Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[Feaky Snucker]

Hey, AOR will be the file number that will be sent to your husband's email address that you put on your form.
Buffalo received my application on Feb 2, and I received my AOR on April 27. I guess, it will take some time for your AOR, but Buffalo has been really unpredictable. Some of the people who applied after all of us in December thread, have started getting 'In Process' on e-cas which we are still waiting for. So I would suggest, keep checking his email regularly, coz you never know!

Thanks:) I was a bit worried as neither of us got anything saying they'd received it; ecas just changed one day to we received ___'s application on March 11th. We'll just have to be extra careful, especially with his spam folder.

[Love-Buf-Wings]

Hellooo!  Just a quick update, my attorney received our file number from buffalo today (FXXXXXXXXX).

Congrats, you got your AOR!


Question: I have an AOR but no mention of an interview. Documents were requested, and we forwarded the documents. Does anyone know whether we will receive another letter about an interview decision or will they skip this process?

[jckovacs]

Ok we finally got notice that Buffalo is requesting my hubby's passport.  The process is finally over.  Thanks to all those and good luck to those still in process.  Buffalo is moving again!

Kaz

Do you get your passports back? Or do they take it and replace it later with a Canadian one?

We got our 'Decision Made' on May 11th. I don't know how long before it is received in Buffalo. Haven't received anything in mail yet and if they sent email, it probably went to spam and auto deleted. It's rough.

What do the emails say when you receive them? So I can keep my eyes peeled.

[argenta]

Hi,

I'm a Canadian citizen sponsoring my husband (American Citizen). We were married in Aug 2010, together since Aug 2009. Our daughter was born in Dec 2011. He's living in Canada with us now on a temporary visitor visa, and we have applied outland.

We submitted our PR application in Nov 2010 and thought it was a fairly straightforward case – we included documentation of everything. Just received an email from Buffalo saying that our file was transferred to New York, no indication why. We think this means we might be called in for an interview, but not sure.

Any comments or insights on what this might mean would be really appreciated.

Good luck to all.


OUTLAND: Buffalo
App. rec'd by CPC-M: Nov 23/10
Sponsorship app'd: Jan 10/10
AOR Buffalo rec'd: Jan 19/10

[Rinnerz]

Do you get your passports back? Or do they take it and replace it later with a Canadian one?

...There's no reason for them to replace your passport with a Canadian one. 1) The applicant is being processed for PR, not Canadian citizenship. 2) Even if it was for citizenship, you are still not required to surrender your old passport to the Canadian government.

Passport request happens at the final stage, when the PR applicant has been approved. They ask for the passport so they can place the PR visa in it and give you your Confirmation of Permanent Residence, so that you can land in Canada as a PR. So, yes, the passports are returned.

We submitted our PR application in Nov 2010 and thought it was a fairly straightforward case – we included documentation of everything. Just received an email from Buffalo saying that our file was transferred to New York, no indication why. We think this means we might be called in for an interview, but not sure.

Buffalo sometimes transfers files to the satellite offices (NY, Seattle, Washington, LA, Detroit) when they are backlogged -- which they definitely are right now. It was likely transferred to help expedite things on both ends.

[quakingaspen]

These comments are from Burke Thornton, the immigration program manager in Buffalo.  (The full article can be found here.  Someone else posted it earlier in the thread.  http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5022762&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3)  He had a few things to say about applications being transfered.

• Buffalo keeps approximately 50% of the applications and sends the other 50% to the other four U.S. offices for processing.
• We are able to finalize 50% of our spousal cases in less than six months, once they're received.
  
• On the permanent resident side we interview probably between 5% to 10% of our applicants, so unless we have a good reason to interview them, we will conduct the process entirely through correspondence.
• Approximately 50% of our immigrant applications are distributed to our four partner offices in New York, Detroit, Seattle, and Los Angeles. They are smaller offices than Buffalo's, but they're full-service offices. It's a just-in-time process, so we want to ensure that a person's application is processed by the partner offices at the same time, if you like, as those of other people who applied around the same time. In other words, we don't want someone's application to be sitting on a shelf in New York City for four months because they can't get to it.

[KazInAz]

Do you get your passports back? Or do they take it and replace it later with a Canadian one?

We got our 'Decision Made' on May 11th. I don't know how long before it is received in Buffalo. Haven't received anything in mail yet and if they sent email, it probably went to spam and auto deleted. It's rough.

What do the emails say when you receive them? So I can keep my eyes peeled.

We got the request for the passports but we are not mailing them.  Instead we are picking them up on our way up prior to crossing over.

Kaz

[Tiggilicious]

Feaky Snucker,  Buffalo received our app as well March 10th, and thats only becasue I know from ecas saying application received March 10th in Buffalo. Were in the same boat as you!

[argenta]

Buffalo sometimes transfers files to the satellite offices (NY, Seattle, Washington, LA, Detroit) when they are backlogged -- which they definitely are right now. It was likely transferred to help expedite things on both ends.

Thanks to Rinnerz and quakingaspen for the quick responses. I'll post again as the process moves forward to help everyone with timeline info.

[Feaky Snucker]

Feaky Snucker,  Buffalo received our app as well March 10th, and thats only becasue I know from ecas saying application received March 10th in Buffalo. Were in the same boat as you!

Thank you! It's nice to know we're not the only ones.

[jayde]

I just checked and my e-cas finally updated, it says We received *************'s application for permanent residence on May 13, 2011

I am wondering, how long after this do they generate the AoR?  I never really thought about it before because I thought it was the same as AoR but now I realize it's not.  Does this mean it has generated a file number in Buffalo?  We have additional documents to send.

Thanks!

[mmshock]

I have a similar question as Jayde. I need to change my address with Buffalo BEFORE they send me an AOR if that is even possible..... Do I need to wait to do that until they give me a file number?

[dominico]

my ecas was updated that buffalo recieved my file and medical results had been recieved, today i got a letter in the mail...REQUESTING MY PASSPORT!!!!!! which is amazing considering the process took 4 months!
I never received an actual aor letter, but only this ppr!

hope everybody elses process gets going as well!!

[Romain]

my ecas was updated that buffalo recieved my file and medical results had been recieved, today i got a letter in the mail...REQUESTING MY PASSPORT!!!!!! which is amazing considering the process took 4 months!
I never received an actual aor letter, but only this ppr!

hope everybody elses process gets going as well!!

Hi dominico

 Congratulations on the PPR.
 Did you have IN PROCESS on ecas before that happened of did you jump from APPLICATION RECEIVED to PPR ?

Thanks

[dominico]

thank you
my ecas still says in process (since last week)
nothing about sending a letter, nothing about decision made, thats why im surprised about this!