An article in the Saint John’s The Telegram,
expressed outrage when Canada Immigration refused a visa,
and explained as follows:
“In reviewing her application, the
visa officer noted that Ms. Alawiran-Plaza did not provide evidence that she
has given similar talks or presentations in the past and she has no previous
documented travel outside of the Philippines,” an email from Immigration Canada
reads. “In addition, she has negligible savings and few ties to her home
country. Although her trip was being funded by the organization, the visa
officer was not satisfied that she had enough money to support herself during
her stay in Canada, and was not satisfied that she would leave Canada at the
end of her visit. As such, the officer refused her application for a temporary
resident visa.”
To be honest, there is nothing surprising about this. Yes,
it is unreasonable in light of the fact that the visitor was being invited by a
Catholic organization but this is a very standard refusal. It is frustrating because dealing with
refused cases from all over the world we see this standard language often which
does not really disclose what the issues are. Furthermore, the decisions made when processing
applications for visitor visas (temporary resident applications) are highly
discretionary. However, we would state
that in cases such as this, where an applicant does not have a travel history
or significant savings when applying for a visitor visa, it would be important
to counterweigh this by delineating both the applicant's credentials and the
credibility of the inviting party. Credibility is always an underlying issue. If
the purpose of the visit is credible, if you, the applicant, is credible, if
the person and/or organization that is doing the inviting is credible, the
chances of obtaining the visa will be better.
Lee & Company
