Thread: Help please??? Spomsor Indonesian to visit Canada

Hello I am hoping that someone can share their experience with me regarding the visa process for sponsoring an Indonesian friend to visit Canada?????

My friend traveled to Jakarta 2 times and both applications have been turned down. The reason both times were section 179 not satisfying the immigration officer that if he was to go to Canada that he would return back to Indonesia. The officer feels that my friends ties are not strong enough to his own country. So he does not have a large amount of money, but I have proven I can cover his expenses while in Canada.... :roll:

We did everything they asked for... My poor friend sold his motorbike for the application fees and travel to jakarta...I have written a letter of invite and even stated that I would cover all expenses while he was in Canada. He supplied bank statements,proof of employment...ect..And now we are getting so discouraged and he is out of a lot of money... We do want to try again as it would be a great opportunity for him to visit outside Indonesia...

Is there any other ways of getting him here????

If anyone can share thier experience or offer any suggestions I would sure appreciate it! It just seems so unfair... :(

Thank you so much!

Hello, Anshu

I've never been to Canada but the problem you describe is similar to those Indonesians wanting to visit Australia.

...not satisfying the immigration officer that if he was to go to Canada that he would return back to Indonesia...

Both these governments want to be assured that the potential visitor actually has strong enough and legitimate ties to their own country to not want to become "illegal immigrants" elsewhere.

As far as I know, it has little to do with how much money they have or don't have. More about are they employed, studying, engaged, have family, etc. In other words, what strong incentives do they have to return to Indonesia after their visit?

"Proving" these things can be problematic and rather silly, in any case. But that's what it's all about. Even Blind Freddy knows that just because someone is halfway through a University degree in Indonesia, for example, is no guarantee that they won't "defect".

Many years ago while I was still employed, (I'm now retired), and earning a big salary in Australia, I tried to get a Tourist Visa for Australia for my Balinese sister-in-law and was refused. Same reason you describe. Oh - with one other twist: she hadn't been to an overseas' country before. Hallo!? I was furious at the time, with my own country's Immigration officials in Denpasar (Bali).

In your case, I'm not sure what you can do exactly but your friend's application obviously needs some tweaking and creative thinking.

In addition, since the invention of fax machines, the internet and email, is it not possible to submit copies of documents to the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta, without having to go all the way there in person? Have you looked into this? For example, maybe the Australian Consulate in Bali can act as a go-between. I don't know for sure. Worth checking.

And BTW...In case there is a romantic link between the two of you, going the way of "we're thinking of getting married soon" is a whole other kettle of fish, with its own problems and hurdles.

Whatever happens, I wish you both the very best of luck.

:D

yes, it is very similar to Australia,my husband was refused on those exact same grounds 4 times ... and we were already married !! ...

have you spoken to the Indonesian Consulate in Canada?? - maybe they can offer some suggestions.

we found that once they have doubts once, it's hard to disprove those doubts ...

i really wish you the best of luck and sorry i didn't have brighter news or advice!

Just had a quick look at a list of consulates in Bali and it seems that the Australian Consulate does deal with Canadians.
Address:
Jl Tantular 32
Renon - Denpasar
TEL: +62 361 241118
The email address is:
immigration.bali@dfat.gov.au

8)

they do Phil, but i'm pretty sure that the Indonesian being sponsored has to be domiciled/ktp in Lombok or Bali, if they're not then they have to go throught Jakarta - or maybe it's changed.

I don't know about that, charlie, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Then again, I have no idea where anusha's Indonesian friend lives, or is from.
Or have I missed something important again?

:D

my in-laws have done this for both australia and canada.. it was easy for them.. but for australia the situation was different; i.e. the person wasn't just a friend - it was a nephew.. my in-laws are aussie pr's, but when we were living in canada, they bought an employee to canada - who didn't have more than a cent to their name, and the funny thing was my in-laws have no status in canada.. i just asked my wife how my mother in law got this other person a 6 month visitor visa to canada, thinking that maybe they "knew" someone there at the consulate (mainly locals work at consulates so it's the same ol-same ol pay and thou shall receive) but to my surprise she said, no - it was a genuine application and she got it.. this one was a long time employee that my mother in-law had promised a holiday to canada for.. this girl had distant family there - we sent her off to alberta and quebec - but again, she (the applicant) had nothing, and we weren't acting as sponsors..

just shows, there's no way to guess what they'll do..

Dear Anshu

A few months ago I spoke to a sweet lady (balinese) She told me her many attempts of trying to make trips to the USA and Canada with no luck each time. I asked her why......She said Indonesians have their religion stamped in their passports,her's said muslim. This caused the denial.

:?: Has no one ever noticed this?

It's the passport itself, nothing to do with religion even though that could be the underlying reason for it but I doubt it. My niece who is Christian and who completed her studies in NY, worked there as well after which moved to Geneva, Switzerland, again for works, all went very well. The moment she tried to apply for a visa to visit me here in Italy under my sponsorship, she too was rejected. Her only problem: the Indonesian passport. They didn't say it, but all the papers needed were given and still no visa.
Sorry to hear your plight on this. I didn't know that Australia is so strict.
The irony is; to enter US is no problem at all for an Indonesian as my sister recently visited there under the sponsorship of my brother who is a US citizen resides in California.

I can assure you that having 'muslim' stamped in a passport would not preclude and entry visa being granted for canada, nor would it be a factor (certainly not a significant factor) in the rejection - unless there were other concerns over the 'political' intentions of that individual.. sure, i assume profiling is used - but logic suggests that a balinese muslim woman wouldn't be rejected on the grounds of her religion - especially for canada - which if you'd been in canada the last 5 years, u would have seen a barrage of ads run by the federal gov't aimed at muslims inviting them to bring their relatives to canada to visit.. (there was an ad with a young man, hugging his 'hejabed' mother saying, "where my family's welcome" - or something to that effect).. the US however, is very open about their profiling - i.e. if you're from one of X islamic countries and you're a male between X and X years of age, if granted entry to the USA for a period greater than X months you will need to report X after X days for an interview or face deportation.. Many X's sorry as I can't remember the particulars but an Iranian friend of mine had to go through this and so too did my step cousin from saudi.. same process - they wen through the process and all was fine, and they also needed to leave the US via one of several designated 'ports' which had exit control facilities (unlike australia, canada and the US don't have exit control at all iternational airports) - i think the US gov't got a lot of grief over it so not sure if it's still a program..