Berlin, Europe Spouse Sponsorship Timeline 2011

[Marco2011]

Spouse Sponsorship Request

Lets share the timeline.

They received our request in Mississsauga on 02-09-2011 by ups (Signature for delivery).

[maya2011]

Hey Marco!

Here is my Time line:

Spousal Outland
Visa Office: Berlin
All docs,fees and medical results have been received: March 2011
Started processing application for PR...: June 3, 2011
Interview...: ?
Passport Request...: waiting
Visa to be issued...: waiting
Land in Toronto...: waiting

fingers crossed for my husband to get his visa soon!

[Indigo]

*Checking in*

I'm Indigo, 32 year old female (almost 33), born & raised in The Netherlands, last May got married to the love of my life, who is a Canadian. I am staying with my husband in Canada, I hope to be able to stay here for the duration of the process. I need to file for a visitor extension soon so let's keep our fingers crossed. This is my timeline so far:

Medical: 26-08-2011
App sent: 21-09-2011
App received: 22-09-2011

From a bit of research on this forum I got the idea that Berlin is very fast for straightforward applications. I hope mine will be among the lucky ones!

[sidkrose]

Just updating my timeline here for current and future Berlin VO users I know we're pretty thin on the ground, Haha.

App filed: July 26, 2011
Sponsorship approved: Oct. 3, 2011 (in line with official CPC-M timeline at the time)
AOR: Oct. 24, 2011
PPR: Nov. 15, 2011
Visa issued: Nov. 25, 2011


Landing will be Dec. 11, 2011

So it took almost exactly 4 months, and spent only 6 weeks in Berlin before PPR, and passport returned in 7 business days. Couldn't be more pleased Yay for Berlin!

[waikiki]

Hi,
application reached Mississauga Aug 22nd, approved Oct 28, now waiting. Does Berlin always send AOR letter?

[Indigo]

Hi,
application reached Mississauga Aug 22nd, approved Oct 28, now waiting. Does Berlin always send AOR letter?

It is my understanding that they usually don't send an AOR. Perhaps Skidrose found it gthrough Ecas?

I hope my processing will be as fast as Skidrose's!

Maya2011, are you still waiting?

[sidkrose]

We got AOR as an email from the Berlin VO. It came to me (sponsor) but I also listed myself as Representative, so that could be why. Does it usually go to the applicant or the sponsor? Also, we got AOR a couple weeks after sponsorship approval, so don't worry if you don't get it for a while.

[Elizabeth Joe]

hui, some movement on the Berlin Thread. I'm still waiting on sponsorship approval. Hopefully next week! We almost have same timelines, Indigo, hopefully it'll go fast for us. I'm lucky also to be with my husband, but it sucks not to be able to work. Sidkrose's case gives us hope though!

[waikiki]

Another question for those who already got PPR:
 My husband received an email , "Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Information about Fxxxxxxx".
 I am not sure if it´s from CIC or from the VO. It´s an automated message  confirming once more, that application has been received in Mississauga in August. The new thing here is, that my husband got his UCI number. On our approval letter sent by CIC, only me, the sponsor, received a UCI number.

Is that the AOR that came via email?

[sidkrose]

Another question for those who already got PPR:
 My husband received an email , "Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Information about Fxxxxxxx".
 I am not sure if it´s from CIC or from the VO. It´s an automated message  confirming once more, that application has been received in Mississauga in August. The new thing here is, that my husband got his UCI number. On our approval letter sent by CIC, only me, the sponsor, received a UCI number.

Is that the AOR that came via email?

That's what we got at AOR.

[Indigo]

Update to timeline:

Medical: 26-08-2011
App sent: 21-09-2011
App received: 22-09-2011
Phonecall to sponsor from CIC: 25-11-2011
Sponsorship approval: 25-11-2011

CIC phoned my husband's cell on nov 25. For the past few weeks my husband had been leaving his phone with me when going to work, because we knew CIC could call (they did that with one of our friends) and at work he wouldn't be able to pick up. So I was the one picking up, and after the agent confirmed my identity by asking me a few questions, he asked for my Dutch address. I gave them the Canadian one because the CIC info-line adviced me to, because I am already in canada. Apparently that advice wasn't right.
The agent offered to change the address by phone, rather then sending us a form we have to fill out and send back, which was nice of him. I gave him my parents' address, since officially I still live there. He told me sponsorship assessment should be finished within a week.
On the nov 30 we got the sponsorship approval letter by mail; Turned out the sponsorship was approved on the day they made that phonecall: nov 25.

Now the less predictable part has begun: How long will processing take in Berlin? Will it be fast, like most other cases I've read about? Or will be one of the few less lucky ones who take the full 9 months or more? I'm hoping for a fast processing, and am counting my lucky stars that Berlin is a relatively fast VO.
They put the wrong postal code in Ecas (they had the right one before in there, I don't understand why they changed it into something it is not) so we have to email or fax them to correct the error.

Sidkrose, I see tomorrow is your landing day! Happy landings, and do come back to tell us how it went!

[Indigo]

I was just thinking, doesn't this topic belong in this subforum here?

[sidkrose]

I was just thinking, doesn't this topic belong in this subforum here?

Well, this is the Berlin visa office thread for SPOUSAL sponsorships, so I think it is fine where it is in the Family Class subforum.

Yes, my partner will be landing tomorrow!!!! SO HAPPY. We haven't seen each other in 21 weeks. Way too long. I will definitely let you all know how it went, once I hear the story from him

And Indigo, I think Berlin is usually very fast for apps that are complete and straight forward. Bluesteam, who also applied in July, is all done with the process too. So it shouldn't be too long.

[sidkrose]

So much to my surprise my partner showed up a day early! It seems that he conspired with my family to arrive without me knowing so he could surprise me! I was pretty overwhelmed when he showed up at the door!

His landing went smoothly though. He told me that there was a huge line when he landed at YVR, but he was just asked some questions by the VO (things like: are you married? have you ever been? do you have children? have you been arrested?) and had to write down our address and phone number. They put something in his passport, because he will probably have to re-enter the country without his PR card, cause he has to go back to write some final exams after Christmas. That was it!

Hope Berlin comes through soon for you guys

[Indigo]

Yay for good surprises! congratulations sidkrose, you are all done!
And you are right, I hadn't thought about this being a SPOUSAL Berlin topic!

We sent an email today in order to have them fix the postal code. Just in case, we also reconfirmed my husband's full address and both our telephone numbers and email addresses. We hope that solves it. I'll keep an eye on ecas and my husband will keep an eye on his email. If they haven't responded or corrected the postal code in a few weeks, we'll send a fax with the same contents.