Visiting Canada with my Ukranian friend

[joshthek]

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

I'm 22. I currently live in New Zealand on my own. I work full-time for a very reputable software firm here and am very established in my job with a high salary for my age and experience. I am a citizen of Canada (my passport is up-to-date) and a permanent resident of both New Zealand and Australia.

My friend is 18. She lives in Kiev, Ukraine with her family. She's currently studying generally at a university there with hopes of beginning a qualification within a year (unsure where). She is a Ukrainian citizen and has never left the country.

My immediate family are all Canadian citizens. They live in Australia and are permanent residents there.

My grandparents (in Toronto) are having their 50th wedding anniversary mid-way through this year (late June) and I'm planning on visiting for about four weeks with the rest of my family. It shouldn't be too much of an issue for us as we're all still Canadian citizens with strong ties to our respective countries of residence.

The situation is this:

My Ukrainian friend wants to visit Canada with me, with the intent of a) visiting Toronto, which is something she really wants to do, and b) meeting me. We've grown very close over the last while and really want to meet each other somehow with the intention of possibly beginning a relationship, but we both have ties to our countries of residence with no plans besides visiting with regards to Canada. If things did develop further and we ended up living together, it would likely be in New Zealand, which is a whole other issue.

We would be staying with my extended family for the duration of the visit. My family are able to vouch that her visiting will be in order to meet me, to meet my family (immediate and extended), and then to leave after about four weeks (we will know a more specific time-frame within a month), with the specific occasion being my grandparents' anniversary, which is quite a big event for my family.

My questions:

Are there many potential issues with this that anyone can see, or should the process of her obtaining a visitor's visa be relatively straightforward? Also, is there anything we can do to further guarantee her success?

 

[scylla]

It's hard to say what will happen definitively - but based on her profile, there's certainly a decent chance a visitor visa is going to be refused. I would recommend that you hope for the best but be prepared for a refusal.

There are a number of things that CIC looks at when determining whether to approve a visitor visa - the key one being whether the applicant has strong ties ties to her home country and has no plans on remaining in Canada long term. Strong ties to your home country are typically proven by showing things such as: property ownership, business ownership and/or proof of employment. Having immediately family back home who are not traveling with you also helps. Immediate family is classified as a spouse and/or children (not parents or siblings). Someone who is 18 will have very few real ties to their home country and in CIC's eyes will be a much greater overstay risk. If she is still enrolled in school at the time of her visit, she can show ties by providing a letter from her school to prove she is attending and also including proof that she has paid the tuition fees for the next semester. She should also be able to demonstrate that she has sufficient funds to pay for her stay (preferable a couple of $K). Yes - she will be staying with your family - but CIC will want to see that she has funds as well.

Something else CIC will look at is travel history (they like to see that someone has traveled quite a bit in the past - especially to other countries requiring visas). Having no travel history will certainly work against her.

All you can do is put together an application that shows as many ties as possible to Ukraine and hope for the best.

 

[joshthek]

After quite a bit of research, it's not looking good... Looks like it would be easier for me to visit her - apparently Canadians don't need visas to visit Ukraine for less than 90 days. It's likely that one day she will want to seek Canadian citizenship and New Zealand residency... looks like a long road ahead.

 

[scylla]

FYI - she won't be able to jump to Canadian citizenship immediately. She will need to become a PR first.

 

[joshthek]

Yup, aware

It's all a bit crazy really. I've all but resigned myself to the fact that she's going to be turned down, despite the fact that all we want to do is spend a brief holiday in my favourite country with my family.

Are visa over-stayers really that prevalent?

 

[scylla]

Are visa over-stayers really that prevalent?

Prevelent enough that other get penalized for their behaviour. And CIC is not just concerned about overstays - also about those who come and work illegally.

You can always try applying and see what happens. You never know, you might get lucky.