Permanent Residence - How thorough is the VISA office?

[YPLO]

My wife and I met as we were both staying at the same hotel while on vacation in Margarita Island. She stayed with her 3 best friends and I was there with my best friend.

Neither of us booked the rooms under our names. Will this be a problem?

My concern is that the application asks "when and where did you meet?".

Does the VISA Office perform verification with the hotel?

 

[knaeem]

I dont think it matters alot, since you cant book a room together before knowing eachother

 

[YPLO]

Thanks for your input. My concern is if the VISA Office will go as far as contacting the hotel to validate if we stayed there.

If neither of us booked the rooms under our names, it doesn't appear credible in the eyes of the Visa Office.

I'm a little rattled on how sensitive everything can be...I can't imagine our app being refused and not being with my wife and soon to be child.

 

[Kess]

I don't think they will care that you didn't book the rooms under your own names. The only proof I have that my husband and I met in person the first time is a really bad photo of a group of friends (about 10-13 of us) singing kareoke at a hotel in Vegas that has since been torn down.

You obviously met each other somewhere and if all you can do is write an explanation of how and where, then that is all you can do. I think CIC is more concerned with the proof you have of a genuine (and continuing) relationship. I was actually dating someone else when I met my husband originally

 

[britincanada]

I don't think CIC will call the hotel! We have no proof of when we first had contact either..We met through a dating service via our cell phones I was in England and Tim was in Canada..my cell phone was prepaid and Tim's mother threw away all his cell phone bills! The only proof we have of our first meeting in person 5 months later is my boarding card, stamp in my passport and flight itinerary! We don't even have any photos of us together until December 2005, 3 months after our relationship officially started. And then there are no more photos until January 2007!

 

[minna]

I don't have any proof of where my partner and I met - at a bar on a busy saturday night 8 years ago.

I mean, the bar is still there, and even if the staff is the same, how will they remember one couple meeting on a busy saturday night, out of all of the hookups, friendships, one-night-stands and whatever else they must have seen over the years??

I don't think CIC cares how you met, per se, just that in the relevant sections, you and your partner/spouse tell the same general story (obviously different people may remember details differently, that's ok too as long as the general story told is the same)

 

[britincanada]

As Kess said..I think they are more concerned that your relationship is genuine and ongoing and not a set up just to gain entry into Canada!

 

[canadianwoman]

My wife and I met as we were both staying at the same hotel while on vacation in Margarita Island. She stayed with her 3 best friends and I was there with my best friend.

Neither of us booked the rooms under our names. Will this be a problem?

My concern is that the application asks "when and where did you meet?".

Does the VISA Office perform verification with the hotel?

I doubt they will call the hotel.
If you want to be thorough, though, you can get your friends who did book the rooms under their names to each write a letter stating that they booked a room a Hotel Q from ___ to ___, and that you were one of the people staying with them. If they still have the bill or credit card receipt, or whatever, you could include it as proof.
You don't need all this, but a letter from a friend about when you first met your significant other is good proof.