Red flags

[eminem_n_rihannah99]

I haven't found a thread for a list of red flags

 

[tink23]

Fast marriage
Little time spent together
Large age difference
Different religion
Failed refugee claim followed by marriage and sponsorship
Wedding ceremony not following cultural norms of the area
no proof of family or friend support and never have met or spoken

These are just a few to mention, and all can be overcome with relationship proof and explanations within the application.

 

[canadianwoman]

Big differences between applicant and sponsor. Also some countries or areas are considered suspicious anyway.

 

[jamali]

Discussing/planning marriage before meeting in real ... And then marrying on the first visit.

 

[CdnandTrini]

Reply: Red flags

I haven't found a thread for a list of red flags

This link below may help, agree with other members, especially the point re: certain countries being regarded as much more suspicious.

http://www.visaplace.com/blog-immigration-law/canadian-immigration-lawyer/immigraton-red-flags/

here is the link to the article referenced in the link above. Very interesting indeed!

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2014/02/01/a_rare_look_inside_the_black_box_of_canada_immigration.html

And last but not least, the link to the actual study results referenced in the Toronto Star article above:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cars.12031/pdf Scroll to page 4 and start reading about midway down

 

[Coldstream63]

Wonderful - I see that the lawyer in the first link made reference to too many love letters actually raising a red flag because the evidence may seem fabricated. Well, I'm a hopeless romantic, and wrote some pretty sappy stuff, LOL. We included ALL of our love letters, and there was probably a a good 15-20 between the two of us, over four years.

So here I was, thinking that I was helping by showing genuine and continued contact by way of snail mail (even though we talk daily through WhatsApp), and now read that it may have flagged the application.

What do you guys think?

 

[Alurra71]

Wonderful - I see that the lawyer in the first link made reference to too many love letters actually raising a red flag because the evidence may seem fabricated. Well, I'm a hopeless romantic, and wrote some pretty sappy stuff, LOL. We included ALL of our love letters, and there was probably a a good 15-20 between the two of us, over four years.

So here I was, thinking that I was helping by showing genuine and continued contact by way of snail mail (even though we talk daily through WhatsApp), and now read that it may have flagged the application.

What do you guys think?

I think 20 letters over the course of 4 years is only 5 letters per year and that you'll be just fine. I think in reference to what you are talking about would be multiple letters per day/week/month rather than a few a year.

 

[Panamai]

I think 20 letters over the course of 4 years is only 5 letters per year and that you'll be just fine. I think in reference to what you are talking about would be multiple letters per day/week/month rather than a few a year.

Ok, that's good to know. I was a bit worried for a second.. I buy my husband greeting cards for every little occasion! Lol I'm super sappy too.

 

[CdnandTrini]

Reply: Red flags

Wonderful - I see that the lawyer in the first link made reference to too many love letters actually raising a red flag because the evidence may seem fabricated. Well, I'm a hopeless romantic, and wrote some pretty sappy stuff, LOL. We included ALL of our love letters, and there was probably a a good 15-20 between the two of us, over four years.

So here I was, thinking that I was helping by showing genuine and continued contact by way of snail mail (even though we talk daily through WhatsApp), and now read that it may have flagged the application.

What do you guys think?

No worries Coldstream63 . I read the entire study (the 3rd link) and if I recall correctly that was an opinion of one immigration officer (IO). And in fact, many of us have detailed love communications in writing, e-mail, SKYPE messages etc. That is another medium of survival for long distance love. Your letters will not (in and of themselves) flag your application and you did the right thing by including them. I think IOs really look for a cluster or constellation of factors and concerns.

Besides your amount sounds small compared to what I sent! Hubby and I had over 6 years worth of e-mails. messages etc. that I eventually put into a word doc. organized with several samples corresponding to each month. In this document (which ended up being about 60+ pages btw), I added at the end, that I had plenty more if they wanted and it would be supplied on request. They never requested anything additional but they did read everything I sent as they commented on it in our GCMS notes that I requested from them.

I also included some of our "un-love" letters and maybe this is what the IO meant as in, most "real" relationships, there are arguments and disagreements and discussions about other things. Did we fight on e-mail and SKYPE? He!! yes and immigration got samples of those for their reading pleasure as well. Best wishes and blessings and don't fret

 

[MissRepresentation]

"If the woman who is a sponsor is really ugly, and the guy is good-looking, he
has all the right assets. The woman travels to the Caribbean and marries the
cool guy. I can't say she is ugly and he is too good-looking for her. I will say
something like they do not appear to be physically compatible, or something
like that. (Field Notes, December 14, 2010:17)"

So ugly people are screwed. Priceless!

 

[CdnandTrini]

Reply: Red flags

"If the woman who is a sponsor is really ugly, and the guy is good-looking, he
has all the right assets. The woman travels to the Caribbean and marries the
cool guy. I can't say she is ugly and he is too good-looking for her. I will say
something like they do not appear to be physically compatible, or something
like that. (Field Notes, December 14, 2010:17)"

So ugly people are screwed. Priceless!

Yes, I would love to meet this IO in person to understand how they developed this "skill". :

 

[charmainefrances]

SUCCESS STORY:

My husband is 32 years older than me
I am 31 and he is 63
I arrived in canada under a work permit in june 2009. 2 weeks after, i met my (now husband for 4 years and 4 months).
We got married on sept. Of 2010
Applied inland in nov. 2010
File tranferred from vegreville to edmonton in oct. 2011
Reasons: age gap, short courtship, doubting if our marriage is genuine, asking if i'm married back home. That i did not declare my son when i applied for a visa to come to canada.

Month after the transfer, we submitted everything we could to prove that our martiage is true, genuine and authentic. We did this every month until april of 2013.

Aug. 30, 2013 - we received a call in notice from cic edmonton asking us for interview. The requirements the io requested : lease/ rent agreement, pictures from wedding, trips etc., t4, notice of assessment, t1 , paystubs, bills, and option c and bank statements(Most of the req. were tax related, it's probably because the io want to make sure that we have money to provide for our dependent)

Sept. 12,2013- interview day- we arrived at cic edm very prepared! Did not even feel nervous at all! We are confident and we know that what we need to do is to show who we really are!

My interview lasted for 1 hr and 15 min.
Questions asked:
What is my name, bday, my parents name
What is my husbands name, birthday, parents name, siblings and where they live.
Where and when we meet?
Who proposed, describe the moment
When and where is our wedding?
How many people attended? Names of attendees, reception?
1st date? Where when, what we ordered?
Are we sexually active?
Do we want to have kids?
Name of my son, names of my husbands daughter, names of grandkids
How is the relationship between my husband and son

And then suddenly the io stopped typing because she said the computer stopped working. So we started again from the very beginning. I think for me this is to test if i will answer the questions the same thing.

Then, she asked me 3 times in different ways , where do i work, she probably want to make sure that i am not working anywhere else.

Describe our apartment
Who pay bills ?
Where does my husband work?
How much salary?
Do i send money to my home country? How much?
She asked if I'm in Canada
Asked if i have a criminal record or convicted

At the end of the interview, she just said that the only reason why our file was transferred is because of our age gap. Then i said, i know! Lol! I said that , when we applied in 2010, we did not even know that there are red flags like that. What we presented them is the real us!

Then i showed some personal stuff like the crosstitch i made as a birthday gift for my husbands grand daughter, cards from friends and family. Our wedding invitation.

And that's it!

Then it's my husband's turn!!

His interview lasted for 45 minutes. And he was asked the same questions and he answered the same as mine with a little bit of elaboration lol!

When the io told him that our file was tranferred because of age gap, he told the io that this has been happening eversince, just like cleopatra and julis ceasar, charlie chaplin and his wife oona etc. etc. that was the killer answer! Lol!
The io was smiling while typing this my husband said!

All in all the interview went well! The atmosphere inside the interview room was very non threatening, it was actually full of laughter. Me and my husband are very happy people by nature! So i think we really gave a positive vibes inside the interview room.

Exactly 1 month after the interview, oct12,2013, i received an email requesting for medical examination. Then aip and owp arrived on oct. 16.

Medical examination done Oct. 23, 2013.

cic received medical Oct. 31, 2013

My son arrived in Canada April 2014 under a student permit

Me and my son Landed as PRs June 2014

Good luck to everyone!

 

[CdnandTrini]

Reply: Red flags

SUCCESS STORY:

My husband is 32 years older than me
I am 31 and he is 63
I arrived in canada under a work permit in june 2009. 2 weeks after, i met my (now husband for 4 years and 4 months).
We got married on sept. Of 2010
Applied inland in nov. 2010
File tranferred from vegreville to edmonton in oct. 2011
Reasons: age gap, short courtship, doubting if our marriage is genuine, asking if i'm married back home. That i did not declare my son when i applied for a visa to come to canada.

Month after the transfer, we submitted everything we could to prove that our martiage is true, genuine and authentic. We did this every month until april of 2013.

Aug. 30, 2013 - we received a call in notice from cic edmonton asking us for interview. The requirements the io requested : lease/ rent agreement, pictures from wedding, trips etc., t4, notice of assessment, t1 , paystubs, bills, and option c and bank statements(Most of the req. were tax related, it's probably because the io want to make sure that we have money to provide for our dependent)

Sept. 12,2013- interview day- we arrived at cic edm very prepared! Did not even feel nervous at all! We are confident and we know that what we need to do is to show who we really are!

My interview lasted for 1 hr and 15 min.
Questions asked:
What is my name, bday, my parents name
What is my husbands name, birthday, parents name, siblings and where they live.
Where and when we meet?
Who proposed, describe the moment
When and where is our wedding?
How many people attended? Names of attendees, reception?
1st date? Where when, what we ordered?
Are we sexually active?
Do we want to have kids?
Name of my son, names of my husbands daughter, names of grandkids
How is the relationship between my husband and son

And then suddenly the io stopped typing because she said the computer stopped working. So we started again from the very beginning. I think for me this is to test if i will answer the questions the same thing.

Then, she asked me 3 times in different ways , where do i work, she probably want to make sure that i am not working anywhere else.

Describe our apartment
Who pay bills ?
Where does my husband work?
How much salary?
Do i send money to my home country? How much?
She asked if I'm in Canada
Asked if i have a criminal record or convicted

At the end of the interview, she just said that the only reason why our file was transferred is because of our age gap. Then i said, i know! Lol! I said that , when we applied in 2010, we did not even know that there are red flags like that. What we presented them is the real us!

Then i showed some personal stuff like the crosstitch i made as a birthday gift for my husbands grand daughter, cards from friends and family. Our wedding invitation.

And that's it!

Then it's my husband's turn!!

His interview lasted for 45 minutes. And he was asked the same questions and he answered the same as mine with a little bit of elaboration lol!

When the io told him that our file was tranferred because of age gap, he told the io that this has been happening eversince, just like cleopatra and julis ceasar, charlie chaplin and his wife oona etc. etc. that was the killer answer! Lol!
The io was smiling while typing this my husband said!

All in all the interview went well! The atmosphere inside the interview room was very non threatening, it was actually full of laughter. Me and my husband are very happy people by nature! So i think we really gave a positive vibes inside the interview room.

Exactly 1 month after the interview, oct12,2013, i received an email requesting for medical examination. Then aip and owp arrived on oct. 16.

Medical examination done Oct. 23, 2013.

cic received medical Oct. 31, 2013

My son arrived in Canada April 2014 under a student permit

Me and my son Landed as PRs June 2014

Good luck to everyone!

Wow! Interesting and informative post. Thank you for your honesty and taking the time to write it. I am sure it will help and encourage many others here on the forum. Congratulations and blessings to you and your family.

My husband and I were lucky enough to not have an interview during our PR process, but one time when we applied for him to visit (TRVs - we were refused multiple times) he was called in and also questioned about his sexual activity . At that time I was not aware that CIC had so much latitude in being able to ask such invasive questions but they do. And yes I believe you are correct about the IO using the "computer is not working" strategy. I have read that many times on the forum with other people writing about going through their interviews.

 

[jamsham12]

Say the date entered into commonlaw filled in application to sponsor and imm0008 are about 6 days apart from one another would that be an issue, it was mistakenly filled in one of the forms the earlier date ?

 

[CdnandTrini]

Reply: Red flags

Say the date entered into commonlaw filled in application to sponsor and imm0008 are about 6 days apart from one another would that be an issue, it was mistakenly filled in one of the forms the earlier date ?

In my opinion, I would send a letter explaining this and ask for your file to be corrected. Better to initiate the correction at your end, for an honest mistake, rather than leaving it open to interpretation by immigration should they "catch" it.