Anyone else applying outland through Berlin???

[The Littlest Hobo]

Hi guys,
I have been reading everyone's timelines for 2009 with great interest and there seem to be some amazingly fast processing times, several around 3 months or even less from London and New Delhi and Vienna, great news for you guys! But I wonder if the speed of processing is very much dependent on the office so I am curious to know whether anyone else is going through Berlin, and if so, how is it going?

Cheers,
TLH

 

[amsyul]

There's me You can have a look at trackitt.com for timelines. They vary a lot, but Berlin can be quick (less than 3 months since sending to Mississauga) too. Apparently ange, who applied one day after me on Sep 2, just got PPR, but I'm still waiting.

There are some very long winded cases at Berlin, but they involve nationals of Sierra Leone and Afghanistan which unfortunately seem to involve very long background checks. Germans and Dutch people seem to go quicker.

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

Wow, thanks amsyul! That is great info on there now. When I looked at that site last I think it was mid-August so there was only 1 from 2009 or so, so I never bothered looking again.

Our case should be very straightforward I guess, both university grads with good jobs and no kids and so on, no complicated backgrounds or anything. Just hope that the long wait times they put on the CIC website for Berlin office are not true! So far it seems all of the wait times are shorter than the CIC says.

I see you are in Montreal, cool! We are going to Ottawa. Brrr! :-D

Fingers crossed for both of us. I guess you'll be hearing any day now, good luck!
TLH

 

[ange]

Hey,
I did get passport request last week! Now we sent the passport up and I'm just waiting for it to get back. It's a bit of a tricky situation because we hope to fly on Dec 21 and obviously we need the passport by then. I'm seriously hoping that 3 weeks should do it ...

By the way, amsyul, maybe because you're applying from in Montreal it took longer? I was amazed that it went that quickly for us. Actually a little disbelieving, really.

The Littlest Hobo, what nationality are you?

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

Hi Ange,
that is great news, very quick indeed! You're giving us all hope, watching your updates on trackitt.com - I really hope you get the passport back in time for Christmas! 3 weeks seems reasonable but who knows what they do with them. Did you include a prepaid DHL or Fedex envelope? How did you send it?

I am very curious how long it takes them to return your passport because we're also planning to travel around the time we hope we'll get my husband's PR.

I am sponsoring my German husband, we live in Switzerland. We chose to be processed in Berlin rather than Paris (normally responsible for Switzerland) because even though the online times seemed longer, France is such a nutty, chaotic, disorganised place from my experiences living there - I loved the country and the people and the lifestyle but my immigration experience to move there just to study took over a year to process and they lost my entire file twice. They have absolutely no possibility to track, no way to inquire about your case, no accountability, nothing on the web, and everytime you go to ask a question (wait in line for 1-4 hours to speak to someone) they tell you "I don't know. NEXT!" or else tell you completely wrong information or something contradicting to what their colleagues said the last time. I know the CIC offices (and possibly the staff) are Canadian in both countries but given the opportunity I wanted to avoid any more important papers going into the French black hole... Let's hope that turns out to be a wise choice. In comparison to moving to France, the Canadian system is a dream!!!

Amsyul, if you are applying to live in Quebec, I think there is an extra step than for the rest of Canada? Maybe that's why it's slower than Ange.

Cheers all,
TLH

 

[ange]

Hi,
Í am kicking myself now, but we did not send a prepaid envelope with. We sent the passport with registered mail, and I just noticed that it hasn't arrived yet. I don't understand how this can be! So I guess they will be sending it back with regular mail...

How stupid could we be!

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

Pre-paid return postage for passport

Oh no, that's a bummer. It's not stupid though, it's just they don't put instructions in it, so of course you might not think of it.

Maybe you could still send one... maybe it takes them a week to look at it anyways???? The only thing to lose is a couple of €...

Still, mail within Germany is quite quick isn't it? Switzerland is terribly slow, and so is Canada, but I know in some countries national mail can be, like, overnight, in the regular post!

 

[amsyul]

Oh, there may be many reasons for going a bit slower. For one thing I had to submit 5 police certificates (UK, US, US state, NZ, Netherlands) which certainly does not help a quick background check. Then there's the chance that they may also ask me for Canadian (RCMP) fingerprints. I just hope the PPR will come before Christmas so I can send my passport from the Netherlands and land by late January. On the other hand they haven't asked for extra information so far and that could also be a good sign, just, according to ECAS, in process in Berlin with medicals received since Oct 19.

Quebec adds a bit of delay, but they were very quick, 9 days.

Ange, hope you'll get the passport back before 21 Dec! Also, from last time my mother sent me something registered ("aangetekend") with PTT, TPG, TNT or what they were called then, to me in Canada last year she said that the tracking number would not work for international shipments so maybe it's nothing to worry about.

 

[amsyul]

And just yesterday I found the PPR in the mail too! It was dated 13 November. Note: no email, and also the PPR does not state approval but this is very good news indeed!

I'll send my passport from the Netherlands like I wrote above; it seems to risky to send it now and hope it will be back before 23 December when I'm flying there -- from Berlin timelines it seems some people have it back within two weeks but others wait a little over a month. I'm looking forward to "landing" in a cold snowy Montreal late January!

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

Are you allowed to wait so long to send it?

 

[amsyul]

Yes, though it needs to be provided within 60 days of the date of the post mark of the letter.

 

[ange]

Hey, I just wrote you on Trackitt, and now I realise that you're not sending your passport yet. I also wouldn't...whats a few more days after all. Still, the time it took to come back was completely reasonable. And aangetekend doesn't work internationally for many countries, but it does work for Germany. According to PTT my passport is still in 'sortering'! Hasn't even arrived yet and I have it back...stupid PTT...

Good luck to you both. I hope there is snow when I arrive in TO in December! It sure beats the miserable rain we have here in our kikkerlandje!

 

[amsyul]

Just for the record, my experience with the post was similar to ange. I sent off the passport using registered mail as soon as I arrived in the Netherlands from Canada on Dec. 24. The passport came back with a visa last week, also using registered mail, on Jan. 14 which we picked up at the post office a day later. No FedEx involved. Landed Jan. 20, no problems, just signing some forms. Got my permanent SIN the next day, and also medicare. Yay!

Another note: in Quebec they have a 45 day period between medicare on a work permit and new medicare via permanent residence before you would need to wait three months for coverage again. My health card connected to my work permit expired Dec 31, 2009. I landed Jan 20, so that's 20 days which is less than 45. So I do not have to take out private health insurance because I'm covered straight away.

Timeline:
1-9-2009 - App sent to CPC-M
23-9-2009 - Decision Made - Approved
23-11-2009 - Passport Request
24-12-2009 - Passport sent to Berlin
15-01-2010 - Passport & approval letter received!
20-01-2010 - Land in Montreal to live happily ever after.

 

[sieb]

This topic "ended" some time ago.
Just curious if there are "people out there" that are going through the Berlin Office and their experiences dealing with that office.

Our application has hopefully crossed the Atlantic by now. Sponsorshipapproval may 23th 2010.

Good luck to you all.