Sponsoring orphaned sibling HELP*Nairobi*

[BinManZ]

Greetings,
I have 17yr old brother whom I have put in a Family Class Sponsorship Application for. Our father died early last year and we have different mothers but his died a long time ago. I am a Canadian residing in Canada and I am not married. The CIC Center approved me to Sponsor my brother and forwarded the permanent residency application for my brother on July 30, 2013. The Nairobi Visa Office is the closest one to my brother (who is Ethiopian) and they confirmed (via the CIC website) they have his application and his Medical results. My brother has finished highschool and has been excepted to university in Canada.

1) The Nairobi Visa Office website shows that it takes 48 MONTHS!!!! to process PR applications for family class sponsorship. I have emailed them and called several times to state that the CIC website states orphaned family class applications are processed "priority bases". Is there anything I can do to speed up the process? They copy&paste info from the CIC website and email it back to me and when I get transferred to the Immigration section where it rings and the voice mail is full. Short of flying to Nairobi to meet them in person, I don't know what else I can do from here.

2) My brother turns 18 in May so would that void my application?

3) Should I or can I apply for a temporary visitor visa for my brother in the mean time so he can at least come here and stay with me? Would that affect his PR application?

Any kind of experience or advice anyone would give me would be greatly appreciated. Lossing our father was especailly hard on my brother since our dad raised him, so I am doing anything possible to get him here asap.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might share.
B

 

[screech339]

Number 1. Can't say much about this.

Number 2. The age of your brother is set at the time you submitted your application. Your brother can turn 18 without affecting the application as 17 is the determined age at time of submittal.

Number 3. Applying for TRV for your brother won't affect the result/process of PR application. However applying for TRV for your brother would be much more harder to get now that he has a PR in Process. CIC will determine that he will not leave Canada once he enters Canada thus will likely deny your brother a TRV.

Screech339

 

[Alurra71]

If he has been accepted into college in Canada, why do you not get him a study permit so he can legally enter Canada to study while his PR application is ongoing?

 

[BinManZ]

Hi Screech,
Thanks for the quick response. I was mostly worried about him turning 18 affecting my qualification to sponsor him.

Have you heard of or experienced any method that could speed up the process? I have met with an immigration lawyer and they said once it has been sent to the local visa office there is not much I can do from here. The CIC here also told me the same thing.

Alurra - All the advice I got from the immigration lawyers was that this was the fastest and most long term method. If he comes here on a student visa it will take at least 13weeks and I am not sure how it will affect his PR application since he is no longer "outside the country".

 

[screech339]

Hi Screech,
Thanks for the quick response. I was mostly worried about him turning 18 affecting my qualification to sponsor him.

Have you heard of or experienced any method that could speed up the process? I have met with an immigration lawyer and they said once it has been sent to the local visa office there is not much I can do from here. The CIC here also told me the same thing.

Alurra - All the advice I got from the immigration lawyers was that this was the fastest and most long term method. If he comes here on a student visa it will take at least 13weeks and I am not sure how it will affect his PR application since he is no longer "outside the country".

It does not matter if he is "no longer" outside Canada if your brother is in Canada on study visa. The only issue is that he would have to travel back to Home country for any interviews.

Screech339

 

[Sweden]

He can be in Canada on a student visa, and that won't affect his application. The "outside of Canada" part refers to where the application is processed, not where the person is, so that's not an issue. The only possible issue would be that he will need to send his passport to Nairobi to get his PR visa stamped, and he might be traveling at the same time, but other than that, it should not be an issue.

There is not much to do to speed up the process. Nairobi has a long waiting time indeed, but quite a few applications are processed much faster than stated. So if the sponsor part is done, and your application to sponsor your brother is complete with all relevant documents establishing your family ties, I think it should be processed without too much delay. PR is indeed the most long term method, because once it's issued, it's done - and if he doesn't leave Canada he will have no issue meeting the residency requirement etc.

You could get him a study permit and have him in Canada ( fees for international students are really high, so that's something to take into account), while he waits for PR. But - there is a chance that the study permit will be denied as his ties to Canada are stronger most likely than the ones to Ethiopia.

Good luck,
Sweden

 

[BinManZ]

Sweden,
I am planning on going to Nairobi in March so if I hear absolutely nothing by then I will apply for the student visa. I came to Canada as an international student so I know the cost is about double of domestic students. At this point, i will have to push his acceptance to summer so it would be too late, even if they processed his student visa within 13wks.

I have been searching this site all day to come up with an average processing time for this type of case so I can better plan my next move. The application is complete since I went above and beyond to have all local documents (birth/death certificates, affidavits, etc) notarized at the US Embassy in Nairobi. Financially, I more then qualify based on the CIC's own mandate. I guess I'm just a bit impatient like everyone else on this site.

Thanks for the advice.
B

 

[Sweden]

Sweden,
I am planning on going to Nairobi in March so if I hear absolutely nothing by then I will apply for the student visa. I came to Canada as an international student so I know the cost is about double of domestic students. At this point, i will have to push his acceptance to summer so it would be too late, even if they processed his student visa within 13wks.

I have been searching this site all day to come up with an average processing time for this type of case so I can better plan my next move. The application is complete since I went above and beyond to have all local documents (birth/death certificates, affidavits, etc) notarized at the US Embassy in Nairobi. Financially, I more then qualify based on the CIC's own mandate. I guess I'm just a bit impatient like everyone else on this site.

Thanks for the advice.
B

There is a Nairobi thread and a spreadsheet, but not necessary very up to date. I recall seeing on this website some couples that were done in 3 to 5 months in Nairobi, but there aren't many cases of sponsoring siblings - most cases are spouses, so it would be difficult to get an estimate. But if you have put together a good application, it will help - that's what usually creates a lot of delay, together with background checks. As your brother is still a minor, backgrounds checks should be minimal, so hopefully by March you will have an answer, and in best case scenario, fly back to Canada with your brother.

Good luck, hope you hear soon,
Sweden

 

[sunshinemrc]

Based on processing times posted on the CIC website the processing time for Adopted children, children to be adopted, orphans and other family classes fin Nairobi was 45 months (45 months was based on 80% of all cases between October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013) plus the sponsor approval in Canada (CPP Mississauga) which is done on a daily basis (so at most 1 month in Mississauga)

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp