Canada Tourist Visa

[Mr. Professor]

Hello Experts,

I need a piece of advice, We ( My elder brother & His Family ( Wife & 2 Kids), Me and my family ( wife & 2 kids), planning to go on vacation, we are Indian, and have been living in KSA for past (myself 8 years) and my elder Brother (18 years);

I am having a stable job, since 2015 same company, and my elder brother ( about 8 years other company);

We want to apply for a tourist visa for all of us. I am concerned about approval chances on the below criteria;

Ties to Resident Country ( KSA) - Having a stable job (as a Procurement Representative) for the past 6 years;
Kid studying in School. ( Will that be enough? )

Ties to Home Country (India) - Having property in my own name, additionally, one more property on my wife's name; Parents are living in the home country

Funds: Liquid cash, Saving, Stock & Holdings all together $25k Canadian Dollars Appx. (for my family only)

We are planning for 12 to 15 days visit, for sightseeing, and exploring.

Please advise, Thank you

 

[Legend6892]

What is your travel history, current salary and Job title ?

 

[Mr. Professor]

Not much travel history, I have been to the UK on a student visa back in 2010, 2018 to China Business Visit, Bahrain & UAE for Family Vacation in 2019.

 

[Mr. Professor]

What is your travel history, current salary and Job title ?

$4700 apx. Procurement Representative

 

[Legend6892]

I would suggest you to secure US visa then apply for a Canadian TRV, also you need to check that your job is safe from Saudization.

 

[canuck78]

Hello Experts,

I need a piece of advice, We ( My elder brother & His Family ( Wife & 2 Kids), Me and my family ( wife & 2 kids), planning to go on vacation, we are Indian, and have been living in KSA for past (myself 8 years) and my elder Brother (18 years);

I am having a stable job, since 2015 same company, and my elder brother ( about 8 years other company);

We want to apply for a tourist visa for all of us. I am concerned about approval chances on the below criteria;

Ties to Resident Country ( KSA) - Having a stable job (as a Procurement Representative) for the past 6 years;
Kid studying in School. ( Will that be enough? )

Ties to Home Country (India) - Having property in my own name, additionally, one more property on my wife's name; Parents are living in the home country

Funds: Liquid cash, Saving, Stock & Holdings all together $25k Canadian Dollars Appx. (for my family only)

We are planning for 12 to 15 days visit, for sightseeing, and exploring.

Please advise, Thank you

25k is not a lot of money especially if it isn’t just liquid savings. If you aren’t travelling to see family it doesn’t make sense to spend such a large amount of your income travelling to Canada for a short vacation. Canada is halfway across the world and an expensive place to go on vacation. You don’t have an extensive travel history so Canada doesn’t make a lot of sense for a family vacation.

 

[Mr. Professor]

25k is not a lot of money especially if it isn’t just liquid savings. If you aren’t travelling to see family it doesn’t make sense to spend such a large amount of your income travelling to Canada for a short vacation. Canada is halfway across the world and an expensive place to go on vacation. You don’t have an extensive travel history so Canada doesn’t make a lot of sense for a family vacation.

Hi,

Thank you for your comment! would you suggest me reasonable funds which make sense to the visa officer?

 

[canuck78]

Hi,

Thank you for your comment! would you suggest me reasonable funds which make sense to the visa officer?

There is no exact amount of funds but given the high cost of travel in Canada it doesn’t make a lot of sense that you are willing to deplete so much of your savings when there are many cheaper vacation alternatives. Is there a reason that your family wants to travel to Canada. Are you sure your company will cover the airfare? Normally airfare to your home country is part of employment packages not destinations that are significantly more expensive.

 

[splat_plume]

There is no exact amount of funds but given the high cost of travel in Canada it doesn’t make a lot of sense that you are willing to deplete so much of your savings when there are many cheaper vacation alternatives. Is there a reason that your family wants to travel to Canada. Are you sure your company will cover the airfare? Normally airfare to your home country is part of employment packages not destinations that are significantly more expensive.

The man is not asking for life advise. Honestly a decent hotel in Montreal would be about 250 a night per room. Assuming you get 2 rooms, it's 500 or say 1 room but a bigger one, let's say 300. For 15 days that's 4500. I'd say a budget of $100 a day for food. So that's another $1500. Factor in another $1000 for activities and misc stuff. That's $7000. If you're company is paying for your airfare, it certainly doesn't deplete your savings. There's alot of naysayers here. I don't see a problem with your arrangement budget wise.

 

[canuck78]

The man is not asking for life advise. Honestly a decent hotel in Montreal would be about 250 a night per room. Assuming you get 2 rooms, it's 500 or say 1 room but a bigger one, let's say 300. For 15 days that's 4500. I'd say a budget of $100 a day for food. So that's another $1500. Factor in another $1000 for activities and misc stuff. That's $7000. If you're company is paying for your airfare, it certainly doesn't deplete your savings. There's alot of naysayers here. I don't see a problem with your arrangement budget wise.

$100/day for a family for food is not realistic unless you only eat fast food. Even if the vacation is 10k that is almost half of the family’s savings and it’s still not clear what is liquid and what amount is invested so won’t be considered as cash available. IRCC does look at your family income and the cost of a holiday and considers why you want to travel to such an expensive country if you don’t have an extensive travel history. Not saying that they shouldn’t try and apply but there are quite a few issues. The fact that you live in a 3rd country where you will never get permanent residency is another factor.

 

[Mr. Professor]

@canuck78
@splat_plume

Hi Guys,

I truly appreciate your comments! It helps me a lot in preparing my application;
Meanwhile, I did some digging to understand the cost of a vacation in Canada; Following are the details, I appreciate it if you advise me on these expenses

Canada Trip Expenses	Amount CAD	Reference
Airfare (4)- Return (DMM)	CAD 4,620.00	Skyscanner.com
One-Bedroom Apartment 15 Days	CAD 1,650.00	Airbnb.com
Food (Grocery) 15 Days	CAD 990.00	Ave. Family Grocery in Canada $600-$700
Transportation (Rent a Car / or Public Transport) 15 Days	CAD 1,320.00	Rentacar.com
Activities/Entrance Fee	CAD 825.00	Assuming
Emergency Funds	CAD 1,155.00	Incase
Travel Insurance (4)	CAD 330.00	Bupa.com
Total	CAD 10,890.00

So, based on my search, these are the max expenses for a family to visit Canada for 15 Days, please correct me if it doesn't make sense.
According to my calculation and planning, at the time of application submission, my saving would arise up to $32k ( Including Free Stocks Holding)

Regards, to "why Canada": to be honest, we do not have any intentions to overstay, the main reason we are having strong ties here socially, economically, kids schools & personally, and even it does not make sense to us, what are we going to do in Canada even if we overstay.

Reason: My wife, always wish to travel to Canada for holidays, we were so busy shaping our career and even financially not well at the time, Now we think we can afford the expense as we are earning enough.

I have added the Airfare in case, the company did not allow it.

Even if we go to any other country for vacation, I believe the cost won't be less than $6k - to 7k, I am just adding up to 4k so that we can go to the place where we wish for.

Thank you, I am looking forward to hearing from you guys.

 

[Naturgrl]

Hi,

Thank you for your comment! would you suggest me reasonable funds which make sense to the visa officer?

Add up your airfare, transportation, accommodations, food, sight seeing, insurance. As I mentioned in another post, you are using all your savings on a trip to Canada. If you add all those things up you are at or over $25k because Canada is expensive.

@canuck78
@splat_plume

Hi Guys,

I truly appreciate your comments! It helps me a lot in preparing my application;
Meanwhile, I did some digging to understand the cost of a vacation in Canada; Following are the details, I appreciate it if you advise me on these expenses

Canada Trip Expenses	Amount CAD	Reference
Airfare (4)- Return (DMM)	CAD 4,620.00	Skyscanner.com
One-Bedroom Apartment 15 Days	CAD 1,650.00	Airbnb.com
Food (Grocery) 15 Days	CAD 990.00	Ave. Family Grocery in Canada $600-$700
Transportation (Rent a Car / or Public Transport) 15 Days	CAD 1,320.00	Rentacar.com
Activities/Entrance Fee	CAD 825.00	Assuming
Emergency Funds	CAD 1,155.00	Incase
Travel Insurance (4)	CAD 330.00	Bupa.com
Total	CAD 10,890.00

So, based on my search, these are the max expenses for a family to visit Canada for 15 Days, please correct me if it doesn't make sense.
According to my calculation and planning, at the time of application submission, my saving would arise up to $32k ( Including Free Stocks Holding)

Regards, to "why Canada": to be honest, we do not have any intentions to overstay, the main reason we are having strong ties here socially, economically, kids schools & personally, and even it does not make sense to us, what are we going to do in Canada even if we overstay.

Reason: My wife, always wish to travel to Canada for holidays, we were so busy shaping our career and even financially not well at the time, Now we think we can afford the expense as we are earning enough.

I have added the Airfare in case, the company did not allow it.

Even if we go to any other country for vacation, I believe the cost won't be less than $6k - to 7k, I am just adding up to 4k so that we can go to the place where we wish for.

Thank you, I am looking forward to hearing from you guys.

So you are coming to Canada and staying in one place for the whole time? When is this planned?

As I stated in another post, your children are 8 and 1 year old. With current requirements, your 8 year old is not vaccinated so cannot go out in public gatherings or use public transportation. Entrance fees seems very low but you have children who are unvaccinated so you can’t be in large crowds/go to attractions with current Covid guidelines. Also food is low for two weeks and you aren’t eating in restaurants.

Does your brother’s family, who wants to travel with you have the same amount of funds.

 

[scylla]

Hello Experts,

I need a piece of advice, We ( My elder brother & His Family ( Wife & 2 Kids), Me and my family ( wife & 2 kids), planning to go on vacation, we are Indian, and have been living in KSA for past (myself 8 years) and my elder Brother (18 years);

I am having a stable job, since 2015 same company, and my elder brother ( about 8 years other company);

We want to apply for a tourist visa for all of us. I am concerned about approval chances on the below criteria;

Ties to Resident Country ( KSA) - Having a stable job (as a Procurement Representative) for the past 6 years;
Kid studying in School. ( Will that be enough? )

Ties to Home Country (India) - Having property in my own name, additionally, one more property on my wife's name; Parents are living in the home country

Funds: Liquid cash, Saving, Stock & Holdings all together $25k Canadian Dollars Appx. (for my family only)

We are planning for 12 to 15 days visit, for sightseeing, and exploring.

Please advise, Thank you

Here's my two cents about your profile. By all means you should try to apply.

- The fact you are living outside of your home country and in an country where you only have temporary residency weakens your application.
- How much validity you have left on your KSA visa may impact the application.
- Your employment strengthens your application, especially if it's with a large company. Make sure you include a letter from your employer confirming your employment and leave period.
- Yes, show your wife's property in India
- Having parents in your home country doesn't strengthen your application. You've left them in your home country while you live elsewhere so they really aren't a tie.
- If you have previous travel to countries requiring visas such as the US or UK, that will strengthen your application.
- Your savings are OK but not great. It's not just about demonstrating that you have enough money to cover your trip to Canada (although that's obviously important) but also about showing you are financially well established. Your savings are on the lower side and you'll end up spending quite a bit of those savings (25%? 30%?) on your trip to Canada. That could be a concern for the visa officer or it may not. There's not much you can do about this so apply with what you have.

Good luck with your application.

 

[Mr. Professor]

Add up your airfare, transportation, accommodations, food, sight seeing, insurance. As I mentioned in another post, you are using all your savings on a trip to Canada. If you add all those things up you are at or over $25k because Canada is expensive.

So you are coming to Canada and staying in one place for the whole time? When is this planned?

As I stated in another post, your children are 8 and 1 year old. With current requirements, your 8 year old is not vaccinated so cannot go out in public gatherings or use public transportation. Entrance fees seems very low but you have children who are unvaccinated so you can’t be in large crowds/go to attractions with current Covid guidelines. Also food is low for two weeks and you aren’t eating in restaurants.

Does your brother’s family, who wants to travel with you have the same amount of funds.

@Naturgrl

Thank you so much for your feedback!

 

[Mr. Professor]

Here's my two cents about your profile. By all means you should try to apply.

- The fact you are living outside of your home country and in an country where you only have temporary residency weakens your application.
- How much validity you have left on your KSA visa may impact the application.
- Your employment strengthens your application, especially if it's with a large company. Make sure you include a letter from your employer confirming your employment and leave period.
- Yes, show your wife's property in India
- Having parents in your home country doesn't strengthen your application. You've left them in your home country while you live elsewhere so they really aren't a tie.
- If you have previous travel to countries requiring visas such as the US or UK, that will strengthen your application.
- Your savings are OK but not great. It's not just about demonstrating that you have enough money to cover your trip to Canada (although that's obviously important) but also about showing you are financially well established. Your savings are on the lower side and you'll end up spending quite a bit of those savings (25%? 30%?) on your trip to Canada. That could be a concern for the visa officer or it may not. There's not much you can do about this so apply with what you have.

Good luck with your application.

@scylla,

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! you have cleared so many things for me. I am going to apply. Thank you.