Immigration Interviews - Focus on Communication and Family

[sangria]

In light of the outcomes of the last few rounds of interviews and the discussion in http://www.dr1.com/forums/visas/96511-october-interviews-immigration-canada.html....

How many people include proof of communication in some form other than calling cards...ex..detailed phone bills, emails, chat records etc....and were still asked for an interview?

How many people can now look back after the interview and see why Haiti would want to interview their spouse?

Was there anything specific that you would have done/do differently if you were starting over again?

The visa that our spouses are applying for is based on family reunification. Why do you think Haiti is placing so much focus on having children or being capable to have children together when there is more than 1 way to have/be a family?


Please share if you have an experience or opinion on these questions...

 

[Barbie38]

Sangria, I agree good topic of discussion about proof sent regarding communication and family involvement together is another good area to talk about.

My husband and I speak every morning on the phone and every evening using SKYPE videocall. I sent all of my phone bills from cellphone, home phone and I use SKYPE to call in the morning because it is cheaper. I then included screen shots of all of our SKYPE videocalls and SMS messages. In total I sent over 200 pages of information regarding our DAILY communication!

I would love to hear back from those of you that did NOT require an interview about how you communicated with your spouse and how often...

 

[Ellie2008]

I agree, a very interesting topic. My husband required an interview, and i had sent in over 2 years of monthly bills from my long distance company. We were approved at the interview, however i believe maybe not the communication, but possibly something else in the application gave them the "uneasy" feeling which is why we needed to prove further.

I tried to look at my application as a third party to see what would jump out at me, and I have to say....i was not surprised an interview was required. For example...we had no big fancy wedding....other than my best friend coming with me...no other family was with me, but then again i am not close with my family. I am sure that could have been a red flag

 

[cathay]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but we sent proof of all that: pictures of family together, proof of communication, a copy of my will with my husband as my beneficiary, a letter of offer of employment here in Canada, proof that he and his son are insured on my medical insurance plan at work, receipts for improvements we made on his house so that I could stay with them rather than continue to stay at all-inclusive hotels, pictures of us at school meeting with our son's teachers. Receipts from all my trips since we made our application, should I go on.....? In short, the interview should have been about how we have combined our affairs the way a normal married couple would be expected to do, however it was not.

 

[sangria]

Cathay,

The interview can be about whatever they want to ask you.

If you feel that you have submitted sufficient proof (which is sounds like you have) then in your case they had another focus.

There is never an easy answer but there is no bubble to burst...just discussion to try to figure it out and help everyone.

 

[cathay]

Sorry SANGRIA,
tHOUGHT i WAS HELPING BY ANSWERING THE QUESTION ABOUT cOMMUNICATION AND fAMILY. i REALIZE IT IS MUCH EASIER FOR YOU TO BE SMUG GIVEN THAT YOU FEEL YOU HAVE ALL THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. mAYBE YOU SHOULD APPLY FOR A JOB AS AM IMMIGRATION AGENT YOURSELF.

 

[Barbie38]

It's not about having the right answers it's about understand this process and trying to help others. We all have so many questions about how immigration makes their decisions and a large focus seems to be on communication and family ties or reunification. I am eager to hear the differences and similarities of those who had interviews and didn't have interviews or where asked to bring forward more proof and how it relates to their daily communication and building a family together in Canada. There are so many factors that can affect the immigration officers decision and it isn't arbitrary they do have a 'set of rules' they follow when processing the applications.

 

[twillis]

I think if there is a age difference, it doesn't matter how much proof you send in, you will need an interview. Bottom line.

I hate that a 41 year old man can marry a 26 year old woman and nobody blinks. It BS.

The original question is interviews, and why ... and age is a reason. Bottom line.

 

[missrnb]

I send over like 150 pages of telephone bills (no calling card), chat, messages, I even copy all 300 texto my hubby send me.

I had too a little wedding, with 2 friends and 1 sister-in-law. At that time I did not had great relation with my mother in law.

I have 5 years older than my hubby.
I'm too much educated, and my hubby is not.
I was not preagnant.
These are reasons Matas told my Husband at the interview.

Cathay, I think you should appeal, and you should tell them right away before they send you the refusal letter.
In my case, it worked. In July when I dropped more proofs during my 90 days, I wrote on the enveloppe that my appeal papers were ready!!! Now we are wating for the visa, my hubby drope is passeport oct 5.

 

[sangria]

missrnb,
you bring up another interesting point about education.

i wonder how many other couples have similiar or very different education levels and if that could be another reason to request an interview.....or that in combination with some of the other possible red flags such as age difference etc.

 

[brown_girl103]

Hi Sangria, I am the same person who started the thread about PAP on immigration.ca.

I just wanted to say, you have always given wisdom and encouragement to all who are still going through this horrid process.

My situation is different than all of the cases here, because I am actually not sponsoring a Dominican man, but Haitian. It's funny because I have yet to meet a Haitian being sponsored through PAP, or rather someone sponsoring a Haitian.

Well, it is going to be interesting to see what happens in my case. I only had his side of the family present at my wedding considering that we are from two totally different cultures, me being East Indian and him being Haitian. Our parents decided that we would have the "white dress" wedding in Haiti with his parents and my parents are going to give us an Indian ceremony (hopefully this summer, if he is here) in the US where they reside. That ceremony is going to entail our big wedding reception and bridal parties with all of our friends and maybe his family (if they are given visas). I explained in detail in my application about the reasons that my parents or friends were not present at my ceremony and why we have not yet had a reception. I even emailed them to see if they could give me a tentative date so we can go ahead and book our banquet hall. I was told not to contact them again until March of 2010. In my culture the woman's side pays for the wedding and usually there is a dowry as well, but when two people from totally different cultures like us, we have no choice but to make compromises with traditions and what not.

My husband and I met while I was in the US as a greencard holder (I am a Canadian Citizen) and he was a student. We both have degrees from the states, and we decided we'd rather live in Canada as opposed to the US because of our own personal beliefs, hence me moving back here to live and sponsoring him through CIC. That may have been a mistake I see, as CIC seems to be worse than US immigration.

I sent in about five hundred phone cards, about two months worth of 2000.00 dollars in phone bills... and an explanation as to why I discontinued using my phone to call him. The prices to call Haiti are ridiculous. As well as the flights to Haiti, I might add.

We had applied for a visitor's visa and were denied.... that was before we sent in our application, but I am thinking of applying again for the visitor visa, as it seems that some people who have done so, get their PR's approved as opposed to their visitor visa's if they apply for it.... I don't know if that brings attention to one's file or what... but, I will gamble with the 75 bucks and try it out.

I also sent in over 100 pic's of when my husband and I were dating, his graduation ceremony from school with my mom at the celebration banquet for the international students, his bday party in my apartment, us hanging out in his apartment, us going out together and our wedding pix's in Haiti.

I have no seen my husband in ten months and most likely will not be able to see him this December for X'mas or our anniversary. It may be easy for some to afford the back and forth tickets to visit their spouses, but not for me, especially since this process has drained me so much financially.... the unemployment rate in Haiti is 70% and my husband has had no luck finding a job in his field either... so that doesn't help... but, his degree is in environmental water management... so, I would think that could help our case for immigration to Canada?

Well, I wrote a long long story here, but I just wanted to get your feedback, and see if maybe you have seen any cases like mine? If not, I guess it will be interesting to see where this leads us.... We do have a 1.5 year age difference, as I am older than him... I would hope they wouldn't scrutinize us for that!

 

[twillis]

Hi, I'm wondering if you ever thought of a work visa, considering his education.

For me, I sent in all my phone bills from home, work and my cell phone. I had noody at our wedding except a close friend of our from the Dominican. I did not want a big wedding as it was my second. I just wanted quiet and simple. The next day his mom did have a big dinner for us, which was nice. I know that will be a reason for an interview. No family at a wedding is not good. I also, as mentioned above, have an age difference, which is another reason we need an interview, I think.

I have not heard from haiti, although my MP said that our file says "interview required" and the was put on our file on September 14. Hopefully they will call soon. I think they didn't put us on the list for the Santo Domingo interviews, as we offered to travel to Haiti. Personally, I think that might be an error. I think it made us miss out on the October interviews.

 

[twillis]

Oh yeah ... and education. I am more educated than my husband as he grew up on a farm. I believe i mentioned this before, just trying to answer all questions.

 

[brown_girl103]

Thanks Twillis! We had a mutual friend of his who was his roommie as well in college and is already here working, going to school, and he took the refugee route. I was thinking to myself, why the heck didn't we just do that? The whole work visa thing is a possibility, but I believe there are stipulations involved like minimum banks balances or an offer of employment... I think if they do deny us, I will just tell him to go back to the US and start his masters as he has already wasted a year doing nothing in Haiti and has scholarships for schooling in the US. Immigration just doesn't care how they put our lives oon hold! UGhhhh....

We did have all of his family present at our wedding.... I also did explain to CIC that my dad has health problems which makes traveling not so easy for him, same with his father.... I also included an explanation that his father is also in the same condition... therefore, it ws necessary for us to have two ceremonies... although we would ultimately like his whole family in the US for our big, expensive ceremony as well, but I now know all to well, visas don't grow on trees....

I wonder if education does play a part in the decision making process? My husband can also speak French and English fluently.... I wonder if those will help us as well. Does anyone have any thoughts on those two areas?

I am thinking that maybe I should send an additional package of evidence with letters from my mother, father, mutual friends and his parents and quotes from the banquet halls, and proof of her tickets to India for my wedding shopping in November... (my Indian dress which I am excited to wear!) Just to annoy them, I can add another five hundred maximum caribbean phone cards as well.... lol....

I just emailed my MP asking her to get some sort of status check for me.... I explained that PAP would not give me any information and I never received my AOR. Is it up to her own discretion to assist me or can I count on hearing back from her?

Twillis, if you don't mind my asking how much of an age difference do you have? Do you think they would judge us if I am one and a half years older than my husband?

 

[twillis]

LOL ... okay that is too cute No, they will not hold that against you. That is a perfect age difference. Actually i don't think they care much up to 10 years. Mine is 15 .. not so good for them, but we will see.

I think letter from family are good, but like Sangria says, don't send it too soon. Wait until you have been in process in haiti for about 5 months. That seems long, I know. I don't know your timelines, I will check them, if you posted them.

Indian dresses are beautiful. My friend had the traditional Indian dress and it was stunning. How lucky are you ... two weddings. with one husband.

 

[twillis]

You should add your timelines to this link

http://www.dr1.com/forums/visas/92949-uncompleted-timeline-canadian-page-ranking-updated-list.html

 

[haitilee]

Hi, my husband is also from Haiti but lives and works in the Dominican Republic. I am not sure how the process would be different seeing as he is a national of Haiti and not the Dominican Republic...? If anyone has any thoughts or advice on this topic it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[lexi]

My husband didn't need an interview. Here are some of the things regarding our case.

1. We had a wedding on the Beach with about 60 people from his family and 6 from my side. I made sure I had tons of photos taken with my family mixed with his.

2. Our age difference is one year - I am older than him.

3. I kept every e-mail we sent each other and printed them out and included them. They could see the start of our relationship up until the present.

4. I requested every monthly phone bill since I started calling him from Telus.

5. I sent every phone card I had. And I also started "topping" my cards up online and found they tracked every call and I could print them out.

6. I sent hundreds of photos and wrote on the back of each one.

7. I sent my plane stubs, wedding receipts, letters from family and friends.

8. I sent receipts form hotel stays and any receipt I could find.

9. I sent the personalized napkins, stir sticks, mint tins, I had ordered for our wedding.

10. I wrote a very long letter explaining anything I thought they may question and how our relationship started until the present. How my parents reacted and quickly fell in love with him and his family too.

You know, there are so many reasons why they choose to give interviews and some of the reasons we may never know. I do think however that they usually give them based on the following:

1. Is there an age difference?
2. Did they get married quickly?
3. Was family at the wedding?
4. Where did they get married?

 

[Sunflower333]

Lexi,

This is encouraging to me as this list is very much to mine.

A slight difference is that we had about 30 ppl at the wedding with 8 being from Canada.

The biggest difference is age- I am 10 yrs older than my hubby.

I had also read someones post about putting everything in categorized folders and sending a detailed letter regarding the relationship. Well, once I started writing, I couldn't stop till I had 9 pages so they HOPEFULLY have all their questions answered.

In regards to education differences, my hubby has a grade 5 and I graduated high school.

 

[kacy]

Our interview centered exactly around the areas we figured it would - a lot about my husband's previous marriage and child, alot about my family not attending our wedding. we had explained both in our application - I think they just confirm the answer - that you each are aware. Then there were questions surrounding our legal affairs being combined - life insurance, banking etc. (make certain your husband is aware of these details and fully understands them so he can answer about them) And then there were the general questions about our plans - how many children did we want to have (no mention of why i'm not pregnant now), what did we do etc.

I sent in all the detailed phone bills from our time together showing the frequency and duration of calls - I highlighted each one so they'd stand out from the other long distance calls. I wish we would have skyped but my husband had no computer or internet - we're setting that up for his daughter now but it would have saved us money - but I was happy to pay to have the detailed log of our conversations. I did not send emails in our application - we didnt' have too many - mostly just at the start when my husband's english wasn't as good - so we could translate - I didn't include them as while i don't mind showing we communicate I dont' think they need to know what about.

I also sent in photos from our visits with his family, our visits with each other, my bridal shower photos (since my family didn't come to the wedding it was important to show they had a bridal shower for me before leaving), the announcement we sent out of our wedding to family and friends in canada, cards we received congratulating us on our marriage and engagement from friends and family in canda.... I didn't send every photo - just ones to establish our presence at different events and with different family.

Just a note - two applications can appear to include the same information and not end in the same result - the more I think about this the more I think there is no "right" set of information - the last thing I'd want is someone thinking "I did everything that worked for someone else and it didn't work for us - that's not fair" because you don't know what made it work or not work or what it was about your application that made them convinced or skeptical. I think each couple has to tell their own story....

Sangria -about your question on education and age - my husband is older than me; and has high school - versus me have a university degree and a designation... they asked about that but more from the perspective of was my husband aware of my education - didn't seem to be a problem that it was different.

In my husbands interview they asked what language we communicate in and when my husband answered english the interview was then conducted in english for a bit - I wonder if this plays a part as my husband said she spoke much faster than i do - but he was able to understand and answer back in english but he said it was hard as I dont' speak to him that fast - I wonder if some couples have trouble at this point in the interview because she makes no compensation as we often do as couples??