Welcome everybody to our YouTube channel today I'm making a video on the 10
tips for spousal sponsorship interviews
so if you have submitted an application to sponsor your partner to Canada
sometimes the embassy or the High Commission will send a letter saying
that the applicant, the person being sponsored has to come in for an
interview at the Embassy or the high High Commission, what we do with our
clients is we give them some tips and we also prepare them for the interview
because the interview is quite important if even if you've submitted a very
strong application officers receive a lot of different applications and they
often make a decision at the interview if they have some concerns they want to
make sure that the the relationship is genuine they want to make sure that all
the facts are that they have matches the application and also matches what the
applicant is going to say usually the interview is for the applicants the
person being sponsored if the sponsor is able to be with the
applicant sometimes officer will let the sponsor come into the room and
participate or ask questions to the sponsor but essentially it's an
interview for the applicant often the officer might ask the sponsor to wait
outside in the waiting room and might not even question the sponsor sometimes
but this is more rare sometimes the the officer can also give a call to the
sponsor if the sponsor is not with the applicant to ask some questions to
compare answers to see if both the applicant and the sponsor are going to
give the same answers to the questions so I've prepared 10 general tips for
spousal sponsorship interviews so the first tip is review documents and forms
so you filed your application either by yourself or with a lawyer
representative now you're going to the interview it's important for you to
review your documentation because the officer is going to ask you a question
based on the documents so sometimes people complete the forms they write in
they write a lot of different information and the interview is one
year later and now the officer is asking questions
about that so your answers have to match the forms but sometimes people can make
some honest mistakes for example on your form they asked when was your
was your honeymoon and you said I don't know one Greek island and then you come
to the interview and kind of forgot and you see the another Greek island and it
could be kind of like an honest mistake let's say you went to different islands
but the officer if already they have some concerns about your file and now
you're not really saying which island you went to and you know a honeymoon is
kind of something important to remember that's an important fact and these
little things can can create some some issues in the decision-making process so
my recommendation is always to review the forms that you filed and the
documentation that you submitted the pictures, reference letters,
communication just to kind of refresh your memory when you do go in, you're not
allowed to have a copy of your file you're not allowed to look at any
documentation and it's also you might not remember every single detail but
there are some important dates that you should remember and try to make an
effort to learn before your interview for example honeymoon date or proposal
date or marriage date it's normal that some people might not remember that I
don't remember what I eat yesterday so you might not remember specific dates of
a year or two years ago but for the purposes of the interview I always
recommend to review all the documentation before you go to your
interview. Tip number two is remember important dates so I'm talking about
that tip number three no notes for the interview so I mentioned that as well so
you're not allowed to write down answers this is your relationship this is your
life this is your love life this is your couple you don't need to write down
information everything should be in your head but mostly in your heart. Tip number
four be yourself and talk from your heart I'm going ahead of every single
point so you know officers they'll ask you questions like sometimes the last
few questions I've learned what do you like about your partner what do you love
about your partner this is I would say the most important question if you're
asked that question I have a lot of clients they don't want
to share that information with the officer for different reasons cultural
reasons they've never they're not used to answering that question but kind of
like a stranger they don't understand why the officer is asking that question
but this is a really important question now I always tell my clients whatever you say
in the room stays with the officer it's confidential and it's your one kind
of your one chance to join your spouse to Canada so it's important
that you share your feelings and you share what's in your heart so if you
love your husband or wife because she's generous because she's wonderful because
she's honest because she takes care of you because you have the same values
because you have the same projects because she makes you laugh and he's
responsible and he takes care of you you need to say those things and you need to
show it the way you talk about it and it's not about acting and it's not about
pretending I always tell my clients talk from your heart it may be cheesy but
it's really really important to show the officer that you're in a real committed
loving permanent relationship because ultimately that is the most important
thing during an interview. Tip number five stay calm and speak the
truth so sometimes these often these interviews can be pretty nerve-racking
because you've never been in a setting like this and there's a lot of officers
that can ask very difficult questions and they can also be very firm and kind
of very strict in their demeanor this is their job they've been trained to ask
those questions they've been trained to see if you're hiding something because
there's a lot of people that that frog commit fraud and try to come to Canada
for the wrong reasons so they will officers willing to try to intimidate
you or just intimidate you by the way they they are and a lot of clients even
if the officer is not that intimidating clients can feel very pressured because
you're nervous this is your application it's about your life so I always tell my
clients you know a day or two before the interview don't be reviewing a
documentation in the ER to before do that maybe kind of like a week before or
something with before these before a day or two before stay calm
prepared you know prepare yourself mentally when you're in the room stay
calm and answer the questions calmly if you don't understand the question ask
again usually everything is being reported because they're it's going
to be in the file so if there is a refusal we can get the notes and we see
everything that you said so make sure you ask if you don't if you're nervous
and you didn't hear the question or didn't understand this is your time it's
your interview it's not about the officer it's really about your life and
your couple so stay calm ask the question ask a question if you
don't understand if you feel very very nervous you have to say I'm sorry I need
a break because I'm quite nervous I'm not able to to convey what I'm trying what
I'm trying to say so being calm taking deep breaths and always speaking the
truth so if there's a question that you don't understand or you don't remember
or you don't know the answer don't try to guess don't try to lie just say I'm
sorry that was a long time ago, it was four years ago I don't remember that
date I think it was winter I think it was summer but I don't remember
unfortunately it's better you say that way then should you try to guess or
invent something that's just going to make matters worse so officers know
that people might not remember things so it's okay to do that
Tip number six remember that officers are doing a job
so I mentioned this so they've been trained to do that they're doing a job
it's you know a lot of my clients they come to me after they'd say the officer
was so mean and it could happen that there are some officers that could be
quite mean and you just really feel that they just don't like you then like from
the second walk into the room I think most of them
do a pretty good job when they have complete documentation complete
information but I always tell my clients just remember that they're
assigned a job and they're trying to see if there's there's something missing in
the file or something that they didn't see in the application so by remembering
that you don't get upset with the officer and get it into an
argument you let them do their job and you answer the questions as best as you
can. Tip number seven bring updated documents about your relationship so
sometimes when you file an application the interviews is lets say six months later
eight months later a year later and a lot of things might have happened during
that time you might have visited each other you could have had a baby you
could have maybe the sponsor came and lived there for three months and you
went traveling and you did all these things you gave gifts to each other so
it's good at the interview to bring updated documentation about what
happened during that time since you filed your last application or your last
update so that the officer sees that the relationship goes on, the
relationship is continuing past the time that you got married or your common-law
partner and you file the application it really strengthens the file to bring
those documents some officers will take them some officers won't some officers
will take a look at them and then give them to you you should make a copy of
everything before you bring a copy for the officer but I highly recommend you
do bring both those updated documentation at the interview. Tip
number eight listen to the question, ask to repeat if it's not clear we
talked about that. Tip number nine if there's an interpreter ensure that you
understand the interpreter this is important there are some people that
will have an interpreter in the room because they don't speak English or
French so in the beginning before you start your interview you need to speak
with the interpreter so let's say you're speaking Farsi there's a Farsi
interpreter you speak with the interpreter and you see if you
understand because sometimes it could be different dialects that could be
different tones the interpreter might be a junior
interpreter the interpreter might just not be a good interpreter so if you're
not understanding the interpreter the interview is not going to go well so
it's important to make sure you understand each other before the
interview starts and during the interview if you understand a little bit
of English and you see that you said some English or French and you see you
set something in Farsi let's say and then the interpreter said something else
there's one or two words that weren't the right words then you have to bring
it up you have to tell the officer at best as you can I'm sorry but this is
not what I said because everything's being recorded
usually so you should bring that up and if need be either you know the officer
will say okay we'll postpone the interview and we'll get another
interpreter or something like that it's your right to have, I mean usually you
have to bring the interpreter some Embassies or High Commissions will have
interpreters there for you but usually you have to bring an interpreter
hopefully you have done your due diligence and you bring somebody that
that is gonna do a good job but sometimes on-the-spot
interpreters might be nervous or for whatever reason they're not doing a good
job you have to explain this to the officer the best as you can and final
tip number 10 get into details about why you love your partner and want to spend
the rest of your life with him or her so this is kind of what I talked about
before to speak from your heart it's important to listen to the question and
answer and you don't want to start talking and talking and giving long
answers you want to be concise and keep your answers short but when it comes
about details about why you love each other why you want to be together if the
officer asks that question I think it's okay to go into a little bit of more
details because this is the most important part is to show that why
you're a good couple why you got married or why are you in a common-law partner
why you want to spend the rest why are you compatible, officers I mean
they might see the file and they get some information but this is now the
human interaction between you and the officer and it's good to get into
details about the most important things why do you appreciate why do you value
your partner so those are my tips for spousal sponsorship interviews
interviews if you have any other questions about this feel free to
comment post your question at the bottom of the video thank you have a great day
you