Visitor visa for my girlfriend - Help!

[jc64]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on how to process a visitor visa for my girlfriend so that we can enjoy christmas together for my family. We met in middle east while both of us are working abroad. I am Canadian, and she is Filipino.

She recently left her job in Bahrain to move back home for some legal matters. She doesn't yet have a job and we decided to wait until after the holidays to find her a job.

We get rejected for the following reasons:

• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on the purpose of your visit.
• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on your current employment situation.
• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on the limited employment prospects in your country of residence.

We provided:
The full set of application forms filled out, family information, etc.

The copy of her passport, including several tourist visas to Turkey and Dubai and her residency visas in Bahrain

Her new bank account in Philippines with equivalent of 5000 CAD in it

Flights booked for 3 weeks, arriving before Christmas and leaving shortly after New Years

Proof of land ownership and home ownership in her home country as she owns a house and land in her home country.

Letter from me to invite her

Letter from me that i will cover her expenses on this trip if required and also a copy of my bank details with 100k CAD.

Evidence of our relationship such as IMM0006 form filled out and notarized, photos for past 2 years

Letter to the customs officer explaining our holiday plans, and the employment situation - that she recently left her job to take care of her legal matter and that we decided to take a holiday first and find a job later so that she doesn't have to worry about not having time off from her employer, and her current savings is sufficient to live comfortably in her place

Letter from her lawyer explaining that she must return to Philippines for the legal matter




What more can we do? We are quite frustrated to be rejected and now not be able to spend the holiday with my family. And i am not sure how to even address "based on the purpose of your visit" which seems incredibly vague and impossible to address.

 

[Sledge]

Request the visa officer's notes with an ATIP request. They may be more specific in the notes and you may be able to address the deficiencies. That happened to me, so I requested the notes and addressed the issues explicitly in my invitation letter and in a letter from her that we added in the additional documents section. The ATIP request takes about a month to process, unfortunately. The fact that she has no job weakens her ties to the Philippines.

 

[canuck78]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on how to process a visitor visa for my girlfriend so that we can enjoy christmas together for my family. We met in middle east while both of us are working abroad. I am Canadian, and she is Filipino.

She recently left her job in Bahrain to move back home for some legal matters. She doesn't yet have a job and we decided to wait until after the holidays to find her a job.

We get rejected for the following reasons:

• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on the purpose of your visit.
• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on your current employment situation.
• I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident, as stipulated in paragraph 179(b) of the IRPR, based on the limited employment prospects in your country of residence.

We provided:
The full set of application forms filled out, family information, etc.

The copy of her passport, including several tourist visas to Turkey and Dubai and her residency visas in Bahrain

Her new bank account in Philippines with equivalent of 5000 CAD in it

Flights booked for 3 weeks, arriving before Christmas and leaving shortly after New Years

Proof of land ownership and home ownership in her home country as she owns a house and land in her home country.

Letter from me to invite her

Letter from me that i will cover her expenses on this trip if required and also a copy of my bank details with 100k CAD.

Evidence of our relationship such as IMM0006 form filled out and notarized, photos for past 2 years

Letter to the customs officer explaining our holiday plans, and the employment situation - that she recently left her job to take care of her legal matter and that we decided to take a holiday first and find a job later so that she doesn't have to worry about not having time off from her employer, and her current savings is sufficient to live comfortably in her place

Letter from her lawyer explaining that she must return to Philippines for the legal matter




What more can we do? We are quite frustrated to be rejected and now not be able to spend the holiday with my family. And i am not sure how to even address "based on the purpose of your visit" which seems incredibly vague and impossible to address.

Unfortunately she will have a pretty tough time getting approved. Her finances are not very strong, no current employment, no recent history of employment in her home country, her travel history doesn’t really count because it isn’t to countries with more stringent visa requirements like the US, UK, Australia, etc.

 

[jc64]

Unfortunately she will have a pretty tough time getting approved. Her finances are not very strong, no current employment, no recent history of employment in her home country, her travel history doesn’t really count because it isn’t to countries with more stringent visa requirements like the US, UK, Australia, etc.

How good does her job have to be? Ok fine our holiday is ruined but eventually I want to bring her to meet my family and friends back home. It's not an unreasonable request to want to bring my partner to Canada right?

We had planned for her to get a job after the Christmas holiday and we explained that in the letter, but she has only a high school education. Not like she is going to be getting a white collar job with high salary.

 

[jc64]

Request the visa officer's notes with an ATIP request. They may be more specific in the notes and you may be able to address the deficiencies. That happened to me, so I requested the notes and addressed the issues explicitly in my invitation letter and in a letter from her that we added in the additional documents section. The ATIP request takes about a month to process, unfortunately. The fact that she has no job weakens her ties to the Philippines.

Yeah i will request the notes also. The vague "purpose of visit" is almost offensive to read. It is pretty clear in our letters that we are coming for holiday to visit my family.

 

[canuck78]

Yeah i will request the notes also. The vague "purpose of visit" is almost offensive to read. It is pretty clear in our letters that we are coming for holiday to visit my family.

There are concerns that she will remain and you will get married.

 

[jc64]

There are concerns that she will remain and you will get married.

Why is that a concern??? Isn't that the point of a relationship?

 

[jc64]

Difficult not to be offended. After all, the refusal letter is tantamount to the VO telling you that you and your gf are liars. They are, after all, saying, in effect: "I do not believe either of you when you say a simple visit to Canada is intended. No, I say your true intention is to be a ship-jumper. You say you'll go home, but you won't. I know that. Why don't you just admit it?"

It's hard to accept being told by the VO that your gf intends to remain in Canada as an illegal immigrant, to remain forever in the shadows, unable to get a SSN, work at legitimate employment, obtain medical or other benefits, but there it is.

In some ways, I am surprised you got a refusal. Your gf has cash in the bank (albeit a small amount by Canadian standards, although I'll bet that quite a few Canadians don't have $5,000 sitting around). She owns land. She is involved in some kind of legal dealings and has a lawyer's letter backing her up (not many Filipinos engage lawyers for anything).

As for her travels, as canuck78 points out, her travel record is of the sort that will be heavily discounted. In fact, you'll read on this forum that having worked abroad as an OFW is a strike against you. Who would have thought of that? Apparently the thinking is along the lines of: "Well, you have not found it difficult in the past to leave your country, your family and all else behind, so that tells us you do not have a strong attachment to the Phils."

We tried this 2 years ago for my gf in the Phils. She had just returned from 8 years in Dubai, Jordan and Hong Kong. She had a university degree from a good school in the Phils, but never got a decent job in her own country. So she went abroad. Suffered quite a bit. She won't even talk about what it was like working in the Middle East, except to say she'll never go back there on pain of death. It was much better in HK, where she had only to work 6 days a week and to live in a closet. But, did she come home to $5k in the bank? Nope. For all those years of personal sacrifice, all she earned went to support family in the Phils, especially paying for younger siblings' education.

For us, the net result is we have not seen each other for 2 years, what with covid and Phils locked down. I left there in December 2019. I had planned to be back early in 2020, and to have her visit here in summer 2020. What a dreamer I was! I thought it possible Feel slightly stupid now. A wasted effort, filling out the reams of paperwork. Flying her from her home town to Manila (requiring 2 nights in a hotel) for "biometrics".

I also went through the process of ordering the notes. Eventually received 48 pages of boilerplate. The notes only repeated the standard verbiage of the refusal letter. Not a scintilla of insight as to any real reasons. Although a lawyer myself, I thought that perhaps there is some magic to these notes, known only to the cognoscenti. So I paid $500 to an immigration lawyer to review them for me. She could find nothing in the notes beyond what was in the letter. I expect you'll fare better on that score. From what I read here, almost invariably the notes contain some nuggets of reasoning. Our case was the exception. But, the conspicuous absence of reasons did not really come as a surprise. It simply reinforced my view that no reasons were recorded because there were none. And, of course, too much to expect the VO to address the points raised in my invitation letter, which I thought offered cogent and compelling evidence in support of the application. In fact, the denial appeared to come almost within hours of completion of biometrics. I don't think my gf had even arrived back home from Manila. I frankly doubt that the VO even gave my letter a superficial glance.

Good luck.

To be honest she is upset but not surprised at all. For her it is common to hear of people being rejected by Canada VO's for what seem like nothing reasons. It is a rumor that the workers in the embassy are Filipinos who are jealous of anyone able to even apply in the first place, so they will reject you out of spite/pettiness. Ours was also rejected in record time. We did the same, sending her from Ilo Ilo to Manila to do the biometrics with a hotel and flights, and then within a day of the biometrics she was rejected.

She sounds like she has a similar story to your partner... spent 7 years abroad in Bahrain as her education didnt find a good job in her hometown, and decided she would make significantly more money as an OFW instead of working in Manila so if she was going to move, then might as well move to the best money. Her salary in ME was not great, and she sent most of it back home too. Only after getting to know me and I started to push her to sometimes do whats best for herself because she was miserable in ME but didnt have any savings. I helped her to start saving and she actually had more than 5k but spent few thousand on the lawyers.

Fortunately we haven't been locked down for 2 years due to COVID, and I guess we will make new holiday plans so we can see each other. Sorry to hear you have been locked down like that.

 

[leaf777]

Why is that a concern??? Isn't that the point of a relationship?

the point of a TRV is to visit as a tourist. if you really have serious plans to marry and you showed that in the application, it's probably the reason why she got rejected.

when did you apply and when did you get the decision?

if you applied pre-sept 7, before canada allowed tourists in, it explains "purpose of visit." her visit is not essential. if you called her "fiancee" at any point in the application, it will be flagged that you have plans to marry and she will try to stay longer in the country under a TRV. the proper visa application for spouses is a spousal visa, not a tourist visa. plans to marry is usually flagged because she will have a stronger tie to canada (you) than to her country.

the other two reasons are straightforward: she's unemployed, has a legal matter on her plate which requires a lot financial commitment, and her last employment was abroad. Kaibigan is also right about her being an OFW-- her depending on another country's economy to provide for her family doesnt make her a good candidate as a tourist in a country where a lot of filipinos are staying and working illegally. the VO also presumes that she cant find good employment in her country of citizenship to the point that she has to look one abroad.

in short, she was flagged for being a potential illegal worker. if youre planning to reapply, she should show complete and thorough documentation about her work, AND her plans to work in the Philippines. she has to be convincing that she has solid plans to go back and stay there (like a job she's aiming for or an employer offering her a job). if her parents or relatives have a business that she can be employed to help with, that is a pretty strong employment opportunity. then she will have a better shot.

 

[leaf777]

Difficult not to be offended. After all, the refusal letter is tantamount to the VO telling you that you and your gf are liars. They are, after all, saying, in effect: "I do not believe either of you when you say a simple visit to Canada is intended. No, I say your true intention is to be a ship-jumper. You say you'll go home, but you won't. I know that. Why don't you just admit it?"

It's hard to accept being told by the VO that your gf intends to remain in Canada as an illegal immigrant, to remain forever in the shadows, unable to get a SSN, work at legitimate employment, obtain medical or other benefits, but there it is.

In some ways, I am surprised you got a refusal. Your gf has cash in the bank (albeit a small amount by Canadian standards, although I'll bet that quite a few Canadians don't have $5,000 sitting around). She owns land. She is involved in some kind of legal dealings and has a lawyer's letter backing her up (not many Filipinos engage lawyers for anything).

As for her travels, as canuck78 points out, her travel record is of the sort that will be heavily discounted. In fact, you'll read on this forum that having worked abroad as an OFW is a strike against you. Who would have thought of that? Apparently the thinking is along the lines of: "Well, you have not found it difficult in the past to leave your country, your family and all else behind, so that tells us you do not have a strong attachment to the Phils."

We tried this 2 years ago for my gf in the Phils. She had just returned from 8 years in Dubai, Jordan and Hong Kong. She had a university degree from a good school in the Phils, but never got a decent job in her own country. So she went abroad. Suffered quite a bit. She won't even talk about what it was like working in the Middle East, except to say she'll never go back there on pain of death. It was much better in HK, where she had only to work 6 days a week and to live in a closet. But, did she come home to $5k in the bank? Nope. For all those years of personal sacrifice, all she earned went to support family in the Phils, especially paying for younger siblings' education.

For us, the net result is we have not seen each other for 2 years, what with covid and Phils locked down. I left there in December 2019. I had planned to be back early in 2020, and to have her visit here in summer 2020. What a dreamer I was! I thought it possible Feel slightly stupid now. A wasted effort, filling out the reams of paperwork. Flying her from her home town to Manila (requiring 2 nights in a hotel) for "biometrics".

I also went through the process of ordering the notes. Eventually received 48 pages of boilerplate. The notes only repeated the standard verbiage of the refusal letter. Not a scintilla of insight as to any real reasons. Although a lawyer myself, I thought that perhaps there is some magic to these notes, known only to the cognoscenti. So I paid $500 to an immigration lawyer to review them for me. She could find nothing in the notes beyond what was in the letter. I expect you'll fare better on that score. From what I read here, almost invariably the notes contain some nuggets of reasoning. Our case was the exception. But, the conspicuous absence of reasons did not really come as a surprise. It simply reinforced my view that no reasons were recorded because there were none. And, of course, too much to expect the VO to address the points raised in my invitation letter, which I thought offered cogent and compelling evidence in support of the application. In fact, the denial appeared to come almost within hours of completion of biometrics. I don't think my gf had even arrived back home from Manila. I frankly doubt that the VO even gave my letter a superficial glance.

Good luck.

i dont think you should put the blame on your country for being protective of its borders. blame the people who have abused the system in the past-- those who overstayed illegally-- for the new system in place. if your country loosens its borders, its economy will suffer because it will bear the burden of all those who got in without proper documentation or respect for the system. you should also consider that VOs and border officers have to consider potential victims of human trafficking. the philippines is a hot spot for human trafficking because people from western countries, including yours, have been smuggling people in and abusing them either as sexual slaves or unpaid laborers. all that is on the shoulders of VOs and border officers.

a lot of people are in difficult situations, so VOs are trained to be objective and distant. im sorry that your gf has had a hard life but her life is her responsibility, not the VO. VOs have rejected even asylum seekers too, because their job is to protect the borders. if your gf got refused because ofemployment reasons, then she should establish herself in the philippines with a better career before thinking of being a tourist in another country.

i might be harsh but im also a filipino who is in a relationship with a canadian whom i havent seen for a year. trust me, it sucks to be flagged not just a potential victim of sex trafficking just because of my gender, but also as a potential illegal immigrant just because i'm filipino. but it's better to educate myself about the system im trying to be apart of.

 

[jc64]

the point of a TRV is to visit as a tourist. if you really have serious plans to marry and you showed that in the application, it's probably the reason why she got rejected.

when did you apply and when did you get the decision?

if you applied pre-sept 7, before canada allowed tourists in, it explains "purpose of visit." her visit is not essential. if you called her "fiancee" at any point in the application, it will be flagged that you have plans to marry and she will try to stay longer in the country under a TRV. the proper visa application for spouses is a spousal visa, not a tourist visa. plans to marry is usually flagged because she will have a stronger tie to canada (you) than to her country.

the other two reasons are straightforward: she's unemployed, has a legal matter on her plate which requires a lot financial commitment, and her last employment was abroad. Kaibigan is also right about her being an OFW-- her depending on another country's economy to provide for her family doesnt make her a good candidate as a tourist in a country where a lot of filipinos are staying and working illegally. the VO also presumes that she cant find good employment in her country of citizenship to the point that she has to look one abroad.

in short, she was flagged for being a potential illegal worker. if youre planning to reapply, she should show complete and thorough documentation about her work, AND her plans to work in the Philippines. she has to be convincing that she has solid plans to go back and stay there (like a job she's aiming for or an employer offering her a job). if her parents or relatives have a business that she can be employed to help with, that is a pretty strong employment opportunity. then she will have a better shot.

We applied in Nov, and got rejected within a day of giving the biometric which was mid Nov, shortly before I wrote this post I suppose. So it was not pre-Sep 7.

We did not use the term fiancee at any point, because we are not engaged. We have been dating for more than 1 year though and had to mention this to support our application as to why I am inviting her and giving financial support when she is here.

Regarding employment, we had already planned to get her a job after the holiday. She only returned from Bahrain in September and wanted to take a holiday before going to work. We understand they cant just take our word for it, but we thought the legal matter should be pretty clear reason to go back, considering we have the letter from her lawyer as well, and she has a home/land paid for in Philippines. Agree though at the end of the day its relatively straightforward... however what constitues as "good employment"? One of the things she was thinking to do is starting a sari-sari store for example. With her land and home she doesnt really need a lot of money to live comfortably.

Spousal visa as far as i know is for permanent residence. We are not looking for permanent residence. We just wanted to see my parents for the holidays.

 

[leaf777]

We applied in Nov, and got rejected within a day of giving the biometric which was mid Nov, shortly before I wrote this post I suppose. So it was not pre-Sep 7.

We did not use the term fiancee at any point, because we are not engaged. We have been dating for more than 1 year though and had to mention this to support our application as to why I am inviting her and giving financial support when she is here.

Regarding employment, we had already planned to get her a job after the holiday. She only returned from Bahrain in September and wanted to take a holiday before going to work. We understand they cant just take our word for it, but we thought the legal matter should be pretty clear reason to go back, considering we have the letter from her lawyer as well, and she has a home/land paid for in Philippines. Agree though at the end of the day its relatively straightforward... however what constitues as "good employment"? One of the things she was thinking to do is starting a sari-sari store for example. With her land and home she doesnt really need a lot of money to live comfortably.

Spousal visa as far as i know is for permanent residence. We are not looking for permanent residence. We just wanted to see my parents for the holidays.

- purpose of visit: did you include a day-to-day itinerary?

- employment: she should mention starting a sari-sari store, or any plans to work at all in her application. include documentation of what she has been doing to plan for those things, even if it's not final. she should also show documentation of her previous work and prove that she worked abroad legally. if she is already has enough money to live comfortably, why are you financially supporting her? if youre her primary source of money, it shows that she's too dependent on you, especially if she is already 30 yrs or above. she has to be able to show that she has her own funds to go back to the philippines. financial sponsorship for visitors is only considered for people who are younger and/or still studying. the fact that she's already worked and is financially comfortable in the philippines but still depends on you to sponsor all her expenses for her travel is a red flag.

its not about having a good job. its about having a good record for holding a job. the VO looks into source of funds to know where she's getting her money from (e.g. if shes earning it or if she's dependent on someone). so employment has to be aligned with funds. if she has no employment or any source of passive income, yet she has financial capability, she needs to explain where the money is coming from. having a long-term job or business, no matter what it is, not just shows legitimate financial capacity but also home ties.

the letter from the lawyer is irrelevant to the employment refusal. shes not being refused because of weak home ties, shes being refused because of employment. if anything, her legal obligations only make the VO look into her source of living even more because being involved in a legal matter is a financial obligation in itself, and she has no funds to show for herself.

i only mentioned spousal visa because of your response earlier.

 

[leaf777]

Not sure anyone will read the book I have written that follows, but I'll say it anyway.

your response just proves that you already expected how the VO will look at your gf's application. you just rationalized every reason why your gf got refused. compared to the philippines, canada's cost of living, standard of education and economy are way beyond what we're used to here, so the simple solution is to focus on improving her living standards first so that she can have something to her name, before she thinks about becoming a tourist in an expensive country-- simple, but not easy. nothing worth doing is. i dont understand why you think that's impossible. you seem to have a lower perspective of filipinos than you think. so she got denied. why not try again? there are people in the philippines got refused 9 times and got through on the tenth.

how is the system is is how the system is. i never said it was perfect, but i understand why it's there. my government and yours arent exactly best friends at the moment-- that's why we have china on the green list and not you. it's all political, so what's new? we're all gonna wait until a perfect system is set in place? if you want to make changes on your own system, talk to the people who can make changes. im giving suggestions to the other guy on how to strengthen his gf's application. sari-sari store is better than unemployed, btw. idk how that's considered "crab mentality." youre the one here who seems hopeless. yes, the system is unfair-- you should know that, being a lawyer. do you know any system that is? if you think depending on governments to be sympathetic to every sob story that they hear is gonna work, youre in the wrong profession. btw, as a lawyer, you have taken an oath to defend the laws of your country. if you disagree with those laws, then do something about it.

i honestly dont know what's the point of your post. doesnt help OP or anyone who reads it.

 

[leaf777]

Jokes lang leaf777? Just who, pray tell, would come up with a "day-to-day itinerary" for a brief visit with family over Christmas?

Let's see:

Day 1: arrive at YVR 9 p.m. Hope to get out of the airport without too much delay. Want to get to his place. We have not been together for a long time. Plan to do some rutting like crazed weasels. Sorry, but you asked for it, Master VO.

Day 2: Wake up at bf's home late morning. Kahapon was a long day, so I plan to sleep in. Have coffee at 10:30. Lunch at 12. Get in bf's car at 2 p.m. and drive to his parents' home, in White Rock, 50 minutes away. 3 p.m., meet the parents, sit around and chat until dinner time at their home. Back to bf's home at 10:30, bed by 11:30. More crazed weasels.

Day 3: Wake up at a more respectable hour, maybe 8 a.m. Bf says on that day we'll do some grocery shopping, maybe at Urban Fare downtown. 12 noon. Lunch on Granville Island. On way home, stop at his workplace and meet some of his colleagues. 7 p.m., dinner at Salmon House on the Hill. More crazed weasels, interspersed here and there.

Day 4: In morning, do some shopping at Oakridge Mall for a few presents for his family. Afternoon. Walk the seawall from English Bay, all the way around, and returning past Beaver Lake. Back home. More, well, you know. Back to parents' for dinner later.

Day 5: Drive the See-Me-Die Highway to Whistler to check that out. Overnight at what bf promises will be a very expensive resort. Lots more of...

Day 6: Home from Whistler, depending on weather conditions, craziness of other drivers, etc. Afternoon, drive to Spanish Banks, park and walk the beach to Wreck Beach and feel sorry we could not be there in fair weather and join the naked crowd. Back to his place later, picking up some groceries along the way, so we can make dinner and have his parents over. If I can find wrappers, I'll make lumpia.

Day 7: Up at 8 and have breakfast at a place the bf says he will take me. In the afternoon, we'll go to Science World, then walk down to Chinatown, maybe buy some BBQ duck and port and, for sure, siopao at the Newtown bakery. Maybe pick up 20 kg. of bigas at Rice World, so it will feel more like home. And some ampalaya at a green grocer. Later, a long session of, well...

Okay, I get it. The above is just a rough draft, covering but a few days. Much more attention to detail is needed. Let me work on it.

day-to-day itinerary helps the VO know your movements and if you actually prepared and planned properly. chill, "kaibigan." talo ang pikon.

PS: if you get your gf pregnant nang kaka-"you know" "you know" niyo, at papauwiin mo sa pinas nang ganyan, kawawa naman siya. i think she deserves better.

 

[Phalos]

Your biggest mistake was presenting her as your girlfriend. VO's do NOT give 3rd world girlfriends, boyfriends and spouses of Canadians visit visas.
If you are not married yet, do NOT disclose your relationship and have your loved one invited by somebody else as a friend (of the same sex) Or simply apply as a pure tourist wanting to see Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto or ski in Banff...(The Niagara Falls excuse doesn't work anymore).
Im saying this for other people, because once you tell them GIRLFRIEND, you basically BLACKLISTED her from any future Visitor Visas...Even if you break up tomorrow she can never get a TRV ever again or have a very small chance (her chances went from 70% to 3% because word GIRLFRIEND.