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[Big-E]

Thought this might be a good idea for a topic as I am stark raving mad right now that my wife was denied a temporary visitors visa to Canada. I am in China right now and married my wife a few months a go and wanted to go back with her to Canada in order to show her my family and hometown. Scrounged around 20k US together into her accounts, got all the proper letters but that shit don't matter to the Canadian government. They want to see that my wife has a house in her name and is a millionaire before they hand out visas to people.

Anyone else have had issues with immigration and would like to share? I am so mad right now and when my mom and Dad wake up in a few hours back in Canada they are going to be so disappointed they wont be able to see me this year. I am going to call the Canadian embassy tomorrow and start ranting and raving till they block my number or something. Can't believe they can deny a Canadian citizen bringing over his legally recognized wife over for a fucking visit. I guess they are really worried that my wife will run to Canada, leave me and disappear working in a kitchen for 7 dollars a day. I thought Canada appologized for the Chinese Head Tax.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Not really Immigration per se but during the war in Kosovo my aunt and her family were fleeing from the Serbian troops and we tried to bring them over to Switzerland. Basically sent letters and documents back and forth, making calls all day etc. to no avail. The worst thing was that she had a baby daughter that time (who almost died of appendicitis during the war) and about to give birth to another child. Luckily they hopped on a plane to the UK much later. We still don't really know if someone fucked up or if it just couldn't be helped but it still makes me mad as hell when I think about it.

 

[Big-E]

Not really Immigration per se but during the war in Kosovo my aunt and her family were fleeing from the Serbian troops and we tried to bring them over to Switzerland. Basically sent letters and documents back and forth, making calls all day etc. to no avail. The worst thing was that she had a baby daughter that time (who almost died of appendicitis during the war) and about to give birth to another child. Luckily they hopped on a plane to the UK much later. We still don't really know if someone fucked up or if it just couldn't be helped but it still makes me mad as hell when I think about it.

That sounds horrible. Glad they made it back ok.

 

[BaronLundi]

I live in France so there has been a lot of those to share lately...

And holy shit at your story, I would be shocked that a democracy would deny your wife a long/permanent visa but a temporary one ! WTF ? Does she have to wait til she's granted canadian citizenship to visit her in-laws ? What are you supposed to do if you want to go an live back there ?

Basically the government suspects you of facilitating (whether voluntarily or not) the entrance of an illegal alien. What a shame.

 

[Big-E]

I live in France so there has been a lot of those to share lately...

And holy shit at your story, I would be shocked that a democracy would deny your wife a long/permanent visa but a temporary one ! WTF ? Does she have to wait til she's granted canadian citizenship to visit her in-laws ? What are you supposed to do if you want to go an live back there ?

Basically the government suspects you of facilitating (whether voluntarily or not) the entrance of an illegal alien. What a shame.

Yep fucking retarded. I can apply for her to become a permanent resident but I would have to move back to Canada with her to do that because if you apply for a permanent resident, they want you relocating within a certain amount of time or prove that you can and I am not ready to move back to Canada yet for work as China is better right now for me in terms of work and finances. I really don't know what my options are at the moment.

 

[Wads]

I don't have any and I hope it stays that way. My GF (also Chinese) is coming in a couple of weeks to visit. I would have been devastated if she couldn't get a visa.

 

[sasimirobot]

Overstayed my visa in Thailand for a few days, payed a small fine and then missed my flight because that took too long. They book me a new flight 24 hours later, fine, just gonna head back to Bangkok for the day.

Nope.

Thai immigration refuses me entry since I haven't left the country after overstaying. Was stuck in the airport like that movie "The Terminal". Wandered around like a zombie...

 

[OttomanScribe]

My father in law shares a name with someone on the terror watch list (I'm guessing).

Visas, travelling, driving... Pretty much anything involving any authorities is a nightmare for him. In Japan he was held for a day, the US for 10 hours. We start factoring it into travel times. He tells them every time 'it's not me, it's someone with my name'... But they must get that alot.

 

[Gabyskra]

Overstayed my visa in Thailand for a few days, payed a small fine and then missed my flight because that took too long. They book me a new flight 24 hours later, fine, just gonna head back to Bangkok for the day.

Nope.

Thai immigration refuses me entry since I haven't left the country after overstaying. Was stuck in the airport like that movie "The Terminal". Wandered around like a zombie...

Well, how did it end?

 

[ChiTownBuffalo]

I was expelled from China.

Uhm...horror story. Uh, when I first arrived in the US my family first lived in El Dorado, Kansas then "upgraded" to Logan, Utah. But, subsequent moves were significantly more positive.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Thought this might be a good idea for a topic as I am stark raving mad right now that my wife was denied a temporary visitors visa to Canada. I am in China right now and married my wife a few months a go and wanted to go back with her to Canada in order to show her my family and hometown. Scrounged around 20k US together into her accounts, got all the proper letters but that shit don't matter to the Canadian government. They want to see that my wife has a house in her name and is a millionaire before they hand out visas to people.

Anyone else have had issues with immigration and would like to share? I am so mad right now and when my mom and Dad wake up in a few hours back in Canada they are going to be so disappointed they wont be able to see me this year. I am going to call the Canadian embassy tomorrow and start ranting and raving till they block my number or something. Can't believe they can deny a Canadian citizen bringing over his legally recognized wife over for a fucking visit. I guess they are really worried that my wife will run to Canada, leave me and disappear working in a kitchen for 7 dollars a day. I thought Canada appologized for the Chinese Head Tax.

I can understand your reason for being extremely pissed off, but if Canadian immigration is anything like the US immigration process (hopefully it isn't for everyone up north's sake), then it should have been forseen. The way it was spelled out to me when I was working on my wife's paperwork (filipina) is that unless the spouse or fiancee is from Japan or sometimes Korea, then an asian spouse or fiancee isn't going to get a visitor's visa.
My wife came here on a fiancee visa and we got everything taken care of that way, but before coming here to get married, we wanted her to come here on a tourist visa and stay for a couple weeks, see what it was like. But everyone I talked to said that an asian woman will not get a tourist visa. The assumption from USCIS and everyone is that they are coming here to stay here and game the system. The reason Japanese and Koreans can get some is because everyone figures they have it pretty good where they are from, so why try to stay here?

It sucks even more now that she is here, because she wants her family to come visit her. I hate having to tell her that it isn't going to happen, no matter how much stuff they own and how many jobs they have combined back home. "Sorry...I know your mother and know she's a good person, but no amount of money in the bank, property owned, or proof of a job as a real estate agent is going to be able to convince the government that she is NOT a filipina whore trying to get a greencard."

I feel bad for you though man, shit sucks. Hopefully you can catch a break, but immigration laws are usually pretty inflexible and I imagine there is going to be some bias against a chinese national.
I know that when I was going through my stuff and complaining about the costs and everything, people would say "But what if you just get married? Doesn't that mean she is a US citizen then?" If only it was that easy........

 

[Sarcasm]

I moved to Taiwan with my wife. She was on a student visa here and I got a almost perma visa there..took like 3 months.

But I find odd that what has been mentioned since the fact that 11 of her family members got tourist visa's to the USA when we were living there.


Though we were married..so I don't really know.

 

[EYEL1NER]

I moved to Taiwan with my wife. She was on a student visa here and I got a almost perma visa there..took like 3 months.

But I find odd that what has been mentioned since the fact that 11 of her family members got tourist visa's to the USA when we were living there.


Though we were married..so I don't really know.

I'm sure that people are not denied everytime. I don't know about what I was saying above for sure though, because I have not tried to go through the tourist visa process. But I have heard enough horror stories from fellow airmen/servicemembers/vets that I believe it would be a waste of time and money to try it, because it is completely up to chance if the approving offical is a dickhead or not, and I don't gamble on anything.
Her fiancee visa was relatively painless. I got lucky with it and from when I submitted the paperwork, she was here in less than 2.5 months. I've heard enough bad things about tourist visas that I would lump it in with a spouse visa and not recommend it to anyone. I know people who got married abroad and have been waiting over 12 months for their spouse's paperwork to get approved.

But that is cool your in-laws were able to visit the states.

 

[nib95]

I was expelled from China.

Elaborate?!

 

[sasimirobot]

Well, how did it end?

Just had to wait 24 hours for my flight to China in a kinda "limbo" part of the airport. Sucked because I didn't have my netbook or any reading material....

 

[Big-E]

I can understand your reason for being extremely pissed off, but if Canadian immigration is anything like the US immigration process (hopefully it isn't for everyone up north's sake), then it should have been forseen. The way it was spelled out to me when I was working on my wife's paperwork (filipina) is that unless the spouse or fiancee is from Japan or sometimes Korea, then an asian spouse or fiancee isn't going to get a visitor's visa.
My wife came here on a fiancee visa and we got everything taken care of that way, but before coming here to get married, we wanted her to come here on a tourist visa and stay for a couple weeks, see what it was like. But everyone I talked to said that an asian woman will not get a tourist visa. The assumption from USCIS and everyone is that they are coming here to stay here and game the system. The reason Japanese and Koreans can get some is because everyone figures they have it pretty good where they are from, so why try to stay here?

It sucks even more now that she is here, because she wants her family to come visit her. I hate having to tell her that it isn't going to happen, no matter how much stuff they own and how many jobs they have combined back home. "Sorry...I know your mother and know she's a good person, but no amount of money in the bank, property owned, or proof of a job as a real estate agent is going to be able to convince the government that she is NOT a filipina whore trying to get a greencard."

I feel bad for you though man, shit sucks. Hopefully you can catch a break, but immigration laws are usually pretty inflexible and I imagine there is going to be some bias against a chinese national.
I know that when I was going through my stuff and complaining about the costs and everything, people would say "But what if you just get married? Doesn't that mean she is a US citizen then?" If only it was that easy........

Ya it so stupid that they think that all Asians are out to game the system. It follows no real common sense. Is my wife more likely to return when she says she does or go rogue, never seeing her husband again, never seeing her mother again, giving up $20,000 in her savings account, giving up a decent Chinese job all to go work in a kitchen for $6 an hour illegally or go in the sex trade. They let me marry yet think I am getting played even though my wife could have married into money if she wanted to.

Tried calling the Canadian Embassy, won't talk about any visa matters at all and only give vague canned answers by email. Sent an email to my Member of Parliament to see if he knows what the fuck to do in Ottawa and if he doesn't, I guess I got to hire an immigration lawyer.

 

[Phonomezer]

When I was a kid, my mother had a gun aimed at her head in Nairobi because immigration thought she was a part of some local child smuggling ring (she is white, I am brown, lol).

 

[Quick]

Nothing major, but when I was still labeled an immigrant, traveling was a bit of a hassle since it took extra time for my paperwork to be checked out.

Everything's all good now, been a Canadian citizen for five years.