Tourist VISA application from South Africa denied?

[StephB]

Hi there.
Looking for some advice. A good friend of mine has twice now applied for a tourist visa to visit Canada for just 3 weeks, from South Africa, and has twice been declined. The reason given the first time was there was not enough financial support, and no reason was given the second time, but he was told a lot of it has to do with the current political state of the country. Does this translate that they're afraid people won't come back and will possibly claim refugee status? The second time he applied, he included his valid US visa, because that meant he could omit the financial information and we were thinking that would help.

The application package was complete, with a letter from his employer granting him the time off, the medical and fingerprint reports, a letter of intent including a sort of itinerary, and a letter from me as the host.

I read online that the main concern of immigration is that people will overstay the terms of the visa, so you must provide strong proof of ties to your home country. He has a daughter there, a job and is enrolled in a school course. He doesn't own property though, but what else can be provided to show these strong ties?

Super frustrating because this is a legit application, where he has to go back after 3 weeks.. definitely can't stay longer. Does anyone have any advice to help strengthen the application, or is it a lost cause right now because of the state of the country??
Thank you!

 

[Buletruck]

Reapplying in succession does nothing to improve his chances, and in fact starts to make him look desperate. Strongly suggest ordering the GCMS note to find out the actual comments from the visa officer before you attempt to reapply. It will give you better insight of how to address the refusals and whether or not you are looking at a futile effort (I.e. if they think he is a potential refugee claimant).

 

[StephB]

Right, I didn't suspect it would. He reapplied immediately because, first, he didn't see any reason why the first application would be denied (didn't realize how strict it is) and second because he realized after he'd already sent in the first application that he had the valid US visa still. We figured with that, for sure the second application would be given. He was supposed to be here now, actually. The new plan is to try for over Christmas. Do you think that's too soon?

How could one strengthen their financial support for the application? I mean, if you can't get a big raise, what else can be done to boost that part of the application?

So the GCMS comments can be requested by phoning in? He did phone in, and was told something to the effect of, they aren't obligated to give you a reason why the application is denied, BUT it's largely due to the political situation there right now. Hence why I'm wondering if they're just going to deny every application regardless until things calm down. Another friend of mine who is South African, but has his PR status here, is trying to get his son's visa. He was accepted into a school program here and his visa was still denied, even in that circumstance. It seems so crazy!

 

[Buletruck]

A great post on applying for gcms notes

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...order-gcms-notes-step-by-step-process.513893/

And the actual government site. They say 30 days, but reality seems to be closer to 90. Christmas is probably a bit of a long shot ( both for the notes and for a new application...spring is probably a better option).

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...rmation-privacy/requests-information-act.html

Your SA friend should really just sponsor his child for their PR. Otherwise the student visa will continue to be refused most likely, as IRCC suspects he will overstay. That and he won’t have to pay international fees.