Consultant refused to accept case to sponsor wife from Vietnam need advice

[c.aensran]

Hey everyone I recently got married while I was in vacation in Vietnam. I met a wonderful woman who I shared a lot in common and had many of the same life's aspirations. We fell in love and got married while I was over there and now that I've come back home I've been looking through the process of sponsoring my wife to come live with me in Canada and decided to have a consultant help with the paperwork to make sure that I get everything correctly. The problem I've had is that the consultant that's done cases for my family in the past since many of my family members married overseas refused to take the case for me and my wife. He said he didn't want to tarnish his companies name in what looked like an application with a high chance of failure and his reasoning being that I hadn't spent too much time with my wife before marrying her and he believes it will be a problem in the application process.

He said he was willing to look over it to make sure that we weren't missing any paperwork for a fee but that was all and that in the case of me and my wife it would be an uphill battle to allow her to immigrate to Canada to live with me. He said that I'm free to submit the application but it would be very difficult to get it through. Should I go ahead and complete the paperwork myself and hope for the best?

Does anyone have any advice on my best course of action? He told me that if the application gets rejected it is very difficult to apply again especially if it gets rejected in appeals. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Gary_87]

Hey everyone I recently got married while I was in vacation in Vietnam. I met a wonderful woman who I shared a lot in common and had many of the same life's aspirations. We fell in love and got married while I was over there and now that I've come back home I've been looking through the process of sponsoring my wife to come live with me in Canada and decided to have a consultant help with the paperwork to make sure that I get everything correctly. The problem I've had is that the consultant that's done cases for my family in the past since many of my family members married overseas refused to take the case for me and my wife. He said he didn't want to tarnish his companies name in what looked like an application with a high chance of failure and his reasoning being that I hadn't spent too much time with my wife before marrying her and he believes it will be a problem in the application process.

He said he was willing to look over it to make sure that we weren't missing any paperwork for a fee but that was all and that in the case of me and my wife it would be an uphill battle to allow her to immigrate to Canada to live with me. He said that I'm free to submit the application but it would be very difficult to get it through. Should I go ahead and complete the paperwork myself and hope for the best?

Does anyone have any advice on my best course of action? He told me that if the application gets rejected it is very difficult to apply again especially if it gets rejected in appeals. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

How long were you on vacation for? how long after arriving did you meet? how long after you met did you get married? are you back in canada now?

 

[expectin]

Hey everyone I recently got married while I was in vacation in Vietnam. I met a wonderful woman who I shared a lot in common and had many of the same life's aspirations. We fell in love and got married while I was over there and now that I've come back home I've been looking through the process of sponsoring my wife to come live with me in Canada and decided to have a consultant help with the paperwork to make sure that I get everything correctly. The problem I've had is that the consultant that's done cases for my family in the past since many of my family members married overseas refused to take the case for me and my wife. He said he didn't want to tarnish his companies name in what looked like an application with a high chance of failure and his reasoning being that I hadn't spent too much time with my wife before marrying her and he believes it will be a problem in the application process.

He said he was willing to look over it to make sure that we weren't missing any paperwork for a fee but that was all and that in the case of me and my wife it would be an uphill battle to allow her to immigrate to Canada to live with me. He said that I'm free to submit the application but it would be very difficult to get it through. Should I go ahead and complete the paperwork myself and hope for the best?

Does anyone have any advice on my best course of action? He told me that if the application gets rejected it is very difficult to apply again especially if it gets rejected in appeals. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The Consultant is right, just give time to the relationship, example aply in a few months for a Visitor Visa first so you gt to
know each other better.

 

[canadianwoman]

You can do the application yourself. Feel free to ask questions on the forum. I would also have the consultant check over the forms once you are done, as he suggested.
The consultant is correct that your case sounds difficult. Generally getting married on the first visit is not a good idea. However, people have been successful in these circumstances as well.
You have not spent much time with your wife, so I would suggest that you make sure to visit her for as long as you can during the time it takes to process your application.
If the PR application is rejected, and in particular if it also loses on appeal, it is very difficult to successfully reapply. The government takes the position that the case has already been decided. Just like if you sue someone and lose, you cannot sue him again and again about the same issue. However, I wouldn't worry about the appeal just yet. Start getting your application ready first.

 

[c.aensran]

The Consultant is right, just give time to the relationship, example aply in a few months for a Visitor Visa first so you gt to
know each other better.

How would that Visitor Visa work? So she would live here for a few months with me before we apply and submit the application? If she's here on a visitor visa would it change to an inland application?

You can do the application yourself. Feel free to ask questions on the forum. I would also have the consultant check over the forms once you are done, as he suggested.
The consultant is correct that your case sounds difficult. Generally getting married on the first visit is not a good idea. However, people have been successful in these circumstances as well.
You have not spent much time with your wife, so I would suggest that you make sure to visit her for as long as you can during the time it takes to process your application.
If the PR application is rejected, and in particular if it also loses on appeal, it is very difficult to successfully reapply. The government takes the position that the case has already been decided. Just like if you sue someone and lose, you cannot sue him again and again about the same issue. However, I wouldn't worry about the appeal just yet. Start getting your application ready first.

That's extremely disheartening. I had no idea there were such big restrictions in place in falling in love and getting married. I wish I had known there was some sort of ritual or procedure ahead of time that needed to be followed before you're allowed to love someone and marry them. As for the application itself before I left Vietnam I had already arranged for her paperwork to be done with IOM because she isn't very good with English so we needed a translator anyways. Most of the paperwork including the medical check up on her side is complete and that was when I went to the consultant to have him look over what IOM did with her paperwork as well as what I needed to do with mine and that's when he dropped the bad news.

How long were you on vacation for? how long after arriving did you meet? how long after you met did you get married? are you back in canada now?

I was on Vacation for two months and I met her the first day I arrived. I married her after a month and yes I'm back in Canada now.

 

[expectin]

How would that Visitor Visa work? So she would live here for a few months with me before we apply and submit the application? If she's here on a visitor visa would it change to an inland application?

That's extremely disheartening. I had no idea there were such big restrictions in place in falling in love and getting married. I wish I had known there was some sort of ritual or procedure ahead of time that needed to be followed before you're allowed to love someone and marry them. As for the application itself before I left Vietnam I had already arranged for her paperwork to be done with IOM because she isn't very good with English so we needed a translator anyways. Most of the paperwork including the medical check up on her side is complete and that was when I went to the consultant to have him look over what IOM did with her paperwork as well as what I needed to do with mine and that's when he dropped the bad news.

I was on Vacation for two months and I met her the first day I arrived. I married her after a month and yes I'm back in Canada now.

Yes after a few months from now you can aply for a visitor visa for her, just keep in mind she got to have Ties to her home country and a few
other requierments, and the she come back to her country, and then after a good time meaning a year more or less you guys aply outland
thats after you have evidence to make your case strong and shows that your relationship is genuine,

 

[expectin]

How would that Visitor Visa work? So she would live here for a few months with me before we apply and submit the application? If she's here on a visitor visa would it change to an inland application?

That's extremely disheartening. I had no idea there were such big restrictions in place in falling in love and getting married. I wish I had known there was some sort of ritual or procedure ahead of time that needed to be followed before you're allowed to love someone and marry them. As for the application itself before I left Vietnam I had already arranged for her paperwork to be done with IOM because she isn't very good with English so we needed a translator anyways. Most of the paperwork including the medical check up on her side is complete and that was when I went to the consultant to have him look over what IOM did with her paperwork as well as what I needed to do with mine and that's when he dropped the bad news.

I was on Vacation for two months and I met her the first day I arrived. I married her after a month and yes I'm back in Canada now.

Here's some of the kind of evidence for a case.

ALL correspondence between you and your sponsor such as: letters with their original post- marked envelopes, printouts of e-mail messages, chat records, faxes, etc. (whatever has not been submitted yet).
ALL telephone bills indicating calls between you and your sponsor (whatever has not been submitted yet). DO NOT submit phone cards, unless accompanied by an itemized statement from the phone-card company.
ALL photographs of you and your sponsor together, (whatever has not been submitted yet). The photographs must be printed. DO NOT bring photographs in electronic devices such as CD's or USB memories.
 ALL evidence of financial support between you and your sponsor (whatever has not been submitted yet).
 Evidence of any visits between you and your sponsor.
 Any other evidence that you would like the immigration officer to consider and that might be
useful to demonstrate the genuineness of your relationship with your sponsor.

Those are the kind of evidence to build a case.

 

[Aquakitty]

How would that Visitor Visa work? So she would live here for a few months with me before we apply and submit the application? If she's here on a visitor visa would it change to an inland application?

That's extremely disheartening. I had no idea there were such big restrictions in place in falling in love and getting married. I wish I had known there was some sort of ritual or procedure ahead of time that needed to be followed before you're allowed to love someone and marry them. As for the application itself before I left Vietnam I had already arranged for her paperwork to be done with IOM because she isn't very good with English so we needed a translator anyways. Most of the paperwork including the medical check up on her side is complete and that was when I went to the consultant to have him look over what IOM did with her paperwork as well as what I needed to do with mine and that's when he dropped the bad news.

I was on Vacation for two months and I met her the first day I arrived. I married her after a month and yes I'm back in Canada now.

Yes, your consultant sounds like he knows what he is doing. Getting married after knowing each other for a month is unfortunately going to cause big problems. Does your wife have strong ties to her home country (such as a job, real-estate, family)? If so, this can help with her application for a visitor's visa.

The fact that you got married so soon is going to complicate matters, even if you draw out your post-marriage courtship. The general rule is know each other for at least a year before marriage (except in the case of arranged marriages).

 

[c.aensran]

Yes, your consultant sounds like he knows what he is doing. Getting married after knowing each other for a month is unfortunately going to cause big problems. Does your wife have strong ties to her home country (such as a job, real-estate, family)? If so, this can help with her application for a visitor's visa.

The fact that you got married so soon is going to complicate matters, even if you draw out your post-marriage courtship. The general rule is know each other for at least a year before marriage (except in the case of arranged marriages).

For the most part it was kind of an arranged marriage. "Kind of" because it wasn't forced on us as in if we did not love each other we would not be forced to go through with it but our meeting was arranged and we were introduced to each other and the marriage very heavily followed the traditions and ceremonies of Vietnamese weddings. There were over 300 friends and family members that took part in the wedding ceremonies across the four days (two on the wifes side two on the husbands side).

As for the strong ties she's currently taking courses to do Salon work as a profession as well as taking English courses. She's also currently living with her family.

 

[mikeymyke]

I married my wife, who is Vietnamese, just 2 years ago. She got her PR visa in just 6 months. I know the entire process fairly well and I've read many cases of Vietnamese spouses, so I can certainly help you out and give you my 2 cents.

I agree with others here that its definitely going to cause problems for you getting married on the first meeting. However, good on you for doing the traditional ceremonies, as that is something that's highly sought after by the officers going over your case. I also suspect both of you probably have a language barrier is that correct? I assume that since you're telling us that her English is not great, and you probably don't speak Vietnamese. That would also be a red flag as well. Also you mention you have other family members sponsor their own spouses, are any of them in Vietnam or SE Asia area? That can be a red flag as well, as they might suspect everyone in your family is just doing marriages of convenience.

The following would also be red flags as well, do any of these apply to you?

-large age, educational, or cultural difference
-either one of you being a divorcee, while the other never married
-your wife has relatives living in Canada or abroad
-lack of proof of communication or financial support

You seem to not be very knowledgeable about the sponsorship process, but you already knew you were being "setup" to meet and potentially marry this woman. Why didn't you prepare yourself ahead of time by looking at the actual procedures needed to bring her to Canada before you went to Vietnam? I hope you weren't thinking it was a simple as just marrying her and signing a few forms.

Also note that Singapore Visa office, which is where Vietnamese applicants have to send their applications, has one of the highest refusal rates in the world, with a high interview rate, and your case will almost guarantee yourself an interview, at which point you will have to wait several years for your wife to come to Canada, especially if she gets refused and you're going through the appeals process. I read some kind of bulletin one time, where CIC said the reason Singapore VO has such a high refusal rate was mainly due to the large number of marriage fraud cases in Vietnam.

I really hope you're not being another naive Canadian sponsor and that you really know what you're getting yourself into. In Vietnam, there are many women who would jump at the chance to come to Canada by marrying some poor naive sucker who can't seem to understand why a woman would so gladly marry someone so quickly. Having been to Vietnam 5x, I can tell you there are many women who would marry to live abroad in a heartbeat, and I really hope you know what you're doing.

My wife and I dated for a year before marrying, I came and visited her 3 separate times before marriage. I've spent lots of time with her family and friends, and she has met my folks many times. We're still happily married, my wife really doesn't care about immigrating to Canada (in fact she keeps telling me she wants to go back), and now she's 8 months pregnant. I was also extremely prepared before sponsoring my wife, as I knew all the procedures and what to look out for before marrying. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like you were prepared, and a bit naive on what's involved in sponsoring your wife, and since you haven't submitted your application yet, you still have lots of time to "correct" things by spending more time with your wife, perhaps get her a visitor visa to meet your folks and friends, and help strengthen your application.

I apologize if I come off as a bit harsh, but I'm really not. I'm really just trying to look out for you and lots of other people who are going through the same thing. As Canadians, we take great pride in being able to choose who we want to be with, regardless of age, culture, or gender, but some people, especially in developing countries, might not share those same views, and for someone to so quickly decide to marry you after just dating for a month, I would definitely give that a second thought.

 

[ifeedly]

people on this forum have given you sound advice. Your consultant's advice is a bit surprising but not completely wrong. Remember he has the right to choose which cases he wants to fight.
what you need to do is to prove/strengthen your case even before you send it in for consideration.
the intent of law is to avoid fraud but not to penalize people who are doing the right thing.
what makes a legitimate real relationship? passage of time and provable connections? attempts to be together and shared responsibilities?
you would need some time to prove these things, for example a year at least. let that time pass, spend time together as much as possible, stay in touch and prove to the CIC that the relationship is not one of bad faith. oh by the way keep proofs of everything including text messages and phone calls.

 

[c.aensran]

I married my wife, who is Vietnamese, just 2 years ago. She got her PR visa in just 6 months. I know the entire process fairly well and I've read many cases of Vietnamese spouses, so I can certainly help you out and give you my 2 cents.

I agree with others here that its definitely going to cause problems for you getting married on the first meeting. However, good on you for doing the traditional ceremonies, as that is something that's highly sought after by the officers going over your case. I also suspect both of you probably have a language barrier is that correct? I assume that since you're telling us that her English is not great, and you probably don't speak Vietnamese. That would also be a red flag as well.

No. I am fluent in spoken Vietnamese and can read it pretty well. I just am not 100% fluent in writing it but I talk with her in Vietnamese just fine. She's learning English for convenience really since it's a useful language to know anywhere in the world.

Also you mention you have other family members sponsor their own spouses, are any of them in Vietnam or SE Asia area? That can be a red flag as well, as they might suspect everyone in your family is just doing marriages of convenience.

No all of them are living here in Canada now this was almost 15-20 years ago when my parents/aunts uncles first immigrated to Canada.

The following would also be red flags as well, do any of these apply to you?

-large age, educational, or cultural difference

I'm 25 and she's 20. I'm not sure if that's considered a "large" age difference but it seems pretty normal to me. We're both Vietnamese and our families follow the traditions and ceremonies very seriously so I don't believe there's a cultural difference either and as far as education goes I believe she dropped out of school in 10th grade to go to work and I have completed a Diploma.

-either one of you being a divorcee, while the other never married

Neither of us have ever been married/divorced.

-your wife has relatives living in Canada or abroad

My wife does not have any family members outside of Vietnam. All of her friends and family reside in Vietnam.

-lack of proof of communication or financial support

The lack of communication is just because we've only been apart for a month but in that month we've already built up 23 pages of call history/chat logs so I don't think it will be too much of a problem. As for financial support I am going to be sending her money every month as well as I'm financially stable and have a home so I'll have no problem supporting her and taking care of her over here.

You seem to not be very knowledgeable about the sponsorship process, but you already knew you were being "setup" to meet and potentially marry this woman. Why didn't you prepare yourself ahead of time by looking at the actual procedures needed to bring her to Canada before you went to Vietnam? I hope you weren't thinking it was a simple as just marrying her and signing a few forms.

We actually did look into a consultant ahead of time as there was a possibility of us getting married if we loved eachother (different consultant than the one who just rejected my case) and he said that if we really love eachother and get married that it would not be a problem. He told us to properly document all the traditions and ceremonies as well as making sure to take pictures on both sides of the weddings which we all did.

Also note that Singapore Visa office, which is where Vietnamese applicants have to send their applications, has one of the highest refusal rates in the world, with a high interview rate, and your case will almost guarantee yourself an interview, at which point you will have to wait several years for your wife to come to Canada, especially if she gets refused and you're going through the appeals process. I read some kind of bulletin one time, where CIC said the reason Singapore VO has such a high refusal rate was mainly due to the large number of marriage fraud cases in Vietnam.

The interview really is worrisome as I see a lot of people mentioning it around this board and how difficult it is to pass the interview. I'm assuming the interview will be done in Vietnamese and will I be doing an interview as well or only my wife? It really is frustrating considering our marriage is real and the odds are stacked against us.

I really hope you're not being another naive Canadian sponsor and that you really know what you're getting yourself into. In Vietnam, there are many women who would jump at the chance to come to Canada by marrying some poor naive sucker who can't seem to understand why a woman would so gladly marry someone so quickly. Having been to Vietnam 5x, I can tell you there are many women who would marry to live abroad in a heartbeat, and I really hope you know what you're doing.

My wife and I dated for a year before marrying, I came and visited her 3 separate times before marriage. I've spent lots of time with her family and friends, and she has met my folks many times. We're still happily married, my wife really doesn't care about immigrating to Canada (in fact she keeps telling me she wants to go back), and now she's 8 months pregnant. I was also extremely prepared before sponsoring my wife, as I knew all the procedures and what to look out for before marrying. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like you were prepared, and a bit naive on what's involved in sponsoring your wife, and since you haven't submitted your application yet, you still have lots of time to "correct" things by spending more time with your wife, perhaps get her a visitor visa to meet your folks and friends, and help strengthen your application.

I apologize if I come off as a bit harsh, but I'm really not. I'm really just trying to look out for you and lots of other people who are going through the same thing. As Canadians, we take great pride in being able to choose who we want to be with, regardless of age, culture, or gender, but some people, especially in developing countries, might not share those same views, and for someone to so quickly decide to marry you after just dating for a month, I would definitely give that a second thought.

It's not harsh at all. Your post has given me a lot of insight and information and it's greatly appreciated. I know that from a month it seems like a very short amount of time but I know she's not just seeking a Visa to go to Canada. She has similar views about it with your wife. She has a great life in Vietnam and was in no rush to immigrate to Canada. All of her friends and family live there and she loves it there.

 

[Gary_87]

Everyone's advicr here is incredibly good.

Regardless of the true intention of your marriage or your true feelings for each other, you must consider this from the immigration officers perspective.

Got married a month after meeting, immediately started applying dor canadian reaidency.

It doesnt look good. Dont focus on residency being your goal. Youve just gotten married. Focus on being sith each other. I understand how joint residence is part of that but you can visit each other for now. Get residence when you are in a better position to not being refused. Because you stand a strong chance of getting refused until you build your relationship more.

And remember, if you love each other that shouldnt be a chore

 

[c.aensran]

Also with the whole correspondence log I've been wondering if phone/call logs are absolutely necessary? I ask this mainly because I talk with my wife using the Tango app and Tango lets you export your chat and call history into a notepad document to print. It lets us send and share pictures with each other as well as call, text message and have video chats through wifi. It keeps a detailed log of the time and day each call/text message was sent and the duration of each phone call / video call.

Is this sufficient enough to cover the chat history + phone calls or should I start getting a long distance phone plan and talking with her through there instead of through Tango? As for the interview will I be getting an interview as well and what are some things to help prepare for it? Thanks to all the advice here I will hold off on submitting my application at the moment since the general consensus seems to be that there could be problems with the application process.

 

[Gary_87]

Also with the whole correspondence log I've been wondering if phone/call logs are absolutely necessary? I ask this mainly because I talk with my wife using the Tango app and Tango lets you export your chat and call history into a notepad document to print. It lets us send and share pictures with each other as well as call, text message and have video chats through wifi. It keeps a detailed log of the time and day each call/text message was sent and the duration of each phone call / video call.

Is this sufficient enough to cover the chat history + phone calls or should I start getting a long distance phone plan and talking with her through there instead of through Tango? As for the interview will I be getting an interview as well and what are some things to help prepare for it? Thanks to all the advice here I will hold off on submitting my application at the moment since the general consensus seems to be that there could be problems with the application process.

Only the applicant gets an interview though itd be encouraged to go with her perhaps. Cross that bridge later though.

As for communication, keep communicating in ways you can record. Use the app, keep phone bills showing numbers dialed to her vietnamese number. If your bill doesnt show these find out how you can.

Send emails as well as the app. Commjnicate in multiple ways. Use skype and export call history. You want to show as much as you can.

Quality is important so dont just send pages and pages of a conversation in a mobile app. Show samples from each week or every few days across multiple platforms.