Canadian visa office requiring proof of permission to leave country

[claurianta]

Hello,

My wife is applying for a TRV to come to Canada. They just sent her an email asking for two things:

1. Proof of essential travel. My understanding is that for a spouse all that's required is that the visit will be over 15 days, which it will be in this case (we're looking at a full 6 month visit). Would it be sufficient to explain this, or what proof would they require to show she's staying for more than 15 days? We've not yet bought tickets because we don't know when the visa will be issued (applied end of June).
2. Proof that she's allowed to depart the Philippines. The Philippines has some outbound restrictions due to COVID, but they do make humanitarian exemptions though its not quite clear how to get that - it appears to be at the discretion of the immigration officer on departure, but we found something on their facebook page indicating that family reunification is considered humanitarian. We would try to seek a humanitarian exemption, but may not be able to get one. In any case, the Philippines did open outbound tourism for a couple months in July, and so if we can't get a humanitarian exemption, we want her to have the visa in hand so she can leave as soon as the restrictions are lifted. Has anyone ever seen Canadian visa offices requiring proof that you're allowed to leave your home country before issuing a visa? Seems like that is something that's none of Canada's business - that's between the person and their country.

Thanks

 

[Qwertypod]

The point is that they would not waste time processing the application if she can't even leave the country. Why wouldn't it be their business?

 

[canuck78]

Hello,

My wife is applying for a TRV to come to Canada. They just sent her an email asking for two things:

1. Proof of essential travel. My understanding is that for a spouse all that's required is that the visit will be over 15 days, which it will be in this case (we're looking at a full 6 month visit). Would it be sufficient to explain this, or what proof would they require to show she's staying for more than 15 days? We've not yet bought tickets because we don't know when the visa will be issued (applied end of June).
2. Proof that she's allowed to depart the Philippines. The Philippines has some outbound restrictions due to COVID, but they do make humanitarian exemptions though its not quite clear how to get that - it appears to be at the discretion of the immigration officer on departure, but we found something on their facebook page indicating that family reunification is considered humanitarian. We would try to seek a humanitarian exemption, but may not be able to get one. In any case, the Philippines did open outbound tourism for a couple months in July, and so if we can't get a humanitarian exemption, we want her to have the visa in hand so she can leave as soon as the restrictions are lifted. Has anyone ever seen Canadian visa offices requiring proof that you're allowed to leave your home country before issuing a visa? Seems like that is something that's none of Canada's business - that's between the person and their country.

Thanks

Spouses still need to qualify for a TRV. They aren’t automatically given one even though there are no travel restrictions for spouses of PRs and citizens.