By Natoyah Alaka | 3 min read | Posted on December 3, 2024

Your visa application was refused.

And you received a letter from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stating the reason(s) of the refusal.

The letter contains general reasons the visa officer refused the visa—but specific information is not always provided.

To get further information about the reasons(s), you can request the additional notes the visa officer would have made to your case—The process is called ATIP (Access to Information Privacy).

For requesting the visa officer notes, the person requesting must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

By obtaining these notes, you will know how to better prepare your application with additional supporting information for resubmission.

Client with previous visa refusal

For example—one of my clients is applying for a business visitor visa—but he has a prior refusal for a student visa application that he had applied for in 2022.

And prior to this student visa refusal, he was approved for a business visitor visa a few years before that.

According to the generalized refusal letter issued in 2022, the student visa application was denied due to inadequate proof of financial funds to support educational and living expenses in Canada.

Because I was not the representative responsible for submitting his earlier applications—I needed more background information—so I requested the ATIP notes, with his consent.

This way, I would know what additional supporting documents to include in his business visitor visa application, to increase the chances of it being approved by IRCC.

The ATIP notes

I receive the ATIP notes—15 pages long.

The main reason for his 2022 refusal was mainly for lack of financial support.

He had only submitted his spouse’s financial records—but not his own.

This caused the refusal.

This specific information, lets us know that it was only because of the lack of financial information he did not include in his prior student visa application.

But all his other criteria were in good standing—Thank goodness

Preparing the business visitor visa application

For his Canadian business visitor visa application, I have made sure he has provided me his financial details, including confirmation from his employer that they will be covering his travel and accommodation costs—and all other documentation required for this application.

The insights from the ATIP notes, gives me confidence that his business visitor visa application will be approved.

He has provided all the necessary supporting documents for his application, which I trust IRCC will grant him the visa—fingers crossed!

The final decision on the visa application

By analyzing ATIP notes, applicants can uncover specific areas of weakness, revealing what information or evidence might be lacking in their previous submissions.

While thorough preparation provides a strong foundation, the ultimate decision remains with the IRCC visa officer.

Well-organized and credible evidence does enhance the application’s potential for approval. By addressing potential concerns and presenting a clear consistent narrative, applications can be better positioned for success while respecting the inherent discretion of IRCC’s immigration processing.

My articles

My articles are drawn from real-world experiences, handling numerous visa applications in a fast-paced corporate environment. Each insight and tip shared here comes from actual cases, challenges overcome, and solutions that work. Stay updated with practical immigration tips by following my weekly articles.

Disclaimer: The above writing is not intended to be a source of legal advice. Please seek legal advice and use your own good judgement before choosing to act on any information provided above. If you choose to rely on this article, you do so entirely at your own accountability.