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Stressed over trying to sponsor my wife

Properityone

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Apr 19, 2023
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My wife and I got married in Oct 2021 and the sponsorship application was stressful. My wife finally had her interview after waiting over a year on May 2nd and it sounds like they are going to refuse my wife. We didn’t have a wedding reception due to COVID and the passing of my grandmother nor did we have a honeymoon. When the visa officer asked my wife why we didn’t do that she said because of COVID and we wanted to be careful his response was that’s not an excuse everything was open. We completed our kitib il kitaab (religious marriage ceremony) and celebrated with close friends and family but that wasn’t enough for him. He also seemed bothered about her not wearing a white wedding dress its 2023 for goodness sake. After she told me all this, I immediately called my MP to look into this before they make their decision and to help me out. Would the MP be of great help? Anyone have any experience with this ? My wife’s in Lebanon by the way; I can’t believe he told her COVID isn’t an excuse which infuriates me.

we have proof of our continued social media and WhatsApp interactions since 2020. Having to appeal this and wait yet another 12-14 months would cause a great deal of hardships for my wife and I.
 
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scylla

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My wife and I got married in Oct 2021 and the application was stressful. My wife finally had her interview after waiting over a year on May 2nd and it sounds like they are going to refuse my wife. We didn’t have a wedding reception due to COVID nor did we have a honeymoon. When the visa officer asked my wife why we didn’t do that she said because of COVID and we wanted to be careful his response was that’s not an excuse everything was open. He had a small kitib il kitaab which is a religious wedding but that wasn’t enough for him. He also seemed bothered about her not wearing a white dress. After she told me all this, I immediately called my MP to look into this before they make their decision and to help me out. Would the MP be of great help? Anyone have any experience with this ? My wife’s in Lebanon by the way.
MPs cannot influence IRCC decisions. They can inquire on the status of an application your behalf. But they cannot change, impact, or sway the decision in any way. An MP will not be of any real help in this case.

Is there any further evidence of your relationship you can submit? Have you lived together for significant periods of time? Have you gone on many trips together? Did you live together or spend a lot of time together before getting married?
 

Properityone

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Apr 19, 2023
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MPs cannot influence IRCC decisions. They can inquire on the status of an application your behalf. But they cannot change, impact, or sway the decision in any way. An MP will not be of any real help in this case.

Is there any further evidence of your relationship you can submit? Have you lived together for significant periods of time? Have you gone on many trips together? Did you live together or spend a lot of time together before getting married?
We met online and chatted for a long period of time. I decided to make the move and headed over to Lebanon and we got married. I have daily WhatsApp convos dating back to 2020, pictures and phone calls. When I called my MP she mentioned she is going to help me? Should I email immigration as much info as I can find?? We are both Muslims.
 

scylla

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We met online and chatted for a long period of time. I decided to make the move and headed over to Lebanon and we got married. I have daily WhatsApp convos dating back to 2020, pictures and phone calls. When I called my MP she mentioned she is going to help me? Should I email immigration as much info as I can find?? We are both Muslims.
I'm not sure how your MP can help, other than inquiring about the status of your application. MPs literally cannot influence IRCC decisions.

How long exactly have you spent with your spouse? Did you just take the single trip over there to get married and haven't visited since 2021? If so, I'm be very honest, that's not a great profile and this is typically a red flag to IRCC for a marriage of convenience. I get there was COVID and that may have prevented a honeymoon / wedding reception. But travel has been back on for a while now.
 
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Properityone

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Apr 19, 2023
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I'm not sure how your MP can help, other than inquiring about the status of your application. MPs literally cannot influence IRCC decisions.

How long exactly have you spent with your spouse? Did you just take the single trip over there to get married and haven't visited since 2021? If so, I'm be very honest, that's not a great profile and this is typically a red flag to IRCC for a marriage of convenience. I get there was COVID and that may have prevented a honeymoon / wedding reception. But travel has been back on for a while now.
Lebanon is also in a very bad economic crisis and my grandmother passed away shortly after. Me and my wife have maintained daily contact with each other. It’s just so frustrating! I know people who hardly knew their spouse and had no issues; it’s all luck of the draw. I think my wife just happened to get interviewed by a strict officer with no remorse.

travel has been back up for a while but it’s doesn’t negate the fact that the virus was still running rampant in some areas plus I’m not the richest person and really can’t afford to take time off work.

“marriage or convenience” many marriages are arranged with no issues.
 

comarxx

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I’ll just add a question here. I already booked a flight back home this month and will be away for exactly a month to be with my spouse. We are currently almost at the 10 month of our spouse sponsorship. Just waiting for the eligibility and background check to be completed.

My question is do I need to inform IRCC by calling them or via webform of this travel? I understand it’s important to have the PR sponsor to be present in Canada while the application is in progress but it’s also important for our relationship. Also it shows that I visited her. Thanks in advance.
 

armoured

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I’ll just add a question here. I already booked a flight back home this month and will be away for exactly a month to be with my spouse. We are currently almost at the 10 month of our spouse sponsorship. Just waiting for the eligibility and background check to be completed.

My question is do I need to inform IRCC by calling them or via webform of this travel? I understand it’s important to have the PR sponsor to be present in Canada while the application is in progress but it’s also important for our relationship. Also it shows that I visited her. Thanks in advance.
When you return you can provide some info on your visit, if you wish.
 

Ponga

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I’ll just add a question here. I already booked a flight back home this month and will be away for exactly a month to be with my spouse. We are currently almost at the 10 month of our spouse sponsorship. Just waiting for the eligibility and background check to be completed.

My question is do I need to inform IRCC by calling them or via webform of this travel? I understand it’s important to have the PR sponsor to be present in Canada while the application is in progress but it’s also important for our relationship. Also it shows that I visited her. Thanks in advance.
Leaving Canada for a month is risky, especially if the applicant is the one leaving, UNLESS it is an Outland sponsorship application (which many submit while in Canada).

You do not need to inform IRCC, but if you have any issues with CBSA upon your return, it could be a problem for the application.
 

armoured

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Lebanon is also in a very bad economic crisis and my grandmother passed away shortly after. Me and my wife have maintained daily contact with each other. It’s just so frustrating! I know people who hardly knew their spouse and had no issues; it’s all luck of the draw. I think my wife just happened to get interviewed by a strict officer with no remorse.

travel has been back up for a while but it’s doesn’t negate the fact that the virus was still running rampant in some areas plus I’m not the richest person and really can’t afford to take time off work.
Other posters here are providing suggestions on things you can do eg physically visit each other. No point arguing with them the reasons you can't. Either take the advice, search for other ways to address the (identified) issues with your application, or take your lumps.

“marriage or convenience” many marriages are arranged with no issues.
Marriage of convenience and arranged marriages are entirely different concepts, that do not necessarily overlap.
 
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armoured

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Leaving Canada for a month is risky, especially if the applicant is the one leaving, UNLESS it is an Outland sponsorship application (which many submit while in Canada).
Sounds rather obviously an outland app because the poster is going 'home' (presumably country of origin/citizenshp) to visit spouse.
 

scylla

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Lebanon is also in a very bad economic crisis and my grandmother passed away shortly after. Me and my wife have maintained daily contact with each other. It’s just so frustrating! I know people who hardly knew their spouse and had no issues; it’s all luck of the draw. I think my wife just happened to get interviewed by a strict officer with no remorse.

travel has been back up for a while but it’s doesn’t negate the fact that the virus was still running rampant in some areas plus I’m not the richest person and really can’t afford to take time off work.

“marriage or convenience” many marriages are arranged with no issues.
My further two cents:

- If you have any further evidence of your relationship to send to IRCC, you might as well send it. I would not rely on your MP to make any positive impact on your application since they don't have the authority to do so.
- What is working against you is the fact you have a combination of very little time spent with your spouse in person, did not have a wedding that included all of the tranditional / usual compontents (e.g. reception, honeymoon), and you haven't visited each other since the wedding. Are you in a position to take time off now and book a fight to visit her? Has she attempted to apply for a TRV to come and visit you? There is some luck of the draw in who assesses your application. However your profile is also super weak and that is not helping your case.
- Keep hoping for an approval. There's always a chance your application could be approved despite how things went in the interview. But also consider what you will do if you are refused. The options would be to appeal or to reapply with a stronger application.
- Arranged marriages and marriages of convenience are two completely different things. Many many people on this forum who had arranged marriages have been approved. IRCC is fine with arranged marriages. These are perfectly normal. What IRCC is worried about is marriages of convenience.
 

Ponga

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Sounds rather obviously an outland app because the poster is going 'home' (presumably country of origin/citizenshp) to visit spouse.
That's quite a reach, IMHO.

Have you never heard of an Inland applicant wanting to "go home" during the process? It wasn't until I checked the posting history that I saw (after my post) that it is in fact an Outland application.
 

scylla

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That's quite a reach, IMHO.

Have you never heard of an Inland applicant wanting to "go home" during the process? It wasn't until I checked the posting history that I saw (after my post) that it is in fact an Outland application.
I don't think it's a reach at all. IMO it's quite obvious the spouse is outside of Canada and this is an outland application. OP said this: "will be away for exactly a month to be with my spouse".
 
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Ponga

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I don't think it's a reach at all. IMO it's quite obvious the spouse is outside of Canada and this is an outland application. OP said this: "will be away for exactly a month to be with my spouse".
Sorry, but I still don't see how it was obvious that it was in fact an Outland application.

Based on previous posts, one of them became a PR back in 2013 ("application sent (by my wife) - october 2012 (forgot the exact date)", so unless the sponsor is now a Canadian citizen, is it not a requirement for the sponsor to remain in Canada during the sponsorship process?

*EDIT*
The above was written by someone that's not feeling 100% today and is admittedly a bit `cranky'. Time for me to shut down the noise and get some rest. LOL!
 
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Kaibigan

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Lebanon is also in a very bad economic crisis and my grandmother passed away shortly after. Me and my wife have maintained daily contact with each other. It’s just so frustrating! I know people who hardly knew their spouse and had no issues; it’s all luck of the draw. I think my wife just happened to get interviewed by a strict officer with no remorse.

travel has been back up for a while but it’s doesn’t negate the fact that the virus was still running rampant in some areas plus I’m not the richest person and really can’t afford to take time off work.

“marriage or convenience” many marriages are arranged with no issues.
I am not trying to give you a hard time here, but it strikes me that Lebanon being in economic crisis and the passing of your grandmother do not really come across as cogent and compelling reasons for not going there to spend time with your wife.

As for Covid "running rampant", I suppose that still applies today. I know of a few people here in my province of BC to get the virus in this past month. Was Lebanon on a list of places to which the Canadian government has warned against travel until now?

How long exactly have you spent with your spouse? Did you just take the single trip over there to get married and haven't visited since 2021? If so, I'm be very honest, that's not a great profile and this is typically a red flag to IRCC for a marriage of convenience....
You have not answered @scylla's direct question about how much time you have spent with your spouse, but the answer is found in another thread where you said you have made a single trip of 2 weeks' duration, during which you were married. That's it. I am sure scylla is right when she says that's a weak profile. She is not making this stuff up, but simply relating to you what her years of observing these things tells her. She is right too, that no MP is going to change the IRCC's view. If that could happen, the IRCC might just as well turn the final decision over to the MP.

Looking at our own case, my wife and I met in November 2019 and I spent a month with her in her country. We applied for a TRV in January 2020, just ahead of Covid, and were denied in February, just weeks before Covid became a global issue. Her country was locked down until February 2022. No foreign visitors allowed in. It re-opened on Feb. 10/22 and I arrived there on Feb. 18. I stayed for 2 months and we married in that time. We also applied again for a TRV while I was there. Denied again.

I went to see her again, in November 2022, and stayed for 4 months, during which time we submitted her PR application. We were unable to submit sooner due to waiting for PSA marriage certificate and making a trip to Dubai in November 2022 to procure a PCC, after trying since June to get it without having to go there. We applied for TRV yet again, just before I left, thinking our application was 4 months along and we had achieved SA, medical done, etc., so that would help. Still denied.

Why am I telling you this? Because we fully expect her PR application to be denied, although we think we should have a strong case. Just like you do. We have 2 strikes against us. First, we have 3 TRV denials. There's general agreement on this forum that 3+ denials substantially weakens a PR application. We have, in effect, been told 3 times that we are lying when we say she'll return to her country. We so are now viewed with great suspicion and she is perceived as "desperate" to come to Canada. Strike 2 is the fact that a am more than 20 years older. That makes VOs see red. Pisses 'em off. Seems immoral, improper, unseemly, etc. Can an MP change that view? I doubt it.

We will see my wife's application through to the end. We are unlikely to appeal a denial. Probably a waste of time. I'll move there. I lived there before and can do so again. It has many attractions. Let me ask: if your wife's application is denied, will you move to Lebanon? I kinda' see that as the acid test. If you can't or won't, then is it a real marriage? No one is guaranteed a PR visa to Canada. Who would say: You can be my wife, conditional upon you moving to Canada and, if you can't or won't, that's the end of the marriage?
 
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