Mindy Tran is a Canadian-born citizen with Filipino heritage. Her parents originally emigrated from the Philippines, but Mindy had never visited the country. Mindy is best friends with Sue, who emigrated from the Philippines when she was 12 years old. The two met at school and since then they have been very close friends.

Sue has travelled regularly to the Philippines with her parents. On one of her trips, Sue fell in love with a Filipino national named Ben. A few years later after college, Sue became engaged with Ben in the Philippines. Sue went to the Philippines to marry Ben. She asked Mindy to accompany her as one of her bridesmaids. Mindy was excited to attend her best friend's wedding and to visit the Philippines for the first time.

While attending the wedding in the Philippines, Mindy met Ben's best friend Jacob. It was love at first sight and Mindy stayed in the Philippines for three weeks, where she spent a lot of time with Jacob.

Upon her return to Canada, Mindy mentioned her meeting with Jacob to her parents. Over the next few weeks, the two families exchanged phone calls and both parents approved of the relationship. Mindy and Jacob exchanged phone calls and emails as their relationship progressed.

Nine months later, Jacob proposed to Mindy and Mindy gladly accepted. The marriage was held six months later. Mindy travelled to the Philippines to marry Jacob. Mindy's brother Isaac, and her best friend Sue attended the wedding. Mindy was only able to get 2 weeks off work. In addition, Mindy's parents could not travel to the Philippines for the marriage. Mindy's father had severe arthritis which affected his mobility and Mindy's mother ran her own business in downtown Vancouver and could not afford to take time off during the busy tourist season.

Nevertheless, Mindy and Jacob decided to go ahead with the wedding as they were anxious to begin their life together as husband and wife. Mindy and Jacob decided to delay their reception and honeymoon due to the short time frame she had in the Philippines and because it was important for Mindy to include her family in the celebration. A small celebration was held with Jacob's family and close friends after the wedding ceremony.

Sue also celebrated the approval of Ben's application for permanent residence that was approved shortly before Mindy's wedding. Ben was able to join Sue when she returned to Canada.

Upon her return to Canada, Mindy prepared and filed a sponsorship application to sponsor Jacob. She was looking forward to having Jacob join her in Canada and felt encouraged by the fact that Ben had been approved for permanent residence.

Jacob was asked to attend an interview six months later at the Canadian visa office. Jacob received a refusal letter shortly after.

The visa officer cited the following reasons for refusal:

• Mindy and Jacob were considered not compatible. Mindy was born and raised in Canada, while Jacob was born and raised in the Philippines. Mindy had a college diploma and worked as a bank teller, while Jacob was a high school graduate and was working as a sales person in a clothing store.
• During the interview, Jacob admitted that after meeting Mindy at the wedding, he did not see Mindy until one week later after the wedding when they began to see each other. The visa officer thought that two weeks was not enough time to establish a serious relationship.
• The absence of Mindy's parents at the wedding of their only daughter was also a factor. Furthermore, Mindy stayed in the Philippines for only two weeks when she got married. There was also no reception or honeymoon. These factors caused the visa officer to believe that the marriage was not genuine and had been arranged by Sue and her husband Ben to facilitate Ben's best friend to come to Canada as a permanent resident.

Mindy has retained you as counsel in her IAD appeal. An ADR conference has been set.