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Visitor visa for my sister - Need your advice

nutella

Full Member
Aug 8, 2014
21
23
Hello, my sister applied for a visitor visa in April and it was refused. We are planning to reapply as she wants to come to visit me in August. I would need your advice on her file please!
- Thank you in advance for taking time to read my very long post! -


My sister's situation:

- Married with 2 kids

- She has a very good financial situation - highly educated, very good and steady careers for the same employer for 13 years in a management position. She owns 2 houses with revenues in a big city in Vietnam (fully paid, no mortgage). Her husband also has a very good job (management position).

- Family members: She has 1 sister (me - I am Canadian citizen) and our mother is already Permanent resident since 2018. Our father is deceased.

- In her first application, she wanted to travel with her 2 daughters this summer, her husband wouldn't come because he has business trips planed this summer. Her older daughter has already a Visitor Visa because she came here for an English summer camp last year, she came back to Vietnam after 3 months staying at my house. So in her first application in April, she applied for her and her youngest daughter (4 years old).

- Purpose of travel: we wanted to organize a family meeting here in Canada because I gave birth (our 3rd child) in May and since our mother is already in Canada to take care of me during my pregnancy.


Grounds for refusal:

- Her travel history: she has never visited other countries even if she has financial means to travel abroad but how to explain that it's very personal, some people love travelling, some not. So we plan to explain in a second application that her husband has traveled in many countries (with his passport stamps and visas as proofs) but my sister is simply not interested to get our of her comfort zone to visit other countries. And her intention to visit Canada is not for travelling but to visit me and to organize a short family meeting with the celebration of my son's birth, most of her time in Canada would be spent with my family.

- Family ties in Canada: because her sister and mother are already in Canada, and she wants to travel with her two kids, only her husband will stay in Vietnam.

- Personal assets and financial status: in gmcs notes that we received it says "taking the applicant's purpose of visit into account, the applicant does not appear to be sufficiently well established that the proposed of visit would be a reasonable expense. Given family ties or economic motives to remain in Canada, the applicant's incentives to remain in Canada may outweigh their ties to their home country". She showed her personal bank account with $CAD 39,000 + salary and house ownership (available funds: $5,000 for her trip in Canada). I also provided an invitation letter with bank account, salary proofs of me and my partner. We don't understand why they said that she is not well established. So in the second application, she will show her husband's bank account since they pay common expenses from her husband's bank account, cars ownership, and a letter from her employer authorizing her to take 2 weeks of vacations. She will also provide a return plan ticket (which she didn't provide in the first application).

So my question is:

- To increase her chance to get approved, my sister plans to apply only for herself. She will let her 2 kids in Vietnam with her husband and our mother (last week our mother had to come back to Vietnam due to some personal reasons). So for the family ties, she will have more family members staying in Vietnam than in Canada. But her older daughter has a Visitor visa already, so I don't know if they would be suspicious about her application and purpose of travel? Or would it be better to apply for herself and say that she will be travelling with the older daughter who already has a Visitor Visa?

Please assist if you have any other advice on how to increase her chance to get approved. Many thanks!
 

zac989

Hero Member
Mar 20, 2013
210
12
Visa Office......
Manila
NOC Code......
2281
App. Filed.......
16-10-2014 App. Received : 22-10-2014 CC Charged : 28-12-2014 PER Received: 22-01-2015
File Transfer...
21-01-2015
Med's Request
15-10-2015
Med's Done....
20-10-2015
Interview........
Waived
Passport Req..
25-11-2015
VISA ISSUED...
30-11-2015 VOH : 08-12-2015
LANDED..........
21-02-2016
What are the other documents that your sister included in their application?
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
53,022
12,783
Applying without her children she will likely have a better chance. If you mentioned that your mother was in Canada taking care of you during the pregnancy and after you gave birth there will be concerns that your sister may do the same which is considered illegal work. When your mother was in Canada and she was requesting to visit with her 2 daughters there was too many family members in Canada and only the husband in Vietnam which didn’t establish strong ties to Vietnam.
 
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nutella

Full Member
Aug 8, 2014
21
23
What are the other documents that your sister included in their application?
What are the other documents that your sister included in their application?
Here is the list of documents attached to her application:
- Cover letter
- Letter of invitation + passports + financial proofs from me and my partner (letter from our employer, salary + bank account)
- Financial proofs from my sister:
  • Letter of employment (working for the same employer for 13 years + salaries of the last 3 months), and because she is working for the government, she has to request a letter authorizing her to travel abroad for 2 weeks
  • Bank account (with a total of CAD$34,000)
  • House ownership (1 condo where she is living with her family + 1 house with rental income $1200/month)
  • Car ownership (they are a family of 2 adults + 2 children and they have 2 cars)
  • Her husband's bank account - since they spent most of their family expenses from her husband's account
Family ties:
  • Certificate of marriage
  • Letter of her husband saying that he will be waiting for her return and that he can not travel to Canada with her because he has business trip planned for this summer.
  • Her husband's passport with his visas and stamps to prove that he has traveled abroad many times (USA, Korea etc.) but my sister was simply not interested to travel with him
  • Family members from her husband's family: she has to take care of her husband's mother.
anything else you think she can provide to increase her chance? We were wondering if she should buy a return ticket, since the cancellation fee is really expensive ($2000/ticket and cancellation fee is almost $500). Thanks!
 

anuj94

Member
Aug 23, 2019
15
0
Here is the list of documents attached to her application:
- Cover letter
- Letter of invitation + passports + financial proofs from me and my partner (letter from our employer, salary + bank account)
- Financial proofs from my sister:
  • Letter of employment (working for the same employer for 13 years + salaries of the last 3 months), and because she is working for the government, she has to request a letter authorizing her to travel abroad for 2 weeks
  • Bank account (with a total of CAD$34,000)
  • House ownership (1 condo where she is living with her family + 1 house with rental income $1200/month)
  • Car ownership (they are a family of 2 adults + 2 children and they have 2 cars)
  • Her husband's bank account - since they spent most of their family expenses from her husband's account
Family ties:
  • Certificate of marriage
  • Letter of her husband saying that he will be waiting for her return and that he can not travel to Canada with her because he has business trip planned for this summer.
  • Her husband's passport with his visas and stamps to prove that he has traveled abroad many times (USA, Korea etc.) but my sister was simply not interested to travel with him
  • Family members from her husband's family: she has to take care of her husband's mother.
anything else you think she can provide to increase her chance? We were wondering if she should buy a return ticket, since the cancellation fee is really expensive ($2000/ticket and cancellation fee is almost $500). Thanks!
Can you please share what happened later???????? your experience could help many people.