Anyone planning to apply ONLINE, please read my experience.
Profile
10th - 93%
12th - 90%
BE - 78% aggregate (no backlogs)
MS - 3.7 GPA (From US)
Work Exp - 7 yrs
Applied to Simon Fraser University for an MBA. Scholarship of $10000. Bank Loan for 20 Lakhs. First Term fees paid (own money) $10000.
Also applied for Visitor Visas for my Husband and 2 children (3 yrs and 1 yr old) in the same Online Application.
Timeline
July 03
Applied online for the whole family together.
July 09
Got a letter from CIC (a message sent to my MyCIC account) asking for the fee paid receipt.
Now this stumped us because when we paid the fees, as the last step before submitting the online application, it clearly stated that we do not need to send a copy of the receipt to CIC as this is an online application. There was some glitch in the system and we could not save an official copy. We just did a 'print screen' and saved it in a word file. But thank god we at least had the receipt number.
July 09
Sent the copy of the receipt (again, uploaded the saved file from my MyCIC account. They had provided a link to upload the additional document)
July 22
Received one more letter from CIC asking me to 'Pay the study permit fees. You can pay at your closest VFS center'
We did not understand what was happening. No reply from Delhi CIC to our email inquiry. No phone calls entertained. Called VFS. They said they'll send it but they were also at a loss as to what was happening. And the letter did not specify how much to pay. Should I pay just the study permit fee or should I pay the fee for the entire family again? Did they not receive the payment online? Should I just lose my money and pay the whole amount again? There was absolutely no information. It was so confusing.
So, we went to VFS Bangalore. The person there was absolutely amazing. He listened to us patiently. Then when he gave us the amount to be paid for all 4 of us, we realized that what we had paid online was lesser. Then we realized that the online application system had calculated the wrong fees. It gave us $400 to pay (and mind you, we can't change the amount as it is generated by the system and so we didn't even imagine that it could be wrong!). That $400 was the family rate for Visitor Visas for my husband and children and it did not include my study permit fee of $125!!
Phew! Couldn't they have written an extra line in their letter explaining this? Anyway, we had to make a DD for Rs. 6625 and send it through VFS.
July 25
Sent an additional payment to CIC Delhi for $125 (Demand Draft) for my study permit through VFS Bangalore, along with a copy of my passport and the letter sent to me by CIC.
July 26
DD received by CIC Delhi.
A copy of the DD, letter sent by them and a letter from me explaining all the fees paid was uploaded by me in my Online Application (again, they had provided a link in my MyCIC account)
I have been waiting to hear from them ever since! The VFS Bangalore guy got in touch with someone from CIC Delhi and they confirmed that all I have to do is pay the additional study permit fee and I will be all set.
The VFS guy also told me that usually when they ask for additional documents (and not exactly an additional document in my case) and especially in my case (the mistake is not from my side), it pretty much means that my visa is approved. He also said that if they were to reject me, they would have done so much earlier, usually within 7-8 days of the application date.
Now there is one more problem with applying online! Once my visa is approved, they will then send me a message to send our passports. I will then have to go to VFS again and submit our passports. They will send it to CIC Delhi for visa stamping. Supposedly this will take an additional 10 days!! My classes start on September 03 and I still haven't heard from them one way or the other. I haven't even booked my tickets yet.
Conclusion
Applying online was a BIG mistake! Going to VFS would have been so much simpler. I probably would have gotten my visa in the 3rd week of July itself.
Profile
10th - 93%
12th - 90%
BE - 78% aggregate (no backlogs)
MS - 3.7 GPA (From US)
Work Exp - 7 yrs
Applied to Simon Fraser University for an MBA. Scholarship of $10000. Bank Loan for 20 Lakhs. First Term fees paid (own money) $10000.
Also applied for Visitor Visas for my Husband and 2 children (3 yrs and 1 yr old) in the same Online Application.
Timeline
July 03
Applied online for the whole family together.
July 09
Got a letter from CIC (a message sent to my MyCIC account) asking for the fee paid receipt.
Now this stumped us because when we paid the fees, as the last step before submitting the online application, it clearly stated that we do not need to send a copy of the receipt to CIC as this is an online application. There was some glitch in the system and we could not save an official copy. We just did a 'print screen' and saved it in a word file. But thank god we at least had the receipt number.
July 09
Sent the copy of the receipt (again, uploaded the saved file from my MyCIC account. They had provided a link to upload the additional document)
July 22
Received one more letter from CIC asking me to 'Pay the study permit fees. You can pay at your closest VFS center'
We did not understand what was happening. No reply from Delhi CIC to our email inquiry. No phone calls entertained. Called VFS. They said they'll send it but they were also at a loss as to what was happening. And the letter did not specify how much to pay. Should I pay just the study permit fee or should I pay the fee for the entire family again? Did they not receive the payment online? Should I just lose my money and pay the whole amount again? There was absolutely no information. It was so confusing.
So, we went to VFS Bangalore. The person there was absolutely amazing. He listened to us patiently. Then when he gave us the amount to be paid for all 4 of us, we realized that what we had paid online was lesser. Then we realized that the online application system had calculated the wrong fees. It gave us $400 to pay (and mind you, we can't change the amount as it is generated by the system and so we didn't even imagine that it could be wrong!). That $400 was the family rate for Visitor Visas for my husband and children and it did not include my study permit fee of $125!!
Phew! Couldn't they have written an extra line in their letter explaining this? Anyway, we had to make a DD for Rs. 6625 and send it through VFS.
July 25
Sent an additional payment to CIC Delhi for $125 (Demand Draft) for my study permit through VFS Bangalore, along with a copy of my passport and the letter sent to me by CIC.
July 26
DD received by CIC Delhi.
A copy of the DD, letter sent by them and a letter from me explaining all the fees paid was uploaded by me in my Online Application (again, they had provided a link in my MyCIC account)
I have been waiting to hear from them ever since! The VFS Bangalore guy got in touch with someone from CIC Delhi and they confirmed that all I have to do is pay the additional study permit fee and I will be all set.
The VFS guy also told me that usually when they ask for additional documents (and not exactly an additional document in my case) and especially in my case (the mistake is not from my side), it pretty much means that my visa is approved. He also said that if they were to reject me, they would have done so much earlier, usually within 7-8 days of the application date.
Now there is one more problem with applying online! Once my visa is approved, they will then send me a message to send our passports. I will then have to go to VFS again and submit our passports. They will send it to CIC Delhi for visa stamping. Supposedly this will take an additional 10 days!! My classes start on September 03 and I still haven't heard from them one way or the other. I haven't even booked my tickets yet.
Conclusion
Applying online was a BIG mistake! Going to VFS would have been so much simpler. I probably would have gotten my visa in the 3rd week of July itself.
