Sponsrship

[Fefe]

I am Jamaican, 22 years old and my husband is Canadian 51 years. We got married July 2012 and we just submitted our Sponsorship application for my PR. I am worried as in 2009 I was denied a work permit to Canada and in March 2012 I was denied a TRV to visit him. Will this affect my application and make the process slower and how do i proved our relationship genuine? We have photos, letter from family and friends, tuns of emails conversations and skype, money transactions, wedding photos with family and friends. Is that enough? We have know each other since I was a child and been intimate since 2009 but can only prove since 2012 as I was really young and did not know one day we would be married and needed to do this. Thanks!

 

[R151NG5UN]

Hey Fefe,

Good luck with your application. This 1 is definitely going to raise a few red flags mainly because of the age difference. You will need lots of proof and only 1 years proof is going to be another flag. I would document everything you possibly can. As a word of advice expect a long processing time and almost certainly an interview. An age barrier of 30 years is going to be hard to overcome. I wish you all the best and hope everything goes well and good luck to the both of you.

 

[saint4peace]

fefe: this sounds like a 'scary' marriage story to me. I am really scared of this file to CIC.

 

[aerogurl87]

I gotta agree with R151NG5UN and saint4peace. This will definitely raise some questioning from CIC, not just because of the age difference, but because of how young you are AND the age difference. You're gonna need to throw everything you have at them to prove this relationship is real. And even then I can see there being a long processing time and interview.

 

[blueboom]

The fact that you also have two denials in other visa categories may also raise suspicions. You have your work cut out for you!

 

[tuyen]

I am Jamaican, 22 years old and my husband is Canadian 51 years. We got married July 2012 and we just submitted our Sponsorship application for my PR. I am worried as in 2009 I was denied a work permit to Canada and in March 2012 I was denied a TRV to visit him. Will this affect my application and make the process slower and how do i proved our relationship genuine?

Maybe if you brought in personal testimony from the pope saying that he knew both of you before, during, and after your marriage, then yes, I'm sure you would have slightly more than a snowball's chance in hell.

But without such testimony, I'm sorry, there's just no conceivable way that you're going to get to Canada without swimming to one of its shores.

 

[aerogurl87]

Also fefe, if I were you there are some key things I would definitely address. 1) Common hobbies and interests of you and your husband. 2) What you plan for the future (ex. having kids or not) 3. Did you discuss him coming to Jamaica vs. you coming to Canada. I'm sure the VO is going to wonder about these things, so better to answer them, than let them form their own decision based on guessing.

 

[saint4peace]

Fefe: Are you sure you got your husband on your board from your 100% cool mind? 29 years of age difference! hah? I am gonna lose my soul now! If I were in your shoes, I would put both of you in an envelop and send it to CIC. Otherwise, I don't see any hope. Again, are you really gonna live with him rest of his or your life to each other ?

 

[Fefe]

Yes Saint4 Peace I am going to live with him for the rest of my life and visa versa. We took a vow remember? Better/worst. Any way in reply to other comments we have his airline pass and stamps in his passport to show he visited me at least 7 times. He put my name on his insurance in case something happen to him I am taken care of, we send a copy of that also. He knew my mom before I was born , we wrote a letter about that. What we do not have is photos with us since 2009-11. We wrote a letter explaining our age differences How we communicate and why I have not visited him and our future plans. We know that their are red flags but it does not me I will be refused. Believe it or not their are lots of women and men who have had a huge gap in age and are in Canada now! Thanks!

 

[tuyen]

Believe it or not their are lots of women and men who have had a huge gap in age and are in Canada now! Thanks!

If the problem was ONLY with the age gap, then yeah, you might have a chance. But it's so much more than that:

- a 29-year age difference (he's old enough to be your grandfather)
- a denied work permit
- a denied visitor's visa
- a lack of being together

Let's say for the sake of conversation that your relationship is 100% genuine. It wouldn't matter...because you have so many things working against you which make it APPEAR that your relationship is NOT genuine and is just one repeated attempt after another to get into Canada using any and all routes available to you. And when your application goes to CIC, sometimes appearances rule the day.

 

[frege]

Yes Saint4 Peace I am going to live with him for the rest of my life and visa versa. We took a vow remember? Better/worst. Any way in reply to other comments we have his airline pass and stamps in his passport to show he visited me at least 7 times. He put my name on his insurance in case something happen to him I am taken care of, we send a copy of that also. He knew my mom before I was born , we wrote a letter about that. What we do not have is photos with us since 2009-11. We wrote a letter explaining our age differences How we communicate and why I have not visited him and our future plans. We know that their are red flags but it does not me I will be refused. Believe it or not their are lots of women and men who have had a huge gap in age and are in Canada now! Thanks!

Hello Fefe,

I think the work permit may hurt a bit, but the fact you tried to get a visitor's visa to see him actually helps.

If he knows your mother, he probably has close connections with Jamaica, so if they're in a suspicious mood, they may question whether he had other reasons for being in Jamaica. Also, it's good you were honest about him knowing your mother since then, but this won't necessarily be a good thing in CIC's eyes since it would have given him a motive to help you move to Canada.

I think with all the proof you've submitted, you'll probably be okay in the end, but an interview seems like a possibility. In that case it will come down to how well you're able to answer questions about each other.

If you're called for an interview, you should think again about whether there are other documents you can submit at the time of the interview or before it (preferably not afterwards, unless it addresses specific concerns raised at the interview.)

If that happens, you can also consider consulting an immigration lawyer, to help you put together the best possible case.

You'll want to have as much proof as possible. If they trip you up on some questions, and the visa officer refuses you, ultimately on appeal they'll be interested in whether the inconsistencies are major or minor. If they're minor and you have a lot of other proof, you'll be okay.

In case of a refusal, please consult an immigration lawyer immediately so you can decide whether to appeal. It's an important decision because in some circumstances it's better to reapply instead.

 

[frege]

If the problem was ONLY with the age gap, then yeah, you might have a chance. But it's so much more than that:

- a 29-year age difference (he's old enough to be your grandfather)
- a denied work permit
- a denied visitor's visa
- a lack of being together

Let's say for the sake of conversation that your relationship is 100% genuine. It wouldn't matter...because you have so many things working against you which make it APPEAR that your relationship is NOT genuine and is just one repeated attempt after another to get into Canada using any and all routes available to you. And when your application goes to CIC, sometimes appearances rule the day.

I don't agree with this. You haven't seen all the other evidence being submitted, so how can you possibly know this?

If a relationship is genuine, it will usually be possible to prove it. The factors you've listed just mean that more effort will have to be put into proving it. (Except for the visitor's visa, which is a plus since it was to see her husband.) Also, based on what Fefe has said, you can't conclude that they haven't spent time together - quite the opposite, since he's visited her several times.

Whether the visa officer is receptive to the proof being offered or stubborn is another question. But if the visa officer doesn't accept it, there is still the possibility of appeal. The appeal panels are often fair.

 

[tuyen]

I don't agree with this. You haven't seen all the other evidence being submitted

The evidence at hand is already overwhelmingly enough to bury whatever else may be presented.

so how can you possibly know this?

Vast experience.

 

[frege]

The evidence at hand is already overwhelmingly enough to bury whatever else may be presented.

Vast experience.

Well, visa officers supposedly also have vast experience and they're regularly made to look like fools at the appeal level. And this happens precisely when they get tunnel vision.

If a couple has thousands of pages of emails, thousands of hours of phone conversations, a history of financial support of each other, many documented visits, affidavits from members of the community, know each other perfectly, and so on, then this will, for a reasonable visa officer, outweigh by far the age difference and a work permit refusal.

While there are some visa officers who are prone to rushing to judgment, there are surely many who are not.

Here is a case of a couple in which the wife was 20 years older and the husband had applied for refugee status in Canada (not a work permit), yet the appeal panel accepted that they had proved their relationship to be genuine. http://canlii.ca/t/2bxbp

There are other cases of thirty-year age differences that have been accepted.

 

[tuyen]

Well, visa officers supposedly also have vast experience and they're regularly made to look like fools at the appeal level.

Not so regularly.

And this happens precisely when they get tunnel vision.

Actually, it happens mostly when the appeal is presided over by bleeding-heart liberal judges who refuse to look at the evidence and just base their decisions on a mentality of, "well, we should give them the benefit of the doubt just in case on the one percent chance they're telling the truth...because after all, we're Canada...and we wouldn't want to be perceived as being mean to immigrants".

There are other cases of thirty-year age differences that have been accepted.

There are also cases of many denied appeals, even when age was not an issue. And as I said, the extreme age difference is just ONE factor here. The other far more critical thing is the failed MULTIPLE attempts at getting into Canada PRIOR to the spousal application. It gives the impression that first she tried Method A, and when that didn't work, she went to Method B, and when there was nothing left, she got married and went with her last and final attempt because everything else had already failed.

CIC will simply look at ALL of that and ask, "if they had all this 'evidence' consisting of thousands and thousands of e-mails and a deep emotional connection and age was never an issue, then why didn't they do a spousal application first, rather than last when all the other avenues failed?"

I think you were incredibly naive when you told her that "an interview seems like a possibility". I nearly fell off my chair when I read that. Seems like a possibility? SEEMS like a possibility? If by "seems" you mean "damn well guaranteed", and by "possibility" you mean 100%, then yes, it seems like an interview is a possibility - for both of them.