Dear Members,
First of all, I want to thank you all in advance for whatever suggestions and information you may be able to provide for our situation.
Our situation is as follows:
BACKGROUND/OVERVIEW
-I am a Canadian citizen.
-My wife is Chinese.
-We were married 6 months ago in China in December of 2017. My parents and grandma from Canada came to China to attend, but most of the family from Canada could not attend.
-We are not planning on applying for sponsorship or permanent residence in Canada, for my wife anytime soon, as we fully plan to stay working and living in China. However we would like to visit Canada every year.
-***As I see things, we need to apply for a TRV (Visitor Visa/Family Visit Visa). We are hoping that my wife will be able to get the "life of passport" tourist visa for up to 6 months per stay.
-I am working, my wife is not and depends on me for support.
-Neither of us owns any property, we have a little less than about a year and a half left on our apartment rental contract and my wife currently has $2,000CAD in the bank.
-We are considering saving up and transferring money from family into her account until she has a balance of $10,000CAD.
-My wife's parents are trying to buy a house for her in her name but in China this is a long and complicated process, so at present we do not own any property.
-Besides the limited money in my wife's Chinese bank account, our biggest ties to China are her parents and my work.
-My wife travelled to Korea in 2014. We traveled to Thailand together on our honeymoon in December 2017. We could possibly travel together to other countries (maybe Japan?) if this will help her visa application.
PURPOSE OF VISIT TO CANADA
-(To visit family)/Or we could write something more official sounding such as to hold family dinner/small party for those who were not able to attend our wedding in China.
-Of course we also want to visit family and travel around, let my wife see Canada, but I don't know if we should mention that. We probably should just keep a simple, short itinerary and state that we will be staying with family.
-For the visa, I would probably write an invitation letter along with my parents to support her application.
FINANCIAL SITUATION FOR HUSBAND (CANADIAN)
-Currently, we don't have much financially since our wedding used up a lot of our funds.
-At present, I am supporting the two of us with my part-time salary (see her details below.)
-Since April, I have been working part-time for an International English Training School here in China. I also have my own private freelance teaching. My salary is deposited into my Chinese bank account every month.
-However since I don't have a university degree, my work is kind of a grey area. I'm working in China off of a spousal visa instead of the official working visa which requires having a university degree. (I don't know if this will necessarily affect our application to Canada or not.)
-In Canada, I have a small bank account and access to credit. But I don't think this is of much use. All of my money is earned in China and it is somewhat difficult to transfer money back to Canada.
-My income works out to about $2,000CAD/month. (In China, in our city, this is actually quite a comfortable amount to live off of for our simple lifestyle.)
-I do not own any property or vehicles in China nor in Canada.
-I have been transferring my own money into my wife's account every month. Sometimes by means of transfers, sometimes by cash, and sometimes by using her Alipay account (it's like Apple Pay but it's Chinese, more sophisticated, and has been around longer.) I am hoping that this will build up her bank history/balance. (See her details below.)
FINANCIAL SITUATION FOR WIFE (CHINESE)
-My wife was trained and worked as a nurse, but the long shifts and stress working in surgery, took a big toll on her health. So she hasn't been doing nursing work for over 4 years. The last few years she has just been doing simple part-time work with a very low salary.
-She finished her last job, over 6 months ago, to help prepare for our wedding. She hasn't started working since then because the pay is not really worth it. So I work part-time to support the two of us with my own salary and we enjoy spending more time together.
-As I mentioned above, I have been transferring my money into her Chinese bank account to help build up her cash flow balance. (Sometimes deposited by cash, electronic transfer or Alipay.)
-I'm not sure if this transferring of money is a good idea or not. I was hoping it would help build up her bank balance, but it may look bad because she's not working but has cash in the bank that is coming by means of cash deposits or transfers. The current balance is about $2,000 Canadian.
-She could potentially start some kind of simple business selling online products.
OTHER FINANCIAL SUPPORT
-My wife's parents own a house. They want to buy a second house and put it under my wife's name. However this is a long and complicated process so at present we do not own any property. Her family also has money in the bank.
-My family in Canada is willing to lend us money to increase our assets whether it be used in my wife's account in China or my own in Canada. But perhaps this may be viewed negatively by visa officers?
-I understand that the visa officers want to see the money/finances that solely belongs to my wife only? The problem is she doesn't have much at all and since we have been married, she has been dependent on me. If the application depends solely on her individual finances she would most likely be rejected for not having enough to support her visit to Canada.
-I would be the one funding the entire trip to Canada for both of us. We would also be staying with family the entire time. My parents and myself could both write a letter of invitation as well as provide our financial information/details and promise support.
TRAVEL HISTORY
-My wife has travelled to Korea.
-We both travelled together to Thailand for our honeymoon.
-We could possibly travel together to other countries (maybe Japan?) if this will help her visa application.
ADVICE NEEDED
-With our current situation, what would be our best course of action?
-What can we do to strengthen our application?
-Any advice/suggestions on what documentation/evidence we should submit and how we should present it?
-Is transferring money into my wife's Chinese bank account a problem?
-Should I list my wife as a dependent on the visa application?
-Our biggest ties to China are my wife's parents and my work. We also have a year and a half left on our apartment rental contract. But we do not yet own any property, is the visa likely to be rejected because of this?
-Should we first apply for the Japan travel visa and then apply to Canada?
-For those with experience what do you think is our overall chance of success?
-There's actually one other random thing, this year in Canada is the "Canada-China Year of Tourism." Not sure if this will have any bearing on our application, but the CIC website says that Canada wants to make it easier for Chinese to visit Canada.
-And finally, if our application is rejected what kind of options will we have next?
Thank you for reading our situation. I hope you will be able to give us some useful suggestions and advice!
First of all, I want to thank you all in advance for whatever suggestions and information you may be able to provide for our situation.
Our situation is as follows:
BACKGROUND/OVERVIEW
-I am a Canadian citizen.
-My wife is Chinese.
-We were married 6 months ago in China in December of 2017. My parents and grandma from Canada came to China to attend, but most of the family from Canada could not attend.
-We are not planning on applying for sponsorship or permanent residence in Canada, for my wife anytime soon, as we fully plan to stay working and living in China. However we would like to visit Canada every year.
-***As I see things, we need to apply for a TRV (Visitor Visa/Family Visit Visa). We are hoping that my wife will be able to get the "life of passport" tourist visa for up to 6 months per stay.
-I am working, my wife is not and depends on me for support.
-Neither of us owns any property, we have a little less than about a year and a half left on our apartment rental contract and my wife currently has $2,000CAD in the bank.
-We are considering saving up and transferring money from family into her account until she has a balance of $10,000CAD.
-My wife's parents are trying to buy a house for her in her name but in China this is a long and complicated process, so at present we do not own any property.
-Besides the limited money in my wife's Chinese bank account, our biggest ties to China are her parents and my work.
-My wife travelled to Korea in 2014. We traveled to Thailand together on our honeymoon in December 2017. We could possibly travel together to other countries (maybe Japan?) if this will help her visa application.
PURPOSE OF VISIT TO CANADA
-(To visit family)/Or we could write something more official sounding such as to hold family dinner/small party for those who were not able to attend our wedding in China.
-Of course we also want to visit family and travel around, let my wife see Canada, but I don't know if we should mention that. We probably should just keep a simple, short itinerary and state that we will be staying with family.
-For the visa, I would probably write an invitation letter along with my parents to support her application.
FINANCIAL SITUATION FOR HUSBAND (CANADIAN)
-Currently, we don't have much financially since our wedding used up a lot of our funds.
-At present, I am supporting the two of us with my part-time salary (see her details below.)
-Since April, I have been working part-time for an International English Training School here in China. I also have my own private freelance teaching. My salary is deposited into my Chinese bank account every month.
-However since I don't have a university degree, my work is kind of a grey area. I'm working in China off of a spousal visa instead of the official working visa which requires having a university degree. (I don't know if this will necessarily affect our application to Canada or not.)
-In Canada, I have a small bank account and access to credit. But I don't think this is of much use. All of my money is earned in China and it is somewhat difficult to transfer money back to Canada.
-My income works out to about $2,000CAD/month. (In China, in our city, this is actually quite a comfortable amount to live off of for our simple lifestyle.)
-I do not own any property or vehicles in China nor in Canada.
-I have been transferring my own money into my wife's account every month. Sometimes by means of transfers, sometimes by cash, and sometimes by using her Alipay account (it's like Apple Pay but it's Chinese, more sophisticated, and has been around longer.) I am hoping that this will build up her bank history/balance. (See her details below.)
FINANCIAL SITUATION FOR WIFE (CHINESE)
-My wife was trained and worked as a nurse, but the long shifts and stress working in surgery, took a big toll on her health. So she hasn't been doing nursing work for over 4 years. The last few years she has just been doing simple part-time work with a very low salary.
-She finished her last job, over 6 months ago, to help prepare for our wedding. She hasn't started working since then because the pay is not really worth it. So I work part-time to support the two of us with my own salary and we enjoy spending more time together.
-As I mentioned above, I have been transferring my money into her Chinese bank account to help build up her cash flow balance. (Sometimes deposited by cash, electronic transfer or Alipay.)
-I'm not sure if this transferring of money is a good idea or not. I was hoping it would help build up her bank balance, but it may look bad because she's not working but has cash in the bank that is coming by means of cash deposits or transfers. The current balance is about $2,000 Canadian.
-She could potentially start some kind of simple business selling online products.
OTHER FINANCIAL SUPPORT
-My wife's parents own a house. They want to buy a second house and put it under my wife's name. However this is a long and complicated process so at present we do not own any property. Her family also has money in the bank.
-My family in Canada is willing to lend us money to increase our assets whether it be used in my wife's account in China or my own in Canada. But perhaps this may be viewed negatively by visa officers?
-I understand that the visa officers want to see the money/finances that solely belongs to my wife only? The problem is she doesn't have much at all and since we have been married, she has been dependent on me. If the application depends solely on her individual finances she would most likely be rejected for not having enough to support her visit to Canada.
-I would be the one funding the entire trip to Canada for both of us. We would also be staying with family the entire time. My parents and myself could both write a letter of invitation as well as provide our financial information/details and promise support.
TRAVEL HISTORY
-My wife has travelled to Korea.
-We both travelled together to Thailand for our honeymoon.
-We could possibly travel together to other countries (maybe Japan?) if this will help her visa application.
ADVICE NEEDED
-With our current situation, what would be our best course of action?
-What can we do to strengthen our application?
-Any advice/suggestions on what documentation/evidence we should submit and how we should present it?
-Is transferring money into my wife's Chinese bank account a problem?
-Should I list my wife as a dependent on the visa application?
-Our biggest ties to China are my wife's parents and my work. We also have a year and a half left on our apartment rental contract. But we do not yet own any property, is the visa likely to be rejected because of this?
-Should we first apply for the Japan travel visa and then apply to Canada?
-For those with experience what do you think is our overall chance of success?
-There's actually one other random thing, this year in Canada is the "Canada-China Year of Tourism." Not sure if this will have any bearing on our application, but the CIC website says that Canada wants to make it easier for Chinese to visit Canada.
-And finally, if our application is rejected what kind of options will we have next?
Thank you for reading our situation. I hope you will be able to give us some useful suggestions and advice!
