Lee and Company

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Visitor's Visas


 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

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