Processing Times

[torresandino]

I am wondering if anyone knows the processing time to be approved for entry into Canada.  I am sponsoring my husband, he lives in the United States and we sent the application at the end of June and they received it in Buffalo already but it was sent to the general consulate in Los Angeles.  How do I find out what is going on with the application.  They say not to contact them until 90 days of a letter that they sent letting him know that his application was sent to Los Angeles.

If any one has any info please let me know.  Thank you.

[RobsLuv]

The average timelines for Buffalo seem to also apply to the other visa offices that the files are transferred to in the States.  Buffalo's timeline is 3-9 months.  You can order the CAIPS notes for more detailed info on what's going on . . . it will take about 4-6 weeks to receive them.

[torresandino]

I had read that in the CIC site that on average 80% of the cases take 9 months, we sent out application to Misssisauga at the end of June and Buffalo started processing it on August 5, 2008, do we wait the 3-9 months from the date that Buffalo received it or the date that Mississauga started working on it?

One other things, we already sent in his Criminal check as well as the Medical check with the application, will they ask that he get a new Criminal check done?

We also received a letter from the Los Angeles General Consulate saying not to contact them until 3 months from the date of the letter that they sent, which 3 months is going to be Nov. 22/08, does it mean that there is the posibility that a decision will have been made by that time?  Can I access the procedure of the application on ECAS?

Thank you for the information.

[RobsLuv]

The "don't call us for three months" is a standard form letter.  It basically means nothing.  The outlying US visa offices (Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, NYC) don't seem to have their own posted timelines, so you can expect that they will follow the same timelines as Buffalo.  Exactly how long your file will take depends on why they sent the file to Los Angeles - sometimes it's because an interview is going to be requested (which can result in a longer timeline) or sometimes it's just because Buffalo is inundated with files and they're farming them out to expedite processing . . . in order to maintain the integrity of their posted timelines.

Also, the timeline chart on the CIC website is difficult to understand.  We're actually having an interesting discussion about it at this other thread.  I'd been told one thing quite some time ago that really doesn't turn out to be that logical - so check out the info in the other thread for details.