Ankara Visa Office Applicants Check in here! :)

[SoH]

Congratulations! So happy for you!!

Thanks a lot. I hope you all have this good moment very soon

 

[SoH]

wow congrats to you, was yours a complicated case?

12 months is hella long time. Still hoping I will be back to Canada by my wife's bday in march, really dont want to spend xmas,news years,valentines AND her birthday away from her

I really am impressed by your patience and wish you all the best in re-uniting with your significant other.

Heres to hope we all will soon.

Tired of watching Sydney,Colombo and other offices rush through applications while we are stuck

Thank you. I hope your case will be done sooner than ours. I don't think that our case can be named as a complicated cases. Because we dated each other about 6 years (since 2007) before our wedding ceremony!! we had a fully completed package such as: 6 years phone log, about 100 photos with our families and friends during these years, too many postal receipts and emails & ...
Considering these complete documents I think that just their strike action ruined our file process & in a normal circumstances these cases must be done in 6-8 months.

 

[SooMazi]

Congrats SoH, great news!


From what I've always assumed it's the security/background check that can take up the most time. Generally speaking (from what I've read and gathered) the eligibility, criminal and medical check stage is pretty straight forward and can be passed relatively quickly as long as their are no relationship red flags and the criminal and medical papers are fine. This is why I think on average it can take a bit longer for sponsored males to get their visa than females. For example - a sponsored male that has done his military service or completed extra years in the military and/or travelled extensively and/or has an employment background linked to any "state-controlled/funded" activity and/or political activity and/or has a common name or a name similar to an individual in a security database will have a security background check that takes a lot longer than an individual that has none of these things.

That's not to say there are cases where an individual has a very straight forward file with no security issues and it still takes a long time to process or an individual has these things and it goes quickly. It's just the luck of the draw - 50% your application and 50% the visa officer you get!

 

[Turkey2013]

Hi everyone!

Our interview is coming up soon at the Ankara office. We have provided additional pictures (123), my proof going to see hubby since our wedding in January (which they did not know of yet) and since the beginning of the relationship (even though we already did), support letters (9 in total) from my family and co-workers and friends (his and mine), over 400 pages of skype chats, and drilling him on questions that he might have (red flags)....December 5 2013 is the interview! I have gone threw this whole forum, searching for additional information of what I might have missed....so my question is : IS THERE MORE THINGS MISSING before the interview??

I could not order GCMS notes, because we would have received it late. November 8 2013 we were notified for the interview by email, so it did not give me enough time to receive them (30 days) ....Have any advice??

 

[Galip]

Hi everyone!

Our interview is coming up soon at the Ankara office. We have provided additional pictures (123), my proof going to see hubby since our wedding in January (which they did not know of yet) and since the beginning of the relationship (even though we already did), support letters (9 in total) from my family and co-workers and friends (his and mine), over 400 pages of skype chats, and drilling him on questions that he might have (red flags)....December 5 2013 is the interview! I have gone threw this whole forum, searching for additional information of what I might have missed....so my question is : IS THERE MORE THINGS MISSING before the interview??

I could not order GCMS notes, because we would have received it late. November 8 2013 we were notified for the interview by email, so it did not give me enough time to receive them (30 days) ....Have any advice??

Ankara usually do not call people for interview. However:

- If there is a huge age difference between partners (usually if the husband is younger than his wife)
- If one partner or both are unemployed for a long time
- If there is no enough evidence about how you met and how you started and grow your relationship
- If there isn't enough information or evidence about your engagement and wedding / honeymoon
- If a partner has a visa rejection before, than they call for interview.

Nowadays anyone can write support letter and skype logs, those are not great proofs. Try to bring anything from your wedding, honeymoon or vacation/travelling showing your names together, such as flight tickets, hotel reservations, wedding invitations, video records, personal letters, birthday cards, etc. Whatever you wrote on the forms could be a question at the interview. Your partner may be asked for detailed questions too.

Good luck!

 

[distcom]

Could anyone access some inside news to see if they are working or they have temporarily paused the processing? a single simple question from an officer?

 

[Melisaa]

Hi everyone!

Our interview is coming up soon at the Ankara office. We have provided additional pictures (123), my proof going to see hubby since our wedding in January (which they did not know of yet) and since the beginning of the relationship (even though we already did), support letters (9 in total) from my family and co-workers and friends (his and mine), over 400 pages of skype chats, and drilling him on questions that he might have (red flags)....December 5 2013 is the interview! I have gone threw this whole forum, searching for additional information of what I might have missed....so my question is : IS THERE MORE THINGS MISSING before the interview??

I could not order GCMS notes, because we would have received it late. November 8 2013 we were notified for the interview by email, so it did not give me enough time to receive them (30 days) ....Have any advice??

As someone mentioned already, Ankara office doesn't like interviews much. I've only seen a few people being interviewed. Despite the lack of evidence in proving the relationship, the couples were either from two different nationalities (who didn't really speak each another's language) or there was huge age difference. Could you guess what was the primary reason for being called for an interview? I mean if you fit in any of such categories we could help you better.

 

[Turkey2013]

As someone mentioned already, Ankara office doesn't like interviews much. I've only seen a few people being interviewed. Despite the lack of evidence in proving the relationship, the couples were either from two different nationalities (who didn't really speak each another's language) or there was huge age difference. Could you guess what was the primary reason for being called for an interview? I mean if you fit in any of such categories we could help you better.

Here are the red flags: We have 11 yrs difference, I am older than him and been divorced and have a child who is now 19yrs old. I am lebanese and he is turkish....even though my grand parents (dad side) were born and met in Turkey (failed to mention it in the application), we speak english together and some help on his part with google translate!!!! I have known him for two years now (met october 2011) threw facebook....not the same religion ...I make more money than he does, BUT please WHO in Turkey makes more than 2000 lira in a month?????? My parents did not attend the wedding, nobody on my side did, since we are talking about Canada-Turkey ....I had support letters from them and from my daughter explaining WHY they were not there and that they have met him threw webcam... The support letters were written by my family, best friend, a collegue from work and my chief arbitrator who is my boss and somewhat influential in the work relation field for the Qc government...Hope those letters were not made for not and will be taken into consideration

 

[Turkey2013]

Ankara usually do not call people for interview. However:

- If there is a huge age difference between partners (usually if the husband is younger than his wife)
- If one partner or both are unemployed for a long time
- If there is no enough evidence about how you met and how you started and grow your relationship
- If there isn't enough information or evidence about your engagement and wedding / honeymoon
- If a partner has a visa rejection before, than they call for interview.

Nowadays anyone can write support letter and skype logs, those are not great proofs. Try to bring anything from your wedding, honeymoon or vacation/travelling showing your names together, such as flight tickets, hotel reservations, wedding invitations, video records, personal letters, birthday cards, etc. Whatever you wrote on the forms could be a question at the interview. Your partner may be asked for detailed questions too.


Good luck!

Thanks Galip!!

I will try to be more detailed, hope that will explain the reason for the interview. I am thinking yes age difference, he is younger than me (11 yrs), First time we only talked for 6 months and I went to meet him in October 2011, than another 8 months, we got engaged, went back again after 6 months , we got married, and another 9 months this october 2013....Is that enough length of time for courtship...I am writing this and feel nauseated that the VO can think that this relationship is not genuine, OH GOD please take our place and feel what we feel everyday talking threw a webcam and putting our lives on hold . We did not have this big elaborate wedding or engagement, he works all summer for 18 hours so he can support his mom during winter because work slows down at that period....so yes money is an issue and that is why there was no reception but all his 10 big members of his families were all gathered (intimate and real). For hotel reservation, Turkish people have one price and tourist another, so guess who made the reservation and with whose credit card, yesss me for two people and on the reservation it does not show the name of the other person...but when we got to the hotels, he had to show his id card and they made a copy of it, so that can be verified...would it be better if we asked them to send us a confirmation of his and my stay ????

 

[SooMazi]

Here are the red flags: We have 11 yrs difference, I am older than him and been divorced and have a child who is now 19yrs old. I am lebanese and he is turkish....even though my grand parents (dad side) were born and met in Turkey (failed to mention it in the application), we speak english together and some help on his part with google translate!!!! I have known him for two years now (met october 2011) threw facebook....not the same religion ...I make more money than he does, BUT please WHO in Turkey makes more than 2000 lira in a month?????? My parents did not attend the wedding, nobody on my side did, since we are talking about Canada-Turkey ....I had support letters from them and from my daughter explaining WHY they were not there and that they have met him threw webcam... The support letters were written by my family, best friend, a collegue from work and my chief arbitrator who is my boss and somewhat influential in the work relation field for the Qc government...Hope those letters were not made for not and will be taken into consideration

Hi Turkey2013,
I think the real red flag they are probably wanting to check out the most is the age difference. Be sure your husband can explain why this is not a problem, as it is usually not the societal norm in some cultures for the wife to be older than the husband by a large amount. Don't have him say "age doesn't matter, it's just a number, we never thought about the age difference, etc.!" as the visa officer might think otherwise. Identify that "yes, there is an age difference but for us the situation is different because a....b...c...etc." Be sure he can explain your future plans together in Canada. I don't know either of your ages, so I can't comment about what else the visa officer might be assuming. I am unsure of how long ago you got divorced, but if it was soon before you met your current husband the visa officer may be concerned it was a case of a "lonely heart". The other things you mentioned I don't think are that big of a deal. Think of it this way, it's not so much that the visa officer doesn't think the marriage is real, but they are there to protect you as a Canadian. So, you have to show them through your evidence and answers that there is nothing to worry about.
All the best!

 

[Turkey2013]

Hi Turkey2013,
I think the real red flag they are probably wanting to check out the most is the age difference. Be sure your husband can explain why this is not a problem, as it is usually not the societal norm in some cultures for the wife to be older than the husband by a large amount. Don't have him say "age doesn't matter, it's just a number, we never thought about the age difference, etc.!" as the visa officer might think otherwise. Identify that "yes, there is an age difference but for us the situation is different because a....b...c...etc." Be sure he can explain your future plans together in Canada. I don't know either of your ages, so I can't comment about what else the visa officer might be assuming. I am unsure of how long ago you got divorced, but if it was soon before you met your current husband the visa officer may be concerned it was a case of a "lonely heart". The other things you mentioned I don't think are that big of a deal. Think of it this way, it's not so much that the visa officer doesn't think the marriage is real, but they are there to protect you as a Canadian. So, you have to show them through your evidence and answers that there is nothing to worry about.
All the best!

Thanks SooMazi!

I have been to so many threads and yes I believe because I am older (45) and he's younger (34) it might rise some eyebrows...the real thing about our relationship is that it started on facebook and skype, like every normal human being and couples of 2013 and we kept exchanging for about 3 months without realizing how much we had things in common and after wanting to see eachother in person and having great conversations about life, plans, past experience, past love.....we have been talking everyday after the first month and hoping that the long distance relationship will go further and will surpass the inquisitions, doubts....we even talked about our age difference, hell even his parents have an 8 years difference and his mom is older lolllll!!!! I ended the relationship in 2009 and moved away and in Canada (maybe you already know this) you have to be separated for one year before you can get divorced...that is what happened so my official date for my divorce on papers is 2010. Hope that helps on understanding my situation... I appreciate all your comments and advice!

 

[Abe1004]

Figured I wold chip in my two cents.

My wife (been together for three years now, dated for 2.2, married for 9 months now) is 24 years older than me (yea imagine that!),probably a red flag to immigration.


We have been together since 2010, lived since January 2011 so you can imagine, that we know each other pretty well.

I think first thing I would say if I was your husband, is that, why is it scrutinized so much? I mean honestly I know my wife like back of my hand ( and i am sure your husband knows you) and I will answer any question they ask me about her no problems, if they had to wake me up at 3 am and ask me anything about her, I d probably know it...(duh its 3 am i am still awake).

She was badly hurt and I stuck through with her for all that time, supporting us financially so i guess that will alliviate some of the burden.

I would suggest you and your husband be confident, answer without hesitation, but at the same time take your time and think before you do so. Theres no shame in stepping back and thinking question over.

I hope I was useful and remember, you are blessed, because you will pass interview with flying color, they will likely take your passport right there and stamp visa in

Trust me lots of people would love to be in your place ;D

God willing,everything will be ok!

Sincerely
Abe.

 

[Turkey2013]

Figured I wold chip in my two cents.

My wife (been together for three years now, dated for 2.2, married for 9 months now) is 24 years older than me (yea imagine that!),probably a red flag to immigration.


We have been together since 2010, lived since January 2011 so you can imagine, that we know each other pretty well.

I think first thing I would say if I was your husband, is that, why is it scrutinized so much? I mean honestly I know my wife like back of my hand ( and i am sure your husband knows you) and I will answer any question they ask me about her no problems, if they had to wake me up at 3 am and ask me anything about her, I d probably know it...(duh its 3 am i am still awake).

She was badly hurt and I stuck through with her for all that time, supporting us financially so i guess that will alliviate some of the burden.

I would suggest you and your husband be confident, answer without hesitation, but at the same time take your time and think before you do so. Theres no shame in stepping back and thinking question over.

I hope I was useful and remember, you are blessed, because you will pass interview with flying color, they will likely take your passport right there and stamp visa in

Trust me lots of people would love to be in your place ;D

God willing,everything will be ok!

Sincerely
Abe.

Thanks Abe, I really appreciate your advices!

I am more nervous than my hubby about this interview, he is cool and seems not worried. Me on the other hand, is right now as we speak going threw all of the whole applications one by one, trying to see what did I write that rise eyebrows, what evidence i forgot to include, while he on the hand is out with his buddies and telling me that everything will be fine!! If I was being interviewed I would not be that nervous, I am so use to it but when it is not up to you, it is kind of hard and especially because I won't attend.....

I have to think positive, that everything will go great and visa will be issued the same day....I will not sleep on december 4 until I know how everything went!!!!! THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYONE on taking their time to help us threw this with advices and encouragement...I will be sure to give back what I so freely received from you guys, and will keep you posted!!

 

[Turkey2013]

Thanks Abe, I really appreciate your advices!

I am more nervous than my hubby about this interview, he is cool and seems not worried. Me on the other hand, is right now as we speak going threw all of the whole applications one by one, trying to see what did I write that rise eyebrows, what evidence i forgot to include, while he on the hand is out with his buddies and telling me that everything will be fine!! If I was being interviewed I would not be that nervous, I am so use to it but when it is not up to you, it is kind of hard and especially because I won't attend.....

I have to think positive, that everything will go great and visa will be issued the same day....I will not sleep on december 4 until I know how everything went!!!!! THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYONE on taking their time to help us threw this with advices and encouragement...I will be sure to give back what I so freely received from you guys, and will keep you posted!!

And by the way, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon, Charlie Chaplin and his wife Oona, Cleopatra and Ceasar lolllllll so it has been going on for ERAS this AGE GAP THING, and Alleluia!!!! Just saying 8)

 

[Melisaa]

And by the way, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon, Charlie Chaplin and his wife Oona, Cleopatra and Ceasar lolllllll so it has been going on for ERAS this AGE GAP THING, and Alleluia!!!! Just saying 8)

I think if you could both attend the interview, it'd greatly help your application. There was somebody in this thread whose husband was younger. The applicant (the husband) was called for an interview, and the sponsor accompanied him (even though she was not required to show up). They got approved a few months ago. I'm not saying it guarantees an approval, but it could help. I'm sorry to mention this, no offense, but according to what you said there are more than one red flag in your application regarding the genuineness of your relationship. So gather as much as proof you can, and if you could both go for the interview and show them that you have an ongoing, real relationship, much better. Good luck