letters of support

[gatita71]

I am a Canadian who will be sponsoring my Peruvian husband for a spousal class permanent resident visa. I have read that providing letter of support from friends and family can help with proving the relationship is genuine. I was looking for some advice about this.

I am currently living in Peru with my husband. Sadly, he was denied a visitor's visa to Canada and, therefore, has never met any of my friends and family in Canada in person. We have mutual friends here in Peru and his family is also here. I am just wondering who it would be best to get the letters from - our mutual friends in Peru, his family, both? Also, do you think a letter from my friends or family who have known about the relationship and have met my husband on Skype would also work, even though they have never met him in person?

How many letters should I submit? Do they need to be notarized?

If anyone has any samples of letter of support that they have received from friends or family I would greatly appreciate it to get an idea of what the letter should contain.

Thank you!

 

[Vanny]

HI Gatita,

Letters of support can help on both ends (his family and yours) even though they never met him in person.

What they can say in the letter is:

Dear immigration officer,

This letter is to confirm the genuine relationship between XX and XX,. They have been together since XXXX
and I have met them on several occassions on these dates (or I have spoken to over the phone or online)
and they are very committed to eachother.. etc..

just tell them to give examples of events or what they know about you guys, how you spend time together and how they see you as a couple



However more importantly, you need to prove to the candian embassy that he will be returning back to Peru after his stay. What was the reason for his TRV denial?
At the begining of your message it says that you will be sponsoring him Or are you currently in the process of sponsoring him? Are you currently married or common-law?
It depends on the situation, if you have an active Permanent Res on file, chances are very slim to get a tourist visa in the meantime because they know he is planning on staying.

 

[missmini]

hi Gatita,

i'm in similar situation with you, most of my family and close friends back in Canada never met my partner cuz he got his tourist visa rejected each time i was planning to go back for a visit; but i did meet his family here, close friends and we do have mutual friends; still, it is better to send letters from both sides, no matter if they met him or not; it's not that they did not want to meet him, it's visa related issues; they could describe since when u have been together, since when u r common-law or married, how much u care about him (if they r around u when u r far away from him, how much u miss him); they knew u even before being together with him, so it's good proof to show how your life changed in good since u r together; also, they could clearly say that they did not have the chance to meet him in person and why, but they met him through skype and they keep contact (here u can reference emails sent between him and ur family/friends, gifts, cards/ecards, sms, anything u have); at the end, send what u have; each situation is different so let them (the officers) decide if ur proofs r good or not; u would feel better if u send and do all u can than if u don't

if u r married, u don't need to have the letters notarized but those notarized have a bigger impact; if u r common-law u MUST have at least 2 notarized (they call it statutory declarations)

as for the number, depends on u; at least 2 if u r common-law, if it's more even better; some people sent 2, some 5, some 9; if each person would say the exact same thing then pick one from the group, one u can trust s/he can represent u in case of a phonecall from the embassy; if u have people who can describe different situations from ur relationship, then send from all; it's really up to u; the best try to give letters from both sides

also, many here send separate essays from each of u describing the relationship, which i think it's good

now, here's a question also, maybe u or others can give some hints; Sponsor questionnaire - question 14 asks if the applicant met any of the sponsor's close friends and family; would u answer no and state why (visit visa rejected, etc) or u would answer yes and put the names of the mutual friends? or maybe answer yes and put everybody's name and say when they were in contact for the 1st time through skype, sms, email....?

good luck!!

 

[gatita71]

Hi Vanny,

He was denied the tourist visa for the typical Regulation 179 response... insufficient ties to his country and they do not believe he will leave the country at the end of his stay. We applied for the TRV before submitting the permanent resident visa application. We are in the process of now doing the permanent resident visa application. I don't think we will bother re-applying for the TRV while we are waiting as it is a lost cause. Very frustrating and unfair the whole tourist resident visa thing!!!

Thanks for your response. I think I will get a variety of letters from his family here in Peru, our mutual friends here and my friends and/or family in Canada.

We are married, not common law. The visa office here in Lima says we can get the letters notarized if we wish. Not a very definitive answer, but that is typical. Getting anything out of the visa office is like pulling teeth!

I welcome any other suggests or advice!

 

[MandiF]

I didn't get any letter of support notorized, I included about 8 to 10, from friends, my family and his family but most of them were just emails and not even signed.

 

[canadianwoman]

I am currently living in Peru with my husband. Sadly, he was denied a visitor's visa to Canada and, therefore, has never met any of my friends and family in Canada in person. We have mutual friends here in Peru and his family is also here. I am just wondering who it would be best to get the letters from - our mutual friends in Peru, his family, both? Also, do you think a letter from my friends or family who have known about the relationship and have met my husband on Skype would also work, even though they have never met him in person?

Get letters from mutual friends and his family. You should also include letters from your family or friends - people on your side can state when you told them about the relationship, that they have talked to your husband on Skype, and that they believe the relationship to be genuine. Include some evidence of his contact with them - emails, Skype, etc. - if possible.
It is best to get letters of support from both sides, if possible. The judge at my husband's appeal wanted to know why all the letters of support were from my husband's side - the same reason as you, he's never been allowed into Canada and has therefore never met my family. Best if you get at least one letter from your side.

How many letters should I submit?

You don't really need any. Common-law couples need two at least. However, they are good extra evidence. If you feel the evidence you have that your relationship is genuine is not that strong, send in more letters of support. If you have a lot of evidence, send in fewer. I think 10 would be more than enough.

Do they need to be notarized?

No, but notarized evidence is considered slightly better. The support letters can be affidavits, letters, or just emails. Include the contact details of the person who wrote the letter.


Allison VSC has the best advice; check it out on this thread:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t41784.0.html

 

[shiftpro]

Very frustrating and unfair the whole tourist resident visa thing!!!



So true... imagine these are our civil servants that we pay really good money to make these calls on our life or the life of our love.
They we're very cold to my gal when she applied for a TRP (tourist visa) in Sao Paulo back in March '10. Cost us a lot of money and
time to get insulted and hurt.
I hear (and really hope) they are better with immigration applicants.

I'd like to mention also that the woman who was cold and rude to my gal was Brazilian. Working for CIC?? Perhaps she was a Brazilian
who became a Canadian citizen and returned to Brazil to work for Canada. Anyway the whole experience was hard to swallow. Here we are
in the Canadian Consulate building in Sao Paulo and no one speaks english! At least downstairs in the lobby where I was. I was not allowed to
go upstairs with my mate. Nor was I allowed to wait in the lobby. There are no chairs or seats and if you sit on the floor security will come and tell
you to stand or leave. This is a multi-million dollar building by the way. As a Canadian this is what I'm paying for?

There was something good in this experience, we decided at this point to move forward and get married and shoot for immigration, which is ultimately
what we wanted anyway!

 

[gatita71]

The same is true with the Visa office in the Canadian Embassy in Lima, Peru. I have not seen one Canadian person working there and the majority of the workers speak Spanish, not English. There is one special room for Canadians where they have the same Peruvian woman that attends you every time. She does speak English, but it is evident that it is not her native language. It is very frustrating not to be able to talk to someone from your own country when you are going through this process.

 

[Cdagal]

We included letters from his family and mine, although due to him being unable to visit, we had not met each others` families in person. We just had them include what they do know. (he makes me happy, we are welcome additions to each others`families, they see us speaking regularly on the phone, he send them gifts, or in the case of co-workers, they cover my shifts while I am gone spending time with my husband). My daughter, who is 6, drew a picture of her taking him swimming with her and making a sand castle together on the beach - that is the first thing she wants to do with him. My son, who is 13, wrote a letter about how nice it is to have him in our lives and have a man to talk to about things. We did not notarize any of the letters, but included them to show a more human element to our relationship, and to show that our friends and family are aware of who we are to each other.

 

[canadianwoman]

I'd like to mention also that the woman who was cold and rude to my gal was Brazilian. Working for CIC?? Perhaps she was a Brazilian
who became a Canadian citizen and returned to Brazil to work for Canada. Anyway the whole experience was hard to swallow. Here we are
in the Canadian Consulate building in Sao Paulo and no one speaks english!

Most of the people who work in Canadian embassies are not Canadian. The higher level staff will be, but they are not the people most of us deal with. The visa officer who interviews the applicants for a PR visa is usually a Canadian, but I don't think they all are.

 

[CharlieD10]

Most of the people who work in Canadian embassies are not Canadian. The higher level staff will be, but they are not the people most of us deal with. The visa officer who interviews the applicants for a PR visa is usually a Canadian, but I don't think they all are.

Don't want to hijack your thread, or get off on a rant here, but I had the same experience with the embassy here in Kingston. The security guards were rude to my Canadian husband, as was the woman to whom he submitted my (denied) application for a TRV. When I went there to get my passport back, the person (I have no idea what her function was) who returned it to me was rude as well. They were all Jamaicans, and I wondered at their rudeness when dealing with their countrymen!