Thread for Acrra Ghana applicants

[becos]

As an October 2016 applicant I expect that at this stage a lot should have been done on my file, however, gcms notes I just received today suggests otherwise. Nothing whatsoever has been completed..only info I could pull out was medical passed..security, eligibility etc pending.

My conclusion is that our files basically sit on someone's computer or some warehouse as the case may be until it's up for processing. At least that's all I can deduce from my gcms notes.

God will answer us all soon I pray.

Wow. I can't believe there is nothing done. So frustrating

 

[BaJay]

Wow. I can't believe there is nothing done. So frustrating

It's beyond me too.

 

[becos]

Another week gone. Still no word.

 

[Sugarcoconut]

I received mine same yesterday and it's exact thing. Medical passed was the only additional info i got there and they indicated they received the additional documents we sent in in June.

With my little knowledge of how these things work I kinda expected that but hubby was disappointed. I sure know they only get to ones file when it's due for processing and once it's picked up they really get to it, so being a member here I knew they haven't gotten to my file (Nov). At the end of the day, we satisfied our curiosity.

As an October 2016 applicant I expect that at this stage a lot should have been done on my file, however, gcms notes I just received today suggests otherwise. Nothing whatsoever has been completed..only info I could pull out was medical passed..security, eligibility etc pending.

My conclusion is that our files basically sit on someone's computer or some warehouse as the case may be until it's up for processing. At least that's all I can deduce from my gcms notes.

God will answer us all soon I pray.

 

[becos]

I received mine same yesterday and it's exact thing. Medical passed was the only additional info i got there and they indicated they received the additional documents we sent in in June.

With my little knowledge of how these things work I kinda expected that but hubby was disappointed. I sure know they only get to ones file when it's due for processing and once it's picked up they really get to it, so being a member here I knew they haven't gotten to my file (Nov). At the end of the day, we satisfied our curiosity.

Thanks for sharing. I was just wondering if on your ECAS it showed already that your medical passed? I'm sorry if I've already asked you this....

 

[Sugarcoconut]

Thanks for sharing. I was just wondering if on your ECAS it showed already that your medical passed? I'm sorry if I've already asked you this....

No on ECAS it shows "Medical has been received". I only got to see it's passed on gcms.

 

[HisAma]

Hello all! I’m new to your forum. I've read about your many struggles, long waits in silence and know that it takes a lot of prayer and patience to carry us through each day.

Here is my timeline:

• Jan 10, 2017 - Application received in Canada (submitted the old forms as before the Jan 30 deadline for submission)
• Jan 27, 2017 - Sponsor approval
• Feb 7, 2017 - "started processing" the application; Medical received
• No news since.

I last saw my husband in December 2016, following our wedding. I’m going to visit him in Ghana this week! I was wondering…

Have any Canadians here physically gone to the Accra Visa Office with their spouse? I’m wondering if it would be a good idea or not. I was thinking we could go and request a status update (GCMS notes or whatever). I don't expect to learn anything new. But really, the hope is that if they met us and saw with their own eyes that we were genuine, they would be interested in us, talk to us more, and maybe one thing would lead to another. Some people say ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’ and others say ‘don’t rock the boat’. I realize that it has only been 6 months since our application was submitted, but I was wondering if it’s worth a shot.

Any thoughts? Would you go to AVO with your spouse?

 

[becos]

Hello all! I’m new to your forum. I've read about your many struggles, long waits in silence and know that it takes a lot of prayer and patience to carry us through each day.

Here is my timeline:

• Jan 10, 2017 - Application received in Canada (submitted the old forms as before the Jan 30 deadline for submission)
• Jan 27, 2017 - Sponsor approval
• Feb 7, 2017 - "started processing" the application; Medical received
• No news since.

I last saw my husband in December 2016, following our wedding. I’m going to visit him in Ghana this week! I was wondering…

Have any Canadians here physically gone to the Accra Visa Office with their spouse? I’m wondering if it would be a good idea or not. I was thinking we could go and request a status update (GCMS notes or whatever). I don't expect to learn anything new. But really, the hope is that if they met us and saw with their own eyes that we were genuine, they would be interested in us, talk to us more, and maybe one thing would lead to another. Some people say ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’ and others say ‘don’t rock the boat’. I realize that it has only been 6 months since our application was submitted, but I was wondering if it’s worth a shot.

Any thoughts? Would you go to AVO with your spouse?

Hi HisAma, welcome to the forum.

I understand what you're saying about taking the chance to go to AVO but unfortunately that is not a good idea nor worth its time, or really even possible. Even when you give your passport request they will not allow you to take your passport there to get the visa, you must submit it via DHL. The only time you can go there is for a scheduled interview. The AVO office has a giant case load. They deal with almost every immigration class for these places:

Ascension, St. Helena & Tristan da Cunha
Benin
Equatorial Guinea
Ghana
Guinea - Refugees
Liberia
Nigeria - all except FSW, express entry
Sao Tome and Principe
Sierra Leone
Togo

Unfortunately it's not a casual stop in office and see who's around to talk to you, its formal bureacracy and they deal with 10s of thousands of applications and they will only turn you away, and that will be a receptionist, you will never get past them to the people that matter. (From my reading of past AVO audits, the have about four case workers, that's it. There are other staff but only four people that work on cases.) And they have it set up that way because if it was that easy to walk in and lobby for our cases we would all do it.

This is a difficult journey, I feel your pain, and for the longest time I struggled with the need to do and just feel like I'm doing more to help our case. But I realized I can't do anything. It's in the hands of AVO now and all you can do is have your extra documentation ready on hand if they ask and ready to sign a form if they ask and get a medical when they ask. I often have people ask me "why haven't you gone to your MP yet, haven't you called the office?" Sure I can but it's not going to influence anything. Not now. This process is unlike so many processes that we are used to. In Canada we are free to complain, drop in, lobby and change outcomes in almost anything. This is so different. With this we are powerless.

Sorry to give you an answer you probably didn't want to hear. You're in the house now, and therefore part of the family, and here we support and guide one another despite how helpless we somehow end up. Don't stop being positive though. Patience is key. I've been waiting 319 days. I never thought we'd get this far but we've gotten too far to be sad now. It will be. For all of us, in due time.

Enjoy your time with your husband. Try not to think about the process too much while together. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. We're all here.

 

[HisAma]

Hi HisAma, welcome to the forum.

I understand what you're saying about taking the chance to go to AVO but unfortunately that is not a good idea nor worth its time, or really even possible. Even when you give your passport request they will not allow you to take your passport there to get the visa, you must submit it via DHL. The only time you can go there is for a scheduled interview. The AVO office has a giant case load. They deal with almost every immigration class for these places:

Ascension, St. Helena & Tristan da Cunha
Benin
Equatorial Guinea
Ghana
Guinea - Refugees
Liberia
Nigeria - all except FSW, express entry
Sao Tome and Principe
Sierra Leone
Togo

Unfortunately it's not a casual stop in office and see who's around to talk to you, its formal bureacracy and they deal with 10s of thousands of applications and they will only turn you away, and that will be a receptionist, you will never get past them to the people that matter. (From my reading of past AVO audits, the have about four case workers, that's it. There are other staff but only four people that work on cases.) And they have it set up that way because if it was that easy to walk in and lobby for our cases we would all do it.

This is a difficult journey, I feel your pain, and for the longest time I struggled with the need to do and just feel like I'm doing more to help our case. But I realized I can't do anything. It's in the hands of AVO now and all you can do is have your extra documentation ready on hand if they ask and ready to sign a form if they ask and get a medical when they ask. I often have people ask me "why haven't you gone to your MP yet, haven't you called the office?" Sure I can but it's not going to influence anything. Not now. This process is unlike so many processes that we are used to. In Canada we are free to complain, drop in, lobby and change outcomes in almost anything. This is so different. With this we are powerless.

Sorry to give you an answer you probably didn't want to hear. You're in the house now, and therefore part of the family, and here we support and guide one another despite how helpless we somehow end up. Don't stop being positive though. Patience is key. I've been waiting 319 days. I never thought we'd get this far but we've gotten too far to be sad now. It will be. For all of us, in due time.

Enjoy your time with your husband. Try not to think about the process too much while together. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. We're all here.

Thanks for the feedback. My husband wasn't so sure if it would be worthwhile to go to AVO either. You certainly provided enough information to convince me that it is pointless. I didn't realize AVO covered THAT many countries. No wonder this process takes so long. I have been staying positive and not worrying about the timeline too much as I expect it to take a long time and realize it is out of our hands. When 12 months approaches, I may feel differently.

 

[becos]

No on ECAS it shows "Medical has been received". I only got to see it's passed on gcms.

Hmm mine still never said medical received. I guess it doesn't matter now.

 

[becos]

Thanks for the feedback. My husband wasn't so sure if it would be worthwhile to go to AVO either. You certainly provided enough information to convince me that it is pointless. I didn't realize AVO covered THAT many countries. No wonder this process takes so long. I have been staying positive and not worrying about the timeline too much as I expect it to take a long time and realize it is out of our hands. When 12 months approaches, I may feel differently.

Absolutely, once the twelve months pasts for you then that's outside the processing time, and you can start questioning.

I know it's such a hands off process which is so hard for many of us (I love to micromanage! Haha) and it's so emotional too because it's directly linked to our loved ones, our future and really everything. Yeah I didn't realize they covered that many countries either for a long time. AVO is a super understaff and over worked office.

 

[Leonardoo]

@Lekki
this is the email I got this morning...

UCI: **** ****
Application No.: F00********
Quote these numbers when corresponding with our office.

This is an automated message. Please DO NOT RESPOND to this message.

Dear Applicant,

Please find information concerning your application in the attached document. If you are unable to view the attached document or did not receive a document, please advise us by forwarding this e-mail to https://dmp-portal.cic.gc.ca/cicemail/intro-eng.aspx?mission=accra

High Commission of Canada
Visa Section
P.O. Box 1639
Accra
Ghana

This is an automated message. Please DO NOT RESPOND to this message.

By providing your e-mail address on your application form, you authorized CIC to transmit your file and personal information to this specific e-mail address. Please ensure that this e-mail address is checked regularly. Any e-mails sent to you by CIC will end in “@cic.gc.ca” or “@international.gc.ca.” Please add these to your “safe senders” list in your email program and check the junk mail folder in case important emails get filtered. If CIC is advised that the e-mail address you provided is not functional or no longer exists, we will communicate with you by mail.

Like other forms of communication, e-mail communications may be vulnerable to interception by unauthorized parties. If you do not wish us to communicate with you by e-mail, please notify us at your earliest convenience. In the absence of such notification, your consent is assumed. Should you choose to allow us to communicate by e-mail, we will not take any additional security measures (such as encryption).

The contents of this message may contain confidential and/or privileged subject matter. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If this message has been received in error, please contact the sender and delete all copies.

Hello everyone! I need help. I submitted my application in may and completed the medical exam in July but I just recieved another email similar to this but without an attached document and I can't reply the email. Please I don't know what to do next.

 

[oladelemary]

I am a Permanent resident of Canada. I am planning to go back to Nigeria and get married to my spouse so that I can file for her under the spouse sponsorship route.

I want to ask about the court marriage certificate. Does AVO only reckon with Ikoyi Registry marriage certificate (or other Federal registeries ) only? I am not sure if I can have the wedding done at a local government registry.

 

[Sugarcoconut]

I am a Permanent resident of Canada. I am planning to go back to Nigeria and get married to my spouse so that I can file for her under the spouse sponsorship route.

I want to ask about the court marriage certificate. Does AVO only reckon with Ikoyi Registry marriage certificate (or other Federal registeries ) only? I am not sure if I can have the wedding done at a local government registry.

It mustn't be Ikoyi. They recognize all certificates from any legal/certified court. My cousin wedded in a registry in Enugu and she's a Canadian citizen today.

People prefer to use a renowned registry(Ikoyi) cos their certificate seem to carry more weight sort of, not easily manipulated unlike some local courts and I can relate. E.g. My wedding ws in Maryland US, and after I obtained my marriage license (license to wed) from the main court in d state capital, I had the option of going ahead to wed in any local court within d state but no, we still drove all d way to that same court to have d ceremony. But if I had my wedding in Nigeria it wouldn't have been Ikoyi and I don't think it would have mattered.

All da best

 

[debbiejosh]

I am a Permanent resident of Canada. I am planning to go back to Nigeria and get married to my spouse so that I can file for her under the spouse sponsorship route.

I want to ask about the court marriage certificate. Does AVO only reckon with Ikoyi Registry marriage certificate (or other Federal registeries ) only? I am not sure if I can have the wedding done at a local government registry.

I don't know if they only reckon with Certificats issued by the Federal Registered, but I am sure most people use it.

However, there are pending cases in court about local government certificate, and I don't think you want to be caught in between.

Just find your way to Ikoyi, let your spouse make the enquiries and be done with it.

Below for your perusal, and you can do more research on it.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=/amp/punchng.com/court-declares-lg-marriage-certificates-illegal/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwjy1J7pnfzUAhUN5GMKHQUsCUYQFggtMAA&usg=AFQjCNFBgXuNN1vT7iLbKOoJsuMy4ZBx-A