If you’re planning to apply for a Canada visitor visa, you must know how to show you have strong ties to your home country to convince the visa officer you will leave Canada at the end of your authorized period of stay in Canada. In this post, we endeavor to explain how to convince the visa officer that you have strong ties to your home country.
Planning a visit to Canada but unsure how to prove your strong ties to your home country? Learn about the key factors to articulate to show proof of ties to your home country. This will significantly increase your chances of getting a Canada visitor visa application approved.
What is a Canada Visitor Visa?
Canada visitor visa is an official document that is issued to foreign nationals who need a visa to enter Canada; it usually authorizes them to remain in Canada for up to 6 months.
A Canada visitor visa can also be referred to as a temporary residence visa, which means it does not authorize you to remain in Canada indefinitely.
Consequently, when you apply for a Canada visitor visa, the IRCC visa officer is expecting you to show proof that you will return will back to your home country. If you don’t do this, the visa officer may not be inclined to approve your visa.
Canada Visitor Visa Eligibility Requirements
In a previous post, we enumerated the eligibility requirements you need to meet to apply for a Canada visitor visa and this is based on the requirements provided by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada; for their relevance to the topic of this post, it is appropriate to list them here again:
- Have a valid passport or travel document
- Be in good health
- Have no criminal or immigration-related convictions
- Have sufficient funds to support yourself during your stay in Canada
- Have a home and other ties outside of Canada that will ensure your return at the end of your visit
- Be able to convince an immigration officer that you will leave Canada at the end of your visit
How to Convince The Visa Officer You Will Leave Canada
From the Canada visitor visa requirements stated above, it is clear that it is a crucial element in the visitor visa application process. Unfortunately, when most applicants apply online or on paper for a Canada visitor visa, this point is often neglected or not well articulated, or no supporting evidence is provided to buttress the applicants’ claims of returning back to their home country.
If proof of ties is lacking in your application, the visa officer may on that basis decide not to approve your application.
The task of convincing the IRCC visa officer that you have strong ties to your home country is a subject one. This means that the visa officer has the discretion in the matter based on the evidence you have presented before him or her.
So, in the visa application process, you have to be as concrete as possible. It is not just enough to assert that “yes, I will return to my home country at the end of my authorized period of stay in Canada”; you have to provide concrete documentary evidence.
Ways of Showing Proof of Ties
Below are 4 ways you can show proof of ties to your home country and the list is by no means exhaustive. What qualifies as proof of ties is determined by each applicant’s unique circumstances.
Family Ties
This is a very important way to convince the visa officer in your application process that you have sufficient incentive to return to your home country. Family ties can be your immediate family – which is the applicant, and where applicable the applicant’s spouse or common-law partner and dependent children.
For those applicants whose parents are elderly or not in good health and they have the primary responsibility to care for them, this can be emphasized as well; family ties also include your extended family – and this could be your siblings and other members of your extended family as long as you can show sufficient connection and your relevance in their lives.
A Good Job
Applicants who have a good-paying job can use that to show that they have strong ties to their home country. Now, the term “a good paying job” can be subject to different interpretations and the meaning could vary in different countries.
This is ultimately for the visa officer to decide based on the evidence you provide. It is not sufficient to state that you have a stable and well-paying job, you have to prove it by providing documentary evidence.
A stable job demonstrates that you have a reason to go back and it proves that you have a stable source of income. Documentary evidence to include but not limited to are: employment letter/contract, reference/introduction letter from employer, pay slips, bank statement to show you have good financial status, etc.
Proof of Pension Contribution
This could be a way of showing that you have sufficient financial incentive that awaits you in the future and you would not want to forfeit them. This is of course for those who have worked for several years and have made sufficient financial contributions towards their pension. How or whether you need to use this will depend on the individual circumstances.
Factors to consider include the value of the contribution, the number of years you have worked, where you are in your career, and other relevant considerations.
For some applicants who have made substantial pension contributions, this could prove significant in your Canada visitor visa application as proof of ties.
Property Ownership
Owning property or properties in your home country can be an important factor in demonstrating your ties to the country and your intent to return after a visit to Canada. It shows that you have an entrenched motivation and incentive to return home.
This gives the visa officer tangible proof of your commitment to your home country.
In this case, you would need to provide ownership documents in your name, and you must show the current value of the property – if possible you may need to obtain a report from a professional property valuer. Attaching pictures of the property or properties is also highly recommended.
How You Articulate These Points in Your Canada Visitor Visa Application
Now, an important aspect of showing proof of ties is that you have to be able to articulate these points clearly and convincingly. If you just stuff all the documents in your application with no way for the IRCC visa officer to make sense of them, it may do you no good.
And if the officer does not understand your proof of ties in your Canada visitor visa application process, he or she may ask for clarity if you are lucky and this may delay the processing of your application.
In some cases, your application may not be approved because the visa officer is not convinced despite the “stuff” you included in your application.
The solution to this is to include an explanation letter that will tie all these together. Unfortunately, some applicants lack the skills to write an explanation. For immigration lawyers and licensed immigration consultants, this explanation letter is called a “submission letter”.
To obtain a Canada visitor visa, it is important to demonstrate strong ties to your home country to show that you have a reason to return after your visit. This can be done by providing documentation such as proof of employment, property ownership, family ties, etc.
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