length of reasonable time passport held

[kolz]

i am sponsoring my spouse for a PR under the family class in Hong Kong. My wife has the right to abode in Hong Kong, but is holding Indonesian passport. I am a Canadian citizen with right to land in Hong Kong (sponsored by my wife). From the application process status under e-cas the application process starts on 31 August 2010. I've received a confirmation letter that I am eligible to sponsor shortly after that (couple of months after). Wife gave birth to a daughter in Hong Kong on November 2010, and on December 2010 do a medical check requested by the immigration office (the doctor in Hong Kong sent the result directly to immigration office). Shortly after, another request arrived to send in her valid passport by letter. This is on early April 2011 (sent to HK Canadian consulate).

Now is August 2011, and she's yet to hear anything back. The status online still says in process, and the worst thing is that she has no passport for almost 5 months!! Frustrating as we have a baby and we can't go visit our relatives on my holiday. Is the length of time normal for the consulate to hold the passport this long? anyone experienced on this?

[kolz]

Hm, maybe I should change my question...

How long did Canada hold your sponsor's passport during the process? Anyone?

[Kaycee1]

Some visa offices request the passport right at the beginning of the process and keep it until they are finished. Our visa office (Paris) doesn't request it until they're ready to issue the visa. I think most wait until the end, but it seems like Manila, New Delhi and the Chinese ones ask for it very early on. They may have her passport for quite a few months until they finish processing your file.

[kolz]

Kaycee1 thank you for your help. In CIC's website they didn't really tell about them holding the passport or any policy of such kind. Back in the waiting game