Can i visit Canada during immigration application processing?

[ahmedsaid50]

Hello,

I hope you are all fine.

I have two questions about Manitoba.

My friend and I have submitted our simplified immigration application to the Canadian embassy in Egypt Dec. 2007 and until now we didn't get anything from them. We want to settle in Manitoba but my friend want to visit Canada on October 2008 to visit Manitoba and to see it and to know more about the job vacancies, the weather, the people, the prices of the apartment...etc.

My questions are:

1. Can he go to the Canadian embassy and ask them for a visit visa? and for how long? He want to stay there for two or three months.

2. Does he need an invitation letter from someone live in Manitoba? We have a Canadian friend lives there.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance and best regards
Ahmed

 

[qbanky]

I doubt if you will get a visa since your application for immigration in itself indicates you plan to settle in Canada. How will they know, well because they will ask you on the form you fill. Make sure you don't lie otherwise it could also jeopardise your PR application
Finally going to Manitoba to check does not seem a plausible reason since you can sit in front of the internet and get all the info you need on it!.
Yes for visa application you need an invitation letter if you are visiting a friend.
goodluck anyway

 

[ahmedsaid50]

I doubt if you will get a visa since your application for immigration in itself indicates you plan to settle in Canada. How will they know, well because they will ask you on the form you fill. Make sure you don't lie otherwise it could also jeopardise your PR application
Finally going to Manitoba to check does not seem a plausible reason since you can sit in front of the internet and get all the info you need on it!.
Yes for visa application you need an invitation letter if you are visiting a friend.
goodluck anyway

Thank you my friend for your reply.

Yes my friend and I stated in the application that we want to settle in Manitoba and both of us don't intend to say lies to the visa officer as we don't want to lose our chance in Canada.

Also i read on the CIC website that explanatory visit to Canada is accepted by the immigration officers. But i don't know is this is right or not.

 

[Leon]

How soon do you expect to get your PR? If you come from a country where the processing time for skilled worker is 3-5 years and you want to go now and look for jobs, immigration might just think you are trying to get in early and stay illegally but again they know that you applied and you don't want to mess up your application. I think it should be ok for you to apply for a visitor visa, say you want to vacation, not look for jobs. They can always say no.

 

[ahmedsaid50]

Thank you Leon for your reply.

The processing time is taking about 4 years, but i told my friend that we don't need to lose our chance to immigrate to Canada.

But the aim of the visit is to see Manitoba and to deal with everything there and this is not easy or possible through the internet as qbanky said because you cannot feel how the weather will be when the snow falls, or how to protect yourself from a wind storm. This is one example of why my friend want to visit Canada next month.

But i think that the best idea now is to forget this visit and wait until we get the PR visa.