One Piece of Advice

[Iamrobot85]

So, I was thinking, I am (hopefully) almost done with this process and I wondered, if I could give only one piece of advice to someone who is going through this process, what would it be. I think it would be, for those who live in the US, to request your FBI certificate AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Don't wait until you are gathering your supporting documents. The second you think you will probably be going through this process, get the FBI certificate. Because you can't really move forward without it and it takes FOREVER to get.

I recently happened to meet someone in Calgary, where I am right now, who is also going through this process and he said his advice would be to get an immigration lawyer or, at least, a consultant. I have a consultant and I think it's helped some, but I don't know if it's helped enough to justify what we paid him. It most likely has. And he's been pretty good, unlike some horror stories that I hear. We only hired him because we were afraid that if we didn't hire someone, we would forget some stupid little thing and realize only when our application has been sent back to us, adding months to the whole process.

What would your piece of advice be, if you could only give one piece?

 

[kelKel]

If you're applying common law through Buffalo include the Common Law Declaration from the get go. If you don't they will most likely request it adding time to the process... okay one more if you do decide to get a lawyer/consultant make sure to check their credentials and that they're in good standing.

 

[quakingaspen]

Read the document checklist at the START of the process. There are some documents in there that are asked for ONLY there. I didn't know about the Option C form until 3/4th of the way through getting our application together... and my sponsor hadn't done his taxes for the previous year! That was a mistake that almost made us have to reorder the FBI certificates, which would have cost us a significant amount of time.

 

[rjessome]

This is a good topic. Most of the people on this board know what I do for a living but if you go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in my posts, you will see that when I sponsored my husband I was NOT in the profession I am today. It would be obvious for me to say that I would hire someone to represent us BUT I'm not going to say that. Not that I wouldn't but I think I would have at least paid someone to look at the damn thing before I sent it in. I made so many stupid fricken' little mistakes and misunderstood what they wanted in so many places. I can't even look at that thing without shaking my head at my own stupidity.

Although my husband was approved, our file had MORE than average processing time, a brutal interview and untold hours of stress, heartache and anxiety. Those little mistakes cost us in more ways than money. For $500 I could have gotten it checked over and gotten an opinion telling me how to fix it that would probably have resulted in SAVING at least $2500 in travel (possibly double that), $500+ in telephone long distance, and big time savings in my sanity! I want a DO OVER! LOL! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! The thought of personally going through that again has just made me a little bit nauseous. Ugh!

 

[Material]

Lawyer or not my advice from personal experiance would be:

Research, read the manuals , know every little detail of the process , be careful when filling out the application , ask if you dont know the aswer to some of the questions.Dont trust your lawyer or depend on him !!

That will save a lot of waiting time.

Cheers

 

[Iamrobot85]

I think that's a good piece of advice, not to depend too much on your representation. If you do hire someone, make sure they are in good standing and, even if they are, be skeptical of EVERYTHING they say. Not to be rude or mean but make sure that YOU are always looking out for YOU. And there has been some things that my consultant has told us that has been less than accurate. Especially in relation to time lines but other things as well. He told us that if I applied to have my visitor status extended I would most likely be denied. This, according to this forum and a few people I know who also applied for a visitor's extension, was simply not true. So, if you do hire someone, do NOT take their words as gospel truth, even though they are supposed experts.

 

[jiyamano]

Lawyer or not my advice from personal experiance would be:

Research, read the manuals , know every little detail of the process , be careful when filling out the application , ask if you dont know the aswer to some of the questions.Dont trust your lawyer or depend on him !!

That will save a lot of waiting time.

Cheers

I agree with Material. If you have any confusion regarding the forms you can just ask here or search it. You can get all the answers to clear you confusion.

Good luck,

 

[bobshynoswife]

My biggest piece of advice would be to read these forums. They are invaluable. Besides that, my advice would be to look at your situation and application as objectively as possible. Pretend you have no knowledge of yourself and family member. Does your application bring up any questions? If so, make sure you've answered them, and hopefully provided some type of evidence. Do you have any of those so called 'red flags' that we talk about on the forum? If so, ensure that you have explained why those red flags do not apply to you. If your evidence is lacking in some areas, don't just leave it out - explain it!

One last piece of advice - find things to keep you busy and occupied once your application is submitted. The waiting can make you crazy.

 

[rjessome]

I think that's a good piece of advice, not to depend too much on your representation. If you do hire someone, make sure they are in good standing and, even if they are, be skeptical of EVERYTHING they say. Not to be rude or mean but make sure that YOU are always looking out for YOU. And there has been some things that my consultant has told us that has been less than accurate. Especially in relation to time lines but other things as well. He told us that if I applied to have my visitor status extended I would most likely be denied. This, according to this forum and a few people I know who also applied for a visitor's extension, was simply not true. So, if you do hire someone, do NOT take their words as gospel truth, even though they are supposed experts.

That's not rude. That's EXCELLENT advice. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. However, I would caution comparing your application to others too closely. CIC makes it very clear that every application is treated INDIVIDUALLY, on its' own merits. That's the truth right from the people with all the power. Believe them. Maybe there were circumstances unique to you that made your consultant think your extension would be denied. Who knows? What matters is that it all worked out for the best for you!

 

[jckovacs]

Mine was done in under a week!!!!

 

[Iamrobot85]

To be fair, my application for extension is still being processed, I will likely receive PPR long before my extension is processed so, in the end, it's moot. But it seems unlikely that I will be denied, though I suppose I could be.

 

[buffalo-toronto]

If anyone remembers, I am the applicant and while putting everything together, I had actually missed the doc checklist. So I didn't send the Option C, wife's employment letter and photocopies of PR card. What happened was, my wife got a call from the IO asking to fax the Option C and the letter but by the time she got around to send these 2 things sponsorship was approved and the file was transferred to Buffalo.

Now I was quite surprised how wife was approved without the Option C but well good for us, so I guess every file is treated individually and it depends on the IO also.

P.S. rjeesome....I joned the forum last month so not really sure what you do for living, I am assuming a lawyer but would love to know as I have seen your insightful comments and notes on this forum.

 

[Rinnerz]

P.S. rjeesome....I joned the forum last month so not really sure what you do for living, I am assuming a lawyer but would love to know as I have seen your insightful comments and notes on this forum.

She's an immigration consultant of awesomeness.

 

[chelley]

my advice....

understand YOUR processing office... what is gospel for one, may be irrelevant to another... (for example, Kingston Jamaica near ALWAYS requests original birth certificates from the applicant and marriage certificates.).... also know what your office usually considers red flags... find out why the people who have been called for an interview were called and what questions were asked... knowing these things and preparing your application to proactively address concerns that are common will put your application one step ahead...

also, more doesn't always equal better in most cases... unless you know of a fact that the office takes a file's weight into consideration when evaluating (and apparently some do, again, know your office), then don't take 500 pages to say exactly what you can say in 50.... Many VOs will appreciate a well organized, well presented, consise application over one that has included everything but the kitchen sink in hopes of overwhelming them in information... think about it... which file would you rather jump into on a dreary Monday morning? make their jobs easy and they will repay the favour...

suggestions to do this... instead of including 100 pages of chat, 100 pages of phone records, 100 pages of emails, include 2-3 pages of each (maybe 3 "sample" days of your relationship, one from early, one from middle and one from recent) and provide the quick explaination that there are 300 more pages that you can present on request....

also once you're pretty sure your evidence is solid and you've addressed any concerns the VO will have, make it presentable! use tabs and section things logically, use simple direct language and don't get overly detailed where it's not necessary... maybe use graphical representations (timelines, maps ect), anything that will avoid your application being a long winded story that will turn the VO glossyeyed while reading... get creative without going over the top... while what you say is important, how you say it can also work to your advantage... make it easy to understand and not something that they will have to read 5 or 6 times just to get it... the easier it is for the VO to paint the picture of your relationship in their minds, the more they will believe in it... and if they believe it, they will make it happen for you...


just my thoughts!

 

[rjessome]

Thanks Rinnerez! LOL!

Very good advice from Chelley. I would add one more. Read OP Manual 6. Then read it again. Then read it again. After the 3rd reading, start preparing the application.

The sad thing is that a very small minority of applicants use these forums. They are a wonderful source of help, advice and support. Of course, I joined AFTER I had sent in my husband's application. I told you I made loads of mistakes! But it's a catch 22 because I was literally obsessed with these forums. It was difficult to think about or focus on anything other than immigration. Which leads to my next piece of advice, find a hobby or go work out doing something you enjoy other than immigration so you can have something in your life that helps alleviate the stress and makes you happy.