Visitor Visa Refusal

[sdilm1981]

I have applied for visitor visa in January 2023 along with my wife and two kids under 10 and the visa got refused with following reasons mentioned on refusal letter:

• You do not have significant family ties outside Canada.
• Your immigration status outside your country of nationality or habitual residence.
• You have limited employment possibilities in your country of residence

I am a Pakistani and have been working in Saudi since 2009 in reputed company at senior position.



One of our family friends, who used to work with me in my organization sent an invitation letter to spend some time with them and I attached that letter with the application.



Could anyone advise how can I ask visa office to explain the reasons in detail? And what is the procedure of it? Should I email to them or any online portal is available for it?

 

[Naturgrl]

I have applied for visitor visa in January 2023 along with my wife and two kids under 10 and the visa got refused with following reasons mentioned on refusal letter:

• You do not have significant family ties outside Canada.
• Your immigration status outside your country of nationality or habitual residence.
• You have limited employment possibilities in your country of residence

I am a Pakistani and have been working in Saudi since 2009 in reputed company at senior position.



One of our family friends, who used to work with me in my organization sent an invitation letter to spend some time with them and I attached that letter with the application.



Could anyone advise how can I ask visa office to explain the reasons in detail? And what is the procedure of it? Should I email to them or any online portal is available for it?

You need to reapply and explain:

- Ties: If your whole family travels then what are your family ties in Saudi.
- Immigration Status: What is your status is Saudi for all family members? You need to show that you will return - work permit, permits for family members, leases, job letter with leave, tuition/school registration
- Employment: your pay stubs, spouse's pay stubs

The issue is you are not a citizen of Saudi so have no ties to Pakistan. May be better for you to just apply and leave wife/children behind and see if approved. This will show a reason to return to Saudi.

How much time were you going to spend in Canada?

 

[sdilm1981]

Thank you @Naturgrl very much for giving your fruitful response.



My ties in Saudi could be:

• my long lasting job, (employment letter explaining my salary, date of joining) already provided earlier with previous application.
• my gratuity (End of Service Incentive with employer),
• rental agreement of my house in Saudi,
• school certificate of my elder kid (younger is not in school-going age) and
• employer-provided vehicle.
• 
  
• Are these valid or acceptable by the visa officer? Please advise

I have already submitted my status in Saudi with my previous application as follows:

• My work permit & its translation
• resident permits of my family members (as dependent of main work permit holder)
• I submitted my salary slips with previous application.
• My spouse doesn’t work and take care of kids as they are too young so we are not able to provide any salary stabs for her.

Could you advise if the same invitation letter from my friend could be used to apply visit visa alone?

 

[sdilm1981]

In addition, I have heard about GCMS Notes. What are these? And how can these help me to learn details about the cause of refusal of my visa in detail?



Could I email to the visa officer in Saudi embassy directly to give explanatory notes for the cause of refusal in detail? Please advise.



Your guidelines in this regards, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Naturgrl]

In addition, I have heard about GCMS Notes. What are these? And how can these help me to learn details about the cause of refusal of my visa in detail?



Could I email to the visa officer in Saudi embassy directly to give explanatory notes for the cause of refusal in detail? Please advise.



Your guidelines in this regards, would be greatly appreciated.

GCMS notes are officer notes stating specific reasons for refusal. It can be more detailed on why you all were refused. You can order them.

You need to address ties for your family to return - tuition/registration/school letters. Your spouse not working and having no ties may be an issue.

Friend can use same letter if does not include inviting your family. You may have a better chance for approval alone.

FYI - you and your family must now declare this refusal on all future visa applications for all countries.

 

[sdilm1981]

GCMS notes are officer notes stating specific reasons for refusal. It can be more detailed on why you all were refused. You can order them.

You need to address ties for your family to return - tuition/registration/school letters. Your spouse not working and having no ties may be an issue.

Friend can use same letter if does not include inviting your family. You may have a better chance for approval alone.

FYI - you and your family must now declare this refusal on all future visa applications for all countries.


Thanks for your response and all the guidelines.
Could you also guide how I can apply for the GCMS notes?
Should I email to someone?

 

[Naturgrl]

Google - order GCMS notes. You use a company to do So.

 

[sdilm1981]

Bundle of thanks. You made the life easy. I have googled it and found many companies are providing the service. Although they all look fine, may I ask any suggestion from your side which company is reliable, quick and cost-effective?

Your support would be highly appreciated.

 

[Naturgrl]

Bundle of thanks. You made the life easy. I have googled it and found many companies are providing the service. Although they all look fine, may I ask any suggestion from your side which company is reliable, quick and cost-effective?

Your support would be highly appreciated.

Can’t offer which one is best.

 

[canuck78]

The fact that your friend used to work with you and immigrated to Canada likely raises concerns that you may be trying to follow the same path. How did your friend end up living in Canada? How much savings have you shown? Have you done much travelling as a family? Where have you gone and for how long? Would this trip seem unusual? How long was the requested visit? How much leave do you get annually? Most use their leave to visit family or travel to closer and less expensive countries. Have you ever applied to immigrate, work or study to another country? Do you have any family in Canada? Do you have siblings and do they live in Pakistan? Canada is very aware that you don’t have a pathway to remain KSA longterm. Your status is related to your employment which is why many want to leave many countries in the Middle East to secure citizenship if people don’t want to return to their home country or even return to retire if they are able to work and live in KSA for their whole career.

 

[sdilm1981]

@canuck78 Thanks for your reviewing my case ang asking some valuable questions that may help me to dig down some insight.

- My friend was landed as PR holder last year. And he got the PR through PNP.
- I have declared decent savings in my bank account which has regular transactions with no abnormal or unexplained transaction.
- After COVID19 we haven't travelled as family to any other country except our home country, where we have visited twice in year 2021 and 2022. Normally, we take annual vacations for twenty to thirty days where we travel to our home country as family. However, I visited some GCC countries alone for work purpose.
- The itinerary we have submitted with our LOE is about 10 days, where we have explained our plan in detail along with activities we are going to do each day.
- I never applied for work or study or immigration in any country, but once by chance I made my profile in SINP. I am unsure if it is valid till now or expired.
- I don't have any family member in Canada.
- Yes, I have siblings in Pakistan.
- Its an open truth that GCC countries do not give citizenship but immigration and non-immigration visas are quite common here. I believe it depends on case to case.

I hope these answers would help to understand my case in more detail.

 

[canuck78]

@canuck78 Thanks for your reviewing my case ang asking some valuable questions that may help me to dig down some insight.

- My friend was landed as PR holder last year. And he got the PR through PNP.
- I have declared decent savings in my bank account which has regular transactions with no abnormal or unexplained transaction.
- After COVID19 we haven't travelled as family to any other country except our home country, where we have visited twice in year 2021 and 2022. Normally, we take annual vacations for twenty to thirty days where we travel to our home country as family. However, I visited some GCC countries alone for work purpose.
- The itinerary we have submitted with our LOE is about 10 days, where we have explained our plan in detail along with activities we are going to do each day.
- I never applied for work or study or immigration in any country, but once by chance I made my profile in SINP. I am unsure if it is valid till now or expired.
- I don't have any family member in Canada.
- Yes, I have siblings in Pakistan.
- Its an open truth that GCC countries do not give citizenship but immigration and non-immigration visas are quite common here. I believe it depends on case to case.

I hope these answers would help to understand my case in more detail.

The fact that your family has never travelled to another country other than your home country makes Canada an unusual it all choice. 10 days in Canada with young children given the distance, expense and jet lag doesn’t make sense as a first trip to another country other than your home country. If you had family in Canada you may be able to justify it but for a friend it is unusual. The fact that you created an SINP profile will have indicated that you do have interest in immigrating to Canada. If that is your goal just apply for express entry.

 

[sdilm1981]

Thank you very much @canuck78 for giving your valuable input and explaining the potential reasons of refusal.

Could you advise about the next step I should take. Should I reapply alone as advice by @Naturgrl? And how could I make my case stronger (or eliminate the weak points) when I reapply for the visitor visa?

Your positive action would be appreciated.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you very much @canuck78 for giving your valuable input and explaining the potential reasons of refusal.

Could you advise about the next step I should take. Should I reapply alone as advice by @Naturgrl? And how could I make my case stronger (or eliminate the weak points) when I reapply for the visitor visa?

Your positive action would be appreciated.

Are you actually just wanting to visit or are you wanting to remain in Canada? If just visiting go on holidays somewhere else. Lots of closer and cheaper options that are very nice travel locations without very long travel times and bad jet lag both of which would be nightmares with 2 young children.

 

[sdilm1981]

Considering the fact that Canada is quite attractive these days among millions of people as immigrant destination, it looks so obvious that everybody wants to immigrate using one or another way. However, we are not planning to seek PR their, at least not for now. Otherwise, there are many things commonly available in the market, such as study permits and paid LMIA where many of our peers have already immigrated their using them.

We do not have intention to immigrate mainly because of two reasons, our religious attachment with the Saudi and having a lavish source of income which can not be imagined in Canada. On the other hand, Canada's culture is quite far from the values we really have here (and we feel safe with our kids with these values). In addition, our friends who used to work in Saudi and immigrated to Canada are having tight lifestyle there and they contacts me to arrange an employment for them here in Saudi so they would leave their citizenship program and return to the Saudi. Anyhow, its an endless debate.

As regard to my case, after refusal from Canada, we have applied and got the visa of Shenghen. And we are travelling to France, Switzerland and Italy in coming days. But what really haunts me is a REFUSAL. I do not want to keep this refusal for rest of my life and therefore want to apply and get the visa so at least I can response that after initial refusal I got the visa at second attempt.