I am not an inland applicant but an FSW-O one. I may not be in the situation as the people on the thread here but I was in the US on a H1B and I remember the endless delay, the redundant checks I did on my work authorization status (i94) after applying for my extension well ahead of time (8 months). Finally ended up not being able to the renew my driver's license because about 4 months after my i94 had gone by and the government still had not processed it. I had a family emergency for which I had to leave the US. It was a one-way ticket because i could not return till my work petition was authorized and the work visa (which had also expired) was renewed. About a week after I left the country I got the approval decision, after paying more for expedited processing. It didn't matter at that point because I never did go back, despite having job offers in the US with reputed firms in my field. Only had to make sure the time I was in the US after the work authorization expired was not counted as "overstay", which is why I applied for the expedited processing just to get some closure. I think at point I had gotten tired of the anxiety and uncertainty which life as an immigrant seemed to be all about.
A lot of things in this immigration journey are not in our control after filing the paperwork. Everybody's hoping for certainty and transparency. But sad to say, even in such times of technology advances and
wokeness, there is very little. People pinning their hopes completely on CIC doesn't help. Government bureaucracy moves at their own pace (
everybody's waiting for orders from everyone else) and often the people processing the applications are not in a position to understand the nightmare of anxiety that the applicants and their families are living through. Ultimately all decisions are tied to economic and fiscal policy needs. There are always corner cases which immigration policy doesn't factor in which people might find themselves constrained by.
Here's what I think should happen:
- IRCC must upgrade their systems and processes to move applications faster and give people a guaranteed window of time, so people can get on with their lives and they can be more efficient.
- Applicants need to understand that while they are brave enough to take a leap of faith like this, they must stay patient and wait for the government to communicate after making sure they have done all they can to make sure the application gets through. Ultimately the government works for you and will benefit by you coming there, so trust that things will work out in the end.
- If you feel excessively anxious, get some share your feelings with a professional counsellor. As somebody who has taken counseling before and has clinical psychologists in the family, this is a good option. Often we don't want to burden our families because they have enough on their plate as it is, these days especially!
- Do not check the IRCC portal for application status, unless you receive an email from CIC/your immigration rep/lawyer. This is a waste of your time and energy. Make a recurring appointment on your calendar to check the status/call your lawyer and stick to the schedule. Nothing is going to change by repeated checking. IRCC is not going to process the application faster going by your level of interest in the status!
- Try mindfulness/exercise/meditation. Whatever works for you! Anything that will help you take a step back from all this and channel this nervous energy in the right direction. Anytime I felt like checking the status on CIC, I would drop down and start push ups for 1 minute. This really helped get over that overwhelming urge to find out if anything had changed. I check once a week now.
- Enjoy the time with your family/friends and make the most of your time there. Gain unique experiences that you would not be able to in your home country. What would you do if it was your last week in the country (besides packing up!)? Make a list and do those things. I wish I had travelled more while I was abroad. I still would not change my decision of staying back in my home country but I would have had better memories instead nervous pacing between the walls of my apartment!
My EE application has not moved at all since it got into the pool couple of months back. I don't know if/when I will be getting a shot at the ITA since FSW open draws don't look like they will be coming back anytime soon. But I have stopped worrying and started living at this point.
I think I've rambled enough. Hope some of my suggestions will help. Stay safe and stay hopeful and live your lives. Things will work out, one or another. Take care!
is so frustrating!