Looking for advice

[MikeBartlett1984]

Hey everyone, I’ve been reading lots of threads and kinda get the general census but just wondering if anyone might have constructive input to my situation.

I met a girl in the Philippines when I was there May 2017. I was travelling with my buddy and I actually met her on an airplane while flying to Boracay. We then spend the next 2 weeks together and I’ve since went back twice to visit her. We talk and text daily (phone logs and message logs to prove it)

We have since gotten serious and want to grow our relationship. We have applied twice for TRV and both were refused. Purpose of travel, financial resources, proof of ties and travel history. The first two reasons I don’t understand as the purpose of travel was clear both times that it was simply to visit me and meet my family. And financial resources, well I send a signed affidavit and all my financial records (I make a lot of money so this shouldn’t be an issue). The other two I suspected it would be an issue.

I have read both ways about a conjugal sponsorship and I’m sure Most of you will say don’t bother. Just wondering if anyone knows of any success stories. I understand we should get married, but it’s only been a year, she’s has never been to Canada and have never met my family which is important to me before marrying. I can’t just quit my job and move there, I have obligations in Canada (house, loans...etc) so we can’t live in a common law relationship. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can potentially make this work?

Do you think a work visa would be a good idea? If she could come in as Tim Hortons employee or something like that? Any suggestion in this area would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for suggestion and input.

Mike

 

[Rob_TO]

Hey everyone, I’ve been reading lots of threads and kinda get the general census but just wondering if anyone might have constructive input to my situation.

I met a girl in the Philippines when I was there May 2017. I was travelling with my buddy and I actually met her on an airplane while flying to Boracay. We then spend the next 2 weeks together and I’ve since went back twice to visit her. We talk and text daily (phone logs and message logs to prove it)

We have since gotten serious and want to grow our relationship. We have applied twice for TRV and both were refused. Purpose of travel, financial resources, proof of ties and travel history. The first two reasons I don’t understand as the purpose of travel was clear both times that it was simply to visit me and meet my family. And financial resources, well I send a signed affidavit and all my financial records (I make a lot of money so this shouldn’t be an issue). The other two I suspected it would be an issue.

I have read both ways about a conjugal sponsorship and I’m sure Most of you will say don’t bother. Just wondering if anyone knows of any success stories. I understand we should get married, but it’s only been a year, she’s has never been to Canada and have never met my family which is important to me before marrying. I can’t just quit my job and move there, I have obligations in Canada (house, loans...etc) so we can’t live in a common law relationship. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can potentially make this work?

Do you think a work visa would be a good idea? If she could come in as Tim Hortons employee or something like that? Any suggestion in this area would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for suggestion and input.

Mike

You are right, conjugal is not an option so do not even consider it. There are zero barriers to you getting married which would make any conjugal app a practically guaranteed rejection.

In order for her to get a work permit, an employer would need to go through LMIA process to prove they must hire a foreigner over a Canadian/PR. You can certainly talk to some employers (like Tim Hortons) on if they will even consider going through LMIA process to hire foreigners, but I would imagine there will be a lot of roadblocks to this.

Most likely you will just need to get married to make this work.

 

[KBH]

Keep in mind that the conjugal route solely exists for couples who are already in marriage-like relationships, but have a barrier to legally getting married or living together - it is not intended for couples to be able to spend more time together before they decide to get married. As Rob already mentioned above, there is no legal barrier stopping you from going to the Philippines to live together or marry her, so conjugal is a guaranteed rejection, no chance of a success story there whatsoever.

You will either need to get married, or go to the Philippines to spend more time with her to decide if that's what you want to do

 

[MikeBartlett1984]

I understand and kind of expected this reply. It’s just very frustrating when you can’t get to know someone on the level you would like without basically being forced to be married. She only wants to come visit and has no intentions or staying or working here. I understand that marriage is our best option, but who would want to marry someone when they haven’t even met their family or experienced their partners life in their home country. I love her and I’m sure we will get married in the future, but it’s sad that people are forced to go through this process for a simple visit. Travelling to the Philippines is hard when it’s 24hr flights $1200 per flight and limited vacation at work. I’m lucky I get a decent amount of vacation and make a good salary, but for others less fortunate the government forces marriages on people, Then the government will sit and wonder why there is so many “fake marriages”. I appreciate the replies. It’s just frustrating when your a law abiding tax paying citizen who can’t get their girlfriend into the country to visit

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I understand and kind of expected this reply. It’s just very frustrating when you can’t get to know someone on the level you would like without basically being forced to be married. She only wants to come visit and has no intentions or staying or working here. I understand that marriage is our best option, but who would want to marry someone when they haven’t even met their family or experienced their partners life in their home country. I love her and I’m sure we will get married in the future, but it’s sad that people are forced to go through this process for a simple visit. Travelling to the Philippines is hard when it’s 24hr flights $1200 per flight and limited vacation at work. I’m lucky I get a decent amount of vacation and make a good salary, but for others less fortunate the government forces marriages on people, Then the government will sit and wonder why there is so many “fake marriages”. I appreciate the replies. It’s just frustrating when your a law abiding tax paying citizen who can’t get their girlfriend into the country to visit

The government doesn't force people to marry. People make personal decisions that can result in marriage being the only option if they want to be together. Your personal decision is to not go live with your partner in the Philippines. I moved country twice to live with my partner to become common-law so we could apply for sponsorship to Canada without marrying.

I'm not quite sure what your reference to "fake marriages" is about. People in genuine relationships such as yourself who marry to start the sponsorship process aren't entering into fake marriages.

 

[mikeymyke]

I understand and kind of expected this reply. It’s just very frustrating when you can’t get to know someone on the level you would like without basically being forced to be married. She only wants to come visit and has no intentions or staying or working here. I understand that marriage is our best option, but who would want to marry someone when they haven’t even met their family or experienced their partners life in their home country. I love her and I’m sure we will get married in the future, but it’s sad that people are forced to go through this process for a simple visit. Travelling to the Philippines is hard when it’s 24hr flights $1200 per flight and limited vacation at work. I’m lucky I get a decent amount of vacation and make a good salary, but for others less fortunate the government forces marriages on people, Then the government will sit and wonder why there is so many “fake marriages”. I appreciate the replies. It’s just frustrating when your a law abiding tax paying citizen who can’t get their girlfriend into the country to visit

Just get your girlfriend to Skype chat with your folks while you're there, that's what we did.

Also I disagree with why there are so many fake marriages. The sole reason for that is quite simply, when people are from countries that are lower income, lower quality of life, repressive government, violence, etc, a lot of them will want to move somewhere for a better life, and a lot of them are willing to do it fraudulently or even go so far as to trick an unsuspecting sponsor. Unfortunately, the Philippines is one of those high-risk marriage fraud countries like many in SE Asia. Don't blame the Canadian govt for making it hard, blame those fraudsters from these countries for making it difficult for the rest of us legitimate couples.

Also I don't understand why you're willing to sponsor her via conjugal. ASAP, but, but not ready to marry yet. Did you know that you're financially obligated to support your spouse for 3 years after she lands? Isn't that pretty much a marriage-like committment already, especially when you're willing to go through the sponsorship process for someone you're not ready to marry yet? So then if you're so sure about this girl, then you might as well just marry her and make this as less complicated as posssible.

Get your girlfriend to Skype chat with your folks every week. When they do see her on your wedding, it won't feel like new at all, it would just be like "Hey what's up pops?"