Completely Frustrated with the system

[SeanandGloria]

Good Day,

I am an Expat teacher who has been out of Canada for 5 years now. In that time I met a woman and we got married. Now I want us to visit Canada over the summer vacation but there are just too many roadblocks.

I am not eligible to sponsor my wife to Canada due to the fact that I work in China on a Year to year contractual basis. Being a Teacher, I do not make much money and my wife is a house wife who does not work. Additionally, I have no assets in Canada, currently. I was told that without a Canadian position and letter I can be a sponsor but it will likely be denied as I can give no Canadian proof of income and currently have student loans.

We have also been told by the local Visa (Chinese) agency that she requires approximately 20,555 RMB in her private bank account before they will allow a tourist visa application to be forwarded to the Canadian system from the third party system that is required here. She will also require a full time job that she has been working in for a minimum of two years. This is ridiculous as we have had to move to a place that's primary language is Cantonese and she is a Mandarin and English speaker.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get past these roadblocks? All we want to do is go home for the 4 weeks that I get off.

This has become more frustrating than I would like to admit.

 

[scylla]

I'm not sure who told you that you can't sponsor your wife for permanent residency - however I would stop listening to them immediately. They are giving you wrong advice. You are fully eligible to sponsor her. There are no minimum income requirements for sponsoring a spouse. There is also no requirement to have a job in Canada (or Canadian income) and plenty of Canadian citizens here have been successful in sponsoring their spouses while living and working overseas. The student loans aren't a problem either. However when you sponosor while living/working overseas - you do have to demonstrate that you plan to relocate to Canada and live there once the PR application is approved.

It does tend to be difficult to obtain a visitor visa when your spouse is Canadian since CIC can be concerned that your wife may be attempting to use the visa to move to Canada before she is authorized to do so. But there is nothing stopping you from applying - and you certainly don't need to use an agency to apply. I have no idea how much 20,555 RMB and am too lazy to google it since I haven't had my first coffee of the day yet - so I don't know if this is a reasonable amount or not. You do need to show that you have the funds to pay for the trip and cover expenses while it Canada. She doesn't need to have a job - but it helps. In the end, to be approved, you want to try to demonstrate that she has strong ties to her home country and no plans on remaining in Canada long term. If you are on a multi-year contract in China - then you could potentially show your contract as one of the pieces of evidence to demonstrate that you will return.

Anyway - some of the barriers you think you have (particularly those related to sponsoring your wife for PR) don't actually exist.

 

[sokosan]

Seeing as that you are saying you just want to go home for 4 weeks, I'm guessing you're talking about a TRV (informally known as a "visitor visa" or "tourist visa") here, not PR.

In that case the "sponsoring" problem is easily solved. Do you have family in Canada (parents? siblings? cousins?). Do you have friends?

Your family/friends should send an invitation letter for your wife's TRV. They can say in the letter they will provide her with food and accommodation while you are there (this lowers the amount of money she needs to have with her) and they can also say in that letter that they will, in the event of an emergency, cover any expenses she might not be able to. They have to show some kind of proof of income - a letter from their employer stating their salary is usually enough.

Btw there are no official requirements for her bank balance, job, etc. What you've been told is simply what is "usually enough" to get an application approved, it doesn't mean that she will be rejected even she doesn't have that or that she will be approved for sure if she does.

On her application, she will have to declare her marital status - and also, your friend/family from Canada will have to say in their letter they are inviting her as she is your wife. So, in her application, include a letter from you - saying you've been living in China for 5 years (show some proof of this - i.e. past contracts, whatever) and that you intend to continue to do so, and that you just want to go home for the holidays.