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| Subject: tourist visa rejections |
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t is very real problem for a lot of people around the world.
It is unfair, unreasonable, infuriating, insulting an dhumiliating.
Those who are affected are persons interested in visiting Canada as tourists, and who are unlucky enough to live in a country which Canada require its citiznes to apply for a tourist visa. Those who fill the application form, who work hard to prepare all the required documentation, pay the reqired fee, and who show that they are able to finace the trip to Canada (whether on their own or through help from a Candain friend or family). These naive potential tourists come to a Canadian consulate with excitement in their heart and a smile on their face to be interviewd by a Visa Officer. These people are up for a very unpleasent surprise.
Canadian consulates, in most cases DO NOT WANT THEM AS TOURISTS and REJECT THEM.
Background:
These days more and more applications are being rejected. The underlying reason is FEAR. Fear by Visa Officers that the person will stay in Canada. HOW ? By staying illegally or by claiming refugee status.It seems that Visa Officers are terrified that most of these tourists are not real tourists but people who are trying to sneak into canada in order to stay there. I will argue here that if this is the frame of mind with which the typical tourist visa applicant has to deal with, than it is VERY HARD to convince the visa officer otherwise. Rather than help promote Canada as a tourist destination, more and more visa officers see themselves as Immigration Judges whose job is to be the "Gate Keepers" of Canada and protect it from the flood of refugees. This is outragous, and is is done with careless attitude, often in a dehumanizing way.
The rejected applicant gets a check marked form letter that states some general reason for the rejection. There is no appeal. And these Visa Officers are unaccuntable to the public, they don?t answer any calls, we don?t even know who they are as they do not put their names on the rejection letter. Often the person who conducts the intervies is not a Canadian but a local employee of the consulate.!!
Moreover, they make sure to completely humiliate the applicant by no less than stamping the applicant passport and thereby "stainning" it. in case he/she wants to re-apply in the future. But what if he/she wants to visit the US or other country? Suddenly everyone who casually glances at the passport can see that this person was rejected by Canada. That is definitely NOT going encourage other countries to grant him/her a visa.
Please , if you have any input into this discussion , come forward and post it. If you have a friend, a relative or if you knoe of someone who has been burnt by this unfair system encourage him/her to describe th experience. I am not Naive to think that the system will change itself immediately but , the more anecdotal evidence we have, the better the chance that we can do something to affect a change. We got to start somewhere sometime and it is here and now!!
[24-05-2005,12:24]
[**.156.105.133]
GT |
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tourist visa rejections (in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
To Lexar: I asked you first where are you from , where did you get your Visa by mail so easily but so far you didn´t respond.
Myself, I am a Canadian Citizen living in Ontario for many years. I recently invited a good friend from Central American country to come for One month to Canada and study English at a TOP english language school. A gift trip - treat. I wrote a letter of invitation committing to fully finance the trip, paid in full for the course, dorms, medical insurance, booked a flight ticket ,provided a letter from my bank, tax return, employment info. EVERYTHING! My friend provided all this info as well. The file was totally, fully documented.
The interview my friend had was a sad joke. It was done by a local employee of the consulate. It took less than 10 minutes. A big disappointment. Superficial questions and that´s it. This was an honest application that was initiated in Canada. Why aren´t the Visa officers taking a little more time to investigate if they are unsure? There is fax, email and telephone. But the easiest thing is to say NO!!! They don´t have to answer to anybody. Because there is no appeal. No one can do anything. They have too much power. Absolute power corrupts. This is clearly a case of someone honest paying for other´s behaviour. And it happens repeatedly every day. The fact remains. What is the REAL criteria? Who knows.... the Visa officers are like gods.
To Mike and Sharon : You must be kidding. Take a country like England for example. Check for yourself the Visa situation in England for tourists from around the world. A great web site
type a country and your location and you will see that almost ALL Latin America DO NOT NEED A VISA.
Does England have no illegal immigrants? Yes it it does, and way more than Canada but it does not punish other people who have done nothing wrong.
[24-05-2005,12:51]
[**.156.105.133]
GT |
tourist visa rejections (in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
Mike and Sharon: The web site to check the visitor visa requirement to England from other countries is www.ukvisas.gov.uk
[24-05-2005,12:55]
[**.156.105.133]
GT |
(in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
Canada is not obligated to use any criteria set out by countries such as England. You are going on a rant, that is beginning to sound a little like our old friend Canuck.
I do not like the fact that my fiance cannot come for a visit. I have even offered to post a bond, but my MP say that every visa must be justified one way or another (contrary to your suggestion) and his travel is simply considered too high a risk for him to remain in Canada.
so, you are not alone in your frustration, but I tell you right now...I have no desire to see CIC soften their criteria. Until people begin to respect Canada´s rules, the country must be involved in Risk Management.
[24-05-2005,13:50]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon |
tourist visa rejections (in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
SHARON, wake up and smell the coffee. The honourable MP is powerless against the immigration officials so he rationalizes their behavior.
Respect? What respect? All Canada is getting out of this is disrespect.
Sharon, What are you afraid of? Take Mexico as an example. Mexicans DO NOT need a tourist visa to come to Canada (BECAUSE OF NAFTA) There are almost 100 million of them , many are poor. Do they flood our streets wanting to stay here? I don´t think so. Canada, stop playing hard to get and face the world. People are simply by-passing us.
[24-05-2005,20:35]
[**.156.105.133]
GT |
(in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
I conclude that you are not interested in exchanging ideas...you would rather just rant.
[24-05-2005,21:23]
[***.181.198.246]
sharon |
tourist visa rejections (in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
Sharon,
Wrong conclusion. I am open for discussion, but you seem to be unable to admit the the system is far from perfect.
Can we agree on that? if your answer is yes, What can be done to improve it?
[24-05-2005,23:59]
[**.156.105.133]
GT |
(in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
I 150% agree the system is far from perfect.
[25-05-2005,01:46]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon |
(in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
what can be done to improve... immediate deporation and lifetime ban to anyone in violation of their visitors visa; no appeal process; seizure of assets and deporation for anyone found in violation (if they live in Canada long enough to accumulate wealth or assests; life time ban for a host to invite someone else if they have had a prior guest violate their visa terms. The opportunity for a host to post a non-refundable bond to guarantee that their guest will leave according to the terms of their visa.
Perhaps then, people will not disregard the rules so quickly, and Canada can be free to say yes in all cases.
[25-05-2005,02:21]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon |
(in reply to: tourist visa rejections)
Canada allows nationals of 44 countries to visit visa free for 6 months;
Member-countries of the Schengen Agreement, these include almost all EU countries with the exception of the UK and Ireland, allow nationals of 31 countries to visit visa free for 90 days.
The list of countries whose nationals need a visa to enter the UK is definitely shorter than that of Canada ? 113 verses 144 respectively. This indeed makes England more accessible than Canada for a tourist.
But to say Canada is out of step with the rest of continental Europe is simply not true. A quick look at the numbers will show that Not only does Canada allow nationals of more countries to visit visa free, but it also allows them in for twice as long.
GT, I too will agree with you that the Canadian system is far from perfect. I?m sure we could sit down for hours over a few beers and agree on countless flaws. I know you?re bitter over being refused a visa and I honestly sympathize with you. I have no doubt you?re a good candidate to visit and that someone at CIC made a bad decision. Sometimes the wrong people get weeded out, and I?m truly sorry about that. But in the grand scheme of things I must admit I still feel a sense of comfort that we don?t let just anybody into Canada.
[25-05-2005,16:23]
[***.96.184.65]
Mike |
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