Latest / Border Banter: An Immigration Podcast / 49% of Canadian Visitor Visas Get Refused — Here's Why (And What To Do)

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49% of Canadian Visitor Visas Get Refused — Here's Why (And What To Do) · Border Banter: An Immigration Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Border Banter, an immigration podcast brought to you by Greenus Beagle, where Canadian and US immigration gets real.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Sonia Siddu.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you think immigration is just forms, checklists, and government websites, think again.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is only a part of the story.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is about what happens beyond the programs, the patterns we see, the challenges clients face, and the decisions that don't always make it indicated.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Each episode, I sit down with other immigration lawyers here at Green Spiegel, talk through real issues, judgment calls, share perspectives, and yes, a little bit of behind-the-scenes factor.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because immigration isn't just about rules, it's about strategy, timing, and real people navigating the law.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get started.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you ever had a Canadian visitor visa refused, or you're worried yours might be, there's a good chance no one has ever explained to you why.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Refusal letters are vague templated letters, but the real reasons, that's where things get interesting.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're breaking down visitor visas, what offices are really looking for, and what the internet gets raw, and what you can actually do about it.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, Alex, getting right into it, there's so many IRCC portals.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: And when it comes to visitor visas, how many portals are there?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is there one, two, three?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's the differences?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Are there common pitfalls?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just walk us through that first?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's there's actually three portals now.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there used to be just one, and over the years, as immigration has become more complicated with more requirements and frankly more refusals, um, the portals have followed that trend.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so there are three right now.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's a representative portal, which really mirrors the my CIC portal that any applicant can use for themselves.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a specific portal for filing uh temporary resident visas, which is like a visitor visa.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a third new portal for very specific circumstances where it's your first time ever applying for anything to Canada immigration.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this portal is unique in that it has specifically for now excluded representatives from using it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So this would be for people who are unrepresentative, applying on their own, and it's their first time applying.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: We think that this is to fast track these applications, whether that means fast track to approval or a denial, it's yet to be seen, but we'll we'll see like any trend, we have to wait and see.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then the difference between the first portal, the representative portal, and the TRV portal, are we seeing any differences in how documents are uploaded or the checklists that are provided?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's interesting about the TRV specific portal, it was created several years ago with the idea that it would be faster processing and a streamlined process.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And by streamlined, I mean instead of the traditional representative in my CIC portal where you're still uploading application forms and a lot of your documents that way.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a completely online process where you're you're more or less filling in a list of questions rather than uploading physical forms.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The differences in the checklists are are not really where the differences lie.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's more in how easy it is to upload documents, and I think a simplicity in this new TRV portal that makes people feel like they've done everything right, when in fact a lot of the reasons we see for refusal are because a lot of information is missing.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, stated otherwise, because of the way that it's it's asking people to fill it out, it's uh you know, just an online form, you're answering all the questions, sort of like a passport application or any application form for you know real estate or a mortgage, you feel like you've done it right, but then you get your decision and you realize, oh, wait, there were so many other things that immigration was looking for from me that I did not upload.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that makes it very difficult because you look at the application, you look at what's been asked of you you complete it, and then you're blindsided and you're like, oh, there's so much more to it that I should have done or I could have done, and potentially the result could have been very different.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's sort of um it's compounded by the fact that this TRV portal has only five upload slots, um, so places where you can upload supporting documentation, and there's a very strict megabyte um limit on the file size.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's also more difficult to upload documentation.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know from my day-to-day that I very rarely actually use that TRV portal, um, and a lot of us don't use it because of those limitations.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It also has more questions, uh, sort of personal questions about people's mental health, um, certain types of illnesses that they may have had, which the traditional forms don't have.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, this new TRV portal, one of the mandatory questions actually asks if you're undergoing dialysis treatment, it asks if you've been hospitalized or under treatment for mental health, um, certain things like that.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it enters this interesting territory of, you know, well, what do I have to declare?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some people have opted not to use it because they did not want to answer these questions.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting about that is, I mean, immigration, in immigration, there are certain types of medical conditions and um things that you should be declaring to make sure that immigration is able to do that proper assessment and make sure you're giving them all the important information.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a thin line, right?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Of of what do I have to disclose.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's what's the question asking, right?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: This these are very pointed questions, where on the representative part of the traditional portal, the questions are much more well, that's much less particular in what they're asking.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they're worded different.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not if they choose one portal or the other, they're not misleading on the application, correct?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a loaded question, Sonia.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um The important part is you have to be able to understand what's material and what's not.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: What does immigration actually need to know to properly assess the file?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, it's not to say that under the traditional representative portal, it's not asking about anything that um could lead to an excessive demand on our health system, for example.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are questions where you should be declaring certain types of medical conditions, especially if part of the reason for your trip to Canada is maybe to undergo medical treatment or a particular surgery that you can't access in your home country.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those are things that do need to be declared.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um you have to be very careful, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: What about country Pacific checklist?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Do put both portals take in account for those?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that's immediately apparent in either portal, actually.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um, this is a common pitfall we see with people who proceed on their own.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is instructed in immigration's website.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they they do make it available, but a lot of people will actually miss the fact that not only is there a checklist that is generated when you're putting your application in any of these portals, but there are also country-specific checklists based upon where you're from that have really some of them have really specific requirements in terms of providing, you know, six or more months of bank statements, providing proof of your employment.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're self-employed, you have to provide A, B, and C document.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's residence certificates, national IDs.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So there's varying types of things across um across the globe.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't submit a mandatory document, that can lead to a refusal.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of the frustration we see amongst clients is it's not all centralized, right?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a certain checklist on one part of the website, there's another checklist when you create the portal.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it creates a lot of confusion.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: For us, it's not as confusing because we do this day in and day out, but uh, we have a lot of clients that come to us with these frustrations because it is not as clear as it seems from the get-go.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it would be really nice if you know we had the technology or the advanced forethought in these portals to pre-generate that checklist for the person if they click, you know, I'm from this country, and then it could create that list for them without having to, you know, click into another website.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just this morning I was speaking to somebody who had used that TRV portal, and one of the extra documents that he had the foresight to upload was proof of residency in um the country of residence, which just happened to not be the country of citizenship.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what he uploaded was a mortgage document, which is not the document that immigration wants for that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: They want to see your visa in that country, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not always going to be something that comes to people naturally to realize, oh, this is the document I'm supposed to upload.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that uh intuitive to a lot of people.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the wording's hard, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, proof of residence, that could mean your lease, that could mean your mortgage documents, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: In the immigration context, that means very different things.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very interesting how that all plays out.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we often see some common reasons for refusals: purpose of visit, lack of finances, family ties, and so forth.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I do want to get a little bit into that, work through these statements, what they mean, how the courts may have interpreted them.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, we often get refusals where it's citing details you've provided don't appear consistent with a temporary stake.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: How would someone work around that?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: When a visa officer is looking at these applications, there's really one question that they're answering.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're asking, is this person going to leave Canada at the end of their stay?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be satisfied, it's a genuine temporary resident.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And in answering that question, are officers fallible?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, officers make mistakes.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, it's a person sitting in an office, just like anyone who has an office job, reviewing these applications day in and day out.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have a lot of time to review each of them.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have a huge caseload.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that context is important to start with, right?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And these are huge applications.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these are you know hundred plus pages of documents that are being uploaded.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So there is case law, and you know, case law, jurisprudence, what the court has said when they are reviewing these types of refusals and deciding whether the officer made a good decision, case law is very useful.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one the number one tool that we have in our toolbox to try to persuade the officer or a new officer who's maybe reviewing a second visa application following a refusal that they should now approve it.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in terms of financial sufficiency, that's a big one.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of case law on that.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would say the most important uh points that come out of the court on that would be the officer can consider the host's income or a third-party person's um source of funds.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you'll have you know, applicant, maybe it's um a young adult, somebody who's just finishing school, maybe just starting their career, they want to come visit their friend and their or their brother or somebody in Canada.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they want to do a trip after they graduate.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but when I finished school, I had almost no money.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh had a lot of debt, but no money.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, a lot of these people will rely on their parents, their parents' income, their parents' financial resources to support their um visa application and show that they they have enough money to leave Canada at the end of their stay.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes we'll see decisions come through where the officer says, not enough financial resources because they've pretty much excluded that evidence, whether they missed it or they just made a conscious choice to not consider it because it wasn't the applicant's money, sometimes is up for debate.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, there's helpful case law that says, no, you can look at that.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another issue that we see a lot is where all of a sudden somebody is flushed with cash, right?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: They have to provide six months of their bank statements, um, they have a couple thousand dollars maybe, and then the month before they apply for their visa, ten grand gets inputted into the account.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Where did that 10 grand come from?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's important.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: The courts have said you need to be able to explain that.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: There does need to be a stable source of income, a stable source of you know, sufficient financial resources shown.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be like an influx of money with no explanation.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they do trace money, right?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: So they do look back and they will go into the bank statements and say tell us where this came from.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, also, when it comes to financial documents, they can get very complicated.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And what I always tell clients is an officer is looking at this really fast.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: They need to understand the financial documents and they need to understand them quickly.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: So throwing in a whole ledger from the bank that has a bunch of words and like, you know, caveats in it isn't gonna help the officer understand your financial sufficiency.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you break it down, you have the bank statements or you have, you know, a dashboard page that sh breaks down what you have, how you have it, will go a long way.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, mind you, like you said earlier, these officers are humans.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: There's errors made.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you may include all these documents, and it is very clear, and errors are still made, and that's because they are rotating through a lot of files very quickly.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does someone do, like the individual that you mentioned today, who country of citizenship is different from the country they reside in.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And say they've been residing in this country for a very long time.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: How do they show ties and be able to get over that hurdle of are they gonna return to their home country?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And is it always having to return to your home country, or can it be your country of residence?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's so case-specific.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um obviously the the best scenario is if somebody has established ties in their country of citizenship, not just their country of habitual residence, because immigration will look at okay, well, you have temporary status in the country you're living in, you're applying for temporary status in Canada.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: What in its totality is tying you back to your country of citizenship where you actually have a right of entry, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, so property ownership, having a you know, uh active bank account there, if you have business ownership in that country, if you still maintain significant family ties, parents, siblings, and then extended family, less and less so is helpful.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those sorts of things are very important.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you if you don't have those in your home country, um, it can be more difficult to overcome.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where having a really strong rationale, um, even including a written explanation of what your overall plan is, can be helpful to try to mitigate um, you know, the officer's conclusion that that's going to be a problem for you to leave Canada.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's sort of interesting.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's been there's been some case law and some talk about, well, what if there's adverse country conditions in your country of nationality?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're living there, if you're not living there, how does that play into things?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the court has been very fair.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, there's been decisions where officers say, well, there's there's war or there's unrest in your country of citizenship.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you're going to go back there.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not enough just to say that.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there needs to be more.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, this is where the person is from.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of us have, you know, issues in in our our country where you know our parents or we immigrated from.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean nobody is living in that country.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the travel history.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have to have a travel history to even be able to apply for a visa visa or even expect an approval?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, um, you don't.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: It can be helpful if you do.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that can, you know, weigh in your favor.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you don't have a travel history, it's it's meant to be a neutral factor.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't be um in and of itself a reason for your visa to be denied.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: So can we touch a little bit upon medical reasons for TRBs?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: What happens in those cases?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, for example, if someone wants to come here and give birth.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Immigration's policy about um applying to Canada if you want to give birth here is very clear that you can apply, and just because you're pregnant and would like to give birth in Canada should not be the focus of the assessment.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Officers are instructed to stay focused on the fundamental elements that they always look at for visas.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have financial resources?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have ties?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Will you leave Canada at the end of their stay?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And what about not disclosing it?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: What happens with that?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: What's the risks of not disclosing it?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because reality is people may tend to want to do this.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think um, you know, it it could go either way.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't disclose it, and you know, people can have a dual reason for travel.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people have family in Canada, people want to travel to Canada for tourism.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful, very large country, very nice tourist destination.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can have a dual purpose.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can come for a holiday and then also stay and you know give birth to your child.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: That does happen quite a lot.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you don't disclose it though, and this is your this is part of your purpose or your sole purpose, and immigration asks you for, let's say, a medical examination, which they can do, and it comes to light later, and they suspect that this was your purpose, you can potentially be um hit with a misrepresentation finding, which is a a five-year bar from from Canada.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very serious consequence.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is there any way around that five-year man?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Very difficult.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's uh you know special document you can apply for, um, but for the most part, once you're hit with that, um out outside of you know some significant humanitarian way to overcome it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um and if you think about it in long-term consequences, you've been hit with misrep, you waited the five years.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: When you want to reapply, are you going to be more scrutinized on your application?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a stigma.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you will be more scrutinized.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: What I like to say is the five-year bar is there for a reason.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's sort of like, you know, you did the crime, you do your time, and then it shouldn't be held against you forever.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: The whole reason why we have these bans, you know, in immigration law, we have a six-month bar from being issued a work permit or study permit in certain circumstances where you've you studied or worked without authorization.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have one-year exclusions from Canada for other things.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have a five-year ban for misrep.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So these are all durations of time.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And following that, you shouldn't be prohibited just because of your past actions.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you can show in the future that, you know, you've moved on and this is a legitimate, legitimate thing now.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you can't be hit with a double whammy, but you possibly may be more scrutinized, and you want to make sure you're very clear in your applications going forward, uh, that you're not getting stuck in these situations again.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I mean I've used that sort of logic.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: I find a lot of immigration is just logic.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, it's a person, right?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you're writing to a person who has a human brain and is able to understand logic.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're submitting, you know, 20 pages of information, writing all this stuff, it's very confusing, putting too much detail, can't follow it, that's a problem.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you're being succinct, it makes sense, if you have the resources, you have ties in your home country, there shouldn't be a reason for you to be refused, right?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's when things don't make sense and you don't explain the things that don't make sense, that's when you run into problems.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, sometimes too much is not good, right?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta really decide what's important, put that forward, make sure your dots are connected and it all is making sense.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said earlier, Alex, they only have a short time frame to look at these files.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it has to make sense right off the bat.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if this stops making no sense to them, their backs go up against the wall and they're like, okay, what's going on?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they have no obligation to ask you for anything.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is the applicant's duty to provide the officer at the outset in their application with all of the relevant information that they need to confirm you are going to leave Canada.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have to ask you for anything except in very limited circumstances.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: If they're relying on extrin extrinsic evidence, for example, if they think you submitted a fraudulent document and they've gone ahead and like asked your bank, is this document issued by you?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: They should be putting that to the applicant, give you a chance to respond to those concerns before they, you know, make that finding, but by and large, they can just make the decision based on what you submitted.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a really good point to bring up.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like when you're submitting your application, make sure it's a full sum application.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Don't expect that officer comes back for you to fill in the blanks for them.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I think it's a big misconception that if you've already held a Canadian visa, oh, I'll just, you know, I'll file another one, it'll be approved, no problem.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need to upload any additional documents.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: That happens a lot.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And those are those are refused because you haven't uploaded your finances, your employment, anything else.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Circumstances change just because you got a visa, you know, 10 years ago when they were issuing pretty much by default 10 year visas or two-year passport expiry doesn't mean you'll get get one now.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact it's it's harder.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: The most recent um the most recent data actually released by Immigration for 2025 at least showed that the approval rates are at 49%.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like a coin flip, right?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you want to be on the positive side as as someone who's provided them with the information they need.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and that's a good point.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like every application you're doing for these visas it's a standalone application.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not connected to your previous application.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to take it in a position that this is the first time the officer is seeing anything.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay so I wonder if you talk a little bit about ETAs and TRVs.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know there's some countries where these are overlapping where TRVs were required previously to switch to an ETA system.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just explain a little bit about this overlap?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um so for those I mean if you don't know an ETA is it's called an electronic travel authorization ETA for short.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the US ESTA I think Europe just implemented one for a number of countries as well pretty straightforward online application.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: You pay something like$5, fill it out in 10 minutes, just your bio data purpose of trip and you get an electronic authorization that's generated and it's attached to your passport.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: So countries that are visa exempt like the UK, Poland Spain, Italy, Portugal all they need to travel to Canada is this ETA.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And for the most part those are approved really quickly unless somebody has you know a criminal issue or negative immigration history they might get asked additional questions.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some countries that have a special exemption where usually they need a visa but if they've held a visa in the past 10 years or they currently hold a US non-immigrant visa they can get an ETA as well even though most people in their country need a visa.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very helpful and I think it's just when immigration sees that a country maybe is lower risk than your typical TRV required country and they're sort of putting stock into the fact that one, we've either issued you a visa in the past or two the US has issued you a visa and you're currently seen as low risk there, then we'll give you the ETA, right?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Or vice versa, there's been countries where they used to just be on an ETA and then immigration slaps a visa on them.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think the most recent example of that was Mexico where um now if you know if you uh if you don't have those two requirements you need a visa for Mexico.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we've talked about you know these applications documents potential reasons for refusal what happens if you're refused what would be our next line of action there are so many options Sonia um and it which option you choose is really so case specific.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: There are options to ask immigration for a reconsideration so that's basically just writing to the processing office or consulate and saying hey I think you made a mistake can you take a look at it we would generally only do that if it's a very clear glaring error and for the most part they either they won't respond or if it's really really bad then they will.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then the more formal process is called a judicial review where you are asking the federal court to look at the officer's decision and determine whether they made an error or whether their decision is reasonable.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by reasonable is a very established standard by Canada's Supreme Court basically if you can look at the documents that were submitted and you can look at the officer's logic and you can't follow their logic how did they go from these documents to that decision I don't understand it it's unreasonable.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a very useful tool but it's not perfect because even if the court agrees and says yep this was unreasonable can't understand this decision send it back it gets sent back for reassessment so the visa application gets reopened the refusal gets removed and it's reassessed doesn't mean you're going to be approved it just means it's going to be looked at again properly reasoned and you could still end up with a refusal.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really important to register right like it's not a visa approval if you you know win at your JR it is sending it back for a redetermination usually by a different officer but you still can see a refusal.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: But now are you given an opportunity from being the file being sent back to another decision to update documents because these things can take time.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes yeah you can update documents um it's it's a double-edged sword because often that requires updating pretty much everything so you can imagine most people they're providing finances from a country where nothing is in English.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the expense of having new documents translated um the expense of paying fees you know if you're you're retaining someone to do this for you the time that it takes to go through these these processes um it's it's really like a it's a marathon it's not a sprint.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if if you're undertaking you know the review process you need to make sure you're really committed and it's a strong case.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something to be undertaken lightly just on a whim like oh I'm gonna file this in the court and see what happens.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Really it should be only the strongest cases.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um what I will say though is when a judicial review is successful and it gets sent back to the consulate for redetermination, in the majority of files I work on it's approved subsequently.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes can you do a reconsideration and file the review for the same file at the same time?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can but um it's sort of like do you want to do that um strategically it doesn't always make sense to try to do everything.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the court has said if you're doing a reconsideration and that gets refused and you're judicially reviewing that you should consolidate those two cases.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it ends up it's actually more work in the long run if if you know you don't have a strong reconsideration.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very strategic um decision.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah like I can say like for example I had a case you know business owner had over a million dollars in the bank account sitting cash because they were serial entrepreneurs we apply for a visitor visa refuse on financial sufficiency.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we're floored we're like I I can understand maybe other reasons but not financial.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we did apply for well sent in a reconsideration didn't hear anything.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we're running the time for the JR so we file the JR the case is settled and then it goes back and it's approved within hours of it like literally going back.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: But on the flip side I've had cases where we've settled at federal court gone back they've up they've asked for updated documents we upload them which would be in the middle of the night in that country and within a couple hours is refused again.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then what do you do then?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because it gets really frustrating for a client.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a merry-go-round we've had cases go back three times and at a certain point you know you sort of write to counsel for immigration and say what is going on can you please get instructions from your client and it is very difficult to get directed orders from the court in these cases to say you know you need to assess this within X amount of time they don't really do that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Very few times have we we been able to get sort of directed comments but it can happen especially and you can get costs, right?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like if immigration just keeps putting you on this wheel and it's the same decision, the same reasons, it doesn't make sense, eventually it might make sense to get costs.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you know it's a good system it works when it doesn't work it's frustrating none of these are perfect.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing with immigration right the pendulum goes left the pendulum goes right it's really hard to get it perfect.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's hey where can we catch it at the best position right?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: And immigration is trying with that it's never going to be perfect but luckily there is avenues to try to fix things it's not just a hey you're refused it's over so let's go to the positive side of everything.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Your visitor visa was approved you come you end up doing what you want to do you want to stay a little bit longer.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know in the US currently you can't extend your visitor visas can you do that in Canada can you stay longer than your authorized period and what is your authorized period of staying so let's uh let's go back a little bit the duration of a visa um is also I think an important point so um it used to be that generally a visa would be issued for either 10 years or the validity of the person's passport whichever came first and they were multiple entry visas which means you get a visa it's valid for a really long time you can use it to come in and out of Canada during that period of time.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Around 2024 a policy update happened where um officers were encouraged to now look more closely at the purpose of visit and think twice about okay am I going to issue this for the whole 10 years or am I going to limit it just for this this one purpose?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we're seeing more and more these days that the visas are being limited just for that purpose of visit.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm even seeing more one-time entries so not multiple entries.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because we went through a turn where you know when you used to apply you'd click single entry or multiple entry that was taken away and everything was given the whole tenure or duration the classroom people are re-entering.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah very flexible so and yeah I mean so that's changed but um let's just say you have a valid visa multiple entry you're coming in the default period of stay when you enter Canada is um six months so unless a border officer gives you what we call a visitor record which is a a document that documents your visitor stay here and just basically says this person's a visitor they're allowed to stay until this date or unless they stamp your passport and put a different date you can stay for six months.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can also apply for an extension of that six months from within Canada if you have a valid reason to extend your stay.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say you are visiting your daughter and she just had a child and you say you know what I want to stay longer with my grandparents and helping out or my grandchild and helping out that could be a reason why you extend for another six months, right?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: There has to be a reason you have to keep showing the same things that you showed in your visa application that you have money, that you have a valid reason to be here that you have ties in your country.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah like for the most part that that extension will get approved it's where you start applying over and over again to extend where you start increasing your risks of refusal and also increasing your risk of refusal in the future if you want a new visa because immigration will say last time I gave you one of these you stayed in Canada for two years.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean and even forget the visa like some countries are visa exempt and we have this you know some pan-Americans come in here and they may have a partner and they stay here for six months, extend for six months again and then they decide to go back to the US for a couple weeks come back there's scrutiny at the border as well it seems like you're spending more time in Canada than you are the US so where are you really living or staying or are you visiting Canada?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Canada has uh I mean we have dual intent so it's in our it's in our legislation that you know you can hold two intentions at once you can be for now a genuine temporary resident having this temporary uh reason of being here and immigration can still be satisfied you'll leave if your status ends even though ultimately you want to stay permanently it always comes up with sponsorships right with that you know spouse uh Canadian spouse you're an American you want to come here visit your partner maybe you're applying for permanent residence through this the family sponsorship route that's generally okay um but we do see problems at the border and like the caveat is you can't be showing up to the border with the U-Haul of all your stuff when you're coming in as a visitor even if you have an intent to stay permanently and you have the right the legal rights to apply for those applications you haven't done so you haven't been approved you cannot be moving into Canada as a permanent resident right and I always say that with even visas because sometimes people get approved visas and they think they have an absolute right to come to Canada.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: They can still be scrutinized by the officer.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean yes the actual assessment happens at the border um and that that U-Haul that's where your intent moves from being a genuine dual intent to you showing the officer you have a current permanent intention.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where dual intent falls apart if you're now exhibiting signs of currently moving to Canada.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's sort of it's very hard because a a lot of um a lot of people end up coming to Canada being common law with their their partner and to be common law you have to be living together continuously for one year.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know if people not everyone wants to get married right like people just want to be together.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a lot of um a lot of people who spend a year in Canada as a visitor.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're legally here because they've extended their six month stay using that inland process we talked about but they have to be careful at the border no U-Hauls.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that six month stay is for visa exempt nationals as well.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just hey you didn't have to apply for a visa that you can stay indefinitely.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now I mean a joke I always make is same thing with the airport if you're coming for a visit and you said you're coming for a week if you show up with eight suitcases the officer's gonna see a problem with it right so be smart of how you travel like I know I don't travel with eight suitcases my husband might but I don't if I'm traveling somewhere right so it's just and like you said earlier Alex logic plays a huge part in all of this.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and credibility right like if they're they're trained to look for indicators if you're someone who isn't even sure of the answer yourself maybe you haven't even thought about it because you didn't think it was interesting or important that can come across like you're being evasive when maybe you're just like a pretty chill person.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you've been approved a visitor visa you're coming into Canada now you're coming and something tips off the officer they want to look at your phone.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: They go through your phone and they see you have been talking to a Canadian employer about starting a job in Canada.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: When you came to the border we flew in you have an approved visa but now you're going to be scrutinized can you be denied entry?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean it depends on what you put in your visa application and this is where it can get really tricky because what if you were given a visa five years ago for like someone's graduation and that's why you were issued the visa but now five years later you're in between jobs you have a job prospect in Canada and that's why you're coming in I think in that situation they cannot hold it against you that your purpose of trip has fundamentally changed from your initial visa application.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Immigration gave you a 10 year visa you're using it it's valid for that period of time where people get into trouble is if it's you know this was your visa application that you said I'm coming for a family visit but at the same time you also had a job interview this is where that materiality conversation comes back did you know at the time of your visa application that you had that job interview did it arise after the fact what is actually your intention that can lead to problems you could potentially get an admissibility on that basis you know the intention to work potentially without a work permit that could be something that they think you're doing if anything we cover today sounds like your situation even if you're not sure that's exactly when you should reach out.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're more than happy to have a conversation with you about your options whether that is based on a refusal building an application or talking about something that's more complex.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: The link to book is in the description take seconds and if you found this helpful subscribe to us on YouTube or if you're listening on audio platform leave us a review.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to be breaking down Canadian immigration every episode on behalf of all the amazing lawyers here at Grant Spiegel and Alex thank you so much for joining me today thank you for tuning in to an episode of Burger Bacter an immigration podcast we'll see you next time