Student Permit Rejected for Unclear Reasons

[archit.shah]

Hi all,

I have been admitted to the prestigious University of Waterloo for Fall 2018 intake. I applied for student permit with all the relevant documents on 24th May 2018 but my visa got rejected today. I had even taken help from consultants.

I had applied Offline in Bangalore VFS and took help from Global Opportunities Visa Consultancy Bangalore.

My profile:
10th - 9.8 CGPA
12th - 85%
Btech Computer Science from VIT - 8.98 CGPA
Btech Graduated in 2016
Working professional in bangalore for past 2 years in IT field.
Received admit from University of Waterloo, in MMath Computer Science.
GRE Score - 323
TOEFL Score - 108

Reasons for Visa Rejection

1. VO is not convinced that I will return upon completion of my stay in Canada due to my travel history & purpose of visit.

Now I have never travelled outside of India, I have a blank passport. Why would my travel history be a reason for visa rejection?

On purpose of visit, I have applied for student permit with a letter of admission from one of the top universities in Canada. What more should be my purpose to visit canada? I don't get it.

I had attached a letter of explanation in my application where I had clearly mentioned, I want to return to my family upon completion of studies. Does this mean they do not even look at the letter? If not, then how else one is supposed to convince a VO that I will return to my home country? Why is there no clear guideline on this?

2. Second reason that is mentioned was language qualification are insufficient. Now this one is interesting, because I have submitted my TOEFL score report. I had scored 108 out of 120 and 25+ in each section. This is a remarkable score report. Does anyone know why my visa was rejected on language qualification grounds? Is it because I did not give IELTS? But then IELTS is not a compulsion, I have seen people with TOEFL score get visas.

I would very much appreciate if someone on this forum can comment on this thread and help me understand these reasons so I can reapply with better knowledge.

Thanks

 

[AABA]

Hi did you apply online or paper. If paper, where did you apply?

 

[archit.shah]

I had applied offline in Bangalore through VFS

 

[MrBoombastic]

The language rejection reason is very strange. You can give them TOEFL scores as language proof and I have never heard of anyone being rejected due to providing TOEFL scores if it is satisfactory.

The other reason might be due to your financial standing back in India, or your chosen course not having decent prospects back in India. Please give your full profile in detail, what course you are going for, work experience if any, college scores. Also tell us what you submitted as proof of your means of financial support.

The language reason though is extremely strange. Are you sure that you submitted your score report and it was not misplaced?

 

[archit.shah]

The language rejection reason is very strange. You can give them TOEFL scores as language proof and I have never heard of anyone being rejected due to providing TOEFL scores if it is satisfactory.

The other reason might be due to your financial standing back in India, or your chosen course not having decent prospects back in India. Please give your full profile in detail, what course you are going for, work experience if any, college scores. Also tell us what you submitted as proof of your means of financial support.

The language reason though is extremely strange. Are you sure that you submitted your score report and it was not misplaced?

Indeed, language reason is quite strange. Here is my profile:

10th - 9.8 CGPA
12th - 85%
Btech Computer Science from VIT - 8.98 CGPA
Btech Graduated in 2016
Working professional in bangalore for past 2 years in IT field.
Received admit from University of Waterloo, in MMath Computer Science.
GRE Score - 323
TOEFL Score - 108


Financial Proof: I had transferred 30 lakhs from Personal Provident Fund to bank account 3 months ago. I gave proper PPF statement, transfer cheque and bank statements as the proof. I had also attached IT return slips, my father's IT return slips for 3 years and affidavit of support.

Thing is they have not mentioned financial reasons for rejection.

 

[MrBoombastic]

This is very perplexing. You have a very good profile. There are only two things I can think of-
1. Since you applied offline, VO might have misplaced your TOEFL scores sheet. I have seen on this forum cases of such a happening and them getting rejected due to it. That is why I chose to apply online. OR you might have forgot to actually attach the score sheet to your application but incorrectly remember attaching it. More likely.

2.VO is not convinced by your SOP regarding your degree prospects here in India and how useful it can be, especially since it is a Master of Mathematics course, even if it is offered by a Comp Sci. department. Perhaps your SOP was lacking leading to the rejection regarding not leaving Canada at the end of your studies. But this is all speculation.You can also choose to attach fixed property documents to further convince VO of your roots in India, either yours or your father's.

I would suggest you to apply for GCMS notes immediately. Read online how to do so. It will give you detailed reason for rejection. But it takes 1 month to arrive. In the meanwhile, it's up to you whether to re-apply immediately or not. As far as I can see of your profile, it's pretty good.

Even I attached my TOEFL scores to my online application. I got 116. Hopefully should be enough.

 

[archit.shah]

I am sure I attached my TOEFL score sheet. And I had written a 3 page SOP explaining why I want to study this course and how it is relevant to my career and what I studied in my bachelor degree.

I will apply for GCMS notes and also meanwhile I will make an online application and send it right away, this time emphasizing even more on Master of Mathematics.

Thanks for your input, really appreciated.

 

[bongoman]

A blank passport means you have never travel before which means you have no record of traveling and then returning to your country so they think you will use this opportunity to escape . If you had traveled to say europe before they would see that you have a good history of returning, not much you can do here.

It would be best to show that you have concrete ties other than family that you will come back to e.g. property, business, job lined up on your return etc.

Also 3 page SOP is too much nobody wants to read your life story, keep it short and to the point.

The language issue is strange do they ask for language scores in your embassy?

 

[archit.shah]

A blank passport means you have never travel before which means you have no record of traveling and then returning to your country so they think you will use this opportunity to escape . If you had traveled to say europe before they would see that you have a good history of returning, not much you can do here.

It would be best to show that you have concrete ties other than family that you will come back to e.g. property, business, job lined up on your return etc.

Also 3 page SOP is too much nobody wants to read your life story, keep it short and to the point.

The language issue is strange do they ask for language scores in your embassy?

First of all, thank you very much for replying, really appreciated.

I do see your point on blank passport. However, one cannot simply travel abroad to prove he will return home. And there on the second point, I do not have any property on my name, everything is on father's name. We are 22 years old, how can one expect us to have such properties on our name. this is absurd. Again, no offence but I am just venting off on IRCC rules if what you are saying is true.

Ah and 3 page SOP, you are right, I had a feeling about that one. Next time will take this into account.

For language, they just have mentioned IELTS as strongly recommended for India. But most of students apply for both US & Canada and hence only provide TOEFL scores. I know many students who have got visa accepted with just TOEFL scores from India.

On a side note, just today 3 people in my group got rejections, all three had admission from one of the top universities in Canada - University of Waterloo. All 3 had perfectly fine visa application, double checked by professional consultants. This seems a bit strange.

 

[bongoman]

First of all, thank you very much for replying, really appreciated.

I do see your point on blank passport. However, one cannot simply travel abroad to prove he will return home. And there on the second point, I do not have any property on my name, everything is on father's name. We are 22 years old, how can one expect us to have such properties on our name. this is absurd. Again, no offence but I am just venting off on IRCC rules if what you are saying is true.

Ah and 3 page SOP, you are right, I had a feeling about that one. Next time will take this into account.

For language, they just have mentioned IELTS as strongly recommended for India. But most of students apply for both US & Canada and hence only provide TOEFL scores. I know many students who have got visa accepted with just TOEFL scores from India.

On a side note, just today 3 people in my group got rejections, all three had admission from one of the top universities in Canada - University of Waterloo. All 3 had perfectly fine visa application, double checked by professional consultants. This seems a bit strange.

Its all absurd but its just a game we have to play. Get the notes that's the most important thing at this point.

 

[archit.shah]

Its all absurd but its just a game we have to play. Get the notes that's the most important thing at this point.

Yeah man, I will do that today. But that will take upto one month and I am afraid that it might be too late by then.

I hate this game.

 

[MrBoombastic]

What I have heard is Travel History rejection is not really important. If there are other aspects of the application that has not convinced the VO, they just usually tack on the travel history reason anyways.

The other 3 people getting rejected, were they rejected due to language reasons as well? Or not leaving Canada at the end of their studies?

Do stay in touch with regards to any updates/gcms notes. Because even I have also only given TOEFL

 

[hell911]

\
1. VO is not convinced that I will return upon completion of my stay in Canada due to my travel history & purpose of visit.

Now I have never travelled outside of India, I have a blank passport. Why would my travel history be a reason for visa rejection?

On purpose of visit, I have applied for student permit with a letter of admission from one of the top universities in Canada. What more should be my purpose to visit canada? I don't get it.

I had attached a letter of explanation in my application where I had clearly mentioned, I want to return to my family upon completion of studies. Does this mean they do not even look at the letter? If not, then how else one is supposed to convince a VO that I will return to my home country? Why is there no clear guideline on this?

\

You should also write down in the SOP on why you are going to Canada for this particular program? How does it compare to the similar programs in your country and why do you think studying in Canada is better for you?

(you can actually take the same program (if there is) in your own country), but in SOP, you should convince the VO that the value of Canadian Education is highly accepted in your country and upon finishing the program you will return to your country and you will likely have better job/better job positions available for you since employers always look upon applicants who have foreign education.

And for the language scores, I believe VO doesn't really look for higher score, as long as the college/university you applied to accepted your english scores and have given you admission letter, it should not be any problem. (I can be wrong)

 

[AstronomyNut]

I think you should try for GCMS notes - if you have the time. That will clear up the reason.

One other thing, try to pay for the first year of your degree. Waterloo does refund in case you cannot attend due to refusal - though you should confirm this yourself. This sort of ties into with being a bona-fide student - if you are not genuine student, why would you go through the pain of paying the university for the entire year?

And don't worry about travel history. Only thing of issue is Language and Purpose of Visit. You need to convince the VO that you are genuine student - and yes, someone who has an admit at Waterloo usually is but the fact is he is, for some reason, not convinced.

I'm sorry this has happened. I know what a rejection feels like.

 

[archit.shah]

I think you should try for GCMS notes - if you have the time. That will clear up the reason.

One other thing, try to pay for the first year of your degree. Waterloo does refund in case you cannot attend due to refusal - though you should confirm this yourself. This sort of ties into with being a bona-fide student - if you are not genuine student, why would you go through the pain of paying the university for the entire year?

And don't worry about travel history. Only thing of issue is Language and Purpose of Visit. You need to convince the VO that you are genuine student - and yes, someone who has an admit at Waterloo usually is but the fact is he is, for some reason, not convinced.

I'm sorry this has happened. I know what a rejection feels like.

Thanks a lot for this. I do not believe I have enough time and energy to spend on getting the GCMS notes. Instead I am now gathering documents to reapply online. This time I will pay the first term fees, get GIC & show family assets (so VO can see I have a well established family to return India).

In my SOP I will emphasize on TOEFL score and how it is accepted by Waterloo. I hope that should do the trick.

I had a question regarding Family Information Form (IMM1645). When we apply online, after completing this document do we need to print it out, sign it and upload it back? My doubt arises because of the fact that on application form it clearly mentions do not print this form to sign. But so such indication is given in the help section of this particular form. Do you know if anyone who is applied for study permit online, and got accepted - what did they do?