Greetings from Mexico, study permit denied even with Quebec Acceptance Cert

[josemporras]

Hi,

Many thanks in advance for taking your time to read this post. I applied for a study permit for Quebec at the canadian embassy in Mexico (I am a mexican citizen). I got admission to the Universite du Quebec at Montreal and got my CAQ for studies with no problem at all. I am 27 years old, single, mexican, have a honours bachelor's degree in mathematics, a research internship at Intel and my future master's degree in canada would be in computer science. I did not add a SoP.

Yesterday I received a refusal for 3 reasons, and I have some questions for each refusal reason, I would like to ask for any help or advice on these topics.

1) You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay... (because of) your personal assets and financial status

Q1. At the time of application I had 22000 CAD in my savings account for only 2 months, now it has been 4 months and the money is still there, so that could be the problem, however would a personal loan for another 12500 CAD count as a personal asset? (I wasn't refused for not having enough money but maybe for not having it for a long enough period of time). The tuition fees at UQAM are 11998 CAD per year.

Q2. Are real estate properties important for this point? I really think that I can get the visa approved without having a house or land under my name, but I am not sure how important this is.

2)Other reasons: The relationship between the sponsor and the applicant is unclear. There is a gap of 2 years in the application between 2010 and 2012.

Q3. This was completley my mistake. My sponsor for the Quebec CAQ is my brother in law. But, for the Canadian study permit I did not attach the marriage certificate between my sister and brother in law, so that could have been the problem.

I was wondering if it would be a better idea to have my father sponsor me (He is a rancher and a university professor, so it is not so easy to explain why a lot of our savings are in livestock and retirement account instead of money in the bank like most folks do). I feel changing my sponsor would diminish the credibility of my intention of studies because it would give the impression that I am desperate to go live in Canada whatever it takes. Besides my brother in law was accepted as a sponsor for the Quebec certificate of acceptance. Any advice on this ?

Q4. To address the 2 year gap (I finished taking courses on 2010 but it took me longer to write my thesis) I could write on a letter of intent what I did during that time: I worked 1 year as a teaching assistant at my university and the other year I wrote my bachelor's honours thesis.

Q5. I have an american visa but as a border crossing card it is not a stamp in my passport, so it didn't show in the application, maybe proving I have the american visa can also help, I know this helps for the temporary resident visa, but not sure for the study permit as a whole.

I would be very interested to read your opinions / advice on this. I am sorry for writing such a long post and I hope you all have an excellent day.

Regards,

Jose

 

[mead]

1) You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay... (because of) your personal assets and financial status
u need 1 year fees + $10000 for living expenses for a year in ur bank/sponsors bank
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study-how-documents.asp#doc3

Q1. At the time of application I had 22000 CAD in my savings account for only 2 months, now it has been 4 months and the money is still there, so that could be the problem, however would a personal loan for another 12500 CAD count as a personal asset? (I wasn't refused for not having enough money but maybe for not having it for a long enough period of time)
what is ur 1 year fees?

Q2. Are real estate properties important for this point? I really think that I can get the visa approved without having a house or land under my name, but I am not sure how important this is.
if u have property in ur home country it will help a bit as it improves ur home ties.

2)Other reasons: The relationship between the sponsor and the applicant is unclear. There is a gap of 2 years in the application between 2010 and 2012.

Q3. This was completley my mistake. My sponsor for the Quebec CAQ is my brother in law. But, for the Canadian study permit I did not attach the marriage certificate between my sister and brother in law, so that could have been the problem.
brother in law is not a very strong sponsor .....immediate family member is a better sponsor.

I was wondering if it would be a better idea to have my father sponsor me (He is a rancher and a university professor, so it is not so easy to explain why a lot of our savings are in livestock and retirement account instead of money in the bank like most folks do). I feel changing my sponsor would diminish the credibility of my intention of studies because it would give the impression that I am desperate to go live in Canada whatever it takes. Besides my brother in law was accepted as a sponsor for the Quebec certificate of acceptance. Any advice on this ?
father is a very good sponsor if u can have required documents with required money in his bank account.

Q4. To address the 2 year gap (I finished taking courses on 2010 but it took me longer to write my thesis) I could write on a letter of intent what I did during that time: I worked 1 year as a teaching assistant at my university and the other year I wrote my bachelor's honours thesis.
yes add documents proving this.

Q5. I have an american visa but as a border crossing card it is not a stamp in my passport, so it didn't show in the application, maybe proving I have the american visa can also help, I know this helps for the temporary resident visa, but not sure for the study permit as a whole.
it wil improve ur travel history .

 

[josemporras]

Mead, I am very greatful for your reply. The tuition fees are 11998 cad per year, according to that website in total I would need 22998, I think I will get to 25k just to be sure. So for my next try I will be having 18k on average for 4 month period plus a new deposit of 7k which can come from a personal loan or from my parents.

I am still doubting about getting a personal loan especially if a non-educational loan is considered a liability instead of an asset ???


So... would it be pointless to try another time with 25k cad, a strong statement of purpose and the proof of how my sponsor and I are related?


I forgot to mention that I have already contacted an advisor with a research proposal, who accepted me as a student and will be giving me an assistantship. This research proposal is directly related to my last work experience during my research internship, so that can suggest I will leave Canada at the end of my stay, to come back to work in the same company or a related company.

Many thanks,

Jose

 

[mead]

So... would it be pointless to try another time with 25k cad, a strong statement of purpose and the proof of how my sponsor and I are related?

I will strongly recommend changing ur sponsor brother in law is not a strong sponsor.

I forgot to mention that I have already contacted an advisor with a research proposal, who accepted me as a student and will be giving me an assistantship. This research proposal is directly related to my last work experience during my research internship, so that can suggest I will leave Canada at the end of my stay, to come back to work in the same company or a related company.
if u have proof that ur getting assistantship then it is an asset add those documents to ur application

 

[josemporras]

Thank you so much for your advice mead, I will proceed to apply with my father as sponsor.

On the topic of the loan, would it be a good idea to get one or probably not?. I got a personal loan approved for a "good enough" amount from my bank, in my opinion this proves that I have worked enough time in my country and that I have a good credit history, which is a very good reason to return. It is for 5 years with no grace period, and my parents would help me pay it with their monthly income. However it is not an educational loan, and this could be seen as a reason not to return to my home country, so I won't have to pay my debt (in the case that the visa officer really dislikes my case it could be seen like this). This dilemma I can't figure out on my own.

My parents could get a better personal loan and write a letter stating that they are giving me the money as a gift because they support my decision to study my master's, this does not prove any personal assets, but maybe my sponsor father and me are interchangeable in terms of assets and financial matters.

Right now I think I will be sending for my second try at study permit: personal bank statement with 23k CAD + personal / parents loan + family properties (house and ranch) + american visa + strong statement of purpose that links my previous job to my master's project which would lead in a return to work in the same industry as before in my home country (microelectronics). Also my CAQ for Quebec proofs I have enough funds.

I know there is no infalible way to obtain the study permit, but any other advice is welcome.

Many thanks again

Regards,

José

 

[J5M]

Hi,

Hi,

Many thanks in advance for taking your time to read this post. I applied for a study permit for Quebec at the canadian embassy in Mexico (I am a mexican citizen). I got admission to the Universite du Quebec at Montreal and got my CAQ for studies with no problem at all. I am 27 years old, single, mexican, have a honours bachelor's degree in mathematics, a research internship at Intel and my future master's degree in canada would be in computer science. I did not add a SoP.

Yesterday I received a refusal for 3 reasons, and I have some questions for each refusal reason, I would like to ask for any help or advice on these topics.

1) You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay... (because of) your personal assets and financial status

Q1. At the time of application I had 22000 CAD in my savings account for only 2 months, now it has been 4 months and the money is still there, so that could be the problem, however would a personal loan for another 12500 CAD count as a personal asset? (I wasn't refused for not having enough money but maybe for not having it for a long enough period of time). The tuition fees at UQAM are 11998 CAD per year.

Q2. Are real estate properties important for this point? I really think that I can get the visa approved without having a house or land under my name, but I am not sure how important this is.

2)Other reasons: The relationship between the sponsor and the applicant is unclear. There is a gap of 2 years in the application between 2010 and 2012.

Q3. This was completley my mistake. My sponsor for the Quebec CAQ is my brother in law. But, for the Canadian study permit I did not attach the marriage certificate between my sister and brother in law, so that could have been the problem.

I was wondering if it would be a better idea to have my father sponsor me (He is a rancher and a university professor, so it is not so easy to explain why a lot of our savings are in livestock and retirement account instead of money in the bank like most folks do). I feel changing my sponsor would diminish the credibility of my intention of studies because it would give the impression that I am desperate to go live in Canada whatever it takes. Besides my brother in law was accepted as a sponsor for the Quebec certificate of acceptance. Any advice on this ?

Q4. To address the 2 year gap (I finished taking courses on 2010 but it took me longer to write my thesis) I could write on a letter of intent what I did during that time: I worked 1 year as a teaching assistant at my university and the other year I wrote my bachelor's honours thesis.

Q5. I have an american visa but as a border crossing card it is not a stamp in my passport, so it didn't show in the application, maybe proving I have the american visa can also help, I know this helps for the temporary resident visa, but not sure for the study permit as a whole.

I would be very interested to read your opinions / advice on this. I am sorry for writing such a long post and I hope you all have an excellent day.

Regards,

Jose

For Mexican applicants, bank statement must be for the past 4 months. http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/mexico-mexique/visas/53_1.aspx?lang=eng

 

[josemporras]

Hi J5M, yes you are right, I will be sending the statements of the past 4 months. I decided no to get the loan since I was not refused by lack of insufficient amount on the bank.

I will be uploading my application again today! And will let you know how the outcome, wish me luck. This time I will be using the online application system because I had the worst experience with Mexico's VFS (fellow mexican applicants beware!).

This time father is sponsoring me, I will show the proof of property with value of house, some lots of empty land and ranch with a statement from the state government that it is a livestock production business. Would uploading a lot of documents hurt my application?

For the properties I will upload the certificate of ownership to prove they are not mortgaged as well as the land tax receipts with the estimated value for each one. I will upload my father's payslips and a statement that he has been a tenured professor the local university for more than 20 years. Also his retirement account with good money (60k cad ), it may not be a liquid asset right now but it is a financial asset nonetheless.

I am not sure if I should add to the statement of purpose that father will be inheriting me his assets in a few years and that I have to come back to take care of things. Also to explain that for this reason he was not fully supportive of me going away in the first place (looks like bad idea now that I have written it down ). Also that it is not uncommon to have a master's degree and work the ranch because it is a family buisness (father has a master's too). I am starting to think that hte SoP should be as short and factual as possible.

And the other twist I am giving it this time (that I also hope it won't backfire) is that I will be requesting service and write down the SoP in french. Since I am going to a francophone university in Quebec this makes sense imo. I also don't want to get the same visa officer deciding this time around (perhaps french speaking visa officers are less fascist lol) and not proving english skills will make me look less like I won't return from a country where almost everybody speaks it.

The final thing that makes me less nervous is the american visa. Apparently they are fast tracking mexican (and indian) applications with american visa with the CAN+ program.

Any thoughts, ideas, good vibrations, etc. are welcome! Many thanks!! And sorry for writing down such long posts. I do this because: 1) writing it down helps me organize my ideas, 2) there is a chance someone with any advice/opinion will comment and 3) it makes me feel good to share my experience in case I can help others in a similar situation.

My sincerest regards,

Jose

 

[ambujnagchaudhuri]

@josemporras
when did you apply?

 

[josemporras]

Hi ambujnagchaudhuri, the VFS in mexico city received my documents the first days of june, and they reached a decision on the second week of july. Since the vfs has poor communication with the applicants I had to wait until the 16th of july to know the TRV was rejected.