some success. Any other advice? Thank you.

Visitor visa won't be any helpful at all.
You have apply for sponsoring your spouse.
You can try contacting Canadian embassy but I'm sure they will ask you the same to sponsor your spouse.
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/jordan-jordanie/index.aspx?lang=eng

 

[Mohanasush]

Re: Visitor Visa Extension Rejected


Hi Everyone,

I have applied for visitor visitor visa extension for my mother and me but I just got a reject on our applications today. I am really worried and need help immediately. The reason for rejection was stated as that our application for extension was submitted after the expiry of our visas which is not correct. I actually submitted our application before the 30 day period of visa expiry.

What can I do now. I have the documents with our visa status dates provided by cic - can I send these to the cic. If yes how can I do that? What is the best way to contact cic in this regard? Please let me know what is the best thing to do? I am sure I submitted all forms they asked me online when submitting the application. They did not even ask me if they needed additional documents. Please help!

Thank you in advance

 

[scylla]

I would go with the OWP. An OWP is not a TRV. It is a work permit. Two completely different kinds of visas.

 

[canuck78]

TRVs are often refused because it is assumed that the spouse wants to remain in Canada and is not coming for a few weeks on holiday.

What is the spouse's status in Canada and when does their school year end or WP end? Are they working in NOC 0, A or B? Did you recently get married? Do you have a long relationship history of being with each other in person?

 

[canuck78]

So your spouse may struggle to get an OWP until you have more of a relationship history. You should definitely apply for on OWP but we've seen spouses who are newly married after an arranged marriage get denied after their first attempt at an OWP because unfortunately one of the immigration fraud strategies is for people to marry people who already have status and then they apply for an OWP and then divorce sometime after getting to Canada. Doesn't mean that you'll be denied but others have made concrete plans assuming the OWP was guaranteed so don't quit jobs, sell things, etc. until you have the OWP.

 

[Vivek0]

So your spouse may struggle to get an OWP until you have more of a relationship history. You should definitely apply for on OWP but we've seen spouses who are newly married after an arranged marriage get denied after their first attempt at an OWP because unfortunately one of the immigration fraud strategies is for people to marry people who already have status and then they apply for an OWP and then divorce sometime after getting to Canada. Doesn't mean that you'll be denied but others have made concrete plans assuming the OWP was guaranteed so don't quit jobs, sell things, etc. until you have the OWP.

Thanks so much for this meaningful insight, Canuck78. Much appreciated. I will keep this in mind and look for ways to strengthen the sOWP application. Also will look into getting some professional help so we know that we're doing it right the very first time. Thank you again for being in this forum and helping people with your knowledge.