Thai pregnant girlfriend to visit my family in Canada

[CanaThaiBaby]

Hi Everyone,

 

First time poster, long time observer. My Thai girlfriend is 27 years old from a small village in Nakhon Phanom near the Laos border. She has a bachelors degree of tourism from Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University and for the last 5 years has been working full-time as a lead tour guide for a well known tour company in Bangkok. Our situation is we are 1 month pregnant which has been confirmed by 3 home pregnancy tests and a subsequent visit to the hospital for an ultrasound. We want to get a visitor visa for her to come to Canada and meet my family.

 

I have met her parents who own land, a small home and two rice fields in their village. My girlfriend has been giving most of her money to her mother so she does not have any savings. She is thankfully in excellent health with no criminal record or immigration problems. She carries a valid Thai passport and has also traveled to Laos, Singapore and Vietnam with no troubles.

 

I am a 47 year old Canadian citizen who owns a massage school and clinic. I am fairly well off financially and cash flow positive but my tax returns only show a very small net income as most of my expenses can be run through my business so I drew very little salary.

 

I looked at the Canada immigration website and it seems there are quite a lot of rules and restrictions for Thai nationals to enter Canada even on a visitor visa. The part about being able to convince an immigration officer that she will return home to Thailand and has enough income to support herself here scares me. My questions are...

 

1. How easy would it be for her to get a visitor visa (under 6 months) to Canada if I sponsor her?

2. How does her being pregnant affect anything?

3. Is it easier or more likely to be approved if we are a.) engaged or b.) married?

4. Does our relationship status have any bearing on the process (anything to be aware of)?

5. Do you recommend using a visa service? 10,000 Baht per attempt or 25,000 Baht to guarantee visitor visa in 1 year?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

FYI, I'm a Yank, and reckon if an interview U.S. Consular Officer knew she was pregnant when applying for a tourist visa to the U.S., it'd be rejected.

 

Leave the rest of your email to the Canadians.

 

Mac

[rct99q]

We went thru this process severak years ago so this is just based on our experiences.

Number one - she must be abke to provid if her return back to Thailand. Either a return to work letter. Ptoof of her looking after family. Assets showing ties to Thailand, car ownership, home ownership, going to school. You need to think in terms of a tourist. Say you were going to Mexico for a month from Canada, what would you need to do at home while away. Look after your home mail, employer gives you appropriate time off, somebody to look after any house pets, chikdren, other family. The onus is on the applicant to prove they are not going to stay in Canada.

Getting married would not help, as being married to you is a stronger tie to Canada than what she has now.

Being pregnant I have no idea how that may sway the decision. 

My wife and I had been married 4 years and our youngest was 9 months old when we got her first TRV. 

Canada Border Services are the people you need to worry about. If you do get a TRV your bigger hurdle is answering all the questions upon arrival in Canada. A couple of wrong answers and it can be problematic. Even with a 5 year visa in her passport we get grilled everytime in Vancouver. 

I have used a Visa Agent and it worked just fine. However you still do most of the work gathering paper work, photos, background info on the applicant etc.  Agents mostly just do translation of documents and the online applucation.

NO visa agent can guarantee a TRV.  Not possible.

I would recommend her/you slowly putting money in her bank account. We started with 100,000 baht and that was ok for the consulate in bangkok.

 

Good luck, not impossible to get a TRV just making sure you can prove she will return and you should get one no problem.

 

[JLCrab]

Since you have an 8-month clock ticking, if your goal is really that your parents meet your girlfriend, if the Canadian Tourist Visa isn't working out, a Thai citizen gets a no visa required 90 day stay in Bermuda, where you could all meet up.

 

Non-stop flights from Toronto to Bermuda. Bangkok to Bermuda Thai citizen can transit at London with onward ticket/boarding pass in hand.

 

Edit: Now that I've seen the date on the OP, make that 7 months.

Edited November 11, 2017 by JLCrab

[gk10002000]

3 hours ago, JLCrab said:

Since you have an 8-month clock ticking, if your goal is really that your parents meet your girlfriend, if the Canadian Tourist Visa isn't working out, a Thai citizen gets a no visa required 90 day stay in Bermuda, where you could all meet up.

 

Non-stop flights from Toronto to Bermuda. Bangkok to Bermuda Thai citizen can transit at London with onward ticket/boarding pass in hand.

 

Edit: Now that I've seen the date on the OP, make that 7 months.

Not optimal since the OP no doubt wants to show his GF around Canada a bit, but I like your train of thought.  Perhaps even worth looking into flying to and meeting up in Mexico or some other countries. 

[JLCrab]

From Post #1: "We want to get a visitor visa for her to come to Canada and meet my family."

 

Visa required for Thai citizen to Mexico unless she already has Canada or USA visa. And -- as opposed to Bermuda -- who would suggest to their family that they travel to Mexico?