Appeal letter for OHIP

[Panamai]

Ok, I followed the advice I read in this thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-ohip-eligibility-info-for-all-pr-applicants-residing-in-ontario-t56695.0.html and, I went to the Service Ontario office here in Kingston and they denied me because I did not have a COPR. I had my AOR, SA, and statutory declaration of common-law union, but they wouldn't accept those. I got the refusal in writing and will try the appeal. I feel like since my sponsor has been approved and my application has been forwarded to Ottawa, that is evidence that I've been deemed as 'eligible to apply for permanent residence'. My application is in Ottawa right now (my visa office), but I don't think it's been touched. ECAS still says 'application received.' At what point in the process will the appeal even work? Is it too early to do it now? I've read online that you must do it within 15 days of the refusal, but the paper itself says nothing of this. What sort of things should I include in the letter? Am I supposed to be trying to convince them that I should be covered or do I just say "hey, can you look at my case, here are my documents?" Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

I feel like since my sponsor has been approved and my application has been forwarded to Ottawa, that is evidence that I've been deemed as 'eligible to apply for permanent residence'.

Not necessarily. From the link you posted: "according to the OERC representative, in outland applications there is an intermediary step that the visa office goes through behind the scenes where they take a preliminary look at each application to determine if the applicant appears to be eligible for PR. Unlike inland applications where this step is called Stage One Approval, they don't tell the outland applicant anything about this step. If you appear to meet all the PR requirements your application then moves forward and someone looks at it later in more detail. If you get this interim approval they call you an "AFP", (Applicant For Permanent Residence)."

So just because Ottawa has received your app, doesn't mean you qualify to start the 3-month countdown yet. You need to reach "AFP" stage, which isn't communicated to applicants. However you don't need to worry about this, as if you submit the appeal immediately to OERC then they will contact CPC-Ottawa on your behalf to determine when you get AFP. Only after this they will then inform you that you can register for OHIP.

As to what to include in the appeal letter, I would contact bartjones directly and ask him, since he did this successfully.

 

[Panamai]

Thanks, Rob_TO. I'll contact him in a PM. I've just been really anxious about not having health insurance. I've never been more sick than I have since moving to Canada.