Suspecting my visa application was overlooked and refused due to my name :(

[leiflevia]

I have applied for a visitor visa to visit my Canadian bf for 3 weeks and was refused twice.

The first refusal, that I can accept as I was in China at the time undergoing training and do not have all the necessary documents.

The second refusal is unreasonable because if they have gone through my documents thoroughly, it should provide enough reasons to prove that I will be leaving Canada after the end of my trip. Unless they did not bother to go through it because I have a very unusual name which includes having a Muslim name in between. My dad has a Muslim name. I am a Malaysian born with Chinese ethnicity. Is this even a valid reason to refuse me?

I was given the reasons below:
Your family ties in Canada and in your country (I don't understand this at all)
Purpose of visit
Your current employment situation
Your personal assets and financial status

I mentioned that I will be mainly spending time with my bf, travelling, attending a wedding and learning how to ski. I have included my round trip flight bookings, the travel itinerary, wedding invitation and invitation letter.

The first time I applied, I was unemployed. I am however employed full time. I have provided my employee reference letter, employment letter, my pay stub, my previous contract of hire as an actor (i am a freelance actor too). My company was not contacted to verify my employment. Another reason to believe my application was overlooked.

I have attached my bank statements and everything. My bf has also mentioned that he will be covering me if I needed to be covered. Which I don't because I have a budget of CAD6000 for my whole 3 weeks and I don't have to pay for my accommodation.

Last but not least, we both have mentioned that he will be leaving Canada in late April to Dec for filming. I have included the series renewal press release. There's no reason for me to stay in Canada.

Is there someone I can appeal to? I don't know what else to do.

 

[scylla]

There is no appeal process. The most you can do is apply again if you have additional evidence to provide.

Because you have a boyfriend in Canada, CIC suspects you may have plans to use the visitor visa to come to Canada, marry him and then apply to remain in Canada long term. I suspect this may be why you have been refused.

I don't think your application was overlooked at all. Companies are almost never contacted by CIC to verify your employment status for visitor visas. CIC makes the decision based on the supporting documents you provide alone.

Again, I think the reason why you were refused is because you are young and have a boyfriend in Canada - so you fit the profile of someone who may be using the visitor visa as a means of coming to Canada permanently.

 

[Jalex23]

The second refusal is unreasonable because if they have gone through my documents thoroughly, it should provide enough reasons to prove that I will be leaving Canada after the end of my trip. Unless they did not bother to go through it because I have a very unusual name which includes having a Muslim name in between. My dad has a Muslim name. I am a Malaysian born with Chinese ethnicity. Is this even a valid reason to refuse me?

Canada does not discriminate based on ethnicity.

Your family ties in Canada and in your country (I don't understand this at all)

If you don't understand this then please don't try to come up with theories about why your TRV was refused.

=> You have a boyfriend here, therefore that makes you a high risk visitor.

Purpose of visit
Your current employment situation
Your personal assets and financial status

You have to clearly prove you have no intention in immigrating. From what you have written down I see several things that weren't handled correctly. For example how long have you been full time employed? At least a year? Is your income good enough using Canadian standards? How did you prove he is your bf? How did you prove this is an ongoing relationship? Has he visited you? Did you provide evidence?

From your employment it is clear to me you can easily resign and work "freelance", thus there is nothing to stop you from coming to Canada and staing illegally. You have to provide evidence of this and an employment letter won't cut it.

Getting a TRV for a gf/fiance/wife is hard and you know how to correctly apply as this kind of relationship is a high risk one from CICs point of view.

I concur with Scylla, the main problem is your relationship. Maybe not marry him but do some travelling together to other places of the world, provide evidence he is spending time with you in your resident country. Yes it is a very long process.

 

[leiflevia]

After we wrapped filming, he went back to Canada and I stayed in Malaysia. We spent 2.5 weeks together in Thailand and HK before I left to China and he left to Canada. When I was in China under a student visa (one entry), he came China to spend a week with me.

We provided explanation, pictures and matching passport stamps.

I have existing business relationships and commitments in Malaysia, would getting them to provide me letters help?

Thank you for replying!

 

[scylla]

I think you're still not quite understanding what we are saying to you. When applying for a visitor visa, the objective should NOT be to show that you have strong ties to someone in Canada by providing proof of all of the time you have spent together. All this does is weaken your ties to you home country / country of residence and make CIC even more concerned that you are looking at using the visitor visa as a means of remaining in Canada long term. So providing all of the explanations about your travels together, matching passport stamps, etc. likely harmed your application and reduced the chance of approval. This is why one of your refusals reasons was "ties to Canada".

If you want to apply again, your focus must be on proof that shows your ties to your home country or country of residence. If you were refused quite recently, I would wait a number of months before applying again to allow yourself to establish stronger ties.

CIC doesn't care when your boyfriend has to leave Canada for work. All this does is once again show that you have strong ties to him and creates additional concern about your intentions as a visitor. You must provide proof that YOU have strong ties outside of Canada and that YOU will leave Canada at the end of your visit.

 

[newtone]

Assuming OP knows Malaysian, dosent hurt to translate since English was not understood

Saya rasa anda masih tidak cukup memahami apa yang kita katakan kepada anda . Apabila memohon visa pelawat , objektif TIDAK perlu untuk menunjukkan bahawa anda mempunyai hubungan yang kuat untuk seseorang di Kanada dengan mengemukakan bukti mengenai setiap masa anda telah dihabiskan bersama-sama . Semua ini tidak adalah melemahkan hubungan anda untuk anda rumah negara / negara tempat tinggal dan membuat CIC lebih bimbang bahawa anda meninjau untuk menggunakan visa pelawat sebagai satu cara yang tinggal di Kanada jangka panjang . Jadi menyediakan semua penjelasan tentang perjalanan anda bersama-sama , yang hampir setem pasport , dan lain-lain mungkin menderita apa-apa permohonan anda dan mengurangkan peluang untuk kelulusan . Inilah sebabnya mengapa salah satu daripada sebab-sebab penolakan anda adalah " hubungan ke Kanada " .

Jika anda ingin memohon sekali lagi , fokus anda mestilah dengan bukti yang menunjukkan hubungan anda ke negara asal anda atau negara tempat tinggal . Jika anda telah ditolak baru-baru ini , saya akan menunggu beberapa bulan sebelum memohon sekali lagi untuk membenarkan diri anda untuk mewujudkan hubungan yang lebih kukuh .

CIC tidak peduli apabila teman lelaki anda mempunyai untuk meninggalkan Kanada untuk bekerja. Semua ini tidak sekali lagi menunjukkan bahawa anda mempunyai hubungan yang kuat untuk beliau dan mewujudkan kebimbangan tambahan mengenai niat anda sebagai pelawat . Anda mesti menunjukkan bukti bahawa ANDA mempunyai hubungan yang kuat di luar Kanada dan ANDA akan meninggalkan Kanada pada akhir lawatan anda .