Havana, Cuba

[YHYY]

Hello everyone,

Question, I'm finalizing all the documents for CIC but I don't have the police check or the medical examination. What is the best course of action? Submit it anyways and send those documents when asked or get it first then file the application? If they do ask for the documents later on, is it requested before the application reaches Havana? What's the timeline delay with the application if their waiting for these documents? My husband said he won't get his police check for a month. Did everyone do the medical examination in Havana? Everything takes forever in Cuba. It's so frustrating. Unless you're paying people off.

Thank you!

 

[Mapleson]

I saw this and had to ask! what do you mean by processed differently? in terms of time (does it take more or less?). I know the only difference is the CSQ but I wanted to know what you were referring to if you don't mind sharing!

As an aside, since 2006, Quebec has been recognized officially as a nation within Canada. This isn't too strange as it's like Scotland in the UK or Catalonia in Spain.

Since the Acts of Confederation in 1867, Quebec has had direct control over who is permitted to immigrate to the province. This is mostly due to the historical conflict between the English and French cultures in Upper and Lower Canada. While the current process is very similar in many regards for spouses, it is separate and parallel to federal applications. There are other differences in other types of applications, such as the financial requirements for parental sponsorship are higher in Quebec.

Since 2012, a majority of Cuban immigrants to Canada have settled in Quebec. Of the 3902 Cubans to receive PR status in the last 5 years, 1952 were for Quebec and 1950 were for the Rest of Canada.

 

[Mapleson]

Hello everyone,

Question, I'm finalizing all the documents for CIC but I don't have the police check or the medical examination. What is the best course of action? Submit it anyways and send those documents when asked or get it first then file the application? If they do ask for the documents later on, is it requested before the application reaches Havana? What's the timeline delay with the application if their waiting for these documents? My husband said he won't get his police check for a month. Did everyone do the medical examination in Havana? Everything takes forever in Cuba. It's so frustrating. Unless you're paying people off.

Thank you!

Havana is the only place in Cuba for medical exams. You can only book an appointment by phone on Friday mornings, and expect to keep redialing for an hour or so to get through. After that, it'll be about a month wait before you can get in for an appointment. From my reading of the document checklist, you must include the medical and police check upfront or risk your application being rejected as incomplete. He'll have to get his medical history and vaccination records beforehand as well.

From my wife's application, she found out she could have gotten her police record within a week by doing it in Havana.

 

[Mapleson]

Cubans allowed to come to canada? mmm when was that? 1940???? cuban immigration was higher? mmm when was that? go figure the cuban population in canada is the least of all comunities,,,
the high levels of infidelity(exactly wait for your turn) sham relationships? I wonder,,do the cubans come to canada and marry the canadians here or do the ''lonely canadians'' go to Cuba? and get them there? trust me my friend you dont wanna go to that subject..
too many cubans didnt go home? NOPE,,,because cubans went to US(didnt stay here ilegally) and Canada is afraid of getting their wrists slapped,thats why...
cubans who have integrate well? mmmm,,,gotta see that,,,like i said,,,ill see you posting here in a couple months saying what happened to you maybe,,,cuz like i said,,there is a 90 % that might happen,,,a cuban can love you,fall in love with you and he-she will be the best loving and caring husband-wife you will have,,,you just have to play your cards well and get to know your spouse and of course DONT EVER make him-her feel as if you are in charge of the boat and his-her freedom.

Cuban immigration was higher in the 1990s than the 2010s. In the last 5 years, more Cubans have come to Canada than Brazilians, even though Brazil has has 17-18 times as many people. It's also higher than Rome, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Guatemala, Lima, Amman, Santo Domingo, Buenos Aires, and Santiago.

I personally know 6 Cubans who love living in Canada, including my brother-in-law and two of his cousins. When you limit yourself to a "Cuban" community, it's going to be small and fragmented. If you look instead at the Latin community, they are the fourth largest segment of Canadian immigrants. There are more Latinos than your "Arabs".

British immigrants to Canada face the same restrictions to entering the US as Cubans. To illegal enter and illegally stay in the US is still breaking the conditions of the immigration contract. I didn't say the Cubans in question stayed in Canada, I said they didn't return to Cuba.

At the very least, you can look at this thread and notice you are the only Cuban or spouse that's complaining about how bad Canada is. I know my wife and I know that she is a statistical outlier. She complains from April to October about the heat and always avoids the sun. She dislikes the vigilant community observation and enjoys working hard. You are right that she will be the most loving and caring wife I will have, because she is the only one I will have.

I'm sure we will have our hardships, and at times she's going to get frustrated and upset, but she understands sometimes you need to suffer short-term problems for long-term gains. The only time I take the lead without her input is when she has explicitly said that she doesn't want to be bothered, and even then I check with her before making any final decision/actions. Isn't that how a relationship is supposed to work?

 

[Mrs.DoryBaby]

To save money, I'm renting a room on a monthly basis until our application is approved. In the meantime, I've been looking at apartments for rent or sale, mostly to keep myself occupied. What do people here think, is it better to move into a neighbourhood with a large Spanish speaking population to ease the transition, or not use that as a factor to speed the transition?

I know my wife can adapt to wherever we live, but I'm more concerned with my step-daughter (12) and school as ESL.

To save money, I'm renting a room on a monthly basis until our application is approved. In the meantime, I've been looking at apartments for rent or sale, mostly to keep myself occupied. What do people here think, is it better to move into a neighbourhood with a large Spanish speaking population to ease the transition, or not use that as a factor to speed the transition?

I know my wife can adapt to wherever we live, but I'm more concerned with my step-daughter (12) and school as ESL.

My husband 'Cuban' - adapted just fine. he has been here almost 3 months and started working 2 days after he got here... no English and no family. if they want to be here they will be here 110% home sick or not. we don't live near our cuban friends but we try to see them once in a while - I cook Cuban for him, we speak Spanish, we watch spanish television (although i hate it, i do not tell him that lol) I always keep in mind what he has sacrificed for me and he does the same for me!

TAKE IT ONE DAY AT A TIME AND GO EASY ON HER - THE EASIER IT IS FOR HER TO ENJOY THE JOYS OF CANADA THE MORE YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO LOVE EACHOTHER AND HAVE FUN!

 

[Mrs.DoryBaby]

ill give you a couple months until she runs for the border....
its not the language ITS the people!!!!
i have many friends in vancouver,toronto,quebec and i have never been told by any of them that they enjoy this country..because of the taxes and its stupid laws...they let chinese and arabs come here but not cubans maybe like someone told me once"maybe they are afraid cubans will steal the women from the canadian guys" lol....bottomline...Canada is not made for cubans or cubans are not made for canada..

Hey! This forum is to help people not plant negativity in their heads! if that as the case we should all just stand on a street corner and have 90% of the population judge us for marrying Cubans.

My husband and I are madly in love!! We don't know what the future holds. Just like the guy who marries his high school sweetheart could get divorced after 6 months.

Lets not beat each other down - society does it to us ENOUGH as it is!!

 

[Mrs.DoryBaby]

hey guys! its been a while!!!

I just wanted to share the amazing news!

The travel visa was approved for my mother-in-law on Friday and she was able to make it to the wedding just hours before it started. My hubby was so happy! Go figure, he’s been here not even 3 months and I was able to get his mom here for a visit! I call that LUCK and God’s hands!

I’ll give you all a quick re-cap of what went on! Usually TVR’s take 1 week for Havana, this period of time – took 12 days. They are VERY BUSY!

Out of 50 applications they accepted 2 with my Mother in Law as a pending 3Rd. I had completed all the necessary applications for my mother in law and sent the down with someone –I included 2014’s T4 slip, a letter of employment and the previous years T4’s, OPTION C and Letter of employment (I had copies of the CIC application). I figured it was enough proof of income, and it was.

She went to Havana and across the way there is an office that will assist you in reviewing paperwork. She spent nearly the entire day there as some things were required to be changed (EMPLOYMENT HISTORY – I completed on a separate spread sheet (similar to the CIC sponsorship I did for my hubby) WAS NOT GOOD! For TRV applications it MUST be on the application, not separate).

She submitted – they told her to come back in 12 days! They kept her passport and application documents.

She returned hoping for some good news but they didn’t have an answer for her - they told her they needed her youngest son’s birth certificate. (this was 2 days before my Canadian wedding to her son! ).

She went home and called her lawyer friend who generated this certificate for her, went back and submitted it – she waited all day and again! No answer…. They said they had to authenticate it because she was able to produce it so quickly.

She went back home (2 and a half hours… second time in a row) and waiting (I GAVE UP HOPE).

Then Friday afternoon we got the call – she was approved.

Drove to Havana and picked up her VISA!

God is good, and my hubby had his mommy here for his second wedding to me!!

 

[newgirl1]

I agree, this site is to support eachother and help eachother through this stressful process and not to bring in negative OPINIONS! Loky aren't u trying to get your visa to move to Canada but yet what you're saying completely contradicts what you're doing.

My cuban husband and I met when he was living in Manchester England where it rains more than here in Vancouver and he adapted there just fine, people there are also worse in my opinion than Canadians and he didn't let it effect him....and now he is in Vancouver which is 100 times better than Manchester and loving it. He learned English really fast when he lived in England because he forsed himself, he listened to the radio in English, watched english TV and aside from some of his salsa dancing friends 90% of his friends were English and now in Vancouver he has had no problem finding work that he actually enjoys doing instead of HAVING to do because of a lack of English which I think plays a BIG part in adapting. He won't be running for any border because he has absolutely no interest in the US nore does he have any family there, he went BACK to Cuba from the UK BECAUSE I lived in Canada and he wanted to be with Me. Every situation is different. If perple want to be negative and poisonous better join another forum like Cuba Amor or something like that...this is NOT the place for it

 

[newgirl1]

Congrats again Dory! You're wedding looked beautiful in your photos!!! Xoxo

I was just wondering if anyone has gotten their visa after the date that my husband got his on March 11th. It seems that the office in havana came to a screeching hault after that round of visas.
The reason I'm asking is because Iv gotten a few pm from ppl in the past few days who are getting pretty anxious and I guess if nobody has been getting their visas lately it's better than feeling like you're being singled out or worrying that their May be something wrong with your application.
I think at this point the best thing for everyone to do is set their minds to think that you will be getting the visa closer to the posted processing times instead of the 4-5 months that it was taking before. Just so you don't drive yourself crazy. That way if you do get your visa before the posted time it will be a pleasant surprise instead of expecting to get it within 4-5 months and then getting disappointed and stressed out when you don't.
If you guys are able to go to Cuba to spend time with your spouses and I recommend doing so, it helps time pass and keeps your mind off things. Even getting off this site helps, only come on here when u have a question otherwise you will drive yourselves crazy when you see others getting visas and you are still waiting. But that's just my opinion, that's what I had to do for a few months or else I would have been miserable haha. Good luck guys, hang in there, and go on a vacation to cuba!

 

[Krys]

Congrats again Dory! You're wedding looked beautiful in your photos!!! Xoxo

I was just wondering if anyone has gotten their visa after the date that my husband got his on March 11th. It seems that the office in havana came to a screeching hault after that round of visas.
The reason I'm asking is because Iv gotten a few pm from ppl in the past few days who are getting pretty anxious and I guess if nobody has been getting their visas lately it's better than feeling like you're being singled out or worrying that their May be something wrong with your application.
I think at this point the best thing for everyone to do is set their minds to think that you will be getting the visa closer to the posted processing times instead of the 4-5 months that it was taking before. Just so you don't drive yourself crazy. That way if you do get your visa before the posted time it will be a pleasant surprise instead of expecting to get it within 4-5 months and then getting disappointed and stressed out when you don't.
If you guys are able to go to Cuba to spend time with your spouses and I recommend doing so, it helps time pass and keeps your mind off things. Even getting off this site helps, only come on here when u have a question otherwise you will drive yourselves crazy when you see others getting visas and you are still waiting. But that's just my opinion, that's what I had to do for a few months or else I would have been miserable haha. Good luck guys, hang in there, and go on a vacation to cuba!

Good advice newgirl! I am still waiting for the day my husband receives the call lol.. It will be 7 months next week so i'm just looking forward to the 9 month mark.. I will keep everyone posted when that day comes. Hope all is going well with you and your husband!

 

[luigui]

Congrats again Dory! You're wedding looked beautiful in your photos!!! Xoxo

Good advice, I'm leaving this Friday to visit my wife for two weeks , last update I got on their web site about three weeks ago was that they have received the medical results which were done last september, the file was transfer to Habana at the end of February, I hope doesn't take that much longer, has been two months after the file has been transferred.

I was just wondering if anyone has gotten their visa after the date that my husband got his on March 11th. It seems that the office in havana came to a screeching hault after that round of visas.
The reason I'm asking is because Iv gotten a few pm from ppl in the past few days who are getting pretty anxious and I guess if nobody has been getting their visas lately it's better than feeling like you're being singled out or worrying that their May be something wrong with your application.
I think at this point the best thing for everyone to do is set their minds to think that you will be getting the visa closer to the posted processing times instead of the 4-5 months that it was taking before. Just so you don't drive yourself crazy. That way if you do get your visa before the posted time it will be a pleasant surprise instead of expecting to get it within 4-5 months and then getting disappointed and stressed out when you don't.
If you guys are able to go to Cuba to spend time with your spouses and I recommend doing so, it helps time pass and keeps your mind off things. Even getting off this site helps, only come on here when u have a question otherwise you will drive yourselves crazy when you see others getting visas and you are still waiting. But that's just my opinion, that's what I had to do for a few months or else I would have been miserable haha. Good luck guys, hang in there, and go on a vacation to cuba!

 

[Mapleson]

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. I don't think anyone would preserve with this process if they didn't hope for a better outcome.

I'm currently booking a two week trip to Cuba for the second half of May. It'll be 104 days since I last held my wife, when the longest we've been apart previously was 31 days.

As for being on this site, I take the opposite view. The more informed I am about typical wait times, the less I stress day to day. Conversely, as my expected AOR date approached within a week, I was filled with positive anticipation. When it came 2 days before I'd set as my reasonable expected window, it was the greatest day this year. In the meantime, this forum keeps me distracted and feeling productive.

For people stressing about processing times, I'd be willing to put together a spreadsheet for Cubans, if people provide their details. The thing to remember when we represent such a small fraction of the total is that the statistical variance can be quite large (meaning it seems like applications are going faster than they really are because the people here aren't representative of the whole). In the next week, I'm hoping for quarterly update to the processing times.

 

[V_Gonzalez]

We received a call to re-send our Schedule A: Background (Dind't go far enough back). Does the updated version have to be a signed original copy, or can I email them an an updated version?

Thanks..

 

[newgirl1]

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. I don't think anyone would preserve with this process if they didn't hope for a better outcome.

I'm currently booking a two week trip to Cuba for the second half of May. It'll be 104 days since I last held my wife, when the longest we've been apart previously was 31 days.

As for being on this site, I take the opposite view. The more informed I am about typical wait times, the less I stress day to day. Conversely, as my expected AOR date approached within a week, I was filled with positive anticipation. When it came 2 days before I'd set as my reasonable expected window, it was the greatest day this year. In the meantime, this forum keeps me distracted and feeling productive.



For people stressing about processing times, I'd be willing to put together a spreadsheet for Cubans, if people provide their details. The thing to remember when we represent such a small fraction of the total is that the statistical variance can be quite large (meaning it seems like applications are going faster than they really are because the people here aren't representative of the whole). In the next week, I'm hoping for quarterly update to the processing times.

Hehe u take the opposite view because you have only been on here for a month and everything has gone smoothly so far. What I mean is when you're on here for a long time and let's say it seems like it's been taking about 4-5 months from transfer to havana up until now but when it goes past that time people start getting worried and thinking the worst about their application...it happened to me at the begginging...when everyone's AOR and SA was talking 1 month and mine took like 3.... That's when this forum can start getting stressful and you need to step away.

 

[Mrs.DoryBaby]

Hello everyone!

as new girl mentioned it does seem that Havana came to a hault... the TRV took almost double than usual wait times- so if they are that busy with invites they must be swamped with applications...

KEEP YOUR HEADS UP HIGH AND DO NOT STRESS... I WISH I HAD SOMEONE THERE FOR ME WHEN I WAS STRESSING.

I PROMISE- ONE DAY YOU WILL WAKE UP AND THE BALL WILL BE ROLLING AND YOU WONT KNOW WHAT HIT YOU!

for those who were requested to submit schedules - don't stress... this will not/ should not slow you down!

I know people that had the same issue and their process did not slow down what so ever!

xox