Success! Canada Visa For Gf

[watchman817]

This is for all the canucks out there with long term Thai gf's.

Im leaving next week with my girlfriend to sunny (pun intended) vancouver!

We were successful in our application for a common law partner visa, which means she will be able to get a SIN card and work legally for several years as a permanent resident before she must extend her visa.

Basically, if you have been with your GF for a considerable amount of time ( we have been 4 years, minimum to apply is 1 ) Have proof of an income around 55,000 baht a month for the last year, can prove you were living together for the last year(as in, same name on apartment contract/bills), and have all the usual evidence required of the relationship...this is a very viable option ( without getting married)

the process took around a year total, from the time we actually sent the application.

total costs ( we did not use an agent at any time) were around 45,000 baht. that includes translations, visa fees, permanent residence fees, and all sorts of smaller expenses such as shipping, etc etc.

-keep in mind, my girlfriend is not a bar girl, and she did have to provide them references from her employer

-this application is done through singapore (via mail, we never had to go to singapore), the bangkok consulate doesn't do it.

-we didn't even have an interview! they make it very clear that they MAY require one, but for whatever reason, we were not asked to come in.

Overall service from the Canadian embassy staff was excellent, any time we had a question or something needed to be changed, they were prompt and friendly

very happy, and were looking forward to watching the 2010 games in February! any questions about our experience feel free to pm me or reply to this thread.

[alyx]

Congratulations

Enjoy your new life

[capt_canada42]

Canadian Embassy Bangkok what a disgrace they are next to useless!

[candoman89]

Next to useless is demeaning to useless.

Their job is to HELP Canadians and not promote themselves as HISO locals who demand (instead of earn) respect.

Had to do some paperwork and they wanted to keep my passport............NOT I said. ended up in a screaming match with the Thai dragon lady and when she realised I wouldn't back down she handed me a form entitled............ Request to Keep Passport while xxxxxxxx. They have a freakin form for what I wanted to do.

emailed a complaint to DFAIT and copied it to the embassy here. I actually got a response from the embassy here and said thank you for bringing it to their attention.

If you ever have problems with the staff at the embassy please please please email a complaint to them; you may actually get a response from someone (a real Canadian at that) the email is: bngkk at international.gc.ca

Would be good to copy the email to the appropriate department back in the motherland as well so they know what is going on here.

rant over............ its beer thirty; time to go out

[WeeGB]

Congratulations watchman 817, hope you'll both be happy in Canada. Visited my brother there, several years ago, beautiful country, very friendly people.

A word of advice to your partner. When my Thai wife went to the UK, she had terrible trouble finding comfortable bras to fit her - she ended up buying a lot of them, when we came back to LOS, and taking them back with her to the UK. Suggest your lady stocks up, before she goes!

Chock dee to you both.

[volatilekoala]

Congrats!!! I'm going to try and bring my gf to Canada on a common-law partner visa ...will be applying next month. How long did it take from the date the documents were sent till the date you were approved?? Is your gf allowed to work right away once you both land in Canada? Any tips for me?? If all goes well for me and my girl, I'll be flying back to Vancouver aswell.

Jen

[watchman817]

Congrats!!! I'm going to try and bring my gf to Canada on a common-law partner visa ...will be applying next month. How long did it take from the date the documents were sent till the date you were approved?? Is your gf allowed to work right away once you both land in Canada? Any tips for me?? If all goes well for me and my girl, I'll be flying back to Vancouver aswell.

Jen

well dude, it took the better part of a year from the date we submitted our app to the date we recieved the visa. She can work as soon as she gets her social insurance number, which only takes about 20 minutes to get if you go to the office downtown. My GF is loving it, she found work even quicker than myself, and we went to the thai temple for new years so she got the inside scoop on where to buy thai foods, etc from thais who have been here for years. Its also a good place for her to start a job hunt as there seem to be lots of established thais here with small businesses who may be looking to hire!

Any tips? you dont need an agent, if your a little patient its not that hard to get all the documents required, but it does take some time so get started now! triple check youve got EVERYTHING before you sent it to ontario, as if there is a problem they will mail it back and that just adds to the already lengthy process time. once youve been approved as a sponsor, they will send your app to singapore ( YOU send everything to ontario) who will take over from there. Don't be afraid to email the embassy in singapore with questions, despite what ive read in the forum so far I have had nothing but good experiences from staff at both embassies, especially singapore.