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VAC phased re-openings in India (good news for TRV processing time?)

cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
Hi people,

I am a Canadian PR and I never had to look into TRV before, so I will appreciate your feedback/experience on my concern below.

I am looking into the option for my fiancee to get her TRV in India. And then once she is here, I will start the Inland Spousal Sponsorship process. Current TRV processing time in India is 248 days which I think is insane.

Q1. Do you think the phased re-opening of VACs in India will reduce the current processing time? If yes, any idea by how much?
Latest tweet by HC for Canada to India -
Q2. How were the TRV processing timelines in India before Covid happened?


Thank you very much.
 

scylla

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Hi people,

I am a Canadian PR and I never had to look into TRV before, so I will appreciate your feedback/experience on my concern below.

I am looking into the option for my fiancee to get her TRV in India. And then once she is here, I will start the Inland Spousal Sponsorship process. Current TRV processing time in India is 248 days which I think is insane.

Q1. Do you think the phased re-opening of VACs in India will reduce the current processing time? If yes, any idea by how much?
Latest tweet by HC for Canada to India -
Q2. How were the TRV processing timelines in India before Covid happened?


Thank you very much.
I would personally get married and submit an outland application as soon as you can (you need to be in Canada to do that). First of all it's probably going to be a long long time before processing times drop back down to pre COVID-19 numbers. Secondly, you have no idea if she is going to be approved. You could end up waiting many months only to end up with a TRV refusal.
 
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cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
I would personally get married and submit an outland application as soon as you can (you need to be in Canada to do that). First of all it's probably going to be a long long time before processing times drop back down to pre COVID-19 numbers. Secondly, you have no idea if she is going to be approved. You could end up waiting many months only to end up with a TRV refusal.
Hi, thank you for the response. I agree with your point. There is a risk of getting her TRV rejected.

I cannot go to India before March-April 2021 anyway and thus cannot get married before then. So assuming she applies for her TRV by Dec 2nd week and if she is able to get her TRV by April (even until June is fine), I am inclined towards the inland route as she can be here in Canada. So with our case, TRV processing time of 120-180 days should still work out (dropping from the current 248 days). Do you think this is a realistic number?
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
53,053
12,796
Hi, thank you for the response. I agree with your point. There is a risk of getting her TRV rejected.

I cannot go to India before March-April 2021 anyway and thus cannot get married before then. So assuming she applies for her TRV by Dec 2nd week and if she is able to get her TRV by April (even until June is fine), I am inclined towards the inland route as she can be here in Canada. So with our case, TRV processing time of 120-180 days should still work out (dropping from the current 248 days). Do you think this is a realistic number?
Impossible to say. There is a huge backlog. You can only apply and wait.
 
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cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
Impossible to say. There is a huge backlog. You can only apply and wait.
Yes, we don't have enough info at this point to make a guesstimate. I will still ask my fiancee to apply for TRV now. Better to not overthink much at this point. Will revisit the inland/outland option once we near our wedding dates and react according to the situation then.
 

enricoj91

Member
May 27, 2020
18
5
My spouse applied for a TRV under the family reunification guidelines on June 23rd. Got an approval on June 30th. She has her biometrics from a previously refused application. Biometrics valid till Feb 2030. Since June 30th till date we're just waiting for a passport request letter (5 months) so she can get the stamp. Even though VACs have opened they still haven't contacted her. So its very uncertain. Keep you posted on further updates.
 

cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
My spouse applied for a TRV under the family reunification guidelines on June 23rd. Got an approval on June 30th. She has her biometrics from a previously refused application. Biometrics valid till Feb 2030. Since June 30th till date we're just waiting for a passport request letter (5 months) so she can get the stamp. Even though VACs have opened they still haven't contacted her. So its very uncertain. Keep you posted on further updates.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Just curious why you did not apply for outland application instead. Are you a PR staying in Canada?
 

enricoj91

Member
May 27, 2020
18
5
I am a Canadian citizen in Canada. Didnt want to do a spousal app at the moment just temporarily reunite and spousal apps in Delhi are not being touched. Just look at their pace of work. So much backlog.
 

cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
I am a Canadian citizen in Canada. Didnt want to do a spousal app at the moment just temporarily reunite and spousal apps in Delhi are not being touched. Just look at their pace of work. So much backlog.
All right. Yes, the backlogs are crazy. The processing time for inland and outland is still 12 months (I think it was the same before Covid). I don't know accurate it is though.

Did you plan to to do inland application once your spouse was here in Canada?
And did you try to contact IRCC via webform? (maybe this is of no help at the moment)
 

enricoj91

Member
May 27, 2020
18
5
Yeah we did the web forms but no response. Not sure what they're doing. Everyday is a wait and watch situation. Gets really frustrating. What is your situation?
 

cc31

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2017
272
41
Canada
Yeah we did the web forms but no response. Not sure what they're doing. Everyday is a wait and watch situation. Gets really frustrating. What is your situation?
I am just starting out and currently weighing my options at this point. The idea is to get her here as early as possible. We are not married yet and the wedding date is up in the air. Here are the options I have noted so far -
1. Get married and then do outland (12 months according to IRCC website)
2. Ask her to apply for TRV before getting married. If she gets TRV before wedding then good, otherwise will revisit outland/inland options again when our wedding dates are closer and while TRV is still under processing.

Plus I am expecting a job change and most likely will be moving to a different province by the end of this year. Once my job is done, we will fix our wedding dates based on when I would get a 2-3 weeks vacation. I did not know about the family reunification guidelines (June 23rd) that you mentioned. But since we are not married yet, we can't avail this opportunity at this time.

Can we keep in touch? I would like to hear about your updates. And I will keep you posted on my part as well when things get moving for me.
 
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Bindanzic

Full Member
Jun 27, 2019
47
19
My spouse applied for a TRV under the family reunification guidelines on June 23rd. Got an approval on June 30th. She has her biometrics from a previously refused application. Biometrics valid till Feb 2030. Since June 30th till date we're just waiting for a passport request letter (5 months) so she can get the stamp. Even though VACs have opened they still haven't contacted her. So its very uncertain. Keep you posted on further updates.
Hi..if you don't mind could you please share how did you apply for TRV under family reunification? I have applied TRV in July and there is no update till now.
 

enricoj91

Member
May 27, 2020
18
5
Hi so here is an update. We just received the passport request letter for my partner last night. These letters come from IRCC and not Delhi so they usually come in the night around 10pm or 1030pm. Now we are waiting for the payment link and 2-way courier service details. The passport request letter states we have to send the passport in within 30 days from yesterday.


Applied: June 23
Approved: June 30
Passport request letter: Nov 26