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Ottawa is doing its best. They're just people, too. As a Canadian citizen, I'm sympathetic. It can't be easy to sort out the people who are genuine from those who are here under false pretenses. Mistakes are made, but overall my personal experience has been okay so far.

Do I wish they would approve my US step-son faster than they are? Yes.

But it's going according to the posted schedule, so I will continue to be patient.

We're not an aggressive people historically.

And I like it that way, so I will contribute to that in my own way.
 
figtoria said:
Ottawa is doing its best. They're just people, too. As a Canadian citizen, I'm sympathetic. It can't be easy to sort out the people who are genuine from those who are here under false pretenses. Mistakes are made, but overall my personal experience has been okay so far.

Do I wish they would approve my US step-son faster than they are? Yes.

But it's going according to the posted schedule, so I will continue to be patient.

We're not an aggressive people historically.

And I like it that way, so I will contribute to that in my own way.
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I was like you, patient until the end. When they messed up big time (first they almost lost my passport, then sent me another person's CoPR), making my application last 2-3 months longer, I got a little bit strict with them, but still polite, included my husband's MP, and had them actually apologize to me.

I agree they are only people, and it's hard to distinguish between real and fake marriages, but when they make mistakes like with my application or lose almost a whole application package (like it happened with Maria), they they have no excuse.

What I wanted to say with my previous posts is that the system in general is not fair to everyone, but it's nobody fault if they get approved faster, it's up to CIC to decide who will they approve and when.

I like that Canadians are not aggresive, but I have to say that I did speak to some very rude call center agents.
 
spaceexp said:
I like that Canadians are not aggresive, but I have to say that I did speak to some very rude call center agents.
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That's a shame. I don't agree with anyone being rude. I guess I've been lucky, but I think I only spoke to maybe 3 people during my husband's application a few years ago and no one so far with our current app.

Best of luck with your process!!
 
Ehhh, I have to also politely disagree with the posters defending Ottawa. How much money did we pay to have our applications processed? At my stage in life, I consider it a significant amount.

The CIC is taking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees (got to be something like 70 to 100 million just in family class alone). I'm failing to understand how they are not responsible for their lack of organization and poor customer service. They could surely make improvements in these areas with better training and protocols. *cough* remember the racist training handout *cough*

Any of you feeling upset by the process should watch the movie Brazil and have a laugh. Thankfully Canada isn't a dystopia.

I feel for you folks who have been dealing with delays caused by factors out of your control. I hope that you will be reunited/able to work soon.
 
borealis said:
The CIC is taking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees (got to be something like 70 to 100 million just in family class alone). I'm failing to understand how they are not responsible for their lack of organization and poor customer service. They could surely make improvements in these areas with better training and protocols. *cough* remember the racist training handout *cough*
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CIC can certainly create better processes, and in the meantime there's no excuse for not following the ones they do have. Losing the bulk of a physical application (as happened to MariaC) is atrocious, not to mention a possible leak of personal information depending on where the application actually went. In my own case, CIC initially fumbled the application by filing it as inland.

However, "the application is expensive and we deserve rapid processing" doesn't quite work. Despite the $80m or so in fees from family-class applicants, that doesn't go as far as you might think. People-time is expensive; net of overhead the ~$1k application+RPRF fee will buy about 20 hours of people-time[1] for the entire process, from the first time someone picks it up in Mississauga to the CSIS security review and the stamping of the PR card itself.

That might be barely reasonable for simple cases such as ours. 20 hours is probably about how long it took us to put together the application, and we don't have to look it over with a skeptical eye. In the meantime, the same fees are charged to more difficult cases abroad that end up in interviews or internal reassessments.

CIC only really functions because of a serious public subsidy. While I think we can all agree that the subsidy is very much worth it, we're starting to talk politics. Once politics get involved, it's no wonder we end up with absurdities like the inland processing times or the parental sponsorship mess.

[1] -- Shown work: Net of overhead and salary, a worker probably costs CIC about $100k/yr over 50 weeks. That amounts to $2k/wk, or $1k / 2.5 working days, which rounds up to the 20 hours.
 
Majromax said:
CIC can certainly create better processes, and in the meantime there's no excuse for not following the ones they do have. Losing the bulk of a physical application (as happened to MariaC) is atrocious, not to mention a possible leak of personal information depending on where the application actually went. In my own case, CIC initially fumbled the application by filing it as inland.

However, "the application is expensive and we deserve rapid processing" doesn't quite work. Despite the $80m or so in fees from family-class applicants, that doesn't go as far as you might think. People-time is expensive; net of overhead the ~$1k application+RPRF fee will buy about 20 hours of people-time[1] for the entire process, from the first time someone picks it up in Mississauga to the CSIS security review and the stamping of the PR card itself.

That might be barely reasonable for simple cases such as ours. 20 hours is probably about how long it took us to put together the application, and we don't have to look it over with a skeptical eye. In the meantime, the same fees are charged to more difficult cases abroad that end up in interviews or internal reassessments.

CIC only really functions because of a serious public subsidy. While I think we can all agree that the subsidy is very much worth it, we're starting to talk politics. Once politics get involved, it's no wonder we end up with absurdities like the inland processing times or the parental sponsorship mess.

[1] -- Shown work: Net of overhead and salary, a worker probably costs CIC about $100k/yr over 50 weeks. That amounts to $2k/wk, or $1k / 2.5 working days, which rounds up to the 20 hours.
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The system needs a ton of improvement and modernization, but let's face it - immigration isn't a priority for any country. Our application is in limbo right now - no SA yet, even though our application was received in March. I feel for those that have been waiting since 2014, and also I see some getting COPR who applied this March and can't help thinking "That could be me if they hadn't screwed up!", knowing how unfair that is to people who applied in 2014 and are still waiting.

It's a mess everywhere, but as Majromax said, it's politics and priorities.
 
Are you inside of the processing time? If not, call the call center and get a status update.
 
Sheps said:
Are you inside of the processing time? If not, call the call center and get a status update.
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Not even close and we have, more than once. The first time the agent sent the inquiry to the wrong office (Ottawa instead of Mississauga), the next time we got one of those non-aggressive Canadians who said we can only call once every three months and to go away, about 15 minutes after that lovely person, we got someone who figured out what happened on the first call and sent something to Mississauga. Last time we called, the agent said Mississauga had a certain amount of time (I think it was 21 days!) to respond and the time hadn't passed yet. We filed a form so I can represent my wife (she's the sponsor) since she really is one of the nice Canadians and this is calling for a more assertive approach at his point. That hasn't been attached to the file yet (just uploaded it late last week) so I couldn't get any info today. I will try again on Friday.
 
We've had signs of life from Ottawa (day 258 and counting...) - it is a request for more information. I'm the sponsor, moved back to Canada 3 months ago and am currently working in Toronto waiting for my common law partner to get PR!!

Has this happened to anyone else? They have asked us to submit the stat dec for common law (which I know has been asked of a lot of CL couples). My understanding from that form though is that the notary has to have both of us physically present to sign in front of him or her?

Because that is not going to happen unless CPC wants to pay for one of our round trip flights. he is in London UK and I'm in Toronto. If I'm mistaken, is it best that he mails me a copy with his original signature and then I get it signed by a lawyer/notary whoever here in Canada?

To sum up, we've been requested info of: IMM5409 and additional evidence that I live in Canada (bank statements, pay stubs and recent utility bills)
 
My ECAS shows DM as of today, which should be good news given no document requests. No reply yet to my June 1 request of GMCS notes, but "30 calendar days" seems more of a guideline than an actual rule anyway.
 
Majromax said:
My ECAS shows DM as of today, which should be good news given no document requests. No reply yet to my June 1 request of GMCS notes, but "30 calendar days" seems more of a guideline than an actual rule anyway.
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Congratulations :D
 
Majromax said:
My ECAS shows DM as of today, which should be good news given no document requests. No reply yet to my June 1 request of GMCS notes, but "30 calendar days" seems more of a guideline than an actual rule anyway.
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Congratulations!!
 
We have been waiting since April 2014...I have a problem with requesting case notes and seeing our application was not touched from August 2014..As of May 2015 the Case notes indicated still had not been touched other then our request for case notes...on June 1, 2015 we rec'd a request for more medical....we pre paid everything and did MEDs up front...the Meds expired...the request for more meds was $120 more dollars...How does any case file sit for 9 months?...As a Canadian I am seriously outraged...In the private sector if you have a case sitting on your desk for 9 months that was not even looked at you would be canned...This system is broken...every day we look to see if we can move to the next chapter of our life and wait...even now online as of 23JUN2015 the site says "In Process" for the first time...and we wait...When you have Management that does not care why do you think case workers would care?
 
Majromax said:
My ECAS shows DM as of today, which should be good news given no document requests. No reply yet to my June 1 request of GMCS notes, but "30 calendar days" seems more of a guideline than an actual rule anyway.
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Email them, so you get an acknowledgement that you are overdue, then you can file a complaint with the some commissioner who investigates these overdue requests (some have actually had some very, very, very interesting results)
 
Sunset, you were sent to LA? That means there are red flags, so expect your application to be in-line with the processing times for LA, which right now is 29 months. They will most likely extend your meds. You can try going to your MP, but I don't know if you will have much luck.

Order your GCMS notes and see why you were flagged.
 
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