Visitor visa for my long-term partner

[negitoro]

Hello,

We are trying to obtain a TRV for my partner to visit me in Canada for 4-5 months. I am a Canadian citizen, she is a Thai national. We have lived together for the past 2.5 years in Thailand (so from my understanding, we should be recognized as common-law). I recently returned to Canada after I suffered a serious injury and underwent surgery on my dominant hand in Thailand. The outcome is quite bad and I will likely end up requiring further surgery here in Canada. She has been an immeasurable source of emotional support for me, and reuniting here during this time is very important to us.

She has a bachelor's degree, a steady job in Thailand, and she has family that she takes care of as well as helps run her mother’s business, so she will be returning to Thailand for those obligations (I am also planning to join her in returning to Thailand after her visit to Canada, if my medical situation becomes stable). She has little in savings though, so I will be providing my bank statement with more than $100k (so more than enough to financially support her during her stay) and will bear all financial responsibility for her. She is double vaccinated, so she also qualifies for the fully vaccinated traveler exemption.

My question now is; which of these reasons should we select when applying?

a) To unite with an immediate family member who is a Canadian citizen (based on common-law spouse, and provide a notarized IMM5409)
b) To unite with an extended family member who is a Canadian citizen (based on exclusive dating relationship, and provide a notarized IMM0006)
c) To provide care for a loved one who needs medical support (not sure if my situation meets criteria for this, but I think it might)
d) To visit family/friends for less than 6 months
e) Tourism

Is one of these more likely to succeed than the others? We technically fall under any of the above categories.

As this is all done online with IRCC, either one of us can do the application. Would it be better for me to file and submit the application on her behalf? Or should she be the one to actually submit it? Anything else important that we might be missing?

Thank you in advance for any help

 

[negitoro]

Anyone applied and got a visa in a similar situation? What did you select for the reason of the visit? and what notarized forms did you submit with the application?

I suppose another way would be for her to use a visa agent in Thailand. Are these likely to work? My partner already spoke to one that apparently had a handful of successful visas issued last month for exactly our situation (Thai national visiting their partner in Canada). They said that they don't need ay notarized forms; they require a detailed written story about us and about the visit (where we will stay, for how long, etc.), proof of canadian citizenship, passport, copy of my visas from when I was in Thailand with her, bank statements, etc. Cost for them to do this is $1,000. Does this seem like a good option?

I just want us to apply in the way that has the highest chance in succeeding. Willing to pay fees or get any documents notarized that would improve our chances. We would do the sponsorship and permanent residence option instead, but that takes far too long, we are really hoping we can reunite soon.

Thank again for any help.

 

[charliem]

Hello,

We are trying to obtain a TRV for my partner to visit me in Canada for 4-5 months. I am a Canadian citizen, she is a Thai national. We have lived together for the past 2.5 years in Thailand (so from my understanding, we should be recognized as common-law). I recently returned to Canada after I suffered a serious injury and underwent surgery on my dominant hand in Thailand. The outcome is quite bad and I will likely end up requiring further surgery here in Canada. She has been an immeasurable source of emotional support for me, and reuniting here during this time is very important to us.

She has a bachelor's degree, a steady job in Thailand, and she has family that she takes care of as well as helps run her mother’s business, so she will be returning to Thailand for those obligations (I am also planning to join her in returning to Thailand after her visit to Canada, if my medical situation becomes stable). She has little in savings though, so I will be providing my bank statement with more than $100k (so more than enough to financially support her during her stay) and will bear all financial responsibility for her. She is double vaccinated, so she also qualifies for the fully vaccinated traveler exemption.

My question now is; which of these reasons should we select when applying?

a) To unite with an immediate family member who is a Canadian citizen (based on common-law spouse, and provide a notarized IMM5409)
b) To unite with an extended family member who is a Canadian citizen (based on exclusive dating relationship, and provide a notarized IMM0006)
c) To provide care for a loved one who needs medical support (not sure if my situation meets criteria for this, but I think it might)
d) To visit family/friends for less than 6 months
e) Tourism

Is one of these more likely to succeed than the others? We technically fall under any of the above categories.

As this is all done online with IRCC, either one of us can do the application. Would it be better for me to file and submit the application on her behalf? Or should she be the one to actually submit it? Anything else important that we might be missing?

Thank you in advance for any help

She is a common-law partner (so immediate family).

 

[canuck78]

Anyone applied and got a visa in a similar situation? What did you select for the reason of the visit? and what notarized forms did you submit with the application?

I suppose another way would be for her to use a visa agent in Thailand. Are these likely to work? My partner already spoke to one that apparently had a handful of successful visas issued last month for exactly our situation (Thai national visiting their partner in Canada). They said that they don't need ay notarized forms; they require a detailed written story about us and about the visit (where we will stay, for how long, etc.), proof of canadian citizenship, passport, copy of my visas from when I was in Thailand with her, bank statements, etc. Cost for them to do this is $1,000. Does this seem like a good option?

I just want us to apply in the way that has the highest chance in succeeding. Willing to pay fees or get any documents notarized that would improve our chances. We would do the sponsorship and permanent residence option instead, but that takes far too long, we are really hoping we can reunite soon.

Thank again for any help.

Don’t spend 1K. You can apply yourself

 

[negitoro]

Thanks for those answers. That all makes sense. We are in the process of submitting the application ourselves now, but have a few remaining questions. A lot of the info across these government sites is inconsistent.

1) IMM 5409? Or just evidence of our relationship (joint rental receipts, joint accounts, etc.)?

Do you know if we are required to notarize an IMM5409 form in order to apply based on visiting immediate family? Or do we need to provide evidence that we have been together in a relationship.

From the canada.ca document checklist for TRV for visiting immediate family:

"Proof of relationship" is REQUIRED, and can include:

• a marriage certificate
• Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union (IMM5409)
• a birth certificate
• an official document naming you as a parent

"Statutory declaration of common-law union (IMM 5409)" is OPTIONAL, and can include:

• joint bank accounts or credit cards
• joint ownership of a home
• joint residential leases
• joint rental receipts
• joint utilities (electricity, gas, telephone)
• joint management of household expenses
• proof of joint purchases, especially for household items
• mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address

However, when we are filling in our application on the IRCC portal, it is not asking for an IMM 5409 at all (but as you can see above, this is required). It is only asking for the joint rentals/accounts/purchases, etc. (which is apparently optional according to the canada.ca document checklist...)

If the IMM 5409 form is actually required, then we will have to attach it as an "Other" document to our application. Can anyone confirm if we need this? Or are we ok to just provide what the IRCC portal application explicitly asks for and ignore the canada.ca info?

2) Date of common-law relationship start

Should this be the date that we technically became considered common-law (so 1 year after living together in a conjugal relationship)? Or should this be the date that we actually started dating (before we lived together for > 1 year). My assumption is this is supposed to be the date that we started dating (so before we were considered a common-law relationship), but the wording "common-law relationship start" is ambiguous.

3) Relationship evidence documents

We had a joint apartment rental (which wasn't for the entire time we have lived together, as we've lived in multiple places, but it was at least for more than a year), but aside from that, we don't really have much of what is listed on that bullet list. Do you know what other documents are typically accepted in lieu of those listed? Or do they only accept what they've listed?

For example, I can provide:

• My visas from when I was in Thailand with her.
• The letter she provided for my visa application (that we will be staying with her, at her place at the time).
• A bunch of AirBnb rentals with the two of us as guests.
• TransferWise transfers from my account to hers every few months.
• Photo evidence (even on instagram for timeline authenticity, if that would help?).
• A story about us, how we met, where we lived and went together over the years.

Would any of this be helpful to submit? Is this even a particularly important part of the application? I've read that apparently her ties to her home country are the most important, but I don't even see them asking for any documents related to that.

Sorry for the lengthy and detailed post. Again, any help is highly appreciated.

 

[negitoro]

Does any one know what they are expecting for "date of common-law relationship start"?

Should this be the date that we technically became considered common-law (so 1 year after living together in a conjugal relationship)? Or should this be the date that we actually started dating (before we lived together for > 1 year). My assumption is this is supposed to be the date that we started dating (so before we were considered a common-law relationship), but the wording "common-law relationship start" is ambiguous.

Also, is it acceptable to provide an IMM 5476 (use of representative form) that we digitally sign? or do we need to actually print + sign + scan +print + sign + scan? Would hate for it to be rejected because of such a technicality..

Thanks

 

[Sledge]

Does any one know what they are expecting for "date of common-law relationship start"?

Should this be the date that we technically became considered common-law (so 1 year after living together in a conjugal relationship)? Or should this be the date that we actually started dating (before we lived together for > 1 year). My assumption is this is supposed to be the date that we started dating (so before we were considered a common-law relationship), but the wording "common-law relationship start" is ambiguous.

Also, is it acceptable to provide an IMM 5476 (use of representative form) that we digitally sign? or do we need to actually print + sign + scan +print + sign + scan? Would hate for it to be rejected because of such a technicality..

Thanks

Common law would mean the date you started cohabitating together, not when you decided you started dating.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-common.html

With my wife's application, we used Docusign for most documents including this one.

 

[negitoro]

Thanks for answering that. Very much appreciated.

Also, do you know if it would help to list two people inviting her in the invitation section? There is an option that asks "Has someone else also invited you?". My mother is also extending the invitation for her, as we will be visiting my mother as well during her visit, so I was thinking to list her in the invitation section too.

Any idea if this would help the application or not?