Applying for Visitor VISA while waiting on outland PR application

[philgoodhusband]

Hi guys, I was hoping to get your thoughts on this.

I applied for PR outland on June 2015 sponsored by my wife. VISA office is Manila and since September, ECAS status is "in process." We are considering whether I should apply for a tourist VISA while waiting.

I had actually been granted a tourist VISA before (2013, valid through Feb 2016), and I have visited my then girlfriend (and now wife) in Canada four times using said VISA. But it expired recently and now I am in a sort of limbo (like many of us are) just waiting for my PR. We honestly didn't expect the wait to last so long, and not knowing how much longer we'd have to wait and stay apart has been pretty stressful. (We'd been dating since 2009 and most of our relationship has been long-distance, so we'd really like to be together for good ASAP.

I have read somewhere here that tourist VISA applications concurrent with a PR application have a tendency to be denied. Is there any particular reason? What other factors/consequences should I consider?

Should I be granted a tourist VISA again, I probably will fly to Canada ASAP. If so, and when a PPR subsequently arrives, would it be possible to just send my passport to Manila by courier or will I have to fly back to have it processed? All options are on the table I suppose, but right now I just want to know more about my options so I can make an informed decision.

 

[sb414]

Hi guys, I was hoping to get your thoughts on this.

I applied for PR outland on June 2015 sponsored by my wife. VISA office is Manila and since September, ECAS status is "in process." We are considering whether I should apply for a tourist VISA while waiting.

I had actually been granted a tourist VISA before (2013, valid through Feb 2016), and I have visited my then girlfriend (and now wife) in Canada four times using said VISA. But it expired recently and now I am in a sort of limbo (like many of us are) just waiting for my PR. We honestly didn't expect the wait to last so long, and not knowing how much longer we'd have to wait and stay apart has been pretty stressful. (We'd been dating since 2009 and most of our relationship has been long-distance, so we'd really like to be together for good ASAP.

I have read somewhere here that tourist VISA applications concurrent with a PR application have a tendency to be denied. Is there any particular reason? What other factors/consequences should I consider?

Should I be granted a tourist VISA again, I probably will fly to Canada ASAP. If so, and when a PPR subsequently arrives, would it be possible to just send my passport to Manila by courier or will I have to fly back to have it processed? All options are on the table I suppose, but right now I just want to know more about my options so I can make an informed decision.

Being approved for a visitor visa while waiting for PR is not impossible
My husband was approved for a single entry visa up to 6 months, in November 2015, and just applied last weekend for another and was approved. As long as you can prove your ties to return back. You were previously approved, I think that will also benefit you.

If you get PPR while in Canada, you can courier your passport from Canada, and when you receiev your passport back with COPR, you can drive to any Canada/US border and do your "landing" there

 

[philgoodhusband]

Appreciate that! I think I can show ties to come back just fine. But with a PR application underway, obviously the idea is to move to Canada sooner rather than later, so that's kind of contradictory isn't it?

Why would you say getting a tourist VISA while a PR app is in process is any harder than getting a tourist VISA period? Is it precisely because of this contradiction? I'm trying to understand the rationale to see how it applies to our case...

 

[sb414]

Appreciate that! I think I can show ties to come back just fine. But with a PR application underway, obviously the idea is to move to Canada sooner rather than later, so that's kind of contradictory isn't it?

Why would you say getting a tourist VISA while a PR app is in process is any harder than getting a tourist VISA period? Is it precisely because of this contradiction? I'm trying to understand the rationale to see how it applies to our case...

to be honest, I have no idea! I think it all depends on the country your from, your job.
when we wrote the letter for the first visitor visa, I was advised to use "dual intent" as the purpose of the visitor visa, and prove his ties back home... his job, house, family.

 

[philgoodhusband]

Dual intent - interesting; will make a note of that. I suppose my other concern is how applying for a visitor VISA may or may not affect my ongoing PR application. Does it have any effect at all?

 

[CDNPR2014]

Dual intent - interesting; will make a note of that. I suppose my other concern is how applying for a visitor VISA may or may not affect my ongoing PR application. Does it have any effect at all?

nope, has no effect at all. they are separate applications and one has nothing to do with the other. you will need to show substantial proof in your visitor visa app that you have significant ties to your home country. most pr applicants applying for visitor visas have a difficult time getting approved because CIC assumes you would leave everything behind to be with your spouse in canada. there are people who have been successful, and that's mainly because they were able to prove significant ties to their home country (ie: job, property, etc), from what I understand.

 

[canadianwoman]

Go ahead and apply. You got one before, so that is a very good sign. Even if it is refused, it will not hurt your PR application. (Having many refused visa applications before you apply for a PR does hurt the PR application; successful ones do not, and even one refused one to go visit your partner won't hurt.)

You have to show ties to the Philippines such that the visa officer believes you will leave Canada. Since people with a spouse in Canada have ties to Canada, this is harder to prove and is why TRV applications while a PR app is in process are often refused. Still, some people manage to get them.

 

[philgoodhusband]

Thanks for your inputs!

So it seems to be worth a shot, with the only risk being a chance of having a blemish on my travel record in case it gets refused (albeit one that's apparently not too significant all things considered).

I am currently waiting for GCMS notes my wife requested late March. When it arrives and still shows little progress, I am leaning towards pulling the trigger on a visitor VISA application.

Meanwhile, would appreciate if anyone reading this who could think of any other thing at all that I should consider could chime in. Thanks so much!

 

[philgoodhusband]

UPDATE: I applied for a TRV and was granted a multiple-entry one through 2020. Glad I listened to advice given here as I am happy to report that I am now here in Canada with my wife. The waiting game for my PR app goes on but at least we can wait together.

While I am waiting here, I am looking at various options to make productive use of my time. I have read in other threads about volunteering, taking short non-credit courses, among other things. I was also told about considering applying for a work permit, rather than waiting for my PR to be processed before I dive into the job market. Is this a legitimate option for my case? Thoughts on what I should consider?

 

[amans2515]

@Philgoodhusband Hi,, could you please share the list of documents you included in you TRV application

 

[canadianwoman]

Congratulations on getting a TRV!
I would not bother applying for a work permit. Your PR visa will probably be ready soon, probably sooner than you would get a work permit.

 

[philgoodhusband]

@Philgoodhusband Hi,, could you please share the list of documents you included in you TRV application

Basically the list they gave me after answering all their questions before submitting an online application. I would say the key things that I did were the Letter of Explanation and Purpose of Travel. I used those to clearly show what I planned to do in Canada for the specific time period planned, and appended docs to back it up. I also mentioned in the letter that I have visited my wife here several times before on my previous TRV, and each time exited within a few weeks, also providing proof via passport stamps. Apart from those, the rest of my docs were just as they asked for.

 

[philgoodhusband]

Congratulations on getting a TRV!
I would not bother applying for a work permit. Your PR visa will probably be ready soon, probably sooner than you would get a work permit.

Thank you! From another thread I learned applying for a work permit isn't actually an option. So I'll probably just use the time trying to be more employable (getting some Canadian experience by volunteering, taking relevant online courses, etc.) and hopefully the PR decision comes soon enough.