Status report please on my spouse's Canadian Permanent Residence application

[cox1923]

I am sponsoring my husband from Jamaica to Canada. We married December 2007 and the application, medical, police check and all applicable fees was submitted in January. The Mississauga office in Ontario completed their portion back in February '08 and the VISA office in Kingston, Jamaica had it in their possession since the ending of February '08. I'm told the application processing time is cut down to approximately 6-mnths now. Well I check the ECAS immigration online system daily, I've sent emails to the Kingston VISA office and I even went in person back in May '08 to make a public enquiry at the Canadian Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica... the status listing for my husbands application has been sitting in the cue marked as "in process" for months now. We are getting close to the 6-month mark and no one seems to be able to tell me where this application is at in the process. I can't ever get a live person via phone when I call the Kingston VISA office and I have no clue where else I should be turning to get a simple response to my question: "where is my application currently at in the process?" My husband and I understood from the get go that there would be a process and a wait time, but we thought we would at least be able to know how far a long things are so that we can accurately estimate his arrival time in Canada. I would think as a Canadian citizen myself and after paying thousands of dollars towards fees for the application that the decent thing would be to at least answer my questions... Is this asking too much?

[PMM]

Hi

I am sponsoring my husband from Jamaica to Canada. We married December 2007 and the application, medical, police check and all applicable fees was submitted in January. The Mississauga office in Ontario completed their portion back in February '08 and the VISA office in Kingston, Jamaica had it in their possession since the ending of February '08. I'm told the application processing time is cut down to approximately 6-mnths now. Well I check the ECAS immigration online system daily, I've sent emails to the Kingston VISA office and I even went in person back in May '08 to make a public enquiry at the Canadian Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica... the status listing for my husbands application has been sitting in the cue marked as "in process" for months now. We are getting close to the 6-month mark and no one seems to be able to tell me where this application is at in the process. I can't ever get a live person via phone when I call the Kingston VISA office and I have no clue where else I should be turning to get a simple response to my question: "where is my application currently at in the process?" My husband and I understood from the get go that there would be a process and a wait time, but we thought we would at least be able to know how far a long things are so that we can accurately estimate his arrival time in Canada. I would think as a Canadian citizen myself and after paying thousands of dollars towards fees for the application that the decent thing would be to at least answer my questions... Is this asking too much?

Well as long as you are within their processing standards 4-11 months for 80% of spousal applications, they are not going to reply to status requests. 

PMM

[LCS]

Per PMM, your case can continue to show to be "In Process" for the whole time you are waiting. Ours says "Decision Made" on the Sponsorship Application Status. For the Permanent Resident Application Status it has said "In Process" since Sept 26, 2006 and that his interview is (WAS) November 20, 2006. It has been this out of date since then.
It is possible that they won't even reply to you until the longest timeline has passed. I would think it is the rare case that is processed in the least amount of time. I would suggest to anyone that they could be pleasantly surprised if their case finishes in one of the shorter timelines but you might prepare yourself to settle in for the long wait.
I am beginning to think certain countries are also processed faster and others are given a closer examination therefore longer timeline. Good luck, this is not an easy process.   

[RobsLuv]

The only way you're really going to get any information at all is to order your CAIPS notes.  This is a computer print out of the status of your case, with comments from the IO who is assessing it.  The information on how to order them, and how to read them once they arrive is here.

[Leon]

Try to call them again, either the visa office or the call centre for immigration Canada and when you are stuck in voicejail, just try pressing 0 even though they don't say it in the menu. Sometimes it's a hidden option in there that will link you to a live person.

[cox1923]

Thanks to all who shared their opinion/provided advice on how to precede with trying to get a status report. My husband and I ended up putting in a request for our CAIPS filecheck. I'm suppose to receive it from Ottawa in approx. 5-6 weeks. Hopefully, once I receive it I'll have a better understanding of where things are at in the process... better yet, hopefully my husband gets a call any day now notifying him that his VISA is ready!!!