CPP-Ottawa

[IvanP]

Any insights on the area where the school is located? That is my biggest fear as I hear it borders on a rough area of Philly.

The area around Drexel has been improving over the years, but several blocks north of Drexel is still a bit rough. Center City, on the other side of the Schuylkill River, is all very nice (and a bit pricey) until you go about 15 blocks north or south, but even that is improving. If you go farther west than 44th it gets rougher, too. For the first year or so a dorm is probably a good idea if that's an option, until the city is more familiar.

 

[rsjkd427]

Every time they bother to reply, you'd think they could just take the 2 minutes to finish off our applications. How much time could it take?

Seriously. It can't be that hard.

 

[rsjkd427]

Agreed! And I'd have done inland too. I could have at least been able to get a work permit on principal approval by this point.

Agreed.

 

[Lkrammy]

We received PPR on July 25 - and then an additional request for financial proof of employment on July 29th - we sent documents the next day in reply to that email on July 30th.

I've heard horror stories on this very forum of them not receiving the requested documents despite them being sent and having to go through hell to try and figure out what happened etc. SO - I decided to email them this morning with the following:

"Hi There,

Just wanted to confirm you received the requested documents sent July 30/2013 in reply to this email.

Thank you!"


and within literally 5 minutes got the following reply from the same VO who sent us the initial ppr and additional document request


"We did.

Thank you

Case Officer VH"

Polite and to the point!!! I wonder how long it will take from this point on now... hmm! Hoping to be Amikety lucky!!!

 

[IvanP]

We received PPR on July 25 - and then an additional request for financial proof of employment on July 29th - we sent documents the next day in reply to that email on July 30th.

I've heard horror stories on this very forum of them not receiving the requested documents despite them being sent and having to go through hell to try and figure out what happened etc. SO - I decided to email them this morning with the following:

"Hi There,

Just wanted to confirm you received the requested documents sent July 30/2013 in reply to this email.

Thank you!"


and within literally 5 minutes got the following reply from the same VO who sent us the initial ppr and additional document request


"We did.

Thank you

Case Officer VH"

Polite and to the point!!! I wonder how long it will take from this point on now... hmm! Hoping to be Amikety lucky!!!

What is sad is that this, by CIC standards, is almost a miracle.

 

[Kiri]

What is sad is that this, by CIC standards, is almost a miracle.

Seriously.. they won't even reply to my emails. :\ I don't know how often to email and if I'll piss anyone off if I do it more than once in a week.

 

[writetosfa]

We received PPR on July 25 - and then an additional request for financial proof of employment on July 29th - we sent documents the next day in reply to that email on July 30th.

I've heard horror stories on this very forum of them not receiving the requested documents despite them being sent and having to go through hell to try and figure out what happened etc. SO - I decided to email them this morning with the following:

"Hi There,

Just wanted to confirm you received the requested documents sent July 30/2013 in reply to this email.

Thank you!"


and within literally 5 minutes got the following reply from the same VO who sent us the initial ppr and additional document request


"We did.

Thank you

Case Officer VH"

Polite and to the point!!! I wonder how long it will take from this point on now... hmm! Hoping to be Amikety lucky!!!

I've emailed twice to find out if they received the additional documents requests. First time they replied a week later saying my application was in process (and not answering the question - and not updating ECAS from Application Received.)

I tried again asking them if they received the requested documents about a week ago, and no response....

 

[Lkrammy]

What is sad is that this, by CIC standards, is almost a miracle.

true - i was not expecting a reply at all - never mind almost immediately and by a human and not just the auto reply thang!

 

[keesio]

true - i was not expecting a reply at all - never mind almost immediately and by a human and not just the auto reply thang!

It seems completely dependent on who the VO is that is working on your case. Our (my wife and I) VO seems pretty good at replying... usually 3 days. The last e-mail we sent to confirm they got everything was replied to in 3 days with a terse but polite response of "yes we have everything we need. thanks". But at the same time, seems to not update eCAS (still on "application received") when I got PPR almost a month ago. I don't mind the lack of eCAS updates if there was another way to track progress, but there isn't so I have no clue where things are.

 

[IvanP]

It seems completely dependent on who the VO is that is working on your case. Our (my wife and I) VO seems pretty good at replying... usually 3 days. The last e-mail we sent to confirm they got everything was replied to in 3 days with a terse but polite response of "yes we have everything we need. thanks". But at the same time, seems to not update eCAS (still on "application received") when I got PPR almost a month ago. I don't mind the lack of eCAS updates if there was another way to track progress, but there isn't so I have no clue where things are.

Really the only way to get decent (though not timely) information is with GCMS notes.

 

[keesio]

Really the only way to get decent (though not timely) information is with GCMS notes.

What can you really see with those notes? Can you see what exactly wait they are waiting on (ex. background check, mulling over answers, stuck in a pile, waiting for doc, etc)?

 

[jwa007]

What can you really see with those notes? Can you see what exactly wait they are waiting on (ex. background check, mulling over answers, stuck in a pile, waiting for doc, etc)?

I'd like to know the same thing. Wife and I are having a disagreement. She says it's useless to order now and convinced the COPR is in the mail. I am not. Can someone give me a reason to give to her for ordering (other than they only cost $5 so why the hell not)?

 

[IvanP]

What can you really see with those notes? Can you see what exactly wait they are waiting on (ex. background check, mulling over answers, stuck in a pile, waiting for doc, etc)?

You can see what's received, what's done, when it's been done, who did what, and what's not yet been started. My family's notes didn't say what is causing delays, and I'm not sure how often notes reveal that kind of information. computergeek thinks that there's a fair amount of information that is communicated separately (say, questions by email or phone to more senior VOs, perhaps without any reference to a particular case file) that doesn't make it into the notes, and I'd have to say he's probably right. I'd bet there are also Post-It notes on our files with the real questions. But the actual notes written by the VO do have a narrative that briefly describes your relationship and whether the VO has any doubts about the relationship. If the VO is waiting for something from you that the VO thinks he/she's requested, but actually hasn't (lost or never sent email, for example), the notes are a good way (maybe the only way) to find out, because they aren't going to spend a lot of time bugging you to send that one little thing needed to finish your application. The cost is low ($5), and the utility is high if something is missing or there's an issue that hasn't been communicated to you, so I'd say it's definitely worth it.

 

[nortena]

Hi IvanP and Amikity,
can you please add me to the spreadsheet? My info is as follows:

Meds done: 08-03-13
Submitted app: 05-07-13
app received: 08-07-13
AOR: 25-07-13
SA: 02-08-13
Calgary bound..!!

Thank you so much

 

[keesio]

I'd like to know the same thing. Wife and I are having a disagreement. She says it's useless to order now and convinced the COPR is in the mail. I am not. Can someone give me a reason to give to her for ordering (other than they only cost $5 so why the hell not)?

Simply point her to this forum thread. Show her some of Ivan's, and writetosfa's and rsjkd427's posts!