Dear all,
A friend of mine in canada called cic and here are what is mentioned and i hope that you dont all get disappointed.
The current process is like that, first is the intial review of the application once it is recieved which takes 2 months now. After the intial review, an application is either incomplete and will be returned or it is complete and then comes the next step which is the assessment step taking according to current situation around 33 weeks on average. It could be more or it could be less according to the load they are having. Applications will be handled according to the que they are having. After the assessment step, they will send an email to those who included their email in their applications telling them about their status and what is next.
Regarding rejected packages, it may take a month or two to be returned back to the applicant's address. Remmember that larger packages will take longer time to get back.
I hope current times change and that faster steps are taken with the newest ministrial instructions as long as it has limited number of applicants and as long as complete documents have been sent. That is how i think and hope too