The beginning of the letter

Question

The blue part below is the beginning of a letter writing to a visaofficer. Could you help me to revise it so that it sounds more reasonable, concise and polite? Thanks a lot for your help.Dear Madam or Sir:My mother-in-law has accepted my invitation, on behalf of my wife, to come over to Canada for a private visit. So I am writing to you to provide information for the purpose of supporting my mother-in-law's visa application. Considering the person being invited is my mother-in-law, I just figured out this is more direct than writing her an invitation letter for such a purpose.

Delmobile · Accepted Answer

I'm afraid I am utterly clueless about the process of getting a visa issued. Is the usual thing for you to write a letter of invitation to the visitor, which he/she then submits to the visa office?

Is your wife not allowed to issue the invitation as well? (perhaps you are a Canadian citizen and she is not?) Because "on behalf of my wife" strikes me as a little strange, but if the invitation must come from you...on the other hand, if she is your mother-in-law then it seems natural enough for you to invite her without any additional explanation.

How about: My mother-in-law has accepted my invitation to visit my wife and me here in Canada. In order to streamline the process, I am writing you directly to provide information in support of her visa application.

Osee · Answer

Thanks a lot for your revision, Delmobile. Here is something to say.

1. My wife is currently in China visiting her family (She will be back to Canada soon, and I expect my mother-in-law could come over with my wife to Canada), plus she did not worked in Canada. Considering this, I just thought it might be better for me to be the inviter.

2. The policy requires a invitation letter to include something like date of birth, purpose of trip, and details on accommodation and living expenses. They do not specify that people can invite parent-in-law without any additional explanation.

3. I simply feel weird and "faking" to write an invitation letter to my mother-in-law to provide those required information. So I figured out it is simpler for me to write directly to the officer.

Anyway, your comments remind me something. It might be acceptable for me not to mention the fact that my wife is in China and to write such a letter (to the visa officer) as if my wife is in Canada with me. This kind of is a lie; but it does no harm, especially considering that my wife will be back in Canada soon. Do you think so? Please feel free to make comments about anything I said above.

Delmobile · Answer

Okay. So technically, you're supposed to write a letter that says something like,

Dear Mother-in-law, Please come visit us between the dates of XX and XX for the purpose of pleasure. Your date of birth is XX. You will be living in our guest room during your stay and we expect to spend about $XX a week on you while you are here.

And then Mom is supposed to apply for a visa, using that letter?

No wonder you feel weird.I agree, it seems much more sensible to write the officer directly.

I Am Not A Lawyer, as they say on the internets, but I can't see how it matters where your wife is when you extend the invitation. If my husband is in California but I expect him back by the weekend, I might well call friends to say, "We'd love to see you this weekend - could you come for dinner?" In other words, two people who are in different places can simultaneously extend an invitation for a future date. At any rate, when the mother-in-law arrives, she will be visiting you both, right? So, you are both inviting her. At least that's how I see it.

I wish someone who understands the visa process in Canada would chime in here. Is there any way to change the title of the thread?

Osee · Answer

DelmobileOkay. So technically, you're supposed to write a letter that says something like,

Dear Mother-in-law, Please come visit us between the dates of XX and XX for the purpose of pleasure. Your date of birth is XX. You will be living in our guest room during your stay and we expect to spend about $XX a week on you while you are here.

And then Mom is supposed to apply for a visa, using that letter? Yes. Plus, she does not understand English.

No wonder you feel weird.I agree, it seems much more sensible to write the officer directly.
LOL! Delmobile, you are good at this. The blue is exactly why I feel weird about the letter to mohter-in-law.

I Am Not A Lawyer, as they say on the internets, but I can't see how it matters where your wife is when you extend the invitation. If my husband is in California but I expect him back by the weekend, I might well call friends to say, "We'd love to see you this weekend - could you come for dinner?" In other words, two people who are in different places can simultaneously extend an invitation for a future date. At any rate, when the mother-in-law arrives, she will be visiting you both, right? So, you are both inviting her. At least that's how I see it.

I guess you were right! My mother-in-law would come over to Canada either together with my wife or after. So there should be no problem to say "ask her to visit my wife and me." We do not need a lawyer about this. LOL. I feel released. It's not a lie. I even do not need mention my wife being in China now in order to make the letter or situation as concise and simple as possible for the visa officer, right??

BTW, the policy also requires a list of people in the inviter's household. According to your logic above, although my wife is not here with me, I still should put her in the list, right?

I wish someone who understands the visa process in Canada would chime in here. Is there any way to change the title of the thread? Superman can do that, I guess.

The beginning of the letter

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