Hello Graeme and Mikeandlana!

[fingerscrossed]

Hello Graeme and Mikeandlana!

Thanks so much for the info.
I am still a wee bit unsure on a few things. Here are all the details of our situation.
We have submitted our application for PR visa in December, things in Canada were approved and then Singapore received our application Feb 6. We have been waiting and working in Thailand since. We are fairly confident that all of our paper work is in order (thanks to a lot of help from the members of this forum) we sent in loads of pictures, housing receipts, details of our stays in Canada etc. etc. etc. etc. We have been living together here (Thailand) and in Canada for 5 years and really hope an interview won’t be needed (knock on wood).

I applied to university in Ontario and received a letter of acceptance last week, this has put a bit of a rush on our plans. We just assumed that there was no other choice but to wait it out until her PR visa was granted. After reading your posts we might try to get her TRV and then wait for her PR while in Canada.
What do you think?
From what I understand the risk is that if an interview is needed we would have to incur the extra costs to fly back to Asia, Is this correct?
Mikeandlana you mentioned about the documents and translations, we have been lucky in that respect, my wife is from the Philippines so all the docs were in English.
Sorry if I have been rambling on, a bit excited about these new prospects.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
FC

 

[Graeme]

Just a personal question: if your going to school and shes on a TRV (she can't work), how are going to support each other?. Unless you have lots of $$$$ saved.

Anyways yeah go ahead and do the TRV its well worth it. Just get her to return around 7 months (apprently 80% of cases are finialized then).

another question; why didn't you submit her forms into CIC Manila if shes from the Phillipines?.



Graeme

 

[mikeandlana]

Hey fingerscrossed,
Congrats on going back to school. I'm just finishing up some courses myself through Athabasca and studying for the LSAT. It sounds like your well along in the PR process, so hopefully the wait will be over in the near future. I believe that if your wife enters Canada on a TRV she will have to show a return ticket upon entry. Yet another additional expense that you may want to consider in figuring out your accounting.

As with Graeme, I wonder why your application was submitted through Singapore and not Manila. Is this because she is living and working in Thailand? I know people going through the process through Manila and the immigration office there is top notch for customer service.

Additionally, I'm not so sure that your wife will require an interview. I have not heard of anyone who required an interview through the Singapore office. And I've heard from two or three who did not require an interview. Of course, there doesn't appear to be many of us online going through Singapore.

Graeme, have you heard from anyone who went through the interview process? Would that take place in Bangkok?

Mike

 

[Graeme]

From the couples I've spoken to, none of them had an interview; but I think if an interview was required I would imagine it would be at the closest embassy. It would really suck balls if someone had to travel to the processing CIC office just for a interview. I heard Singapore's really nice though.


Graeme

 

[fingerscrossed]

Thanks again for the info guys!

The reason why we didn’t go through Manila was the posted processing times were slightly shorter in Singapore at the time we did the research, also my wife has a teacher’s license and work permit here in Thailand, so she met the criteria to submit the application through Singapore. Contrary to what you posted, our friends didn’t find the Embassy in Manila to be very user-friendly, so we opted to take the Singapore route. Sure hope we took the right path……….

Graeme you mentioned about the “$$$$$$”. We have managed to save a bit of money teaching and we have an income in Canada from some rental units (apartments) so money isn’t our biggest concern but our lives would be a lot better if my wife could work from day one.

I agree that not many interviews are conducted; I do believe that if an interview is required we will have to go to the issuing embassy in Singapore. Graeme I like the way you summed that up with the “lick balls”, definitely hits the nail on the head.

I think our plan is that I will return to Canada June 1st and get things in order for my studies, and then my wife will follow when she is granted her PR. Sure hate the wait and don’t like the time apart but I guess it is a small price to pay if you look at the big picture! Our contracts are finished in June but the school said my wife can work up until the day she leaves, so this is good as she can still earn a bit of baht while in limbo.

One more thing guys, have you had any changes on your Ecas files? We have been keeping a very close eye on ours and the other day it said “medical certificate received”. The thing is the Dr. submitted this in December, just wondering why they would post received now. We are probably over analyzing this but we are hoping that maybe they are evaluating our application…………

Wow, this is a long post, sorry guys rambling on a bit. Anyway thanks so much for your insight. Sure nice to have some people going through the same process.
Hope we all have a quick and positive outcome.
Thanks again!!!!!!!!
FC
P.S. Mikeandlana good luck on the LSAT, Law ya?? Giong to be an immigration lawyer???? all the best!!!

 

[Graeme]

I haven't had any changes to E-cas for a very long time like 7 months.

CIC Singapore sent us back the medical exam because it was expired. So wife went to Bangkok to get a update a couple of weeks ago. So maybe they will update it then.

I was thinking E-cas didn't work, because my wife had a tourist visa with an extention, none of them were on E-cas, same whenever they asked us for more info, there was never a "received" thing on the site.


Or maybe Singapore has never received any of the additional info we provided to them. That would really suck balls.lol



Anyways good luck, keep us posted


Graeme

 

[fingerscrossed]

Hey Graeme,
Wow 7 months.......... You must be getting near the end of your wait now!!!
Did you ever get the "Medical results received" on Ecas?
That is too bad that your medical expired,
was it only valid for 6 months? we did our medical at BNH and it is valid for 1 year!!
What if your wife received her PR while on TRV in Canada, could she have stayed in Canada and just mailed her passport to Singapore?
Thanks again
Good luck!!!
FC

 

[Graeme]

I haven't had a single update on E-cas since I started looking on it regularly. it says "we started processing application on October 1 2007".

Now I'm kinda confused because CIC Singapore sent back the medical form that was sent with the orginal package, and it was stamped april 6 - which is 6 months from Oct 1 2007. So I figured they wanted new a one. But the letter they sent with the medical forms, with the address of the doctors in Asia, and asked for 5 recent passport photos.

And yeah I just looked on cic.gc.ca and they said 1 year as well.

Did I just go crazy?, and thought they wanted new medical check done? my wife sent a new medical form and the 5 photos to Singapore anyways.

I think I will be writing Singapore and e-mail today.....

I'm still unclear about the whole TRV and PR in Canada thing; what happens if a interview is required?

maybe an expert can answer that question.

 

[Graeme]

Hey PMM,

why would CIC Singapore send back my wife's medical form???? without any instructions to get a new one made. I thought they expired 6 months. And she is healthly no werid viruses.

And I have never seen "medical results recieved" on e-cas, but the medical form was stamped by CIC Singapore, which I would think; they did received them.


thanks, your response is much appeciated

Graeme

 

[fingerscrossed]

Graeme,
If I was you I would email Singapore ASAP, they have been very helpful with us over the past few months. It all sounds a bit wierd!! Good luck!!
FC

 

[mikeandlana]

Hey Graeme,
Just a quick note in regards to ecas. Our file has never shown anything other than the in Canada portion as having been processed. Nothing for my wife which prompted me to contact Singapore. They said it was in the system and I'm assuming that they are not very diligent in updating the records on ecas. So much for 30% of their case being processed within 3 months!
Take care

And fingerscrossed: if all goes well and I do get to study law, I definately will have no interest in immigration law!!