Visitors Visa Refused - Parents had applied for PR (complex case?)

[barcode]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I had applied for a 3 week vacation to Canada to meet my Aunt and my maternal grandparents. My wife and I are 30 years old.

My Aunt and my maternal grandparents have been in Canada for the past 20 years. I have not visited them before but my mother visited them once 2 years ago. We have never been refused any other visa before.

My parents had applied for PR in the year 2003 and their case is still under process. I was a dependent then, but my case was not pursued as I become fully employed at age 23 in the year 2004. So only my parents and siblings still have a case pending for PR. I had clearly mentioned the file number in the TRV application.

In 2007 my mother had visited Canada as my grandfather (her father) had suffered a stroke and was critical. He is much better since then, and had visited India in 2008.

My wife and I have traveled to many countries and my wife has a valid multiple entry US tourist visa. She has been to the US twice as a tourist to meet friends etc. I have traveled to Germany, Poland, Netherlands, China, HK, Macau, Thailand, Singapore and many other countries on work and tourism.

I had been employed with a company till Sept 09 and since then I started a small business of my own.

We showed around CDN 10,000 in each of our bank accounts, and around CDN 30,000 in investments.

My wife is working full time.

We don't own a house.

Following documents were attached as part of our application:

1- Documents of Applicant
1. Request for Visa Application
2. Single Entry Visa Form
3. Personal Information Form
4. Copy of Passport
5. Declaration of Self Employment and Leave
6. Income Tax Receipts – 3 years
7. Family Tree
8. Mother's previous Canadian Visa and Invitation
9. Statement of Savings Bank Account
10. Passport
11. E-Tickets

2- Documents of Applicant's wife
1. Personal Information Form
2. Copy of Passport
3. Leave Approval
4. Salary Certificate
5. Employment Letter
6. Statement of Savings Bank Account
7. Statement of Fixed Deposit Savings
8. Income Tax Receipts – 2 years
9. Passport
10. E-tickets

3- Documents of Host In Canada (Applicant's Aunt)
1. Letter of Invitation
2. Letter from M.P. of _________ (Hon._________)
3. Copy of Passport
4. Proof of Citizenship
5. Statement of Earnings
6. Income Tax Notice of Assessment
7. Manulife Securities Statement
8. Copy of Passport (Aunt's husband)
9. Proof of Citizenship Page 1
10. Proof of Citizenship Page 2
11. Statement of Earnings
12. Income Tax Notice of Assessment)
13. Manulife Securities Statement
14. Property Tax Bill – Principal Residence


Our reason for rejection:
You have not satisfied me that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident. In reaching this decision I considered several factors including:
a. your history of having contravened the conditions of entry on a previous stay in Canada (i have never been to Canada all my life!)
b. your travel history (I have traveled to safe countries and never overstayed!!)
c. your immigration status ( im a natural citizen to the country where i applied and i haven't gone to any PR applications)
d. your family ties in Canada and in your country of residence (I have family, parents and siblings in India... my aunt and grandparents in Canada)
e. length of proposed stay ( 21 days)
f. purpose of visit (tourism and meeting relatives)
g. limited employment prospects in your country of residence (I am fully employed in my own consultancy.. my last salary was 50,000 CDN!!)
h. your current employment situation (i am self employed and make good money))
i. personal assets and financial status (6mos bank statement provided, but don't own a house)

My questions:
Should we re-apply for the visa? Considering my wife is employed in another firm, should she become the principal applicant? We didn't enclose the marriage certificate with the application since we didn't have one. Should it be necessary?

Our Visa office is New Delhi... And we got the email address from VFS to write to the High Commission asking in details on why our application was refused.

Please help! I really wish to meet my grand parents who are old.

 

[barcode]

Anyone?

 

[toby]

I am amazed at the detail the Visa officer (VO) gave for refusing the application. All my wife got was the usual "insufficient reason to return to mother country by the end of the visa period".

You seem to have a strong case, and the VO reviewed your file carelessly. Yet you won't get anywhere appealing; in fact there is no formal appeal procedure for a visitor's visa application.

There seems to be considerable room for subjective and arbitrary decisions by VOs. Your VO did not question your relationship, but when I ordered CAIPS notes to find out more of the real reasons for my wife's rejected application, one thing that came out was that the VO expected more documentation proving that our marriage was legitimate and ongoing. We had attached the marriage certificate, but apparently this was not enough; we were expected to provide a mini-version of our application for permenent residency!!

This is NOT explained in the guide/checklist, but embassies don't seem to think this is a problem. Indeed, this vagueness allows more room for a VO to invent reasons to justify a rejection. If the guide/checklist were specific about the requirements, then the applicant could meet those requirements, and then the VO would have less weasel room to reject an applicant he/she wants to reject from the outset.

In your rejection letter, the VO did not seem to want more proof of your relationship, and neither did the VO who granted a visitor's visa to the wife of a Canadian I know here in China. So, proof of inconsistency and arbitrariness.

What you might do is send an email of complaint to the embassy’s Visa Department, asking that it be forwarded to the Head of the department. The point would be to show the Head that your particular VO was careless in reviewing your application, and to ask what can be done, since merely re-applying with the same information would presumably not help.

The Head might suggest a course of action and -- you never know -- give favourable treatment to your re-application.

 

[barcode]

Thanks a lot Toby! I am really thankful for this response of yours.

I am amazed at the detail the Visa officer (VO) gave for refusing the application. All my wife got was the usual "insufficient reason to return to mother country by the end of the visa period".

Actually, this is a pre-printed format fore rejection. There are lots of other options as well. But this one has many sub-options too. the VO chose this one (which according to me is the most arbit!!)

What you might do is send an email of complaint to the embassy's Visa Department, asking that it be forwarded to the Head of the department. The point would be to show the Head that your particular VO was careless in reviewing your application, and to ask what can be done, since merely re-applying with the same information would presumably not help. The Head might suggest a course of action and -- you never know -- give favourable treatment to your re-application.

Thanks for this tip! I took the email address from VFS, but I don't know what to write to them. Secondly, what tone I should write with? Any starting phrases? Many thanks!

Its strange that the MP of one of the largest provinces had written a letter ass part of the invitation to Canada!! And the dub twit VO ignored that too!

 

[toby]

Thanks a lot Toby! I am really thankful for this response of yours.

Actually, this is a pre-printed format fore rejection. There are lots of other options as well. But this one has many sub-options too. the VO chose this one (which according to me is the most arbit!!)

Thanks for this tip! I took the email address from VFS, but I don't know what to write to them. Secondly, what tone I should write with? Any starting phrases? Many thanks!

Its strange that the MP of one of the largest provinces had written a letter ass part of the invitation to Canada!! And the dub twit VO ignored that too!

You could point out in the letter/email where the VO erred, as you did in your original post. Not much else to do. The tone should be consturcive: like "dear Head of Visa Department: You might want to know about the faulty jugement of one of your VOs ..."

If you really want to get detailed, order the CAIPS notes (takes about 4-5 weeks), and then write the letter/email.

 

[zsashimi]

My parents was rejected for the same reasons you mentioned. I sent an email to the visa office here in Manila to inquire the details but as of now I havent received any feedback.

Same as you, my parents are working full-time as government employees. They have documents signed by the government offices they are connected with and that they have sufficient resources (money) for their stay in Canada. Plus they have an invitation letter from my Aunt indicating that all expenses would be shouldered by my aunt.

Sometimes it is frustrating to know that some visa officers do not review the application thoroughly. :-(

 

[barcode]

I received a "confirmation of email receipt today" with a link pointing to canadainternational.gc.ca/india-inde/visas/contact-contactez.aspx which basically defines the criteria of whether my email would be replied too. I don't know whether the email fulfils their "criteria" since our application was made and then denied! :-\

My parents was rejected for the same reasons you mentioned. I sent an email to the visa office here in Manila to inquire the details but as of now I havent received any feedback.

Sad to hear that zshashimi. Its funny and confusing to see so many eligible tourists bring turned down by the CHC. When did you write to them? Has it been a few days?

You could point out in the letter/email where the VO erred, as you did in your original post. Not much else to do. The tone should be consturcive: like "dear Head of Visa Department: You might want to know about the faulty jugement of one of your VOs ..."

If you really want to get detailed, order the CAIPS notes (takes about 4-5 weeks), and then write the letter/email.

That first sentence set the tone I guess. Will wait for a few days to hear back from them. Else apple for CAIPs. I studied online, while the CHC fee is just $5 the agents in Canada charged upto several hundred dollars to get that out I think.

 

[zsashimi]

Sad to hear that zshashimi. Its funny and confusing to see so many eligible tourists bring turned down by the CHC. When did you write to them? Has it been a few days?

It's been months.. I wrote them last April :-(

 

[toby]

I wrote an email, and the embassy replied that they don't discuss specific cases by email. So don't wait for relief here.

The CAIPS notes can be ordered by you in Canada, or through a company that will charge about $39 USD for their service (not $ hundreds). I used the CAIPS Retriever.

 

[Leon]

You can apply again implying that they made a mistake and send better proof of everything you have claimed, refuting all their points. You can also have your aunt/grandparents talk to their MP and ask them if they can enquire into your TRV refusal. It's worth a try anyway.