Plan To Get Married With My Thai Girlfriend In Canada

[oceanwest]

Hello,

I met my Thai girlfriend in 2003 and have been dating each other since. She actually been to Vancouver for 4 month in 2004 and attended a one-month-international-student English program in Douglas College. We are planning to live together in Canada and are wondering how to proceed in doing so. After some preliminary research, it seems to me the following procedures will work better for our situation. Please have some feedback and suggestion for us.

1. Have my Thai girlfriend apply a Tourist VISA to Canada

2. Get married in Victoria, BC, Canada

3. Apply for Sponsorship, and Permanent Resident

A little about me:

- moved to Vancouver from Taiwan in 1999

- got my Canadian Citizenship in 2003

- Working full time as a hotel night auditor making $16.48/hour. 2008 T4 is about $38300 (more than $35641). I have been in this job for about 1.5 years.

- own a car and currently renting a 1 bedroom apartment.

- now living in Victoria, BC

About my girlfriend

- Living in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

- Been to Vancouver, Canada for about 4 months in 2004 and attended a one month International English Program in Douglas college. (Her dad has to borrow from his boss about $300,000 Thai Baht = $10,000 CAD and put the money in her bank account for 3 days in order to obtain the tourist VISA). She also had tourist VISA to Taiwan and stayed for 4 days in Taiwan in 2008

- Now working in Chiang Rai as an elementary school teacher teaching English, Japanese and various subjects. She has been a elementary school teacher for about 3 years now.

Some of my questions?

1. I currently make $16.48/hr, which by calculation gives me a annual income of $34278 (16.48x40 hr x52 weeks). This means by calculation my gross yearly income is lower than the Immigration Canada sponsor income requirement of $35641. However because of overtime and gratuity, my gross income on the T4 is about $38300. Will I pass the Sponsor Income Requirement?

2. I found many posting indicating that it is almost impossible for their Thai girlfriend to get a tourist VISA to Canada therefore they are forced to marry outside of Canada. Since my girlfriend had successfully obtained a tourist VISA to Canada in 2004, I hope it won't be too hard for her to get one this time. If she came to Canada on a Tourist VISA, can we get married in Canada? What is likely to happen after we get married in Canada.

3. I am also looking to consult an immigration consultant or a lawyer. If you have any recommendation for Victoria, BC, Please their name.

Thank you all for spending reading my posting. It is very much appreciated.

Sincerely

Jay C.

[oceanwest]

My girlfriend can speak Japanese because her Dad is Japanese so She is half Thai, half Japanese. I can speak Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, and English since I was born in Taiwan, worked in Thailand for 8 months, studied Japanese for 3 years, and am living in Canada.

Edited March 13, 2009 by oceanwest

[sbk]

Off topic and derogatory posts have been deleted. Please do not make posts based on nothing but mere guesswork and slanderous innuendo.

If you don't have some advice to offer the OP regarding his case, then please refrain from posting.

[trevorw]

Hello,

I met my Thai girlfriend in 2003 and have been dating each other since. She actually been to Vancouver for 4 month in 2004 and attended a one-month-international-student English program in Douglas College. We are planning to live together in Canada and are wondering how to proceed in doing so. After some preliminary research, it seems to me the following procedures will work better for our situation. Please have some feedback and suggestion for us.

1. Have my Thai girlfriend apply a Tourist VISA to Canada

2. Get married in Victoria, BC, Canada

3. Apply for Sponsorship, and Permanent Resident

A little about me:

- moved to Vancouver from Taiwan in 1999

- got my Canadian Citizenship in 2003

- Working full time as a hotel night auditor making $16.48/hour. 2008 T4 is about $38300 (more than $35641). I have been in this job for about 1.5 years.

- own a car and currently renting a 1 bedroom apartment.

- now living in Victoria, BC

About my girlfriend

- Living in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

- Been to Vancouver, Canada for about 4 months in 2004 and attended a one month International English Program in Douglas college. (Her dad has to borrow from his boss about $300,000 Thai Baht = $10,000 CAD and put the money in her bank account for 3 days in order to obtain the tourist VISA). She also had tourist VISA to Taiwan and stayed for 4 days in Taiwan in 2008

- Now working in Chiang Rai as an elementary school teacher teaching English, Japanese and various subjects. She has been a elementary school teacher for about 3 years now.

Some of my questions?

1. I currently make $16.48/hr, which by calculation gives me a annual income of $34278 (16.48x40 hr x52 weeks). This means by calculation my gross yearly income is lower than the Immigration Canada sponsor income requirement of $35641. However because of overtime and gratuity, my gross income on the T4 is about $38300. Will I pass the Sponsor Income Requirement?

2. I found many posting indicating that it is almost impossible for their Thai girlfriend to get a tourist VISA to Canada therefore they are forced to marry outside of Canada. Since my girlfriend had successfully obtained a tourist VISA to Canada in 2004, I hope it won't be too hard for her to get one this time. If she came to Canada on a Tourist VISA, can we get married in Canada? What is likely to happen after we get married in Canada.

3. I am also looking to consult an immigration consultant or a lawyer. If you have any recommendation for Victoria, BC, Please their name.

Thank you all for spending reading my posting. It is very much appreciated.

Sincerely

Jay C.

I live in Victoria, and my Thai gf has just been refused a visa to come and study English here!!! Why? Not enough money in the bank account. The Canadian Embassy employs Thai women to do the interviewing, and they are extremely rude and go out of their way to humiliate Thai women seeking visas.

As for getting married here in Canada, there should be no problem at all. (may be an expensive proposition, though). I have read (on this site) that it is difficult to get an Asiatic woman into Canada EVEN WHEN MARRIED TO the Canuck. They will ask all sorts of intrusive questions, which have the effect of dampening one's romantic inclinations!

[oceanwest]

My girlfriend actually went through 2 interviews just to get the VISA to come to Canada in 2004. First time was at Bangkok, Thailand in order obtain the tourist VISA and the second time was at the Vancouver Airport in order to enter the country. They asked about 8 - 12 questions regarding her jobs, plans in thailand and Canada, marriage status, family status, what her parents do, where she learns English, where is she going to stay in Canada, what time she is going back, how much money she brings, has she been arrested and all sorts of questions. I practice with my girlfriend on the phone to prepare her for the interview questions. She already can speak decent English at the time. But she still takes some lessons just to get better. Well... if she is coming to Canada, it is always better to be better at English.

You mentioned that your wife was refused bcoz of not enough money in the account. To obtain a tourist VISA, my girlfriend's dad had to temoparily deposit a big sum of money (I forget the exact amount but I will ask her, I think it is around 300,000 thai baht) into her bank account to proof that she had the financial resources to support herself in Canada while travelling. It is tough. Best wishes for your case.

I live in Victoria, and my Thai gf has just been refused a visa to come and study English here!!! Why? Not enough money in the bank account. The Canadian Embassy employs Thai women to do the interviewing, and they are extremely rude and go out of their way to humiliate Thai women seeking visas.

As for getting married here in Canada, there should be no problem at all. (may be an expensive proposition, though). I have read (on this site) that it is difficult to get an Asiatic woman into Canada EVEN WHEN MARRIED TO the Canuck. They will ask all sorts of intrusive questions, which have the effect of dampening one's romantic inclinations!

[Birgit]

Canadian visa office in Bangkok is unbelievably bad..........staff and their Supervisor Mr Anderson are very rude and the Office has the distinction of turning down more applicants (percentage) of any other Country. I know the Officer at the Australian Embassy and she thinks the cases I am familiar with would not get turned down for Australia. You need a very good job, money in the bank made by yourself and property to have a chance