Damascus/Spousal since Jan 2010 or late 2009

[missmini]

yeah agree with both aaa2012 and nairyd...the situation in Syria also affects (logically it's slower for them to get background/security checks done if the country situation is not stable); and also, there were immigration financial cuts (see the Missisauga process now comparing with one year ago) and probably each embassy suffered cuts as well 

even if the processing time would increase 1-2 months, it's still better than closing completely; I'm sure they are working hard and there will be a PPR day for each one of us!!!! stay positive 

[sohrab919]

My wife just left me for Canada.....it's too much to stand. Khieli halam bade khieli....

baradare man..... its been 18 months since i saw my wife... count your blessings...... almost 10.5 months of processing and nothing yet, just be grateful that you were JUST with her

[missmini]

I just wanted to mention that as far as the issue of living with your foreign national spouse while the application is being processed is concerned, there's nothing wrong with that as long as you are a Canadian citizen and not a PR, in which case you must be in Canada while the processing is taking place. If you recall filling out the Sponsor Questionnaire, IMM5540, question 11 asks whether you are currently living in Canada, and if you check "no," it asks when you plan to return to Canada to resume residency and where you will plan to live. It also asks to provide proof of your intention to resettle in Canada when you begin that sponsorship undertaking for your spouse, and that proof may include photocopies of the following: job offer in Canada, property rental agreement, employment contract in Canada, property deed, mortgage on property, or a letter of acceptance at a Canadian educational institution. It also asks you to give details of your plans to re-establish yourself in Canada. Incidentally, the very next question asks if you live with someone and who, so CIC is well-aware of situations in which Canadian citizens are residing with their foreign national spouses abroad (sometimes for years before they even file for the PR application). I don't know if the visa office will assess this information as well, but apparently Mississauga has a chance to assess this information at the time it gives sponsorship approval. I personally think that living with one's spouse abroad is powerful proof of a genuine relationship that would alleviate alot of doubts that an immigration officer might otherwise have about strong ties between the spouse and principal applicant. There have been women whose husbands are being processed in Rabat who have been able to financially afford to do this (or to take several trips of a month each) and it has made a difference in the way that Rabat judged their relationship or it's helped them win an appeal when Rabat denied the visa because they suspected the intentions of the husband.

thank so much ddobro2 for ur detail reply and really it's awesome that u have the time and patience to check so many threads and have so much insight

[sohrab919]

i just felt i need to share this, the new CROWD in this forum are very negative, come on guys, let it go, live your lives , let time be the healer, let time be the decision maker, ive been in this forum more than a year now and never ive seen such negativity........ we have people complaining at 6 7 8 months!
are you kidding me?

if you have so much time on your hand to complain and swear and be depressed well then why not click back a few pages and see what went on in the last 12 months, for example, we had kamal,nagz,gem, who were always positive and they got what they were waiting for, me and vivi and parastoo came along and we kept positive too, but all of the sudden everytime i read pages of this forum its all  F syria F This process why am i so sad , why should i be alone, come on........... wake up , you all know WHAT you signed up for, this is a forum to share information and feelings i agree but not to create a negative vibe for whoever is just about to be a sponsor, when i just signed up to this forum i was so optimistic because of what i was reading but now, if i would have joined today SUICIDE would be my only thought.......i wonder why

[sohrab919]

lets all be positive and optimistic ........ thats the best advice i can give , for god's sake , im a CIC officer and my wife is 8000 km away, i cope with it so can everyone else, complaining for people who are waiting a ridiculous amount of time is justified but for people who are waiting 5 6 months? really? kamal waited almost 2 years and he never complained, im at 10 and i havent complained, the point is BE REALISTIC, for the farsi speaking people..... VAGHEBIN BASHID vagar na bishtar mikhore too zoghetoon

[ddobro2]

Lol, glad to help. I don't know if it's patience so much as time....but I have CIC in Buffalo to thank for that  

thank so much ddobro2 for ur detail reply and really it's awesome that u have the time and patience to check so many threads and have so much insight

[ddobro2]

Glad to help. Best wishes.

Hi ddobro2. Thanks for your very thorough explanation. As you said cases are different. But your explanation was quite helpful.

[vivi2]

i just felt i need to share this, the new CROWD in this forum are very negative, come on guys, let it go, live your lives , let time be the healer, let time be the decision maker, ive been in this forum more than a year now and never ive seen such negativity........ we have people complaining at 6 7 8 months!
are you kidding me?

if you have so much time on your hand to complain and swear and be depressed well then why not click back a few pages and see what went on in the last 12 months, for example, we had kamal,nagz,gem, who were always positive and they got what they were waiting for, me and vivi and parastoo came along and we kept positive too, but all of the sudden everytime i read pages of this forum its all  F syria F This process why am i so sad , why should i be alone, come on........... wake up , you all know WHAT you signed up for, this is a forum to share information and feelings i agree but not to create a negative vibe for whoever is just about to be a sponsor, when i just signed up to this forum i was so optimistic because of what i was reading but now, if i would have joined today SUICIDE would be my only thought.......i wonder why

THANK YOU! One of the reasons that recently I rarely check the forum and post comments ... In fact today I was thinking of not coming here any more at all! Lol!

[ddobro2]

To add to your point with my 2 cents: I think one thing that can alleviate this process to some degree is being busy. If you become as busy as possible and try to sustain that for at least a few months, you won't be focusing as much on the wait as you would if you didn't have the other things to do. Then of course you'll inevitably be back in a funk after you lose the momentum of being busy, but at least it helped for awhile. I know that's not going to have any affect on the need for a parent to hold their child or kiss their spouse - for that, I suggest you make friends with technology, especially webcams (not for the holding or kissing, of course, but at least it's something).

lets all be positive and optimistic ........ thats the best advice i can give , for god's sake , im a CIC officer and my wife is 8000 km away, i cope with it so can everyone else, complaining for people who are waiting a ridiculous amount of time is justified but for people who are waiting 5 6 months? really? kamal waited almost 2 years and he never complained, im at 10 and i havent complained, the point is BE REALISTIC, for the farsi speaking people..... VAGHEBIN BASHID vagar na bishtar mikhore too zoghetoon

[vivi2]

people believe me, the more you think about this process the more you feel depressed. just live your normal lives as you never had this process going on! yeah me and my husband miss each other like hell, but we're not going to let this bring us down. yeah we said goodbye to each other in the airport last week too and yeah it was damn hard and we cried so bad, but we're not going to let that 10 minute goodbye ruin all the fun and joy we had together in my 4 week visit. think about the nice memories you had in your visits and think about the nicer moments you will have in your futures together
time passes by faster than you think, to be honest i can't believe that it will be 9 months for me in a few days and that's what i'm happy about, that i have passed 9 months and i know each day that passes brings me one day closer and damascus might not be the best and fastest visa office but it definitely is one of the good ones people in the islamabad thread with 24 months processing times are more positive than our thread!! be happy everyone!

[sohrab919]

people believe me, the more you think about this process the more you feel depressed. just live your normal lives as you never had this process going on! yeah me and my husband miss each other like hell, but we're not going to let this bring us down. yeah we said goodbye to each other in the airport last week too and yeah it was damn hard and we cried so bad, but we're not going to let that 10 minute goodbye ruin all the fun and joy we had together in my 4 week visit. think about the nice memories you had in your visits and think about the nicer moments you will have in your futures together
time passes by faster than you think, to be honest i can't believe that it will be 9 months for me in a few days and that's what i'm happy about, that i have passed 9 months and i know each day that passes brings me one day closer and damascus might not be the best and fastest visa office but it definitely is one of the good ones people in the islamabad thread with 24 months processing times are more positive than our thread!! be happy everyone!

Ha mashallah, i couldnt of said it any better

[yahya777]

Hello everybody


My wife who is waiting for her permanent residence is leaving Homs, Syria to go to Libya because her life is in danger. What's going to happen once she gets approved to get her permanent residence? Can she transfer her application to the canadian embassy in Libya so she can pick up her permanent residence there? How does it work?

Thanks!

[Arezou]

FAQ

We will try to update and circulate this posting to avoid repetitive discussions. This will also enable an effective knowledge sharing.
all the answers in this posting are based on the experiences of the people active in this forum, for accurate and fully reliable information, please visit CIC website.

Question

Answer

What is PPR?

PassPort Request. This is the final stage of the process in which the visa office asks the applicant to provide his/her passport in person or by carrier.

While waiting for my sponsorship application, can I apply for a tourist visa?

Yes, you can, but the chances are very low. Because it's hard to prove that you have strong ties to your home country, given the fact your spouse lives in Canada

While waiting for my sponsorship application, can I apply for a student visa?

Yes, you can, provided that you have an admission from a well-known canadian university, you should be able to get your visa, but you will still have to go back to your home country when your sponsorship visa is ready. otherwise it may take a while.

how can I contact the damascus visa office if I have a question?

email to damascus-im-enquiry                   @                   international.gc.ca (sometimes their mailbox is full, try again after a few hours)

my medical is expiring, what do you think I should do?

Normally you should wait until the officer asks for redoing the test, however, in our discussions, we came to the conclusion that it would not hurt to redo the medical test and have the receipt ready. If they issued the visa and did not ask for the new medical, you have lost only some $200 but if they want you will be at least 5 weeks ahead of the game. In short, it is recommended to redo your medical 2 or 3 weeks prior to the expiration. same applies for police clearance

is there any way to express our frustration to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada?

you may fill following survey by Sep 19, 2011 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/consultations/index.asp  (here: http://cic.sondages-surveys.ca/s/immigration2/?l=eng) or you can sign a petition here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Familyreunification

What is RQ

it stands for Residency Questionnaire. it's a stupid process which is exclusive to Damascus office. They want to make sure if you are still residing in Canada.

how can i join this forum?

provide your detailed information in a posting under this thread, a volunteer will append your info to the list. everyone in this forum is obliged to inform everybody about any updates about their spouse sponsorship applications in Damascus. Damascus office is still active more or less and it is not closed due to the situation in Syria yet. processing time provided by the cic are not accurate at all. when it was 10 months, we had quite a few people who got their ppr in less than 6 months. check out the chart for more info.

is there anything i can do to help my fellow applicants in this forum?

sometimes little things help a lot. Please inform everyone about any change about your application. you may also set your flag to the country you are sponsoring from or sponsored. this will help the readers to analyze your updates much faster and relate it to their applications. for example, if you are from syria and i am also from syria then we can compare our statuses more accurately. and yes, canadian flag is useless because here everybody is from canada

[/table]

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latest updates spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en_US&key=0Ak8iAld3D_1NdEhLZkh2djFhSTB5cWhZN0w4THlueXc&rm=full#gid=0

Dear Siavash,

have look at this quote. Here is a link for a petition site. Maybe it is helpful for you and your opinion.

[WXYZ]

people believe me, the more you think about this process the more you feel depressed. just live your normal lives as you never had this process going on! yeah me and my husband miss each other like hell, but we're not going to let this bring us down. yeah we said goodbye to each other in the airport last week too and yeah it was damn hard and we cried so bad, but we're not going to let that 10 minute goodbye ruin all the fun and joy we had together in my 4 week visit. think about the nice memories you had in your visits and think about the nicer moments you will have in your futures together
time passes by faster than you think, to be honest i can't believe that it will be 9 months for me in a few days and that's what i'm happy about, that i have passed 9 months and i know each day that passes brings me one day closer and damascus might not be the best and fastest visa office but it definitely is one of the good ones people in the islamabad thread with 24 months processing times are more positive than our thread!! be happy everyone!

well said,these words reminded me of my husband. and I agree its gonna pass so lets not make everyone around us hurt to...4 more days it's gonna be 10 months for us, I originally came to this  forum a while ago to see people that r like me and have the same situation, and how they handle it. it was good at first but I think every one had high expectations for the new year and now everyones a little disappointed, if the wait goes on for us noruz is gonna be so hard,but it will pass to...

[ddobro2]

I hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong, but I believe Tripoli is still closed and people are being processed in Paris. Don't you guys have the option of courier mailing the passport to the embassy?? I can't imagine the only option is to physically go there to pick up the visa.

Hello everybody


My wife who is waiting for her permanent residence is leaving Homs, Syria to go to Libya because her life is in danger. What's going to happen once she gets approved to get her permanent residence? Can she transfer her application to the canadian embassy in Libya so she can pick up her permanent residence there? How does it work?

Thanks!