Sigh . . .

No visitors for me this summer. At least for now anyway. Readers may remember that Gulzar, my friend in Pakistan, had applied for a visa to visit here in July. His first application was refused because he did not prove that he will return to Pakistan (a full time job and being sole supporter of his widowed mother was not enough . . .). He was going to reapply but due to being very busy at work (out of town) did not have time until this week - the same week he was booked to fly. So he had to cancel his flight. Now we are trying to decide if he should try again or not.

I have done a lot research on visas recently and it appears if you are from a third world county, even a Commonwealth member, basically you have a snowballs chance in Hell of getting a Canadian visitor visa. Especially if you are invited to Canada by a member of the opposite sex. //roll eyes// From what I have read he would need to include letters of recommendation or whatever from Allah on down (bank, employer, Imam at his mosque, etc) and would still probably be refused. It is so sad that so many people abuse the system and law abiding people get screwed around.

Too bad I don't know anyone at Immigration or the Islamabad High Commission who could put in a good word. Sometimes being an honest, law abiding, mostly tax paying (as in low income, not tax evasion) citizen counts for squat and that sucks.