In order to obtain Visa to come to Canada, you might need a Visa invitation letter. This is not a requirement for all visa applicants though. But it is still smarter and advisable to get one just in case.
What is a Visa invitation letter?
This is a letter written and issued by a Canadian permanent resident/citizen inviting a visa applicant to visit them in Canada. The purpose of the invitation letter is to help the Canadian immigration officials effectively and easily evaluate your visitor/temporary residence visa application when you submit it.
With the Visa invitation letter that you attach to your visa application, the IRCC can understand where you will be staying, the reason for your visiting Canada and your sources of financial and living support while in Canada.
The purpose of this article is to enlighten you on the 5 steps which you should take to get your Visa invitation letter ready.
They are;
1. As the person writing the letter, you should collect all the needed information about the applicant of the Visitor’s Visa
As a Visa applicant, you must have a Canadian citizen in Canada that will write your Visa invitation letter for you. This is a lot easier if you are being offered a Job in Canada as the employer can get that done for you.
The Canadian citizen should include all the information about you stated below in the letter.
- Your complete list of names
- The date of birth of the Visa applicant
- The address of the Visa applicant in the country and their telephone number
- The nature of your relationship with the Visa applicant
- The purpose of the applicant’s visit to Canada
- The period of stay in Canada
- The place the applicant will be living in Canada
- Means of payment/payment methods of which the applicant intends to use to pay for things
- The exact planned date the applicant will leave Canada.
2. Include all the necessary information about the Canadian citizen/Canadian PR or invitee
As the Canadian citizen writing the Visa invitation letter, you are required to write and include all these information about yourself;
These includes;
- Your complete full name with middle names as well
- Your birthdate
- Your current and permanent address in Canada and your telephone number
- Your job specification
- Your Canadian status whether permanent resident or citizen
- Your Canadian status of proof (in photocopy) that is, your PR card or Canadian birth/Citizenship certificate
- The full names and dates of birth of the immediate family members of the Canadian citizen/permanent resident.
- And lastly the total number of people living in the house of the Canadian inviting you.
3. Notarize or send directly?
Once the letter has been written in the appropriate format (you can download sample visa invitation letter online), the Canadian citizen can either send it to you directly or firstly notarize it before sending. If you will need Biometrics for your Visa application, it is a safe bet that you need to notarize the letter.
The Canadian officials might not ask for a notarized form of the letter but it is best to have a notarized copy in case. If you have had issues in the past with Canadian immigration officials, then you might also be asked to notarize the letter.
4. Methods of sending the Visa invitation letter
After the Canadian permanent resident/citizen has finished writing the invitation letter, they can email the scanned copy of the letter with their signature to you. If they can’t scan the letter that they have signed, perhaps because they can’t find a scanner, they can send it via email to you without signature. Or they could try to find someone that has a scanner.
It is optional for the Canadian citizen to sign on the letter but it makes the letter look more official. A notarized letter however must be mailed to the applicant using a mailing service that tracks letters, so that the letter doesn’t get lost. If the letter is not notarized, there is no need to mail it. As mailing is very slow and might take a long time to arrive.
5. Submission of the invitation letter
The invitation letter sent to the applicant should be submitted along with the initial visa application. You should not wait for the Canadian officials to ask for your invitation letter before you submit it, as this could cause delays in your application processing.
IT’S obvious that all this are well explained and understood.but i just need to get help on this pls someone should assist me pls!