Canadian Tourist Visa question

[joe perry]

For those that might know

Getting legally married in Nov. in Thailand to get a head start on family class sponsorship (submitting application, changing wife's last name on id card, changing wife's last name on passport etc. etc.)

Family/Religious wedding and honeymoon will take place in Feb. - I want to bring my wife to visit Canada/have honeymoon and have a wedding reception for those distant family members who cannot make it to the wedding ceremony held in Thailand.

My question is :

1. Is it best to apply for visitor visa in Nov. before I have sent in our applications for family class sponsorship (will send in early Dec.) OR

2. Is it best to wait until I have been approved as a sponsor (takes approx 45 days from what I have read - that should be done by my return in Feb.)

3. Also do I have to use vfsglobal.ca ? I am looking to get the multiple entry visa but would settle for a single 6 month tourist visa.

[rct99q]

have recently gone through this process.

for TRV (temporary visitor visa) you need to prove to immigration officer of canada that your partner will return to Thailand . Being married will make it tougher but not impossible. I am married and have been for over 2 years prior to our application and have been living in Thailand.

You can no longer submit directly to the consulate a paper application and must use vfsglobal. You can however submit your application online. We used an agent, sort of, and submitted via vfs.

Are you looking to apply for her PR based on family sponsorship? If so the application is done via singapore and can take up to 9 months. You can apply for a TRV while the application is in the process but not sure of the succes rate for Thai citizens.

All TRV applications are considered as multiple entries as of earlier this year. We applied for a 3 month multiple entry visa and it took 12 working days to get her visa. We were given a stay of 6 months upon our arrival in Vancouver.

My wife completed most if the application herself but did include lots of information regarding all the reasons she would be returning to Thailand at the end of her granted stay. We supplied a detailed itinerary as well with travel plans, hotel bookings and places we would visit.

Good luck with your application, we had an agent review ours and they did arrange for the delivery and follow up for a small fee (about $100cad) but was worth the peace of mind knowing we submitted an application that was complete. They also did the flight itinerary, insurance, photos, translations of documents, bank drafts, and a few other minor things.