New Immigrant waiting for PR card - how long?

[jonhayes]

My wife landed in Canada (from India) as a permanent resident about a month ago (Oct 6, to be exact).  The border control officer who admitted her into Canada took our address and told my wife that her PR card would be mailed to us in "8-9 weeks".  Is this accurate information?  Is there a chance it could arrive anytime sooner than this?

I ask because we would like to visit family in the US for Christmas, and my wife needs her PR card to apply for a US visa.  Receiving her PR card by mail in early-mid December (8-9 weeks after Oct 6) seems to be cutting it a bit close.  So I am wondering if there is any way to "speed up" the process?  Or do we simply wait and cross our fingers?

It's not a serious problem, I understand, but I'm just wondering if there is anything we can do in the meantime.

Cheers.

[Leon]

Usually it's more like a month to 6 weeks that you get it.

[jonhayes]

Thanks for the info.

As luck would have it, my wife's permanent resident card arrived in the mail today.  Problem is, her middle name is misspelled (the last letter is missing; for example, "Jennife" instead of "Jennifer").  Is this something we need to correct, or did they just run out of space?

Thanks.

[NewYorker]

They didn't ran out of space, they made a mistake. First go to USA after the holidays fix this problem, otherewise it will take more time and you will not be able to go to visit family in the US. Its just a middle name...fix it later

[eduardoF]

There's a way to speed up the process, it's all explained here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/pr-card/apply-how.asp#urgent

If I were you, I'd call CIC and ask how long it would take them to correct that mistake. The thing is, the Canadian immigration office at the border might not even notice the mistake, but it could get you wife's US visa application rejected.

[AMB]

Hi,

Her first and second name would appear on the second line.  Depending on how long her first name is, it's VERY possible they ran out of room.  You should just call the CIC call centre to confirm.

I have seen many cards where the PR has several names or long names, and they run out of space, but in all the files etc., they have the full names.  If her "Confirmation of Permanent Residence" has the full name, I would bring a copy of that for any problems you might run in to.  When applying for a US visa, they require that you show the original Confirmation of Permanent Residence anyway.