Middle East applicants

Hello, I  worked previously in the Middle East. I have a non-cancelled visa, which I didnt bother getting cancelled when I left. What is the probabily of me getting an RQ.  Is it common for applicants with a ME background to get RQ. How many did get RQ? 

Hi,

Edited by CanadaCitizen - 20 Oct 2014 at 12:52pm

In your case, there is a very high possibility of getting the RQ as your visa wasn't cancelled.

Applicants with ME connections
For several years, at minimum, forums like this have been rife with comments about a ME bias at CIC, particularly as to citizenship applications.

There may very well be a statistically higher rate of RQ (or other elevated scrutiny) for applicants with a ME connection, but it is not as if a majority are given RQ. And I doubt the higher rate of RQ, assuming there is one, is due to bias, but is due to circumstances which are more common among ME connected applicants.

As your query alludes, it should be emphasized, particular details matter, like having continuing status to live and work in the ME, and as otherwise suggested, what the particular connection is and to which country in particular. Moreover, other personal factors, again the details, matter. One might notice, for example, the high percentage of cases reported, this past year in official decisions by the Federal Court, involving applicants with a Lebanon connection; the connection that probably mattered, however, was probably not so much their connection to Lebanon itself, but their connection to a particular consultant who happened to have a lot of clients with connections to Lebanon, a consultant who came under elevated scrutiny and whose clients then, in turn, came under elevated scrutiny.

There is probably no on/off switch regarding the non-cancelled visa, but it is, again probably, a factor, one which is weighed relative to other details in your facts, your circumstances, including your travel history. As TD123 suggests, with such a visa CIC will want to see, and will take a close look at, ALL travel documents which could be relevant in any way. If CIC gets the impression there is a travel document the applicant is not disclosing, the scrutiny and skepticism elevate.

But many applicants with a ME connection sail through the process easily as well. IT DEPENDS.

In any event, all applicants should be prepared for the possibility of RQ. Sure, some of us have reason to apprehend a much higher risk for RQ, and we prepare accordingly . . . for me, in fact, I delayed applying for well over a year beyond the date I passed the 1095 days of APP threshold to be in a better position for RQ (I was not an applicant with a ME connection however; it was other factors that loomed ominously in my case).

Most applicants do not run into problems. Yes, a visa in a passport representing status to live and work in a country other than Canada suggests, to a stranger-bureaucrat assessing the case, there is a significant likelihood the individual lived and worked in that other country . . . which can lead to RQ and increased scrutiny of residency documentation.

If you were actually living and working in Canada, and have reasonable documentation to show where you were living, where you were working, and your facts add up, are consistent and coherent and make sense, there should be little or nothing to worry about. There is no guarantee you will not get RQ, anyone can get RQ, but overall there should be no problem.

(Note: there are many 2011 and 2012 applicants who can report a different experience; their experience is not representative of what 2013 and more recent applicants are experiencing.)

But isn`t that the very definition of bias, preconcieved conclusions based on your association with a particular group rather than your individual characteristics. If visible minorities are disproportionately represented in crime statistics, should we then dedicate more resources to policing visible minorities because they are more likely to commit a crime? Better bang for your buck? What if a particular group, say first nations, are less likely finish school than others, then to get more graduates per dollar spent, may be we should stop giving them admission.

Just because some of my compatriots have committed fraud, it is not justified to deny me mobility and voting rights for two additional years (assuming that an application without RQ would have taken 1 year). This government's policies are unabashedly populist and they have made immigrants out to be the boogey man. The changes to citizenship made by this government have in fact weakened citizenship and made all immigrants more vulnerable. Thank you CONS!