My mother has just reached Canada and met her penpal of 46 years for the first time ever! It was a trip she had been looking forward to for many years. But this one almost didn’t happen because the Canadian visa office had rejected her application the first time.
On that occasion, we had played everything by the book. With me handling her visa application, I ensured we gave everything that an usual visa application requires. If your application is approved, Canada now gives you a multiple entry tourist visa that is valid till your passport expires.
Consequently, it was a bit of a setback when the first application, which we had applied with return tickets, financial documents, detailed itinerary and hotel bookings, was rejected on the ground that they didn’t believe my mother would return to her home country.
We had given all relevant documents and though we could re-apply, we didn’t have any significant extra documents that could make a difference. And mom was so depressed.
Even though I was pessimistic initially, I decided to take it up as a challenge and planned a different strategy to make another attempt at getting the visa.
I got out all the letters and pictures since the 1970s from mom’s friend. This time, we mentioned the primary objective of the application as “visiting a friend” instead of tourism. We wrote in the cover letter how they had been friends for so many years and never met. I also requested my mom’s friend to write an invitation letter where she mentioned mom was definitely going to be on the flight back home on the mentioned date. We attached copies of some of the letters and pictures from Canada with the application. This time, I did not furnish any itinerary in Canada or domestic flight bookings.
The second application was approved. So, what was different in the two applications?
| HEAD | REJECTED application | APPROVED application |
| Primary reason for travel | Tourism | Visiting friends |
| Detailed Itinerary in Canada | Submitted | Not submitted |
| Return flights (international) | Submitted | Submitted |
| Domestic flights in Canada | Submitted | Not submitted |
| Hotel bookings in Canada | Submitted | Not submitted |
| Cover letter | Yes. Mentioned visiting Canada for the first time for tourism and meeting a friend. | Yes. Mentioned that the trip was primarily for visiting a penpal for the first time ever. Attached copies of old letters and pictures. |
| Detailed itinerary with all hotel and transportation bookings | Submitted |
Not submitted |
What made the difference in the second application was the approach. Mom’s trip was going to be about visiting the friend and visiting the country as well. In the second application, we made the application our own and gave the visa officer an insight into mom’s story and convinced him/her it was real (which it was).
I thought this was a great example of learning from failures. This taught me even the best applications with all relevant documents could fail. When applying for a tourist visa, all you need to keep in mind is that you need to assure the visa officer you’re coming back.
If you have a convincing story that will do that, use it. And like Tyrian Lannister said in the final episode of Game of Thrones — there is nothing more powerful that a convincing story.
July 8, 2024
Hi Andy,
I loved your article about your mother’s journey to secure a multiple-entry Canadian tourist visa. Your perseverance and creative approach after the initial rejection were truly inspiring.