Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[Kess]

AND, I just got an email from them, moments ago - on Wednesday-  I thought they were closed.!?!

I don't think Buffalo is actually closed on Wednesdays.  My husband got an email on Sept 22 (which was a Wed) to say they started processing their application.  I think they are there Wed but not open to the public.

[scylla]

Hi All,

Just a follow up on a topic that was discussed a few days ago...

My husband received his PR card today (November 10th). He landed October 5th. We live in Toronto so that may mean that mail reaches us faster than some others... Or maybe not...

Dralon - That sucks about your wife's medicals. I really hope you see light at the end of the tunnel soon!

[scylla]

Joe_Gizmo,

Unfortunately it's going to be extremely difficult for any of us to predict when you will receive the passport request. (By the way - My husband received his by email and he was one of the people who then traveled to Buffalo in person to get the visa.) Paying the landing fee when they request it (rather than paying up front when you submit the application) can add about six weeks processing time to your application. Having said that, this doesn't always happen. Long story short, time lines vary greatly from person to person and for that reason it's very difficult to guess what your personal experience will be.

Unfortunately my husband's experience won't help you much with your time lines since we paid all fees up front. However maybe someone else who paid the fee when it was requested can provide you with information about their experience.

Good luck!

[can_usa_97]

I don't think Buffalo is actually closed on Wednesdays.  My husband got an email on Sept 22 (which was a Wed) to say they started processing their application.  I think they are there Wed but not open to the public.

I also thought this, but a senior member replied indicating not the case.
I had always hoped it was their no phone calls, no emails, catch up day.

[JIM0511]

In process Oct 26, 2010! Did get the e-mail or letter yet. But they said they received the medical too! Now its in qeue...Hope it goes quick

Good luck all!

[Joe_Gizmo]

Joe_Gizmo,

Unfortunately it's going to be extremely difficult for any of us to predict when you will receive the passport request. (By the way - My husband received his by email and he was one of the people who then traveled to Buffalo in person to get the visa.) Paying the landing fee when they request it (rather than paying up front when you submit the application) can add about six weeks processing time to your application. Having said that, this doesn't always happen. Long story short, time lines vary greatly from person to person and for that reason it's very difficult to guess what your personal experience will be.

Unfortunately my husband's experience won't help you much with your time lines since we paid all fees up front. However maybe someone else who paid the fee when it was requested can provide you with information about their experience.

Good luck!

Scylla......many thanks for your response. I appreciate it. You stated that by not paying the Landing Fee up front this can add 6 weeks. Where does this number come from? Do you know this to be fact? Don't get me wrong. I'm not disputing what you have said. I'm just wondering the source of that statement. By the way, your timeline that you show in your message is nearly identical to mine except the PPR and landed part. When I checked the status last night it is still "In Process". When it goes to "Decision Made" is when I should get a PPR.....right? I hope not paying the Landing Fee up front does not add 6 weeks. When our lawyer was discussing this with us he said we had the option of paying the application fee and landing fee at the same time or paying the landing fee later. He did not stress that by paying later it would add more time. By the way, they definitely cashed the check as soon as they got it.
Thanks again for the info.

[BeShoo]

Many thanks for your response. So I guess my next question is regarding a timeline. Considering that the application was submitted in late June / early July after Sponsor approval in June.....shouldn't we be hearing something soon?

You may not be hearing anything for a while. In the last 12 months, 30% of applications spent less than 4 months in Buffalo, 50% spent 4-11 months there, and the other 20% were in Buffalo for more than 11 months. It's only been 4 months now, so if you had heard anything yet, it would have ben faster than average. (The average is probably around 7 months, but I'm just extrapolating that and can't be sure.)

[scylla]

Joe -

Once again, it's very difficult to generalize. "Decision made" does mean that either the applicant has been accepted or rejected. However what people see on ECAS varies from individual to individual. Some will see "medical received" at some point after "in process". Some people are also told the interview is waived. Neither of these things happened in our case (although we obviously did a medical and it was received - and our interview was waived). Other messages may appear as well as part of the journey leading up to "decision made". In our case we saw only "in process". My husband received the passport request via email on a Thursday and picked up his visa and landed via Buffalo the following Tuesday. ECAS continued to show "in process" until about a week after he landed - at which point the "decision made" and landing updates were posted to ECAS. So ECAS wasn't a reliable or up-to-date source of information in our case. Other have had different experiences.

Also, there are people here with fairly similar processing times to mine whose cases are still "in process" because they are stuck in background check land for no good reason (background checks can take many months for some people). This is another very unpredictable variable that makes it difficult to guess how long things will take. My husband was born in the US but lived in several different countries as an expat (including Africa and the Middle East). For this reason I was expecting his check to take a while. But it didn't. Others on this board with far simpler and shorter histories have seen much longer background check times.

I believe the "six weeks of extra processing time if the Landing Fee is not paid in advance" is the general statement CIC makes when they are asked what the impact is of not paying this fee with the original application. Others are likely in a much better position to comment on this than I am since we paid in advance and weren't affected by this delay. However what I can say is that it's strongly recommended to pay all fees up front (assuming a person can afford it) to avoid adding extra processing time to a file. Logically paying the Landing Fee separately must add processing time since when the CIC sees you haven't paid, then must stop processing your file, request the fee from you and then wait for the fee to be paid before proceeding. Again, others will be in a much better position to comment based on their personal experiences than I.

Hope this helps.

[Dayanara]

Hi All,

Just a follow up on a topic that was discussed a few days ago...

My husband received his PR card today (November 10th). He landed October 5th. We live in Toronto so that may mean that mail reaches us faster than some others... Or maybe not...

Another follow up on the PR card.  My husband landed Oct 7 and we got his PR card on Wednesday Nov 10.  So it looks like one month turn around depending on how far it needs to go for mail.  We live in Brampton, ON (near Mississauga/Toronto)

[nelly72]

Hello,

I sent my passports to Buffalo on Wednesday by Fedex and Buffalo received them Thursday.  I am flying to Canada in December to spend Christmas with my family and do not plan on officially landing at that time (do I have to land at that time?).  My question is when I do "land" will I be giving them my official Canadian address and that is where they will send my PR card?

Thanks,
Nell

[Joe_Gizmo]

Joe -

Some will see "medical received" at some point after "in process". So ECAS wasn't a reliable or up-to-date source of information in our case. Other have had different experiences.

Also, there are people here with fairly similar processing times to mine whose cases are still "in process" because they are stuck in background check land for no good reason (background checks can take many months for some people). .....My husband was born in the US but lived in several different countries as an expat (including Africa and the Middle East). For this reason I was expecting his check to take a while. But it didn't. 

I believe the "six weeks of extra processing time if the Landing Fee is not paid in advance" is the general statement CIC makes when they are asked what the impact is of not paying this fee with the original application. .......
Hope this helps.

Scylla......once again, thank you for your comments. Agreed.....not real sure ECAS is a great source for an up-to-date status. Mine does say the day they started processing - Aug 20th - and that they received the Medical. That is the frustrating part. There is no other way to get an update as to what is delaying the processing. Or if it is just sitting on someone's desk in a pile. Your "stuck in background check land" is interesting. Similar to your husband, I lived in other countries other than the US as well. During my military career I was stationed in two Far East countries. My lawyer said that I needed Police Certificates (Background Checks) from both countries in addition to the FBI check. The FBI check and one of the countries came back very fast and were sent to processing. The other country, I am not sure of. I have asked our lawyer if he ever received it, but have not received his response yet. I HOPE they are not waiting on that. As for the Landing Fee, as I mentioned, our lawyer did not mention that by not paying it could cause additional delay. If indeed 6 weeks is added, that is really upsetting. We had the money to pay it up front, but I thought it was something that you paid when you land. Little did I know.....
This is a horrible process. My wife and I married in January and I drive home (to Canada) on weekends. So while we do get to be together, it is not like we have had our real married life together. We are both seniors so we feel we are missing out on valuable time together. Happy for you and your husband. Went pretty quick for you. If you don't mind my asking, did you do it yourself or did you use a lawyer?

Thanks again for your responses......Joe

[scylla]

Hi Joe -

It's certainly a horrible process. I think the worst part about it is the lack of regular updates, information and communication. Most of the time you have no idea what's happening with your application. That was a very stressful experience for me and I am extremely glad it's now behind us.

No - we didn't use a lawyer. We did it ourselves. However I did spent a great deal of time on this forum during the months leading up to the submission of our application to make sure I understood the process and how to best approach the application and supporting documentation. I'm extremely grateful to all those who shared experiences and advice. My husband and I benefited from this information more than I can say.

We actually submitted our application minus one required police certificate (which is typically a no-no). My husband spent a year and a half in Kuwait in the mid 80's. We tried for months to obtain the certificate but kept getting the same answer: all records prior to 1989 were destroyed in the war and there's nothing anyone can give you. We included a letter with our application explaining this bit. However I was still convinced it was going to be a problem (turns out it wasn't).

Hopefully you are very close to the end and will see the passport request any day now. The Landing Fee request certainly is good news and means your application is progressing in the right direction.

[AngelB]

Scylla......once again, thank you for your comments. Agreed.....not real sure ECAS is a great source for an up-to-date status. Mine does say the day they started processing - Aug 20th - and that they received the Medical. That is the frustrating part. There is no other way to get an update as to what is delaying the processing. Or if it is just sitting on someone's desk in a pile. Your "stuck in background check land" is interesting. Similar to your husband, I lived in other countries other than the US as well. During my military career I was stationed in two Far East countries. My lawyer said that I needed Police Certificates (Background Checks) from both countries in addition to the FBI check. The FBI check and one of the countries came back very fast and were sent to processing. The other country, I am not sure of. I have asked our lawyer if he ever received it, but have not received his response yet. I HOPE they are not waiting on that. As for the Landing Fee, as I mentioned, our lawyer did not mention that by not paying it could cause additional delay. If indeed 6 weeks is added, that is really upsetting. We had the money to pay it up front, but I thought it was something that you paid when you land. Little did I know.....
This is a horrible process. My wife and I married in January and I drive home (to Canada) on weekends. So while we do get to be together, it is not like we have had our real married life together. We are both seniors so we feel we are missing out on valuable time together. Happy for you and your husband. Went pretty quick for you. If you don't mind my asking, did you do it yourself or did you use a lawyer?

Thanks again for your responses......Joe

Joe,

Having a military/deployment history almost always delays the process for you. They do extensive checks to make sure you did not commit any war crimes, etc. My husband got lucky, he got an honorable admin separation from the USMC before he had the chance to deploy, so there was nothing to look in to. Hang in there.

[scylla]

AngelB - Very good info. I didn't know that.

Joe - For the record, my husband has worked for the US government as a civilian but was never in the military.

[adetia9]

Are there any of us from the early part of the year still waiting?  While I'm so happy for people getting good news, its bittersweet at best watching people who went in long after us get through seemingly with no bumps along the way.  I wish there was something I could do at this point to expedite matters, but all of our paperwork is in, and we're now only a few weeks from our medicals expiring.  Buffalo's only email response back has indicated they do not as a matter of procedure, verify the receipt of documents.  Anyone have advice on anything we can do other then wait impatiently?