39 year age gap

[mikeymyke]

Unfortunately I dont think there is anyway for u to avoid the interview. The age difference is too great for an interview to be waived IMO. But as I said before, u have a lot of positives and u should be fine at the interview

charmainefrances is a user here who had a large age difference and is Filipino, she got interview as expected but passed, u can message her for her experiences

 

[canphil]

[You have to prove genuiness of ur relationship. You are living there is positive sign. collect letter from ur friend family about ur relationship,
pictures at different tourist spots together, joint accounts, rental lease...etc

yes we have rental lease contract, one for one month on arrival and another for two years. We enjoy living in the Philippines, the only reason I want to go back to Canada is I have a house to take care of there, but I don't want to go back without the love of my life.
We have different receipts, photos, letters, chat, facebook posts..

 

[canphil]

Unfortunately I dont think there is anyway for u to avoid the interview. The age difference is too great for an interview to be waived IMO. But as I said before, u have a lot of positives and u should be fine at the interview

charmainefrances is a user here who had a large age difference and is Filipino, she got interview as expected but passed, u can message her for her experiences

Thanks.. I checked out her posts including interview experience but her situation is much different. With us there are no children.. we even share same marital status... single and never married. Reason we want to avoid interview is that I read it could significantly increase the processing time. Would it not help to write a letter explaining how our age gap is not an issue and for the VO to please not judge us by our age? No one else has an issue with it

 

[scylla]

Thanks.. I checked out her posts including interview experience but her situation is much different. With us there are no children.. we even share same marital status... single and never married. Reason we want to avoid interview is that I read it could significantly increase the processing time. Would it not help to write a letter explaining how our age gap is not an issue and for the VO to please not judge us by our age? No one else has an issue with it

Yes - you can certainly write a letter. Almost everyone writes a relationship letter (even if they don't have an age gap) and this is where you would explain your age gap. As others have said, since your age gap is so significant, I think you should assume there will be an interview no matter what information you include in your application. Yes - having an interview will result in longer processing times.

 

[Rob_TO]

Yes we have same level of education and same religion. We have same goals and desires. We enjoy doing the same things. We both enjoy the homelife and more.. we are like buddies and we love each other true!

Is that same religion Christian/Catholic? The cultural norm in Philippines is that for regular couples (so not same-sex), you are expected to get married and have a wedding with family/friends attending. During an interview the visa officer may question her about this, and why she is not getting married to you. Remember she will need to basically convince them that she isn't with you just to get PR status to Canada for a better life here.

Common-law is a perfectly valid status here in Canada, but it really does go against the religious/cultural norm that is predominant in the Philippines. And visa offcers are trained to match up relationship details against the culture the applicant is coming from.

In your case, letters of support from her family may help a lot, that she has introduced you to them as her partner and that they support your relationship.

You might want to find others that applied common-law from Philippines and see if they ran into any difficulties, interviews, and were eventually processed successfully.

 

[canphil]

Is that same religion Christian/Catholic? The cultural norm in Philippines is that for regular couples (so not same-sex), you are expected to get married and have a wedding with family/friends attending. During an interview the visa officer may question her about this, and why she is not getting married to you. Remember she will need to basically convince them that she isn't with you just to get PR status to Canada for a better life here.

Common-law is a perfectly valid status here in Canada, but it really does go against the religious/cultural norm that is predominant in the Philippines. And visa offcers are trained to match up relationship details against the culture the applicant is coming from.

In your case, letters of support from her family may help a lot, that she has introduced you to them as her partner and that they support your relationship.

You might want to find others that applied common-law from Philippines and see if they ran into any difficulties, interviews, and were eventually processed successfully.

Her parents are common law as well.. they never married and for sure they support our relationship. And no one on my side or her side has any issue with the age. And yes would be good to find others from philippines who succeeded with common-law to Canada.
But can they deny you just because you don't follow the tradition or norms??

 

[CanadianAlien]

Her parents are common law as well.. they never married and for sure they support our relationship. And no one on my side or her side has any issue with the age. And yes would be good to find others from philippines who succeeded with common-law to Canada.
But can they deny you just because you don't follow the tradition or norms??

You are dealing with civil servants, for whom the world starts and ends with the manual.

As a layman...you WILL get an interview, if you don't I would be gob-smacked. But expecting it now allows you to prepare WELL in advance and even get the evidence right, now, on paper, as what you put on those forms will form the basis of many questions.

I'm not here to get into the ins and outs of your relationship, you guys are happy and in love, so being candid it's your business and no one else's. But civil servants do not use the same logic, if you're relationship falls within certain "red flag" parameters (and rightly or wrongly a 39 yr age gap is one of those) then you MUST be fraudulent as the manual says so, accept that and start proving your case.

PS speaking as a man...being 63 and dating a 24 yr old....I tip my hat to you sir!!

 

[annakrystyna13]

The fact that you say that you are like "buddies" doesn't help at all.
I saw a list of possible interview questions somewhere on this forum and I remember seeing a question: "How is your relationship with your girlfriend/wife different that that of a female friend" or something along those lines. You are not supposed to be just friends, you are supposed to be partners, lovers, soulmates, life-long partners and so on...

 

[keesio]

But can they deny you just because you don't follow the tradition or norms??

Yes. That is one of the red flags they look for.

I you wish to avoid an interview, you need to provide some super strong proof. Testimonial letters from parents, relatives and close friends (signed and notarized) talking about how they support your relationship. Pictures of you spending quality time with her parents/relatives (and vice versa if possible), in celebratory events if possible (like her dad's birthday for example). It will be tough to avoid an interview but anything is possible. Good luck!

 

[Rob_TO]

Her parents are common law as well.. they never married and for sure they support our relationship. And no one on my side or her side has any issue with the age. And yes would be good to find others from philippines who succeeded with common-law to Canada.
But can they deny you just because you don't follow the tradition or norms??

Not following cultural norms is a red flag. Not in itself a reason for denial, but if combined with several other red flags could cause a visa officer to conclude she's only using you to get PR status and deny the application. Remember there are actual cases where young foreign women/men do this to older Canadians, and then abandon them shortly after arriving in Canada. You need to convince the visa officer otherwise as due just to the age difference there will already be suspicions right from the start.

If her parents are Catholic, are not married, and have children together, this goes completely against the religious norm in the Philippines. However I think it would be a tremendous help to your case, as it shows she is following the example already set by her parents regardless of cultural/religious norms. Make sure you include testimonial letters from her parents and family that speak to all of this.

 

[charmainefrances]

Hello there! Here is our experience in 2013. I hope it would help!


Background:

My husband is 32 years older than me
I am 30 and he is 62.
I arrived in canada under a work permit in june 2009. 2 weeks after, i met my (now husband for 3 years and 1 month).
We got married on sept. Of 2010
Applied inland in nov. 2010
File tranferred from vegreville to edmonton in oct. 2011
Reasons: age gap, short courtship, doubting if our marriage is genuine, asking if i'm married back home. That i did not declare my son when i applied for a visa to come to canada.

Month after the transfer, we submitted everything we could to prove that our martiage is true, genuine and authentic. We did this every month until april of 2013.

Aug. 30, 2013 - we received a call in notice from cic edmonton asking us for interview. The requirements the io requested : lease/ rent agreement, pictures from wedding, trips etc., t4, notice of assessment, t1 , paystubs, bills, and option c and bank statements(Most of the req. were tax related, it's probably because the io want to make sure that we have money to provide for our dependent)

Sept. 12,2013- interview day- we arrived at cic edm very prepared! Did not even feel nervous at all! We are confident and we know that what we need to do is to show who we really are!

My interview lasted for 1 hr and 15 min.
Questions asked:
What is my name, bday, my parents name
What is my husbands name, birthday, parents name, siblings and where they live.
Where and when we meet?
Who proposed, describe the moment
When and where is our wedding?
How many people attended? Names of attendees, reception?
1st date? Where when, what we ordered?
Are we sexually active?
Do we want to have kids?
Name of my son, names of my husbands daughter, names of grandkids
How is the relationship between my husband and son

And then suddenly the io stopped typing because she said the computer stopped working. So we started again from the very beginning. I think for me this is to test if i will answer the questions the same thing.

Then, she asked me 3 times in different ways , where do i work, she probably want to make sure that i am not working anywhere else.

Describe our apartment
Who pay bills ?
Where does my husband work?
How much salary?
Do i send money to my home country? How much?
She asked if I'm in Canada
Asked if i have a criminal record or convicted

At the end of the interview, she just said that the only reason why our file was transferred is because of our age gap. Then i said, i know! Lol! I said that , when we applied in 2010, we did not even know that there are red flags like that. What we presented them is the real us!

Then i showed some personal stuff like the crosstitch i made as a birthday gift for my husbands grand daughter, cards from friends and family. Our wedding invitation.

And that's it!

Then it's my husband's turn!!

His interview lasted for 45 minutes. And he was asked the same questions and he answered the same as mine with a little bit of elaboration lol!

When the io told him that our file was tranferred because of age gap, he told the io that this has been happening eversince, just like cleopatra and julis ceasar, charlie chaplin and his wife oona etc. etc. that was the killer answer! Lol!
The io was smiling while typing this my husband said!

All in all the interview went well! The atmosphere inside the interview room was very non threatening, it was actually full of laughter. Me and my husband are very happy people by nature! So i think we really gave a positive vibes inside the interview room.

Exactly 1 month after the interview, oct12,2013, i received an email requesting for medical examination. Then aip and owp arrived on oct. 16.

Medical examination done Oct. 23, 2013.

cic received medical Oct. 31, 2013

Landed as PR - June 24, 2014

 

[Lons]

I don't think you'll have much of a problem, as long as your relationship is genuine. If you're in a genuine relationship, I really don't think you have much to worry about. I would include as many photos as possible. Also, I know it was mentioned to write a relationship letter. Do that. But I also think it would be a good idea for both of you to write your own individual letters explaining how you both overcome some of the common problems that age-gap relationships can present. It's my experience that as long as you get ahead of your red flags, you'll be okay. Acknowledge that the red flags exist in your application and explain why they shouldn't be concerned, in your case. Good luck!

 

[canphil]

Thanks Lons, Will do that and i hope so much it will help but what are some of the common problems age-gap relationships can present? It would be good to know and then we can show we don't have them. We have no problems with ours. We are both single, never married, no kids and we both enjoy a simple life, home, yard, garden, walks, pets....

 

[canphil]

Hello there! Here is our experience in 2013. I hope it would help!


Background:

My husband is 32 years older than me
I am 30 and he is 62.
I arrived in canada under a work permit in june 2009. 2 weeks after, i met my (now husband for 3 years and 1 month).
We got married on sept. Of 2010
Applied inland in nov. 2010
File tranferred from vegreville to edmonton in oct. 2011
Reasons: age gap, short courtship, doubting if our marriage is genuine, asking if i'm married back home. That i did not declare my son when i applied for a visa to come to canada.

Month after the transfer, we submitted everything we could to prove that our martiage is true, genuine and authentic. We did this every month until april of 2013.

Aug. 30, 2013 - we received a call in notice from cic edmonton asking us for interview. The requirements the io requested : lease/ rent agreement, pictures from wedding, trips etc., t4, notice of assessment, t1 , paystubs, bills, and option c and bank statements(Most of the req. were tax related, it's probably because the io want to make sure that we have money to provide for our dependent)

Sept. 12,2013- interview day- we arrived at cic edm very prepared! Did not even feel nervous at all! We are confident and we know that what we need to do is to show who we really are!

My interview lasted for 1 hr and 15 min.
Questions asked:
What is my name, bday, my parents name
What is my husbands name, birthday, parents name, siblings and where they live.
Where and when we meet?
Who proposed, describe the moment
When and where is our wedding?
How many people attended? Names of attendees, reception?
1st date? Where when, what we ordered?
Are we sexually active?
Do we want to have kids?
Name of my son, names of my husbands daughter, names of grandkids
How is the relationship between my husband and son

And then suddenly the io stopped typing because she said the computer stopped working. So we started again from the very beginning. I think for me this is to test if i will answer the questions the same thing.

Then, she asked me 3 times in different ways , where do i work, she probably want to make sure that i am not working anywhere else.

Describe our apartment
Who pay bills ?
Where does my husband work?
How much salary?
Do i send money to my home country? How much?
She asked if I'm in Canada
Asked if i have a criminal record or convicted

At the end of the interview, she just said that the only reason why our file was transferred is because of our age gap. Then i said, i know! Lol! I said that , when we applied in 2010, we did not even know that there are red flags like that. What we presented them is the real us!

Then i showed some personal stuff like the crosstitch i made as a birthday gift for my husbands grand daughter, cards from friends and family. Our wedding invitation.

And that's it!

Then it's my husband's turn!!

His interview lasted for 45 minutes. And he was asked the same questions and he answered the same as mine with a little bit of elaboration lol!

When the io told him that our file was tranferred because of age gap, he told the io that this has been happening eversince, just like cleopatra and julis ceasar, charlie chaplin and his wife oona etc. etc. that was the killer answer! Lol!
The io was smiling while typing this my husband said!

All in all the interview went well! The atmosphere inside the interview room was very non threatening, it was actually full of laughter. Me and my husband are very happy people by nature! So i think we really gave a positive vibes inside the interview room.

Exactly 1 month after the interview, oct12,2013, i received an email requesting for medical examination. Then aip and owp arrived on oct. 16.

Medical examination done Oct. 23, 2013.

cic received medical Oct. 31, 2013

Landed as PR - June 24, 2014

thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on finally making it, wow, 4 years! Our situation is different, outland, im here in the philippines living with my love for over a year and I need to get back to Canada! I have my house and affairs there and am only allowed to stay in Philippines for less than 2 more years now. Thats why i want to avoid interview, cuz it could take too long..

 

[canphil]

Hello there! Here is our experience in 2013. I hope it would help!


Background:

My husband is 32 years older than me
I am 30 and he is 62.
I arrived in canada under a work permit in june 2009. 2 weeks after, i met my (now husband for 3 years and 1 month).
We got married on sept. Of 2010
Applied inland in nov. 2010
File tranferred from vegreville to edmonton in oct. 2011
Reasons: age gap, short courtship, doubting if our marriage is genuine, asking if i'm married back home. That i did not declare my son when i applied for a visa to come to canada.

Month after the transfer, we submitted everything we could to prove that our martiage is true, genuine and authentic. We did this every month until april of 2013.

Aug. 30, 2013 - we received a call in notice from cic edmonton asking us for interview. The requirements the io requested : lease/ rent agreement, pictures from wedding, trips etc., t4, notice of assessment, t1 , paystubs, bills, and option c and bank statements(Most of the req. were tax related, it's probably because the io want to make sure that we have money to provide for our dependent)

Sept. 12,2013- interview day- we arrived at cic edm very prepared! Did not even feel nervous at all! We are confident and we know that what we need to do is to show who we really are!

My interview lasted for 1 hr and 15 min.
Questions asked:
What is my name, bday, my parents name
What is my husbands name, birthday, parents name, siblings and where they live.
Where and when we meet?
Who proposed, describe the moment
When and where is our wedding?
How many people attended? Names of attendees, reception?
1st date? Where when, what we ordered?
Are we sexually active?
Do we want to have kids?
Name of my son, names of my husbands daughter, names of grandkids
How is the relationship between my husband and son

And then suddenly the io stopped typing because she said the computer stopped working. So we started again from the very beginning. I think for me this is to test if i will answer the questions the same thing.

Then, she asked me 3 times in different ways , where do i work, she probably want to make sure that i am not working anywhere else.

Describe our apartment
Who pay bills ?
Where does my husband work?
How much salary?
Do i send money to my home country? How much?
She asked if I'm in Canada
Asked if i have a criminal record or convicted

At the end of the interview, she just said that the only reason why our file was transferred is because of our age gap. Then i said, i know! Lol! I said that , when we applied in 2010, we did not even know that there are red flags like that. What we presented them is the real us!

Then i showed some personal stuff like the crosstitch i made as a birthday gift for my husbands grand daughter, cards from friends and family. Our wedding invitation.

And that's it!

Then it's my husband's turn!!

His interview lasted for 45 minutes. And he was asked the same questions and he answered the same as mine with a little bit of elaboration lol!

When the io told him that our file was tranferred because of age gap, he told the io that this has been happening eversince, just like cleopatra and julis ceasar, charlie chaplin and his wife oona etc. etc. that was the killer answer! Lol!
The io was smiling while typing this my husband said!

All in all the interview went well! The atmosphere inside the interview room was very non threatening, it was actually full of laughter. Me and my husband are very happy people by nature! So i think we really gave a positive vibes inside the interview room.

Exactly 1 month after the interview, oct12,2013, i received an email requesting for medical examination. Then aip and owp arrived on oct. 16.

Medical examination done Oct. 23, 2013.

cic received medical Oct. 31, 2013

Landed as PR - June 24, 2014

thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on finally making it, wow, 4 years! Our situation is different, outland, im here in the philippines living with my love for over a year and I need to get back to Canada! I have my house and affairs there and am only allowed to stay in Philippines for less than 2 more years now. Thats why i want to avoid interview, cuz it could take too long..