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"Decision made"... For 9 months?

SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
Hi all! So I've been scouring the forums but haven't been able to exactly find the information I need. We applied for my wife to move to Canada with me on an Outland spousal sponsorship and it was received on December 5th, 2016. In March the online portal changed to show decision made, and in may we were asked to pay the RPRF fee and send in the receipts which we did. Since then we have not received any communication or request or paperwork in the mail. Do any of you know what we should expect? We really need the paperwork within the next month.

Hoping for the best for us and for you all! Thanks!

Sheila
 

KBH

Champion Member
Sep 13, 2017
1,454
763
Toronto, ON
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
Mississauga
App. Filed.......
August 2nd, 2017
AOR Received.
September 22nd, 2017
File Transfer...
October 7th, 2017
Passport Req..
December 29th, 2017
VISA ISSUED...
January 23rd, 2018
LANDED..........
Feb 1st, 2018
This is not what you want to hear but I would be very concerned at this point that you have missed a request in your mail or email and potentially had the entire app tossed out. They will not wait around for a response. You have not tried to reach them via phone or webform from May until now? Immediately call the IRCC hotline tomorrow and find out what is going on with your app. Do not wait any longer. I hope that things work out OK, please report back after you call them because I'm honestly worried for you!
 
Last edited:

charliev

Member
Jul 27, 2016
17
6
Hi all! So I've been scouring the forums but haven't been able to exactly find the information I need. We applied for my wife to move to Canada with me on an Outland spousal sponsorship and it was received on December 5th, 2016. In March the online portal changed to show decision made, and in may we were asked to pay the RPRF fee and send in the receipts which we did. Since then we have not received any communication or request or paperwork in the mail. Do any of you know what we should expect? We really need the paperwork within the next month.

Hoping for the best for us and for you all! Thanks!

Sheila
Hey Sheila,

I think you should just call Immigration Canada or try to contact your VO.
We ordered GCMS notes after we hadn't heard anything for over 6 months. Turned out, they hadn't touched our file in 5 months and we were stuck on the penultimate step. We called Immigration Canada and contacted our VO (which had changed from Paris to Ottawa somewhere along the way). After that, it all went very quickly.
 
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SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
Being in the states we can't call the hotline and we've tried repeatedly to email to no avail. We just sent another tonight.
 

SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
Hey Sheila,

I think you should just call Immigration Canada or try to contact your VO.
We ordered GCMS notes after we hadn't heard anything for over 6 months. Turned out, they hadn't touched our file in 5 months and we were stuck on the penultimate step. We called Immigration Canada and contacted our VO (which had changed from Paris to Ottawa somewhere along the way). After that, it all went very quickly.
What is a VO, what is GCMS, and do you know who we can call from the States? We've tried and can't find a number we can call from here except the embassy which was unable to help in any way.
 

WeegieInOttawa

Champion Member
Jun 11, 2017
1,126
372
Ottawa
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
London (UK)
App. Filed.......
24-10-2017
AOR Received.
08-12-2017
File Transfer...
24-01-2018
Med's Request
11-12-2017
Med's Done....
02-01-2018
Being in the states we can't call the hotline and we've tried repeatedly to email to no avail. We just sent another tonight.
Why can't you call just because you're in the US? I have seen (on here) many people from many different countries call CIC.

As others have said..this situation doesn't sound right and id be doing everything you can in the next day or so to get to the bottom of this.

(VO means Visa Office. GCMS means Global Case Management System..this is a system that visa offices/officers processing applications use to make notes on an individual application..concerns, observations, points to note etc. These notes can be ordered by applicants to help understand the status of their application.)
 

jordo

Hero Member
Apr 27, 2014
472
159
Regina, SK
The call centre phone number only works for calls made from within Canada. The people calling from outside canada are generally using a calling card with a canadian access phone number.. This only works while the application is still in Mississauga. Otherwise you need to email the Visa Office that has the file.

An example is my wife has a cell phone plan that includes free long distance minutes to canada. She uses OneSuite.com with loaded minutes and calls one of the available canadian access numbers thus tricking CIC's phone system into thinking the call is being made from inside Canada. Since our outland application was processed from beginning to end in Mississauga, we used this method whenever we needed to make a call.
 
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MaryL

Hero Member
Apr 24, 2014
827
299
Land of Living Skies
Visa Office......
Rabat
App. Filed.......
30-10-14
AOR Received.
22-01-15
File Transfer...
27-01-15
Med's Done....
28-08-14 Redone 25-07-17
Interview........
21-05-15 DM 10-08-17
Passport Req..
05-10-17
VISA ISSUED...
11-10-17
LANDED..........
14-10-17
What about a Web inquiry form? If you can see online that dm is made, did you link? Are there any messages in acct? By now also your wife's medical has expired.
Also check your spam or junk mail.
You can call your mp as well to inquire!
 
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SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
What about a Web inquiry form? If you can see online that dm is made, did you link? Are there any messages in acct? By now also your wife's medical has expired.
Also check your spam or junk mail.
You can call your mp as well to inquire!
It wouldn't make sense that the medical has expired if the current average processing time is 11 months.
 

SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
The call centre phone number only works for calls made from within Canada. The people calling from outside canada are generally using a calling card with a canadian access phone number.. This only works while the application is still in Mississauga. Otherwise you need to email the Visa Office that has the file.

An example is my wife has a cell phone plan that includes free long distance minutes to canada. She uses OneSuite.com with loaded minutes and calls one of the available canadian access numbers thus tricking CIC's phone system into thinking the call is being made from inside Canada. Since our outland application was processed from beginning to end in Mississauga, we used this method whenever we needed to make a call.
I tried this several times and it still says it cannot be completed as dialed.
 

WeegieInOttawa

Champion Member
Jun 11, 2017
1,126
372
Ottawa
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
London (UK)
App. Filed.......
24-10-2017
AOR Received.
08-12-2017
File Transfer...
24-01-2018
Med's Request
11-12-2017
Med's Done....
02-01-2018
The call centre phone number only works for calls made from within Canada. The people calling from outside canada are generally using a calling card with a canadian access phone number.. This only works while the application is still in Mississauga. Otherwise you need to email the Visa Office that has the file.

An example is my wife has a cell phone plan that includes free long distance minutes to canada. She uses OneSuite.com with loaded minutes and calls one of the available canadian access numbers thus tricking CIC's phone system into thinking the call is being made from inside Canada. Since our outland application was processed from beginning to end in Mississauga, we used this method whenever we needed to make a call.
Wow . They don't make it easy do they?! o_O
 

kcward7

VIP Member
May 4, 2017
3,788
1,436
That makes sense, but the medical already went through/was approved.
Sometimes they will either extend the medical or ask for a new one if it's expired or getting close to.

That being said, that happens before Decision Made. It sounds like the applicant already received DM, so I don't know why MaryL even brought up the medical because if you did the medical and subsequently got DM, it would be irrelevant. Have you been able to contact them yet?
 

SheilaCanadian

Full Member
Jan 8, 2018
37
6
Sometimes they will either extend the medical or ask for a new one if it's expired or getting close to.

That being said, that happens before Decision Made. It sounds like the applicant already received DM, so I don't know why MaryL even brought up the medical because if you did the medical and subsequently got DM, it would be irrelevant. Have you been able to contact them yet?
Still working on it. Tried the calling card truck but it hasn't worked so far. Sent an email yesterday - says 20 business days but last time it was quicker.