PHILIPPINES Spousal Sponsorship Planning

[canadianbears]

OP: Canadian Citizen (born in Canada)
OP's Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Future Spouse From: Philippines
Her Income Level: extremely low
My Income Level: $24000CAD/year
Began Online Relationship: 2014/05/09
Living Together in Philippines: 2015-03-04 to 2015-05-02
Her Education: Masters in Nursing (with 2 years work experience)
My Education: 2 years of Undergraduate Physics
Her French Knowledge: 0/10
My French Knowledge: 3/10
Her English Knowledge: 8/10
My English Knowledge: 9.5/10

The above information may help to give context so I thought I would include it. We're planning on getting married soon, and have no issue with a small wedding before I go in one month. I've been reading that a wedding without family is bad for inland/outland spousal sponsorship, so I wanted a confirmation of that. If so we can host a small wedding with a few friends/family, and a small reception. We are ready to spend our lives together so want to discover the method that will yield the highest rate of success for our situation.

We are accumulating sources of proof of the legitimacy of our relationship and will continue to do so. We feel we can produce sufficient evidence.

Ideally she would come to Canada on a visitor visa (not declaring that she's my fiancee), then we would get married in Canada and immediately apply for inland spousal sponsorship, a visitor's visa extension, and a work permit. There is a massive issue with this however as she lacks income to travel so I would need to fund her, which would be suspicious to the Embassy as she has a minimal source of income (and will for some time to come). They tend to deny visitor's visas when there is a large reason to stay in the visiting country and little incentive to return to the home country. If anyone knows of any alternatives to this please share.

As we can't apply for inland in any other way that I'm aware of (she lacks the language skills to get in for Express Entry, even if we moved to an English province), our next option we believe is outland spousal sponsorship. Please verify that we're taking the correct steps for our given situation.

We do have the option of waiting another 5-6 months to get married, so we can accumulate enough money for a $2000-3000 wedding, but it isn't really a necessity for us and we would prefer to spend our lives together and put the money towards another investment.

We've thoroughly researched/brainstormed a vast amount of ways in which to prove the legitimacy of our relationship and will be overly prepared there so we feel we don't need advice in that regard.

Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

A very small wedding with hardly any friend/family, is only a problem when the relationship before the wedding is very short (like less than 1 year) and/or the couple hasn't spent much time together in person. In that case, CIC may suspect a marriage of convenience done only for immigration purposes. However this is all up to the visa officer who happens to be reviewing the PR app.

If she can get approved for a TRV and come to Canada, as long as you get married and submit the inland PR/OWP app all within the time her TRV is valid, there is no need to extend her visitor status since she would then be on implied status. You would only need to extend her status if her TRV is about to expire and you haven't prepared the PR app yet.

Also I don't think it's a good idea to lie on the TRV application in saying she doesn't have a boyfriend in Canada when she actually does. This would require 2 lies, once while filling out the TRV and possibly another time when talking to CBSA upon entering Canada. CBSA can grill her with questions if they want to, so do you think she is prepared to lie about you, the wedding, and her real intentions without CBSA suspecting anything? Note CBSA can also go through all her luggage and phone, and search for any indication she has a boyfriend or will be getting married. If they discover she'd lied on her TRV application, she could be denied entry and sent back home.

Plus i'm not sure if when you submit your PR app, CIC will also check her previous TRV app. If they do, it would be very suspicious why she is claiming on her PR app your relationship started on a certain date, but in her TRV app she is stating she has no bf in Canada.

It's probably better to simply say she has a boyfriend in Canada she's visiting on her TRV app, and you would be supporting her for the visit. You don't need to mention anything about fiancee or the marriage in TRV app. Although if asked by CBSA directly, she should not lie about the upcoming marriage. She will need to show strong ties back to Philippines to be approved for TRV (like current employment). Yes there's a chance she will be denied a TRV, in which case you'll need to travel to Philippines to get married and submit an outland application.

 

[bubbly00]

OP: Canadian Citizen (born in Canada)
OP's Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Future Spouse From: Philippines
Her Income Level: extremely low
My Income Level: $24000CAD/year
Began Online Relationship: 2014/05/09
Living Together in Philippines: 2015-03-04 to 2015-05-02
Her Education: Masters in Nursing (with 2 years work experience)
My Education: 2 years of Undergraduate Physics
Her French Knowledge: 0/10
My French Knowledge: 3/10
Her English Knowledge: 8/10
My English Knowledge: 9.5/10

The above information may help to give context so I thought I would include it. We're planning on getting married soon, and have no issue with a small wedding before I go in one month. I've been reading that a wedding without family is bad for inland/outland spousal sponsorship, so I wanted a confirmation of that. If so we can host a small wedding with a few friends/family, and a small reception. We are ready to spend our lives together so want to discover the method that will yield the highest rate of success for our situation.

We are accumulating sources of proof of the legitimacy of our relationship and will continue to do so. We feel we can produce sufficient evidence.

Ideally she would come to Canada on a visitor visa (not declaring that she's my fiancee), then we would get married in Canada and immediately apply for inland spousal sponsorship, a visitor's visa extension, and a work permit. There is a massive issue with this however as she lacks income to travel so I would need to fund her, which would be suspicious to the Embassy as she has a minimal source of income (and will for some time to come). They tend to deny visitor's visas when there is a large reason to stay in the visiting country and little incentive to return to the home country. If anyone knows of any alternatives to this please share.

As we can't apply for inland in any other way that I'm aware of (she lacks the language skills to get in for Express Entry, even if we moved to an English province), our next option we believe is outland spousal sponsorship. Please verify that we're taking the correct steps for our given situation.

We do have the option of waiting another 5-6 months to get married, so we can accumulate enough money for a $2000-3000 wedding, but it isn't really a necessity for us and we would prefer to spend our lives together and put the money towards another investment.

We've thoroughly researched/brainstormed a vast amount of ways in which to prove the legitimacy of our relationship and will be overly prepared there so we feel we don't need advice in that regard.

Thanks!

Hi,

getting a TRV would be hard as they will require her to have a strong ties in PHILIPPINES, her employment, assets, tax forms and financial sources. Her Travel History would be a plus too and with the funds in the bank, A single Deposit that is higher than her ADB would be a big question for CIC and it wont do good on your documentations and also not declaring the relationship for the TRV application would be a red flag for future PR applications both inland / outland.
another thing is that, for PR Applications, assuming that it would be an outland application, A single Visit to her could be another red flag, there's no right formula in proving the genuity of the relationship but given the length from when you met her, that moment you've seen each other and how long you've known each other, CIC will just be after on the Development of your relationship. and I tell you, they see All Applicants as subject for marriage fraud.

I applied for TRV twice and was refused twice all for same reasons, : family ties and purpose of visit.
even though I provided everything, employment, good banking, travel history records and 2 properties under my name they still turned me down.
1st TRV = purpose: to meet his family and friends as he already met mine (before marriage)
2nd TRV = purpose: to meet my inlaws ( after marriage and before PR Application )
we were left with an OUTLAND APPLICATION option as both TRV applications are refused. we met each other in 2008, he visited twice before marriage, got married in 2013, he then visit once after marriage. and all documentations we submitted weighs 3kg ( mostly for proving the genuity of our relationship.. please see our timeline as a reference..

I wish you luck on your application and wishing for you both to be stronger because the entire process is a real test of patience and its seriously a killer.

 

[truesmile]

Agreed! Her TRV will be denied.

I'd say, get married in PH "before you go", and file outland as soon as you are ready. Do you want small, or inexpensive?? We put on a real nice 'dog and pony' set up for 250 guests in PH for less than half the cost of our photographer (they were amazing). We weren't anywhere near Manila mind you.

 

[canadalover4987]

Hi canadianbears,



I would like to start this by saying that we are in a very similar situation. My partner is a filipina and i am a Canadian born citizen. (please see my post to understand my situation) heres the link:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/i-met-my-conjugal-partner-online-t277358.0.html

I am also new to this thread and i have found some helpful advice. Anyway i totally agree with Rob_TO. NEVER EVER lie in the immigration as this will cause both of you in deep trouble and has domino effect in your future PR application. A misrepresentation is a serious offence to CIC. Imagine if you didn't declare that she has no relationship to any Canadian, it will surely back fired both of you. The idea is to prove her ties to her home country---- and convince that she will come back after the trv. Just concentrate with the ties as supposed her ties to you or in canada.


If you are planning to apply for a trv and if you have joint bank account,properties together, deed of sales of any vehicle, business together, etc ------ DO NOT present it YET as you are applying for trv. PR requirements is totally different with TRV requirements. In writing an invitation letter, Introduce your self as her boyfriend nothing more than that and you will support her during her stay. Include your bank statement and T4.


I want to share to you what my partner and i did so far.

- i advice your partner to open a bank account solely named after her and save as much money as she possibly can. Include all her tax income and all her social security contribution including pag ibig fund and phil health if any.

- if she is employed then she can get a certificate of employment from her current job. Her leave of absence is strongly recommended. If she is NOT employed then its a totally different story. Its challenging to prove the intention to CIC, you said that she had her masters in Nursing, then i suggest to enroll in a additional vocational/technical courses related to her course or what ever she find interesting. There are some school in the Philippines that offers by the hours/weeks/months in a very cheap price. if you are in a tight budget,TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) offers additional skills to Filipino citizen, most of them are FREE. see this link--- http://www.tesda.gov.ph/About/TESDA/25

- show enrollment forms to immigration that she is enrolled and has intention to go back to her home country. I personally know some one who did this in the Philippines and she was granted by a TRV.

- OR she can open a business under her name as this will show her commitment to her business. My partner just recently open a business, she knows how to make some curtains and its her hobby,so she opened a made to order curtain. she can make a profit even if its small. Your partner can do buy and sell of something of some sort. its not expensive to open a business permit for sole proprietor in the Philippines its more or less $200 cad that includes business registration and mayors permit. You will never know if the business would work until you try. right? every year you can re register the business in a very small fee.

- OR she can get an affidavit from her immediate family members (dad/ mom) attesting the relationship and aware about the travel and willing to fund her if needed. Attach her parents bank statement.

- she can go to her local area which they called barangay and ask any elected barangay official for a volunteer work. she can do free 1-2 hour volunteer work,for example once a week for 1 hour of teaching street children, feeding program, charity work, etc. By doing, this she can request for a certification stating that she is doing volunteer work signed by local officials in a regular basis, for example. she do charity work since March 2015 up to present for 2 hours once a week. This proves her ties to her social community, i firmly believe that this will not hurt if you do this. Remember your partner needs all the help she can get, she need to prove ties as many as possible.

My partner went to their barangay and presented her self to do volunteer work. She now works as a volunteer staff. once every week is not bad at all. Once in a while she get paid out of some special project in the community which is nice. Keeps all the paystubs.

My partner owns a house and lot in Manila. but even if she has every thing, ONLY CIC CAN DECIDE as every case is unique.



Good intention is always rewarded. I hope i was able to help you in some ways. Best of luck. Keep us informed about your status. Cheers

 

[canadalover4987]

Good luck to you and your partner.

 

[canadianbears]

Good luck to you and your partner.

Thank you, and to you as well. I hope for the best outcome for your situation and hope you and your partner will have success with conjugal partner sponsorship.

Your details on TRV applicant proof of ties to their home country are highly useful and if we proceed with that in the future it should prove highly valuable. Also the extra information on establishing proof of a relationship will be helpful also for our sponsorship app!

 

[canadianbears]

A very small wedding with hardly any friend/family, is only a problem when the relationship before the wedding is very short (like less than 1 year) and/or the couple hasn't spent much time together in person. In that case, CIC may suspect a marriage of convenience done only for immigration purposes. However this is all up to the visa officer who happens to be reviewing the PR app.

A single Visit to her could be another red flag, there's no right formula in proving the genuity of the relationship but given the length from when you met her, that moment you've seen each other and how long you've known each other, CIC will just be after on the Development of your relationship. and I tell you, they see All Applicants as subject for marriage fraud.

I'd say, get married in PH "before you go", and file outland as soon as you are ready. Do you want small, or inexpensive?? We put on a real nice 'dog and pony' set up for 250 guests in PH for less than half the cost of our photographer (they were amazing). We weren't anywhere near Manila mind you.

Thank you to all who responded with really great and insightful help! We believe the difficulty of attaining a TRV for her would be too great, so we're highly favouring an outland sponsorship (with a wedding soon, or perhaps in 6 months).

Would a small (with a few friends/family, say 5-20) marriage after 11.5 months (under 1 year knowing each other) with having lived together for 1.5 months (only a single visit) be too risky to attempt to prove the validity of, even with a large amount of solid proof of a genuine relationship? This question is to anyone who feels confident in their answers, but specifically to Rob_TO, bubbly00 & truesmile as it's related to their great responses.

We are ready to spend our lives together as mentioned before so we would prefer not to wait the 5-6 months (& $2000-3000CAD) previously mentioned for a larger wedding/2nd visit/more time knowing each other, even though that should ensure a great chance of success in the long-term.

 

[canadianbears]

Agreed! Her TRV will be denied.

I'd say, get married in PH "before you go", and file outland as soon as you are ready. Do you want small, or inexpensive?? We put on a real nice 'dog and pony' set up for 250 guests in PH for less than half the cost of our photographer (they were amazing). We weren't anywhere near Manila mind you.

Thank you for your straight-forward and clear response. If you don't mind my asking, could you give more details on your 'dog and pony' wedding? Why did you feel you needed to have 250 guests (as opposed to less or a small wedding)? Was your proof low or did you feel this was a great way to cement proof? How long had you known each other prior to the wedding? What were the details/costs to perform this wedding? I'd really appreciate it as we're in favour of a small wedding but a 'dog and pony' wedding isn't out of the question given our situation.

 

[bubbly00]

Thank you for your straight-forward and clear response. If you don't mind my asking, could you give more details on your 'dog and pony' wedding? Why did you feel you needed to have 250 guests (as opposed to less or a small wedding)? Was your proof low or did you feel this was a great way to cement proof? How long had you known each other prior to the wedding? What were the details/costs to perform this wedding? I'd really appreciate it as we're in favour of a small wedding but a 'dog and pony' wedding isn't out of the question given our situation.

hi canadianbears..
i suggest to have everything documented. Like conversation of your parents with your girlfriend. And maybe if theyll be giving any gifts for your wedding take a photo of it and scan any wedding letters . Its something that could add into the genuity of your relationship. A proof that your relationship is known to both of your family and friends.. just sharing more story .
Our wedding was very cheap. $1000 for the wedding package in a restaurant called max's it was good For 30 guest but we only have few ppl to attend.. like 15 guests. Our wedding rings was around $1000 too.. we intentionally had our wedding that small because we arent financially ready yet and both our families are overseas.. his family in canada and my family in u.k .. i could help you with infos to help you save $... p.s no need to hire a wedding coordinator itll just be an extra cost..

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you to all who responded with really great and insightful help! We believe the difficulty of attaining a TRV for her would be too great, so we're highly favouring an outland sponsorship (with a wedding soon, or perhaps in 6 months).

Would a small (with a few friends/family, say 5-20) marriage after 11.5 months (under 1 year knowing each other) with having lived together for 1.5 months (only a single visit) be too risky to attempt to prove the validity of, even with a large amount of solid proof of a genuine relationship? This question is to anyone who feels confident in their answers, but specifically to Rob_TO, bubbly00 & truesmile as it's related to their great responses.

We are ready to spend our lives together as mentioned before so we would prefer not to wait the 5-6 months (& $2000-3000CAD) previously mentioned for a larger wedding/2nd visit/more time knowing each other, even though that should ensure a great chance of success in the long-term.

It's hard to say, as really everything depends on the visa officer reviewing the file. Ideally of course more visits would be better. However IMO, I think you could submit a successful outland app with your plan.

What's important in a wedding, is that you have a "normal" ceremony you can include pictures from, and that you can show family & friends attended. So you would include lots of pictures explaining who each person is that was there. You can also have close family & friends write personal testimonial letters for you and your partner, saying how they view your relationship and that they support it.

Before you submit the app you would also want to join as much as your life together on paper and financially as possible. So get life insurance on each other, see if you can get her a supplementary credit card to yours, add her as a beneficiary to anything you can, see if you can buy anything jointly, etc etc.

People have had successful PR apps with shorter times knowing each other, and with very small weddings. So it's definitely possible as long as you have lots of supporting proofs.