Bulgarian Girlfriend on a Visitor Visa

[JohnnyOcem]

Hi All,


I am a Canadian Citizen by birth, not naturalization (if that even matters).
My girlfriend of 4 years is a Bulgarian National of Slavic descent, whom I met while living in London.

So far, we have applied twice to get her a visitor's visa and both times we were rejected.
The reasons given by the officer in their letters were:

" 7) You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident. [reasons include]:

1) Your travel history

2) Your family ties in Canada and in your country of residence

3) Purpose of visit

4) Limited employment prospects in your country of residence

5) Your current employment situation
6) Your personal assets and financial status "

1) She has not travelled anywhere except for London--where we met, Majorca--where I took her on vacation this fall and Bulgaria--where she is from.

2) She has 2 brothers and an Aunt there in London--not sure what they want with this one

3) She is coming to vist me for a month at a time over the allotted period and then leave.

4 & 5) She is employed as a contract cleaner with at least 10 private and commercial clients (some of reputable standing. All of whom have given her signed letters stating that i) she works for them ii) how long she has been working for them iii) that she will continue to work for them upon her return.

6) She has saved up more than the required amount for her trip. A number which is constantly increasing as she met those requirements back in july when we first applied. Not to mention that my income is sufficient to meet many of the multi person financial supporting requirements.

7) I will personally escort her out of the country (said as much in the invitation letter).

I do not mean to offend anyone when I say this but I love my Girl and I take my Citizenship, country and it's laws seriously. I feel that I would be cheapening and disrespecting all of these things if we took the marriage for entry route. When I ask her, I want her to know it's for her, because we're ready for that step. Not just some cheap tool to "jump the line".

How should I interpret the officers responses above and what options are available to us (Should / can we go the sponsorship route)?


Thank you in advance

JohnnyOcem

 

[JohnnyOcem]

also, do you guys know if it makes any difference to the approval process to chose a single trip visa over a multi-entry visa?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

The biggest issues are 1 and 2.

1. CIC likes to see a travel history showing a person has been granted visas to other developed countries and left on time. This indicates to CIC that the person is at low risk to illegally stay in Canada.

2. Basically, they want to see that she has stronger family ties in her country of residence than she has to Canada. Unfortunately for you guys, CIC almost always considers the partner living in Canada to be the strongest tie.

You could try again but without being able to overcome those points, I doubt that she will be granted a TRV.


Have you guys lived together continuously for a year? If you have, you qualify as common-law and you can sponsor her for PR. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse.asp

If you aren't common-law, you could go live with her for a year to become common-law, then sponsor her.

Or, as much as you don't want to, you can get married and sponsor her right away.

 

[JohnnyOcem]

Hey CiU,

Thanks for the response.

We travelled to Spain in October, does that count for her leaving a developed nation on time?

What about this conjugal thing that I have heard about? Would we qualify for that one?

 

[scylla]

What about this conjugal thing that I have heard about? Would we qualify for that one?

No - you don't. Conjugal is for those who cannot get married and cannot become common law. You don't face any barriers to getting married and therefore don't qualify for conjugal.

 

[SenoritaBella]

If Bulgaria is part of the European Union, then she would have a right to live, visit, work in Spain anyway and therefore not possible to "overstay".

Our lawyer told us 9 times out of 10, they will reject a TRV application when you have a romantic interest in Canada. They just think she is not visiting but actually "immigrating" without the appropriate visa(i.e. permanent resident visa).

I get that you don't want to get married just so she has "easier" access to Canada. If you have lived together for 1 year and have sufficient proof, you can sponsor her as a common-law spouse. Or wait until you are ready to get married and sponsor her then. In the meantime, will be good to find a way to see(visit) each other, because letting too much time go by without seeing each other in person may create red flags for the sponsorship application.

Hey CiU,

Thanks for the response.

We travelled to Spain in October, does that count for her leaving a developed nation on time?

What about this conjugal thing that I have heard about? Would we qualify for that one?

 

[JohnnyOcem]

Efcharisto Scylla y muchos gracias SenoritaBella,

We were not living together in London
She is not immigrating yet, we are still trying to grow our relationship to see if that (and marriage) would be a possibility in the future. Ironically it is this in conjunction with the my regard for the system that is the cause of our agony.

Do you think that if I appealed to the officer, outlined these things in my invite letter that it would make a difference?

 

[SenoritaBella]

I hear you, it's really a warped system in a sense. Anyway, it doesn't hurt to try again but really, unless her circumstances have changed significantly, it will likely result in another refusal. To succeed, she(not you) has to overcome all those reasons in the previous refusal and sometimes another officer can refuse based on a set of different reasons.

Doing things the right way shows regard for the system but the system doesn't always makes it easier. At this point, my only decision would be whether you are ready to marry. If you are not, then continue to know each other, visit her(or live there with her for a couple months if you can and see how it goes), etc. This is probably not a convenient arrangement especially for someone interested in co-habiting first.

Efcharisto Scylla y muchos gracias SenoritaBella,

We were not living together in London
She is not immigrating yet, we are still trying to grow our relationship to see if that (and marriage) would be a possibility in the future. Ironically it is this in conjunction with the my regard for the system that is the cause of our agony.

Do you think that if I appealed to the officer, outlined these things in my invite letter that it would make a difference?

 

[JohnnyOcem]

What changes, if any do you guys think that January 2014 will have on this situation.

*January 2014 is when they become full EU ( minus schengen)

I hear you, it's really a warped system in a sense. Anyway, it doesn't hurt to try again but really, unless her circumstances have changed significantly, it will likely result in another refusal. To succeed, she(not you) has to overcome all those reasons in the previous refusal and sometimes another officer can refuse based on a set of different reasons.

Doing things the right way shows regard for the system but the system doesn't always makes it easier. At this point, my only decision would be whether you are ready to marry. If you are not, then continue to know each other, visit her(or live there with her for a couple months if you can and see how it goes), etc. This is probably not a convenient arrangement especially for someone interested in co-habiting first.

Do you think that writing a letter to my MP would bear any fruit?

 

[Sweden]

What changes, if any do you guys think that January 2014 will have on this situation.

*January 2014 is when they become full EU ( minus schengen)
Do you think that writing a letter to my MP would bear any fruit?

I don't think writing to your MP will do anything. MP can be useful if your PR case is stuck in limbo and you are not getting any info out of CIC. But it's not your case. CIC has refused the tourist visa because they think that your girlfriend is at risk of overstaying, as she has stronger links to Canada than to her own country. AS much as you can promise that you will make sure she goes back to Bulgaria etc., that's not going to convince CIC most likely.
The only thing that could make it easier is IF Bulgaria became visa-exempt to Canada, because of entering the EU fully. As long as your girlfriend's situation doesn't change (ie, she doesn't have stronger links), then most likely her visa will be denied.
Good luck,
Sweden