Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[sparkle]

Hey Sparkle,

My wife had a similar problem.  Not expiring, but she only had a couple half-pages left in her passport.  We decided to send it for renewal and change her name.  I'm assured that CIC can figure out that the new last name is due to marriage (as it's the same as mine, the sponsor AND they have the marriage certificate).  I don't see WHY you'd need to change ALL documentation.  Besides, when you send the passport, they have photos of you to match everything up as well.

It's probably worth renewing -- it's not worth having an invalid passport or one they can't put the visa into!

(BTW, congrats, Pharoh and Nemeria!)

Hey doctorkb,

Thank you so much for the response. The thing is that I am the sponsor and my husband is in US, the applicant. I can easily renew it right now, I guess, the only thing I was worried about was if I change my name on passport, do I have to change it everywhere ? Like PR card, health card etc etc. And since when they open our file, all the paperwork is based on my current maiden name...if by the time my passport gets renewed and they are still reviewing his file, I may have to send the updated documents I guess??

[Rinnerz]

We were approved for sponsorship towards the end of December and Buffalo started processing my application on the third of February.  I never received an AOR or an initial assessment.  This might be because I used an immigration consultant.

It might be, since our consultant is the one who received sponsorship approval and AOR for us. But your consultant should have told you...

[Iamrobot85]

I asked him if he received anything and he said no.  I was thinking that maybe because I was using a consultant that immigration didn't bother sending the letters.

[Rinnerz]

I asked him if he received anything and he said no.  I was thinking that maybe because I was using a consultant that immigration didn't bother sending the letters.

I wondered about that when we didn't get an initial assessment letter, but then others who went through consultants DID get them. So really, having a consultant likely has nothing to do with it. Just another inconsistency  .

[doctorkb]

Hey doctorkb,

Thank you so much for the response. The thing is that I am the sponsor and my husband is in US, the applicant. I can easily renew it right now, I guess, the only thing I was worried about was if I change my name on passport, do I have to change it everywhere ? Like PR card, health card etc etc. And since when they open our file, all the paperwork is based on my current maiden name...if by the time my passport gets renewed and they are still reviewing his file, I may have to send the updated documents I guess??

I don't think you'll have any issue, then.

They've already approved your sponsorship -- you may want to send a copy of the changed items in, but keep in mind that some will never change (e.g. Birth Certificate), so they'll always be able to reference the two.

For safety's sake, I'd send a copy of the updated documentation in as well -- but you don't have to change everything simultaneously.  My wife's US driver's license has her maiden name, her new passport will have her married name, her credit cards are still in her maiden name... it's a mess right now, and probably will be for the next while.

CIC cannot expect things to remain perfectly still during the time in which they are processing.  A year is a LONG time -- they must have ways of dealing with it.

[Kenomee]

We got our passports and COPR documents today.  Everything looked good, but our pictures were all mismatched.  My wife's picture was on one of my stepson's COPR and so on.  We let Buffalo know so we'll wait for instructions from them.  Anyone have a similar problem before?

[chess101]

Cindy1:  Definitely go in person!!! Chancing your passport in the mail is risky and a huge cause for anxiety.

To the person who asked:  I liken Buffalo to a busy emergency room.  Sometimes when an emergency room gets so overwhelmed with patients, they divert some of the ambulances into other hospitals.  Those of us that got our applications in in the first quarter of the year last year... many of us took the full average or longer for various reasons.  Sometime around late spring/summer Buffalo appeared to get its act together by diverting a large number of those applications to satellite offices to help them catch up (these were turned around super fast in alot of cases)... and now their own processing time is MUCH MUCH faster.  of course, there are probably lots of political and other reasons why, not the least of which being the increased effort to reunite families who are separatedT.



i know for alot of us that waited a long time it was really frustrating watching people zip right through, but still being happy for them, just praying for movement on your own app.  

As to myself specifically, the person who reviewed my file back in June of 2010 put in a bad bring forward date, so there was no trigger for anyone to ever look at it again.  We discovered this later via our CAIPS notes, and then we took as many steps as we could think of to bring the matter to someone's attention, and get it resolved.  Once we had their attention, it was only a day until we had our PPR in my email.

Things are definitely moving faster now, in my humble opinion, for most applications... and that's a very, very good thing.

of course this is all just my 2 cents, for whatever its worth.

I think I may have a bad bring forward date as well. They asked for additional documents and I think that may have triggered it. When I called the phone line it says that our file had been forwarded on Dec06!
How did you manage to get their attention? I've sent them an email, I hope to get a response soon
Step one order CAIPS!

[kelKel]

We got our passports and COPR documents today.  Everything looked good, but our pictures were all mismatched.  My wife's picture was on one of my stepson's COPR and so on.  We let Buffalo know so we'll wait for instructions from them.  Anyone have a similar problem before?

That's so awful!  Hopefully they respond quickly. I've never heard of it happening but I'm not surprised.

[adetia9]

I think I may have a bad bring forward date as well. They asked for additional documents and I think that may have triggered it. When I called the phone line it says that our file had been forwarded on Dec06!
How did you manage to get their attention? I've sent them an email, I hope to get a response soon
Step one order CAIPS!

Here's what I did.  Your mileage may vary.  I've not run into others with this problem, but I suspect honestly that a new person was handling files, and didn't know what they were doing and put the date they TOUCHEd the file not the future date in there.

Once I got my CAIPS notes and confirmed I did this:

Friday:  Refaxed Ottawa requesting medical results be forward (mine were showing veyr clearly marked, but my daugher's were not so i figured better safe then sorry.
Monday:  Emailed Buffalo Case Specific Inquiry:

Hello,

My details are as follows:

Name:
DOB:
CIC Client ID:
Buffalo File ID:
Email address:

We recently received our CAIPS notes regarding my application for permanent residence filed in March, 2010.  I am greatly concerned that there is something missing in our file (don't see anything in the CAIPS indicating that, though), but moreso, because our Bring Forward Date is set back in June of 2010, which obviously is quite awhile ago. 

Can you please advise if there is something missing, or if there is anything you need from us to proceed?  Our MP contacted buffalo back in October but they were told they couldn't get any information until it had been at least 11 months, which it has... if there is anything that you can let us know about our application, we would certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so much for your assistance,

Tuesday:  My husband's mother knows one of the MPs in Northern Alberta quite well so she contacted him on our behalf, explaining the situation.  He was however, in Ottawa, so we don't believe he actually did anything at all because she contacted him Tuesday evening.

Wednesday morning:  Received response back from my case specific inquiry saying that it appeared there had been an oversight with my file, and my file had been put in the queue for final review.

7 minutes later:  Received PPR.


First off, your right. Order your CAIPS.  Get educated as to what the notes say so you can make an informed "guestimate" about your best course of action.

[Pharoh]

Pharoh is still here... waiting on PPR via mail (more than likely) or email, then off to Buffalo to get the visa, come home and pack, and head up North!!

Good luck to everyone the remainder of this week!!

[Francis123]

PPR this morning!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dominico]

congrats!! hoping my app is processed that quickly!

[FleetingDasein]

PPR this morning!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!!!

[TreeLover]

I received a letter from CIC Mississauga yesterday, dated March 8, 2011 saying they received my RPRF and that the VO has been notified that it is paid.   I had already known they processed it more or less since I was able to log into e-cas using the receipt number from it on March 11.  

But nevertheless, because someone else (88mv) on this forum emailed Buffalo to confirm they received the notification of payment (and received an answer quickly), I did that too, last night, and am waiting to hear back from them.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to know that the later payment of the RPRF isn't holding up my application.  Also, I thought maybe sending them an email might prompt them to send PPR via email rather than mail.  Although in 88mv's case, it seems they got it via mail.  Regular mail is just sooo slooooow.

[Pharoh]

I received a letter from CIC Mississauga yesterday, dated March 8, 2011 saying they received my RPRF and that the VO has been notified that it is paid.   I had already known they processed it more or less since I was able to log into e-cas using the receipt number from it on March 11.  

But nevertheless, because someone else (88mv) on this forum emailed Buffalo to confirm they received the notification of payment (and received an answer quickly), I did that too, last night, and am waiting to hear back from them.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to know that the later payment of the RPRF isn't holding up my application.  Also, I thought maybe sending them an email might prompt them to send PPR via email rather than mail.  Although in 88mv's case, it seems they got it via mail.  Regular mail is just sooo slooooow.

Tell me about it.