Hi all, I hold a BA in economics from US and two masters degree in finance and business from Europe. I am a Chinese citizen working in Denmark, no Danish PR nor Danish citizenship. I applied to study in Canada for a second bachelor's degree in faculty of science as I always had interests to study this field, and now I have enough savings to study in Canada. However my SP application was rejected for not satisfied with family ties in Canada or country of residence and my immigration status and purpose of visit (this purpose of visit I can fix as I can upload payment of tuition and academic plans for degree from academic advisor in second SP App.). But my home country (of citizenship) is China. I only work in Denmark and my work permit expires in 2023, my work contract is unlimited contract without any year limit. But the visa officer is saying I do not have ties in Denmark (country of residence) so I won't leave Canada at the end of my stay, and s/he is not satisfied with my immigration status. I submitted my Danish residence permit (work permit) and my employment verification. It seems it's still not enough. How should I approach these concerns? I mean I work in Denmark and of course I won't have family ties here in Denmark as I never intend to live or work in Denmark forever. Should I prove a stronger tie to China? Also if anyone could kindly offer some advice on the immigration status when applying in a third country other than country of citizenship...? Thanks!
SP Refused for family ties in third country of residence
- Thread starter kpomeranz
- Start date
Order GCMS notes because purpose of visit can mean many things. The biggest issue is that you don’t live in your home country and your have a work permit that will expire during your studies. Purpose of visit can mean that they don’t think you will return to China. You have two masters and want to take a science degree. So you need to show how the degree will build on your education and expand your career (higher pay, better job) in China. Why do you need to come to Canada to take a science degree after two Masters? That needs to be answered and what they mean by “purpose of visit.” VOs may not believe you are a genuine student. Has nothing to do with tuition and academic plans.
Hi mate, thanks for your reply. Does it mean that I really have to go back to my home country of citizenship to apply for SP? Or is it still possible to apply from a third country where I work? Thanks!
The "purpose of visit" refusal reason can mean many things. One of the main things it can indicate is that IRCC doesn't believe you are a genuine student. IMO, you will not fix this refusal reason simply by uploading your tuition payments and academic plans. The problem is bigger than that.
One of your main issues is that your progression of studies does not make any sense at all. I assume you are working in the finance / business field. Based on that and having two master's in that field, it makes no sense for you to be wanting to come to Canada and spend so much money to do an undergrad degree in science that's in no way related to your previous studies and is a lower level of education than your previous studies. This makes it look like you aren't a genuine student. My recommendations are: (1) pick a program of study that aligns to your field, i.e. finance and business; (2) pick a level of study that makes sense given your previous education - this would either need to be an MBA (if you don't have one already), another Master's in a specialized field related to finance / business, or PhD.
If your planned studies don't make sense, then it becomes more likely that an officer will also refused your application due to other reasons such as lack of ties, etc. In my opinion the first and most important thing you have to fix is your choice of programs in Canada. It's certainly possible to be approved for a study permit while living outside of your country of citizenship, but your plans for coming to Canada have to make sense. Yours do not.
No you can apply from Denmark but you need to address the fact that VOs don’t believe you are a genuine student after two masters degrees and now taking a Canadian undergraduate degree. @scylla brings up many excellent points that you need to address and change to reapply.
Hi scylla, thanks a lot for your inputs and I really appreciate it. The reason I am planning to do a CS second bachelor's degree (2 years study as half of the credits are waived by my first degree) is that I have interests in the field. I took intro-level programming courses on edX and also took 1 intro CS in Java back in college. Also I do work in a bank and my work involves placing requirements for IT team to generate reports, and because of this, it also motivates me to learn more about programming and computer science. The final goal is to get a degree in CS, and gradually transit my career towards technical IT business analyst or a SE in banking industry, or other tech related firms. Because I do not see much prospect for my current role in operations. Also there are direct CS Master programs that do not require any previous studies in CS, but I chose to re-do a second bachelor's degree because it will be a solid study experience. I actually emailed the school's pre-Master program in CS, and they told me the pre-master program is not designed to replace the entire undergraduate curriculum. Given these reasons, I wanted to study a second B.S. degree despite having two master's degrees. I think my SoP should elaborate more on the topics you pointed out. Do you happen to have any advice on how to write the career prospect after getting the CS degree? Does it have to be very detailed? Or it can be general but not unrealistic? Thanks!
PS: I really want to study CS; and switching to another program similar to my current backgrounds only make the second SP application more unreasonable because now I would switch my majors and programs...So I would insist on what I want to learn rather than switching programs to get SP, which can also be very dishonest.
But if getting the SP requires such strategies, then I probably can't avoid it but to do it...
But why Canada to change your career focus? VOs will think that with two masters you are coming to Canada to immigrate. You have a work permit until 2023 in Denmark so why don’t you take a CS degree there or in Europe.
Why not complete these studies in Europe?
I think you have a hill to climb to explain your desire to pursue this field of study given your past experience and education. You then need to explain why you are choosing Canada for your studies. There must be plenty of programs you could take in Europe.
To address your SOP questions, you certainly want to include some level of detail - but not write an essay. Look through this section of the forum for SOP examples. There are a few you should be able to find here and there.
Another factor to consider is what school you've chosen. Make sure it's a top Canadian university to strengthen your profile. It won't make sense for you to come all the way here to attend a mediocre school. And obviously stay away from all private universities.
Yes, understood, I chose University of Manitoba (hope it's not that a mediocre school though). I am rewriting my SOP while waiting for VO Notes from ATIP, but it will probably around 4 pages.
So I never ever went to the Chinese College Entrance Exam after high school grad. I went to HK for SAT exam and got a full-tuition scholarship and went to US. Because of this, I can't do such studies in China. Also my age is not allowed to go to universities for undergrad studies in China. Here in EU, most undergraduate programs in science, taking Danish universities as an example, conduct teachings in local languages - Danish. So it's not that convenient to do. I thought about going to US as I do have previous study visas in US (but I DIY-ed and forgot to upload my old passport in my first SP application...), but Canada provides a much safer and friendlier environment to study to be honest. Plus the cost to study in Canada is significantly lower compared with the states.
Hi mate, yes, it's also described in my reply below to scylla. Thanks for raising such concerns as I can see where I need more explanation to the VO.
So that's what you'll need to explain to IRCC's satisfaction.
Thank you very much for your help! I will also seek for a professional consultant service when I have the ATIP notes because I can't suffer from another rejection due to the carelessness I made in the first application. Obviously I overestimated myself and didn't do well in the preparation!
I would try to keep your SOP to 2 pages and key points.
University of Manitoba is OK but not great. Top 10 would be better. But ultimately your call.