Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[mjh49783aa]

I had to laugh while reading that question as I've talked with them numerous times during the course of dating my wife. Some of which they've pulled us aside to talk to me, and other times I've pulled ourselves in to talk to them. Now, this was at the time where I was visiting her 2-3 days per week. I'm just going to assume at that point that they've wanted to check and make sure I have no criminal record. (which is fine as I have nothing to hide) One of them said it was six months minus a day, and another person said some time later that I could just go to the States, and turn right back around to get another six months.

Now, the only time I was told the 'no more than 3 days a week' line was when I got that tongue lashing from that lady - along with other such wonderful phrases like, "What are you, stupid?!? Don't you realize we can track you by your licence plate?!?" I did nothing wrong! I was just trying to take her home! But yeah. After all that drama, someone pulled her aside and advised me that in the future, I should bring with me my rental receipts, my lease agreement, bank statements, and my bills from my apartment in the States to avoid any further problems. But yes, I didn't believe her, either. However, I was in no position to argue with someone that has the power to kick me out. The only point I was trying to make is that any border agent that's having a bad day has the ability to ruin your day!

And I did discuss with someone at the border later on regarding that incident, and although the guy said, "Yes, it's typically six months." he also said that it's ultimately at the discretion of the border agent on duty. So, if he, or she, wants to print you out a visitor record that permits you to stay for only three months, and that he/she requires you to surrender that document upon leaving, then you do what the border agent says.

But all that was quite some time ago. I haven't had any major issues since I've shown my proof of ties to enough people. Also, since being married, and being in process with that 12 month visitor record, I've had no issues at the border. I also just come over once a week, stay for a few days, and then leave. Meanwhile, all they ask now is "Where do you live?" and "Where are you going?" and "What's coming in with you?" and then it's "See ya."

Have you ever stopped at the border and actually spoken with the customs and immigration agents? I've visited with them many times over the past 18 mths, and not once have they ever told me there was a rule about leaving every 3 or 4 days, even before I was married/PR app submitted. As of my first entry they gave me a visitor record and informed me that I had to either leave the country or go back to see them to renew my visitor record/entry by the day before the expiration date listed on my VR. I've never had a problem a the border (*knock wood*) about the fact that I am living in Canada with my husband as a visitor, and have been living here as a visitor since May 2010.

Obviously if you like what you're doing don't change, but it might be worth the effort of having a conversation with the Canadian border guards next time you cross if you'd prefer not having to come and go like that.

[ddobro2]

Wow, and how many hours/days/weeks did you lose in redoing the paperwork using the new forms? See, I would have just said "eff it" and sent in the old forms, which as you pointed out, are still completely accepted by CIC. Although I believe the only change was to take out IMM 1344A and IMM 1344B and replace them with a new form, Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking (IMM 1344), so perhaps your time spent redoing your work wasn't really all that much....

To: ddobro2 for more detail for the spreadsheet, and others interested in our process...


Back in July...

The morning we completed our application on paper we logged on to the CIC website to print out another checklist and discovered that they had changed the forms to the new versions. It literally happened that week. It was so upsetting because everything was within an hour or so of being ready to go (stuff we had been working on for weeks and months) and it felt like a whole new set of work and checking and double checking that everything was set. We knew that we could just send in the old version of the forms, but we thought it would be best to just do the new forms. So, we did all of that stuff over again on the new forms and mailed it out on July 23rd, 2011.

It's normal to not be able to log into e-cas until days or weeks after the sponsorship approval/transfer to VO. Signing up for e-cas tracker makes short "work" of the checking up on e-cas for any updates (which are only made once a week anyway)......the tracker emails you when there is a change so you don't have to keep logging in manually.

According to the USPS delivery receipt, they received it July 26, 2011. I logged in to ECAS periodically looking for information but we weren't showing up in the database.

Crazy sad. We used to have sponsorship approvals in less than a month, if you can believe that. Again, don't put too much trust into e-cas......arguably, it's almost worthless. Whether it's a bug or some other kind of inconsistency, there are plenty of people who have the same thing: e-cas gives them the same date received for both the Sponsorship portion status and the PR portion status. I've even heard of people getting the date received at Mississauga quoted on their AOR from the VO. Welcome to immigrationland  .

Anyway, you are on the spreadsheet, so thanks for the deets. Good luck.

We didn't hear anything until October 17, 2011 at which point they emailed my wife saying "You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing."

After a few days I logged in to ECAS using her credentials and saw the notice that her application was "In Process" and mine was "Application Received" When you click on hers it says:

We received your application to sponsor ------- on July 26, 2011.

When you click on mine it says:

We received ----------'s application for permanent residence on July 26, 2011.
 
Medical results have been received.

Which is weird. If they didn't forward my application to Buffalo until October, then I'm not sure why my part says it was received in July. If I log in to ECAS from my credentials it says the same thing...application received July 26th.

So, that's what prompted my writing in for help because I didn't really understand the conflicting timeline vocabulary.

Does that answer all your questions and help fill in the spreadsheet?

Thanks!!

[yooper]

...Just a quick question. I finally got approved for sponsorship last week. They gave me a client number to check my status online. When I input the number and my Date of Birth, last name, and country of birth, I can login fine. However, for my wife, she can't. Is there a different client number for her? Will I be able to see her status from my account? (It just says "Application received" when I login for her side. The sponsorship part says "Decision reached".)

Not sure there's a single answer to any question about ECAS, but here's my experience.

We got an email approving sponsorship as below.  It doesn't say this, but I (applicant, US citizen) use ECAS with Immigration File # option using file # show in email as F000099999, with my name, birthday, and country (US).  Then I get my own ECAS record separate from my (Canadian) wife.  After doing this, I used ecas-tracker, and it checks my records daily -- and I get updates every time there is a change (and sometimes when not).  But I recommend it.

So in short, your 'file number' is the F000099999# in the email, that's marked only as 'Application' -- which is what you want to track at this point.

Hope this helps you. 
= = =
From: CIC-Email-Communications-CPCM <CPCM-EXTCOM @ cic.gc.ca>
Subject: Citizenship and Immigration Canada – CPCM - Communication to client
To: <Canadian Wife>
Date: Thursday, August 11, 2011

UCI:  99999999
Application:  F000099999
*F000099999*

<Sponsor street address>
Dear <sponsor>:

This refers to the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class you submitted to this office on behalf of <applicant>.

You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing. 

Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail, fax, or in writing as follows:

Buffalo
Consulate General of Canada
Visa Section
3000 HSBC Center
Buffalo, New York
14203-2884, USA
= = = =

[ddobro2]

Lol, no "we need another 30 days" message (yet), but ATIP actually did just reply to my email about whether I could expect my notes this week with the response, "the documentation was mailed out on September 1, 2011 [my first set of notes]. If you didn't receive it, please confirm your address and I will send out another copy." I replied back that I'm actually referrig to the request made on or a couple of days after October 18, 2011.

So hopefully this doesn't mean they don't acknowledge getting my second request.

Damn. I'm expecting my second set next week. Hopefully I won't get the same thing.

[ddobro2]

Everyone has their unique Client ID. Hers is on the sponsorship approval. Yours is on the AOR. You don't need the AOR for the file/application number anymore as CPCM started including them on the sponsorship approvals. Might as well log into e-cas as the sponsor because you see both portions of the processing stage rather than just one (the PR portion if you log in as the applicant).

Congrats to everyone!

Just a quick question. I finally got approved for sponsorship last week. They gave me a client number to check my status online. When I input the number and my Date of Birth, last name, and country of birth, I can login fine. However, for my wife, she can't. Is there a different client number for her? Will I be able to see her status from my account? (It just says "Application received" when I login for her side. The sponsorship part says "Decision reached".)

[yooper]

Everyone has their unique Client ID. Hers is on the sponsorship approval. Yours is on the AOR. You don't need the AOR for the file/application number anymore as CPCM started including them on the sponsorship approvals. Might as well log into e-cas as the sponsor because you see both portions of the processing stage rather than just one (the PR portion if you log in as the applicant).

ddobro2, I don't know my ClientID.  How would I know that, as an applicant?  I only know my sponsors ClientID, and my ApplicationID.  (And as always, thanks for your spreadsheet work -- wishing you the fastest response possible)

[cantor2537]

Everyone has their unique Client ID. Hers is on the sponsorship approval. Yours is on the AOR. You don't need the AOR for the file/application number anymore as CPCM started including them on the sponsorship approvals. Might as well log into e-cas as the sponsor because you see both portions of the processing stage rather than just one (the PR portion if you log in as the applicant).

Right thanks. Just to be clear, I am the sponsor, so I should log on just as myself then with my client number? The e-cas just says they received her application Aug 19, the same date as when I submitted. Nothing about medicals or anything else. She did her medical in the US in July and I included the Copy 2 form with her. I hope it's not going to expire before they approve. It cost 450 bucks to do it, which I could've had it done for free in Canada (at least the non-lab portions).

[ddobro2]

Well then my application must have gotted thrown into the MOC pile at Buffalo (is there really a MOC pile at Buffalo, and come on, how big would such pile be?), because not only did I have a "small civil ceremony," I never had a "big wedding to follow" like mcmasters. In fact, I bet I had the smallest wedding of anyone here. I don't think I agree with this rule/theory, even without the bias I have. Under this logic, Kim Kardashian's hypothetical immigration application would totally pass the "marriage of convenience test" (I think 8 million on your wedding would qualify as "big to-do"), whereas mine would fail miserably even though I have managed to stay married a lot longer than 72 days.

A small civil ceremony is more likely to be a "marriage of convenience" than a big to-do affair.

[cantor2537]

Not sure there's a single answer to any question about ECAS, but here's my experience.

We got an email approving sponsorship as below.  It doesn't say this, but I (applicant, US citizen) use ECAS with Immigration File # option using file # show in email as F000099999, with my name, birthday, and country (US).  Then I get my own ECAS record separate from my (Canadian) wife.  After doing this, I used ecas-tracker, and it checks my records daily -- and I get updates every time there is a change (and sometimes when not).  But I recommend it.

So in short, your 'file number' is the F000099999# in the email, that's marked only as 'Application' -- which is what you want to track at this point.

Hope this helps you. 
= = =
From: CIC-Email-Communications-CPCM <CPCM-EXTCOM  @  cic.gc.ca>
Subject: Citizenship and Immigration Canada – CPCM - Communication to client
To: <Canadian Wife>
Date: Thursday, August 11, 2011

UCI:  99999999
Application:  F000099999
*F000099999*

<Sponsor street address>
Dear <sponsor>:

This refers to the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class you submitted to this office on behalf of <applicant>.

You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing. 

Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail, fax, or in writing as follows:

Buffalo
Consulate General of Canada
Visa Section
3000 HSBC Center
Buffalo, New York
14203-2884, USA
= = = =

Thanks... Neither one of us received any emails. We just received a letter by snail mail, which is odd, I think. I need to check the letter again for the file number, but for now I'll just check via my (sponsor) client ID number.

[Trish1982]

Thanks everyone for the gratz  Ah it feels good

We got it snail mail, and they sent it to his old address in the USA.  
We were forever harassing Buffalo to change the address on our application... SO FRUSTRATING!
Then they finally did- and we got some correspondence from them (like when they transferred our file to LA notice came to our home here)

So... then LA gets their hands on our file, and somehow- they use his OLD address. We are lucky his friends are at the same address, they faxed it to me yesterday.
We don't have the original- but im hoping that doesn't matter when we show up because we have a copy- and proof that we put in for an address change and they
are the ones who messed up by sending it to the wrong place!

so yeah- you could imagine the terror when I read the letter dated October 12th. We have FOUR days to make it from the Tundra- to LA.  Great.

what REALLY gets me, we had our MP look into our file for us they contacted us October 20th and said our application has been approved, the bring forward date is November 21st.  I was thinking, why in the hell would they have approved us but not sent a PPR? And why would they wait over a month?? It didn't make any sense, and now i can see that my MP's assistant doesn't know jack-*censored word*.

I didn't post about this because I thought it might be better left unsaid but i will post now. Whatever.

So I had been emailing my MP for 5 months asking if they could look into our file.  First because they weren't changing our address.  Then because i was seeing everyone and their mom get approved while we were just in limbo.  I sent a long letter (I posted it here somewhere on behalf of the December-Feb group, linked the timetable and the forums etc)His receptionist would never help- just say "I have forwarded this to *********" "I have told ********* about your issues" blah blah- i think it was 10 emails i had sent and each time i was brushed off,eventually it turned into "I have sent this to his assistant ******" no one ever got back to me. Finally i was like EFF THIS!! I went on facebook, of all places.  Typed his name into the search and lo- and behold he had a facebook account!! SO I messaged him, I said i had been trying to contact him for months through his official posted contact info.  I told him I needed help, and explained everything i had already done so in the emails.  I told him i was extremely disappointed, i can post the letter here if anyone has interest in reading it.  Anyway, HE GETS BACK TO ME WITHIN AN HOUR.

Not even joking.

so email your MP's office for 5 months- and hear nothing.
facebook message your MP and he gets back to you in an hour.

The response: an apology and "lets not do this on facebook"

okay, so within an hour after the fb message i got an email from him stating he needed a fax # to send over a consent form.  I sent it, they faxed it right away.  we signed it off and sent it right back.  They called me within an hour to confirm everything was okay and it was sent off to the ministerial waiting queue or w/e.

So we wait.  A week passes- Mp's assistant calls and says "Your application has been given a positive decision.  You have a bring forward date of Nov 21st.  PPR will be issued shortly after that"

Makes you wonder- did they just pull dates out of their asses?  Did they even contact immigration?
This was on October 20th.  My PPR has already been issued at this point- 8 days previous.

*sigh*

So yeah, would have been nice if when they "looked into our file" they had seen PPR was issued and said so.  Then we wouldn't be scrambing with 4 days to make it to LA.


BUt- WHATEVER WE GOT PPR!!! *Happy Dance*  We just passed the 11 month mark last week and i was to depressed to post that lol

[cantor2537]

Well then my application must have gotted thrown into the MOC pile at Buffalo (is there really a MOC pile at Buffalo, and come on, how big would such pile be?), because not only did I have a "small civil ceremony," I never had a "big wedding to follow" like mcmasters. In fact, I bet I had the smallest wedding of anyone here. I don't think I agree with this rule/theory, even without the bias I have. Under this logic, Kim Kardashian's hypothetical immigration application would totally pass the "marriage of convenience test" (I think 8 million on your wedding would qualify as "big to-do"), whereas mine would fail miserably even though I have managed to stay married a lot longer than 72 days.

Thats good to know. We also had a small civil ceremony in San Fran (neither one of us is religious and that was why we had a non-religious ceremony) city hall (which is very beautiful to begin with), with about 15 people (which was actually a large party). We had a reception with about 20 people. We just wanted to save money for a downpayment for a house. I live in Vancouver, and real-estate is expensive as it is. I hope they won't charge us for being down to earth/frugal and having different priorities in life... I'm sorry but spending 20K+ for a wedding (some of my friends spent over 100K) is just not our priority.

[ddobro2]

No problem. I'll hopefully get to updating the spreadsheet for everyone again soon......sigh. 

Status changed on ECAS to 'In Process'. 
Never did receive any kind of AOR.  I as Applicant never have received any correspondence in mail or email.  Got my File # (F#) from email to my sponsor saying 'Sponsorship Approved', and case being transferred to Buffalo.  It wasn't clearly marked, but the F# was the trick to following this on ECAS.
Many thanks to you, ddobro2, for your efforts.  Its a great comfort.

[ddobro2]

Wow, so you didn't pay it upfront? Okay, well not much you can do now. Lets see who gets PPR first - mcmasters or you  Good luck, I'll update you in the spreadsheet.

Hey ddobro2,

I just wanted to give you an update.

on 10/06/2011 my wife, the applicant, received a letter waiving all additional documents and interview. They have now requested the Right to Permanent Residence Fee. So hopefully it wouldn't be too long.

CanuckofChicago

[yooper]

Thanks... Neither one of us received any emails. We just received a letter by snail mail, which is odd, I think. I need to check the letter again for the file number, but for now I'll just check via my (sponsor) client ID number.

Never have seen a letter.  So I don't know... but remember that the file# may not be labelled as such.  Our email just had: Application: Fxxxxxxxxx   I had to guess that that meant the same thing as ECAS's "Immigration File Number / Application Number".  Good luck.

[yooper]

No problem. I'll hopefully get to updating the spreadsheet for everyone again soon......sigh. 

Take your time.  And don't worry.  Your much faster than what your tracking!