Hi y'all,
Based on my research, the odds of my successfully bringing my Filipina gf over to Canada for a visit appear very slim given the circumstances. Despite that, I went forth with the application as meticulously as possible. Within roughly the predicted CIC processing time (13 days in this case) for the online application, she received an update with passport submission request. She went to drop off the passport and submission request, pay the fee etc at VFS. VFS sent that to CIC, and CIC updated with confirmation they received it the same day. VFS said to expect it returned in 3-4 days.
So far, this all seems too good to be true - but, maybe I'm just not understanding the process. Is it normal that we would get this far, if it was being rejected? In my mind, there should be no sense in requesting for the passport to be sent to them if the application was being rejected. Can anyone chime in who's familiar with the process from reliable sources?
And as a follow-up question to that, assuming the miracle of approval, I have been worried sick about her being denied at the Manila airport by the immigration officer despite having all papers in order. It seems to be something that happens a lot over there, in the name of stopping human trafficking or some such.
Our situation is:
- I'm a full-time employee with a good job at a national telco, reasonable income, savings and investments (no issue to prove *my* financial capacity to support her during her stay)
- She was employed for the offshore campus of the same company for 4 years but recently quit and had lined up a new promising job, but hasn't started yet (red flag for being currently unemployed?)
- She has bank and tax statements to prove her previous employment, but no savings at all (surely another red flag)
- No house/mortgage, no car or any real assets to prove ties back home (definite red flag)
- She has a 7 year old daughter there
- Relatively new relationship (less than a year), but we have proof of relationship (pictures of me with her and her family, vacations together)
My fear is that if this visa does get approved somehow, that the IO at the airport will take one look at her, proceed to the secondary investigation (proof of financial capacity etc), and decline boarding regardless of valid visa/passport/plane ticket. In the likely event that they do ask more questions - will the bank draft in her name be sufficient to satisfy the IO, given that the visa application with that information was approved? And since she will be staying at my place (ie, no hotel reservations), will my letter of invitation satisfy the IO that she has a place to stay? Will they nitpick if that letter of invitation is not notarized (I didn't notarize it for the CIC online application)?
Trying to anticipate the best course of action to avoid any awful surprises at the airport if this is going through. Thanks for any input!!
Based on my research, the odds of my successfully bringing my Filipina gf over to Canada for a visit appear very slim given the circumstances. Despite that, I went forth with the application as meticulously as possible. Within roughly the predicted CIC processing time (13 days in this case) for the online application, she received an update with passport submission request. She went to drop off the passport and submission request, pay the fee etc at VFS. VFS sent that to CIC, and CIC updated with confirmation they received it the same day. VFS said to expect it returned in 3-4 days.
So far, this all seems too good to be true - but, maybe I'm just not understanding the process. Is it normal that we would get this far, if it was being rejected? In my mind, there should be no sense in requesting for the passport to be sent to them if the application was being rejected. Can anyone chime in who's familiar with the process from reliable sources?
And as a follow-up question to that, assuming the miracle of approval, I have been worried sick about her being denied at the Manila airport by the immigration officer despite having all papers in order. It seems to be something that happens a lot over there, in the name of stopping human trafficking or some such.
Our situation is:
- I'm a full-time employee with a good job at a national telco, reasonable income, savings and investments (no issue to prove *my* financial capacity to support her during her stay)
- She was employed for the offshore campus of the same company for 4 years but recently quit and had lined up a new promising job, but hasn't started yet (red flag for being currently unemployed?)
- She has bank and tax statements to prove her previous employment, but no savings at all (surely another red flag)
- No house/mortgage, no car or any real assets to prove ties back home (definite red flag)
- She has a 7 year old daughter there
- Relatively new relationship (less than a year), but we have proof of relationship (pictures of me with her and her family, vacations together)
My fear is that if this visa does get approved somehow, that the IO at the airport will take one look at her, proceed to the secondary investigation (proof of financial capacity etc), and decline boarding regardless of valid visa/passport/plane ticket. In the likely event that they do ask more questions - will the bank draft in her name be sufficient to satisfy the IO, given that the visa application with that information was approved? And since she will be staying at my place (ie, no hotel reservations), will my letter of invitation satisfy the IO that she has a place to stay? Will they nitpick if that letter of invitation is not notarized (I didn't notarize it for the CIC online application)?
Trying to anticipate the best course of action to avoid any awful surprises at the airport if this is going through. Thanks for any input!!
