Spousal sponsorship (expedited entry on a visitor visa?)

[Kate Kat]

I am a Canadian citizen and currently engaged to a foreign national and understand that I will only be able to apply for a spousal sponsorship once we get married and sign the contract. However, since the spousal sponsorship takes 1 year to process from the date of marriage (which is also likely to take some time) and I would hate for us to live separated for one whole year post-marriage, I am planning to take a proactive approach and advise my fiance to apply for a visitor visa starting now.

My question is which of the following options makes a stronger visa application and is more likely to be granted a visa?

1. Me being the host and writing a letter of invitation for my fiance to submit along with her application for the purposes of visiting me.

Downside: I am thinking the visa application might be rejected since they will presume we will want to spend more time together and may risk exceeding the 6 months lawful stay. However, in reality this visa application is a workaround to allow my (to-be) spouse to live with me until the spousal sponsorship paperwork gets processed.

OR

2. Cousin inviting her to reunite after a long period of separation due to covid and to go together on a summer tour in Canada

Downside: applying for a spousal sponsorship right after being granted a visitor visa (for reunion with cousin purposes) may seem quite fishy; i.e. it can't be a coincidence that the visitor met the man of her dreams during her visit to Canada and soon after gets married. Meaning the real reason of applying for a visitor visa will surface and we might be perceived as liars when applying for the visitor visa application. Or am I overthinking this?

Hi, I am foreign and my husband Canadian.
We was living in Europe together, and apply for TRV for me, they approved my application.
Most important thing it’s just put all true information..
I know my situation it’s different, but so many people was saying, they won’t approve my application, because husband Canadian, and they will know we want stay in Canada, so anyway I got TRV.
Wish you good luck

 

[Phalos]

Yeah, I am totally convinced. Thanks a tonne for sharing your perspective. Just wondering, is this you speaking from sound logic and instinct, or experience? Also, I am concerned that because her cousin is on a work visa and not a Canadian citizen that this may weaken the application. But I guess this is still a stronger case than a friend's invitiation, even if Canadian?

If not a Permanent Resident, then better to go with a Canadian Citizen.
I am Phalos Immigrant Consultancy.

 

[MJSPARV]

Thanks for your thorough response and explaining your logic/perspective. I guess something that I forgot to say was we'd be getting married back home and not in Canada. In addition, my fiance won't be "visiting" Canada until we sign the marriage contract and get legally married. I just want her to have a way into Canada by the time we get married, hence why I will be advising her to apply for a visa in advance. The reason for this workaround of applying for a visitor visa in the first place is because the spousal sponsorship takes a minimum of one year processing time and we don't want to be geographically separated for that long once we're married.

Would that influence your answer, if at all?

Gotcha. I'd still go with you inviting her over the cousin. I think you mentioned further down that she has travel history to the US which is a great thing. Not sure about the cousin is on a work permit thing later on but my answer is still number 1. Fyi I think you can even mention that the purpose of the visit is to visit you her fiance before your wedding *back in her country* and if you have proof of events planned/paid for back in her country for the wedding I'd imagine that would be pretty good evidence that she intends to return to her country. Plans change, and travel these days is in flux and if the wedding happens after the trv is issued and before she's able to visit you, who cares... I think there's a temporary visa/trv section of the forum and you might also find useful experiences there.

 

[RajdeepC]

I am a Canadian citizen and currently engaged to a foreign national and understand that I will only be able to apply for a spousal sponsorship once we get married and sign the contract. However, since the spousal sponsorship takes 1 year to process from the date of marriage (which is also likely to take some time) and I would hate for us to live separated for one whole year post-marriage, I am planning to take a proactive approach and advise my fiance to apply for a visitor visa starting now.

My question is which of the following options makes a stronger visa application and is more likely to be granted a visa?

1. Me being the host and writing a letter of invitation for my fiance to submit along with her application for the purposes of visiting me.

Downside: I am thinking the visa application might be rejected since they will presume we will want to spend more time together and may risk exceeding the 6 months lawful stay. However, in reality this visa application is a workaround to allow my (to-be) spouse to live with me until the spousal sponsorship paperwork gets processed.

OR

2. Cousin inviting her to reunite after a long period of separation due to covid and to go together on a summer tour in Canada

Downside: applying for a spousal sponsorship right after being granted a visitor visa (for reunion with cousin purposes) may seem quite fishy; i.e. it can't be a coincidence that the visitor met the man of her dreams during her visit to Canada and soon after gets married. Meaning the real reason of applying for a visitor visa will surface and we might be perceived as liars when applying for the visitor visa application. Or am I overthinking this?

Hey! I am in a kind of similar situation to yours. Just wondering which option you finally went with and what the outcome was?