Visitor Visa for Spouse from Philippines...

[S_and_C]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I got married this past April 7, 2016 in the Philippines so we are now in the phase of starting to gather the remaining documents to apply for permanent residence (outland). We've been in a Long Distance relationship for about 1 year and 4 months, and I've been to the Philippines 3 times to visit. Before we were married we tried to apply for Visitor Visa for her to visit me but were refused 2 times.

We have a lot of relationship evidence gathered up and are pretty confident we will have a strong PRV application. Only issue is that we have to wait on things like the marriage certificate (we expect that maybe end of May or early June), her passport renewal with her married name (earliest available appointment for that at DFA Manila is in early July), and other docs like Police Cert / Medical Cert can be pushed out closer to the time we apply which I expect might be August timeframe, and then maybe 6 months before she gets her PRV best case. Much too loooong...

The main issue is, we really want to be together sooner, so I am considering whether we should try again for a temporary visitor visa for her. As always, the main requirement for TRV is to prove ties to her home country. Previously the following were the reasons for refusal, and remedies I'm thinking of that I'd like some opinions on:

1. Travel History - She has not travelled outside her country before.
Remedy: If she takes a short weekend trip to Guangzhou, China or some other visa-exempt destination, she will have a stamp in her passport and we can say she has visited other countries and Travel History should not be an issue. Of course, if the visa officer is cranky they may say we only did that to satisfy the requirement.

2. Financial Assets - their argument was that she hasn't enough money to support herself during her trip (before we were married), even though I stated in the Invitation Letter I would be fully supporting her financially during her visit. Given that we were not married, I guess this makes sense to focus on her financial situation.
Remedy: since we're now married isn't it reasonable to assume that we both support each other financially? So why should it matter if she doesn't have $10k Canadian in her bank account? Again, I would state that I will shoulder all expenses for her trip in the invitation letter.

3. Insufficient Ties to home country - she has no kids and no assets tied to her name like a house or vehicle. She has a good job as a high school teacher, but that didn't appear to make any difference last time.
Remedy: Is it worth putting her name legally on the deed of the house they live in (currently in her Father's name) to satisfy that requirement? This way she has a tie to an asset in her home country.

Additionally, I would consider paying more for a fully refundable round trip ticket and include the receipt as proof that she plans to return. If the visitor visa is refused at least we would be able to get a full refund. We also can state that we are planning to apply for PRV outland and she needs to return to Philippines to gather her remaining documents anyway. We don't want to have to wait so much longer for an inland application, even though we would already be together, it would cost more to perpetually renew her visitor status.

Looking forward to your opinions on this.
Thanks in advance

 

[mikeymyke]

Visa exempt destinations won't really help with travel history much, as they're mostly interested in going to countries that require a visa, so that they can see if the applicant has a history of getting visas themselves and not overstaying. Going to Guanzhou would be a waste of time and money.

Financial assets: The problem with suggesting that since you're married, both of you now have shared finances, no one knows whether all that money was due to you, or due to her. It could all just be your earnings, and shows her inability to conjure up funds on her own (ie. lesser ties to country). Also, many spouses have been refused due to one spouse depositing large amounts of money into their accounts. Sharing a bank account and declaring that this money is also hers, would be kind of the same thing. Although it's important to show the host will provide most of the expenses, the applicant should show he/she have sufficient funds of their own.

Insufficient ties: I don't think it would be worth it if the deed document shows a date that she just recently added her name to the deed.

I've seen people be approved despite lacking one or two of these areas, so it wouldn't hurt to apply, it just depends on how strong her application is overall. I've seen more people be refused for Purpose of Visit than anything else, so make sure you outline detailed plans as to what she will be doing in Canada, not just simply stating "She's in Canada to be with me".

 

[S_and_C]

Visa exempt destinations won't really help with travel history much, as they're mostly interested in going to countries that require a visa, so that they can see if the applicant has a history of getting visas themselves and not overstaying. Going to Guanzhou would be a waste of time and money.

Financial assets: The problem with suggesting that since you're married, both of you now have shared finances, no one knows whether all that money was due to you, or due to her. It could all just be your earnings, and shows her inability to conjure up funds on her own (ie. lesser ties to country). Also, many spouses have been refused due to one spouse depositing large amounts of money into their accounts. Sharing a bank account and declaring that this money is also hers, would be kind of the same thing. Although it's important to show the host will provide most of the expenses, the applicant should show he/she have sufficient funds of their own.

Insufficient ties: I don't think it would be worth it if the deed document shows a date that she just recently added her name to the deed.

I've seen people be approved despite lacking one or two of these areas, so it wouldn't hurt to apply, it just depends on how strong her application is overall. I've seen more people be refused for Purpose of Visit than anything else, so make sure you outline detailed plans as to what she will be doing in Canada, not just simply stating "She's in Canada to be with me".

Thanks for the tips mikeymyke, I guess I'm beating a dead horse trying to look down this TRV path again. Her financial assets will always be lower compared to mine due to exchange rates, a reasonable amount of money in the Philippines quickly gets de-valued when they apply the conversion rate to Canadian. Travel history as you say means nothing if the destinations were visa exempt, I hadn't thought about that. For ties to home country, creating them to satisfy the requirement of a TRV will always be viewed as exactly that.

It looks like we have no other choice but to apply for PRV and wait it out. Even if we try for TRV while the PRV is in process, it is likely to get refused for the above reasons, no matter what we supply as the purpose of visit. Our purpose would be for her to experience living in Canada in preparation for permanently settling (I am thinking she will need periodic exposure to the cold dry air we have here to build up her resistance , to build her relationship with my kids, and to spend time together with me of course.

I've seen mentioned in another post that mentioning the UCI number of the PRV application and stating that she is pledging to uphold the requirements of the TRV so as not to jeopardize the PRV application, and having it notarized by a legal notary may help.

Of course, one other thing I can consider is visiting again for a longer period in the Philippines while we wait for things to happen.

Thanks again...

 

[badpusacat]

I'm following this thread.

We are on the same boat, S_and_C.

 

[S_and_C]

I'm following this thread.

We are on the same boat, S_and_C.

Nice to hear it's not only us. In my opinion, they can speed up the process by simply giving permanent residence automatically to any spouse of a Canadian citizen or already permanent resident, that would be nice. I have to give all of this more thought to see if there's a chance of success. Perhaps once a PRV is in process an I have sponsor approval, then a TRV application with a notarized letter could help. I can't seem to find the thread anymore now that I'm at home searching on a different computer. I'll link it if I find it again...

 

[S_and_C]

Here is the thread I mentioned, although the applicant was getting a Visitor Visa from India, a lot of it seems to applicable. Hope the tips here will help later...
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/visitor-visa-grantedwife-of-pr-t273759.0.html