Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[j2m]

I am a US citizen in a Common Law relationship with a Canadian Citizen. We have a 1 1/2 year old child and are expecting another child in Feb. 2011.
I am another Buffalo Applicant stuck in the background check stage. I have been in contact with our MP since May 2010. Although they have made an effort to help, they seem to be extremely limited to details as well The only response we have received from CIC is the following:
I sent your question and copy of your letter to my contact at immigration. This is the response I received:
CSIS is not the only agency that does background checks, as the email says the RCMP and CBSA as well as other partner agencies (in & outside of Canada) are responsible for working on the security & background assessments.
As it stated in the email I received and forwarded to you from Buffalo:
These checks are carried out by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in collaboration with such partner agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,  the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the Canada Border Services Agency and, as necessary, in cooperation with agencies of governments in other countries.

We faxed a request to CSIS and they responded with a letter stating that they have not received a request from CIC for a background check on me.
I have 2 questions:
1) What other agencies would they be waiting on?
2) I have changed my e-mail address and phone number since my application was submitted. What is the best way to update the buffalo office on the changes. If they email the PPR will they mail a hard copy as well?

I would appreciate any help.

[SaugaBoss]

I am a US citizen in a Common Law relationship with a Canadian Citizen. We have a 1 1/2 year old child and are expecting another child in Feb. 2011.
I am another Buffalo Applicant stuck in the background check stage. I have been in contact with our MP since May 2010. Although they have made an effort to help, they seem to be extremely limited to details as well The only response we have received from CIC is the following:
I sent your question and copy of your letter to my contact at immigration. This is the response I received:
CSIS is not the only agency that does background checks, as the email says the RCMP and CBSA as well as other partner agencies (in & outside of Canada) are responsible for working on the security & background assessments.
As it stated in the email I received and forwarded to you from Buffalo:
These checks are carried out by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in collaboration with such partner agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,  the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the Canada Border Services Agency and, as necessary, in cooperation with agencies of governments in other countries.

We faxed a request to CSIS and they responded with a letter stating that they have not received a request from CIC for a background check on me.
I have 2 questions:
1) What other agencies would they be waiting on?
2) I have changed my e-mail address and phone number since my application was submitted. What is the best way to update the buffalo office on the changes. If they email the PPR will they mail a hard copy as well?

I would appreciate any help.
\

omg ur story is scaring me! u mailed out ur application over a year ago and still in background checks... where are u from and have u ever lived in a foreign country etc.  also i would email CIC and say u contacted CSIS and they dont have ur background check

the only agency i would say r CSIS, RCMP, CBSA

to change anything u should email, mail or fax them of the changes. did u get instructions with ur AOR

[heatherusa]

I am a US citizen in a Common Law relationship with a Canadian Citizen. We have a 1 1/2 year old child and are expecting another child in Feb. 2011.
I am another Buffalo Applicant stuck in the background check stage. I have been in contact with our MP since May 2010. Although they have made an effort to help, they seem to be extremely limited to details as well The only response we have received from CIC is the following:
I sent your question and copy of your letter to my contact at immigration. This is the response I received:
CSIS is not the only agency that does background checks, as the email says the RCMP and CBSA as well as other partner agencies (in & outside of Canada) are responsible for working on the security & background assessments.
As it stated in the email I received and forwarded to you from Buffalo:
These checks are carried out by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in collaboration with such partner agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,  the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and the Canada Border Services Agency and, as necessary, in cooperation with agencies of governments in other countries.

We faxed a request to CSIS and they responded with a letter stating that they have not received a request from CIC for a background check on me.
I have 2 questions:
1) What other agencies would they be waiting on?
2) I have changed my e-mail address and phone number since my application was submitted. What is the best way to update the buffalo office on the changes. If they email the PPR will they mail a hard copy as well?

I would appreciate any help.

Have you ordered CAIPS notes yet?

[Dralon]

somehow do not get me wrong either your MP do not want to push further or they are clueless on how to work immigration cases or they cannot really do anything.  Sorry but after a year seriously i would call my MP once a week to get updates so they may actually push the case more.  Over a year is way ridiculous.

[Joe_Gizmo]

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.

AngelB.....very interesting comments. What is the source/experience of this statment...."Having a military/deployment history almost always delays the process for you." Do you know this for sure or are you speculating that...."They do extensive checks to make sure you did not commit any war crimes"? I spent 20 years in the USAF and much of that time was associated with Intelligence. Had I committed any civil or military crime I would have been kicked out. Period. This is easily verifiable and was probably included in my FBI background check. Thanks for your comments. I'm just wondering about the source of them......Thanks.

[kerianne]

Can anyone help me with this...I'm almost sure my husband will be in Canada when he receives his passport request.  He travels back and forth and stays for longer periods.  When is receives his PPR can he mail his passport from Canada to the US?  Will they return it to Canada or does he have to be in the US to complete this process.  HELP!  Thanks.

There is a place that you can mail your passport in Canada once you receive your PPR. You can send to Buffalo if you want but there's also the option of sending it to Fort Erie, Ontario.

Here's the link:
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/buffalo/imm/submit_soumettre.aspx

When your passport request comes by email, they'll send that link and few others.

It's what I'm doing once I (hopefully) receive PPR. I got this as a PM from somebody who had previously landed. Her husband sent his passport to Fort Erie, Ontario because he was already in Canada visiting. They sent it on July 15th and it was returned on August 3rd. They sent it overnight and included a prepaid Canada Post envelope to send it back.

[kerianne]

Sauga/Dralon:
How did you go about contacting your MP? Like what was said. Personal message me if you would like instead. I have the MP's emailing address and phone number. But I'm not quite sure how to approach the situation. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[SaugaBoss]

Sauga/Dralon:
How did you go about contacting your MP? Like what was said. Personal message me if you would like instead. I have the MP's emailing address and phone number. But I'm not quite sure how to approach the situation. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

u can either call or email. i would call first and ask the procedures for that specific MP. Just let him/her know that u have been waiting for a while and Buffalo has not given u a straight forward answer as to where ur application is at. if they say its too early say no its not i know a lot of my friends who have gotten their PPR and also my friends MP from another town helped her

[kerianne]

Alrighty thanks a lot

[kerianne]

So.. I called my local MP office..which is about 5 minutes or so from where I'm "visiting"..anyways. The lady was a little rude, but that was to be expected to say the least...Did you have to sign a consent form?!  She told me if I wanted any information and that if I needed the MP to look into the case, that I would have to make an appoitment and COME INTO the office and sign a consent form and fill out something else? Hmm. Now what? Did any of this happen to you? I think I might email too, hoping it doesn't go to the receptionist and that the MP actually checks his own emails.   

[SaugaBoss]

So.. I called my local MP office..which is about 5 minutes or so from where I'm "visiting"..anyways. The lady was a little rude, but that was to be expected to say the least...Did you have to sign a consent form?!  She told me if I wanted any information and that if I needed the MP to look into the case, that I would have to make an appoitment and COME INTO the office and sign a consent form and fill out something else? Hmm. Now what? Did any of this happen to you? I think I might email too, hoping it doesn't go to the receptionist and that the MP actually checks his own emails.   

i contacted 2 MPs one said to come in the other did it all over the phone and email. I never signed a consent form. So it depends on each MP i would recommend just going in and filling out the form

[kerianne]

Okay thanks. I just wanted to make sure that I was not doing the wrong thing! This BS is sooo stressful! lol

[Dralon]

Sauga/Dralon:
How did you go about contacting your MP? Like what was said. Personal message me if you would like instead. I have the MP's emailing address and phone number. But I'm not quite sure how to approach the situation. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

How i approached my MP was easy and formal, i first explained my marital situation and we were going through immigration.  Then i started to explain my immigration process (the timeline, etc)the the problems and lack of informations  coming from Buffalo.  I used the fact that it is hard to be separated from my wife to get them sensitive to our case

that's how i went anyway

[kerianne]

Dralon: That's what I ended up doing. I emailed him and explained all that, and cited many of the other problems that have been occurring. I wanted to be sure this wasn't the case with my application and that was why I was inquiring. I also noted that I really want to be back in school. I explained how I have already taken more than a year off of school because of immigration. I stressed how important is was to me to back in school as soon as possible and that if I do not get a decision on my visa sooner than the new year, that I will not be able to be in school until next Spring! So hopefully I'll hear back something soon. I left my number on it, a return email address, and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. What steps I needed to take, etc...Sooo we'll see, fingers crossed.

[Dralon]

it is really sad how the case was handled by your MP office. Me he was very nice (the person that works for him) polite and everything.  He told me that he would request information but it might happen i would have to sign along with my wife the form you mentioned.  The beauty he was even ready to stop after work to drop it up at my house, okay we are from the same town but he could have always say come pick it up.  However i was never forced to sign it first hand or take any appointment.  If you MP is too rude try another one from the neighbor county especially if he is from another political party they may want to get your vote for their party in the future, from your better half now and when you get citizenship.

Anyway it's my opinion