Inviting my Russian girlfriend to Canada

[alexru]

My girlfriend (Russian) and I (Canadian) have been together for about an year now, and we met and started relationship when I was still living in Russia.

We’ve really fallen in love with each other, and so I wanted her to meet my parents, before taking the next step (I’ve already met her family, and we got along well).

We decided to have her apply for visitor visa to Canada for 2 weeks (as she has to go back to finish her degree), but today we got a notice, that her application has been denied, because they weren’t convinced that she would leave Canada at the end of her visa.

To be more specific, they gave 3 vague reason why they don’t believe so, and those were:

1. Based on purpose of visit
2. Based on family ties in Canada and country of residence (Russia)
3. Based on limited employment prospects in your country of residence

And now we are both in confusion, as to what we did incorrectly in the process...

To answer each of these pointers,

1. I’ve written her invitation letter, stating that we are friends, and she is coming to visit me, and will be staying with me for the duration. I’ve also written that she must go back to Russia after to finish her degree.

2. Her entire family lives in Russia. Only person she knows in Canada is me.

3. She’s studying full time under a scholarship, and we felt that this was good enough reason for her to not stay in Canada for longer than we’ve stated.

I’d just like to know what we can do from this point, or if we made any mistake during the application process.

Thank you so much to whomever that read this far, and even bigger thank you in advance to those of you who can share your knowledge with me.

She smiles and tells me everything’ll be ok, but it just saddens me very much to hear her saddened voice under that smile.

 

[Naidu@]

I m on the same boat but didn't receive a respone yet.

Its bee morethan a month

 

[k.h.p.]

It's quite tough, because there is sadly a history of trafficking of women from Russia. Young women with little to no travel history travelling to see a man in Canada are generally assumed to be going for marriage and are at a risk of overstaying. You need to prove in the application that she will not.

Can you share a list of what you provided the visa office when you applied? The application forms say that a lot of information is "optional" but it's generally best to provide something for each "option." For example, did you provide a general itinerary of what she would do in Canada, and bank statements showing she can afford the trip?

If you can provide a list of what you submitted, people could offer you more advice.

 

[scylla]

My girlfriend (Russian) and I (Canadian) have been together for about an year now, and we met and started relationship when I was still living in Russia.

We’ve really fallen in love with each other, and so I wanted her to meet my parents, before taking the next step (I’ve already met her family, and we got along well).

We decided to have her apply for visitor visa to Canada for 2 weeks (as she has to go back to finish her degree), but today we got a notice, that her application has been denied, because they weren’t convinced that she would leave Canada at the end of her visa.

To be more specific, they gave 3 vague reason why they don’t believe so, and those were:

1. Based on purpose of visit
2. Based on family ties in Canada and country of residence (Russia)
3. Based on limited employment prospects in your country of residence

And now we are both in confusion, as to what we did incorrectly in the process...

To answer each of these pointers,

1. I’ve written her invitation letter, stating that we are friends, and she is coming to visit me, and will be staying with me for the duration. I’ve also written that she must go back to Russia after to finish her degree.

2. Her entire family lives in Russia. Only person she knows in Canada is me.

3. She’s studying full time under a scholarship, and we felt that this was good enough reason for her to not stay in Canada for longer than we’ve stated.

I’d just like to know what we can do from this point, or if we made any mistake during the application process.

Thank you so much to whomever that read this far, and even bigger thank you in advance to those of you who can share your knowledge with me.

She smiles and tells me everything’ll be ok, but it just saddens me very much to hear her saddened voice under that smile.

1. Purpose of visit means that IRCC has concerns she has plans to remain in Canada long term and isn't a genuine visitor. Apart from her studies, did you provide any other evidence of ties to her home country? Students are generally seen as having weak ties to their home country (no employment, no properties, few assets) and have more to overcome in getting a TRV approved. What evidence did she provide in the application to show she is in school?
2. See above. The fact she has a boyfriend in Canada makes them concerned she plans to come here and get married or live with you here.
3. Not much she can do about this refusal reason.

 

[alexru]

It's quite tough, because there is sadly a history of trafficking of women from Russia. Young women with little to no travel history travelling to see a man in Canada are generally assumed to be going for marriage and are at a risk of overstaying. You need to prove in the application that she will not.

Can you share a list of what you provided the visa office when you applied? The application forms say that a lot of information is "optional" but it's generally best to provide something for each "option." For example, did you provide a general itinerary of what she would do in Canada, and bank statements showing she can afford the trip?

If you can provide a list of what you submitted, people could offer you more advice.

I don't know if this makes any difference, but she has travelled to 2 different countries (Belarus for vacation, and Italy for international study program which she was offered by the university there) in last 6 months.

As for itinerary, I simply just wrote in my invitation letter, that she would be visiting me in Toronto, and staying with me at my home for the duration. The statement, she only gave the document showing her account balance.

As for all documents given:
- Passport
- Certificate from University
- Invitation (from me)
- Travel history document
- Family relationship document
- Bank account document

Would her writing a letter to specify her purpose of travel make any difference?

 

[alexru]

1. Purpose of visit means that IRCC has concerns she has plans to remain in Canada long term and isn't a genuine visitor. Apart from her studies, did you provide any other evidence of ties to her home country? Students are generally seen as having weak ties to their home country (no employment, no properties, few assets) and have more to overcome in getting a TRV approved. What evidence did she provide in the application to show she is in school?
2. See above. The fact she has a boyfriend in Canada makes them concerned she plans to come here and get married or live with you here.
3. Not much she can do about this refusal reason.

1. I think she only provided the certificate to prove that she is admitted to the university. Would submitting her apartment rental lease also be a good idea?

2. We only mentioned that I'm her friend, and never mentioned anything about me being her significant other

What other way could she prove her ties to her country? would having her provide her birth certificate help?

 

[scylla]

1. I think she only provided the certificate to prove that she is admitted to the university. Would submitting her apartment rental lease also be a good idea?

2. We only mentioned that I'm her friend, and never mentioned anything about me being her significant other

What other way could she prove her ties to her country? would having her provide her birth certificate help?

1. Yes. Also proof of her scholarship, proof she has already paid fees for the next semester, proof of employment (if she has a part time job).
2. IRCC has likely guessed you are more than just friends.

A birth certificate is not a tie. Ties are things like employment, property and assets.

 

[Copingwithlife]

1. I think she only provided the certificate to prove that she is admitted to the university. Would submitting her apartment rental lease also be a good idea?

2. We only mentioned that I'm her friend, and never mentioned anything about me being her significant other

What other way could she prove her ties to her country? would having her provide her birth certificate help?

The IRCC has seen enough TRV applications to put two and two together to determine that you’re more than likely more than just friends . Plus that’s their job

 

[kvonrosen]

My girlfriend (Russian) and I (Canadian) have been together for about an year now, and we met and started relationship when I was still living in Russia.

We’ve really fallen in love with each other, and so I wanted her to meet my parents, before taking the next step (I’ve already met her family, and we got along well).

We decided to have her apply for visitor visa to Canada for 2 weeks (as she has to go back to finish her degree), but today we got a notice, that her application has been denied, because they weren’t convinced that she would leave Canada at the end of her visa.

To be more specific, they gave 3 vague reason why they don’t believe so, and those were:

1. Based on purpose of visit
2. Based on family ties in Canada and country of residence (Russia)
3. Based on limited employment prospects in your country of residence

And now we are both in confusion, as to what we did incorrectly in the process...

To answer each of these pointers,

1. I’ve written her invitation letter, stating that we are friends, and she is coming to visit me, and will be staying with me for the duration. I’ve also written that she must go back to Russia after to finish her degree.

2. Her entire family lives in Russia. Only person she knows in Canada is me.

3. She’s studying full time under a scholarship, and we felt that this was good enough reason for her to not stay in Canada for longer than we’ve stated.

I’d just like to know what we can do from this point, or if we made any mistake during the application process.

Thank you so much to whomever that read this far, and even bigger thank you in advance to those of you who can share your knowledge with me.

She smiles and tells me everything’ll be ok, but it just saddens me very much to hear her saddened voice under that smile.

I can already see the flaws on your application, with all due respect of course.

Same scenario with me, but I got my Visa approved.

The difference is the following:

My friend sent me :
Passport scan
Certificate of birth scan
All his bank statements
Job letter
Very thorough and detailed invitation letter, now this was very important since he added he is inviting me and he will cover stay expenses but I run my food and travel expenses, specify we even met already during a visit he made to my country Honduras back in July and he would like to return the favor by taking me to Montreal during December holidays and show me around, he literally declared I would not be staying more due to my job high importance.

My documents:
I have nothing but my job and a 4 year old bank statement that had good amounts of money being moved in US $ due to my job in my country. (Good amounts considering my job tenure and currency in my country of course)

> I sent my passport scan, with no travel history at all since I've never traveled.
> Job letter that specified the amount of time also that they are giving me for vacation, what is my position and how much I earned and tenure.
>Bank statement with $2000 US, it is important that the amount of money vs your yearly savings and vs your monthly payments all make sense, avoid adding borrowed money one day to another if you dont have a job or a good salary income that can prove the money has been legitimate earned.
> Complete Itinerary with flight budget (not booked) places to visit on which days and even added amount of money I would spend there depending on tickets pricing or average restaurant prices
> Now, the following step was crucial, and was a COVER LETTER. Not many countries have this as a requirement, in fact mine doesnt, but I did enough research to make my application as appealing and complete as possible since I am single, no assets, no car, no house, not marriage and no kids. Nothing but my 4 year work.
The cover letter is your ONLY way to communicate, as the applicant with the embassy officer; so you must be very very VERY detailed on your intentions, how you met this person, why canada, why on those days, what you wanna visit, how will you pay for this, and include if you met this person already.
His invitation letter and my cover letter made a lot of sense together and were very detailed.

You have to be careful not to write unnecessary information though, you can easily find very good cover letter examples online such as competent invitation letters examples.

So pretty much that's all we did and I got my Visa approval for 10 years in less than 4 weeks.

What's the secret? Details, and make them with added value.
The more you can prove you wont be staying, the better.

I think she definitely needs a job, being a student about to finish her degree makes her more vulnerable to stay in canada since she has the knowledge, and with no job to support her bank statements in case she does have money or no proof of how she earns that money that confines her to a permanent contract in a company, its gonna be just too hard to get the Visa approved, unless again.. you are rich in details and proofs of every step.

I hope this can help, if you have more questions dont doubt in answer back.