Disclosing dual intent in TRV application

[Northerner-C]

Dear forum,

My wife and I are planning to apply for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) in several month. Before that we want to go to Canada as tourists - we have never been there and we would love to visit the country regardless of our immigration intentions, plus we want to see the country at least once before investing a lot of time and effort into moving there. To avoid any doubts: we have absolutely no intentions of staying in Canada illegally; we will leave the country as per terms of our temporary resident visa (TRV) and apply for FSWP outside of Canada.

The problem is that we are both currently unemployed, i.e. with just a few ties to our home country. We will try to balance it with decent travel history (Europe and Asia), real estate in the home country and absence of any ties to Canada.

We have two options:

1. Disclose our intent to apply for FSWP (i.e. dual intent) when applying for TRV. On the one hand, it is likely to increase chances for refusal on the grounds that we have not satisfied the officer that we will leave Canada. On the other hand, at least in my eyes, being frank about our intentions shows that we are not trying to sneak into the country, which might in fact increase our chances of getting TRV.
2. Do not disclose our intentions to apply for FSWP. The problem may arise if our application for TRV is refused. In this case we will be applying for FSWP a month or two after the refusal. It may look like we wanted to stay in the country illegally, but since we did not get TRV we decided to try a legal route. In a worst case scenario I can see it being interpreted as misinformation on our TRV application, which could damage our FSWP application.

So I have three questions:

1. Are my fears in option 2 justified?
2. Which option is better?
3. Maybe there are additional ways to strengthen our application for TRV to convince visa officers that we will not stay in Canada.

I will be very greatful for any input. Thank you in advance.

 

[scylla]

A TRV refusal will in no way damage a FSW application as long as the refusal is declared in the application. No - your fears in option 2 are in no way justified - they are completely unfounded.

IMO dual intent will probably guarantee a refusal. I would go with option 2 and see what evidence you can provide to strengthen your ties to your home country (e.g. property ownership, high bank balance, previous travel to countries requiring visas - Europe will count, Asia will not). It's unfortunate both of you are unemployed. You might want to consider holding off applying for a TRV until one of you is employed and has been working for a few months.

 

[Northerner-C]

A TRV refusal will in no way damage a FSW application as long as the refusal is declared in the application. No - your fears in option 2 are in no way justified - they are completely unfounded.

IMO dual intent will probably guarantee a refusal. I would go with option 2 and see what evidence you can provide to strengthen your ties to your home country (e.g. property ownership, high bank balance, previous travel to countries requiring visas - Europe will count, Asia will not). It's unfortunate both of you are unemployed. You might want to consider holding off applying for a TRV until one of you is employed and has been working for a few months.

Thank you very much for your response. I am glad to hear that there is little to no risk of damaging the FSW application. I think we will go with option 2 and see where it leads us.