Help needed for getting status information on an idle file

[Sam_Syr]

Hello world !
I need your expert advice on my case: Outland Spousal Sponsorship.

PA (myself): Syrian citizen (was living in Sudan at the time of app receipt at Sydney)
Sponsor (my wife): Syrian citizen, PR in Canada (she was also living with me in Sudan at the time of applying for sponsorship- I know the terrible mistake you think we've done now* but please bear with me).

So we both traveled to Sudan to be able to get legally married.
I had been living in a country that doesn't allow my nationality to be married legally, and she was in Canada which I also couldn't travel to with my very weak passport (3rd worst passport on the planet). Thus we moved to the only visa-free country (Sudan) that allowed Syrians to study/work/get married/etc..
*The terrible mistake is -you guessed it- applying while she was living OUTSIDE Canada with me, which is not permitted for non-Canadians as the "Who's eligible to sponsor" page states.


Anyway they received the app on March 27th,
sent us AOR on April 3rd (YES only 7 days later),
DM on sponsor side (AKA SA) on April 4th*
Bio request on April 6th, Bio given on April 17th in Malaysia, since no VACs in Sudan, and updated the same day on GCKey.
File transfer to Rome-Italy Office on April 16th.
"We've started processing your application" on the PA side on ECAS on April 21st.
No med request yet.
*We still don't know what decision they made on the sponsor side, we're not even sure it's SA, nothing on both of our emails, not in the spam or anywhere, despite the million times we begged them to send it, we're still left with no clue.

Since that date, everything has been dead silent.


Now you might say she was accepted as a sponsor since they transferred the file and sent bio request and so on. but that's not really relieving since we unfortunately checked the " If you were found ineligible to sponsor..." option B. "proceed with the application for permanent residence" in Form IMM1344.
So we really need to know what's going on with both Sponsorship and PR applications, instead of keep waiting for an "inevitable refusal" that might take many months to come and that'll keep me parted from my wife and my coming baby for more than we can bear.

Another useful info: despite the terrible mistake of applying while she's outside Canada with me, we still sent many proofs that she's returning to Canada after spending a couple of months with me (about five)*, i.e. her return ticket, permanent address in Canada with her parents, different bonds in Ontario, a letter explaining when/how/why she's certainly returning.
*We later changed her returning date (out of fear) to be about 40 days before the original date, so she was back in Canada last month.

To get an answer for all those worrying questions, we contacted Rome VO multiple times through both webform and direct emails, about 10% of the time we got a generic useless response, and the remaining 90% we were simply ignored and our messages went to the IRCC black hole.
We also tried reaching the call center, to get any info or relief whether we have any chance to reunite this year, but the agents refused to give my wife any answers, claiming that they don't have access to the files being processed outside Canada.


We are now in panic, confusion, and uncertainty about a lot of things. Can anyone suggest what we do? were the agents honest about not being able to access the file since it is in Rome? who can we talk to?
It's a bit ironical that I expect to get useful answers from the experts in this unofficial forum, more than I do from the agents in IRCC themselves!


Sorry for the extensive details but I wanted to answer any question you might ask.. so that way I'll get just answers instead of more questions.

Thank you in advance.

 

[21Goose]

It's very likely that your application will be refused since you haven't followed the rules.

Another useful info: despite the terrible mistake of applying while she's outside Canada with me, we still sent many proofs that she's returning to Canada after spending a couple of months with me (about five)*, i.e. her return ticket, permanent address in Canada with her parents, different bonds in Ontario, a letter explaining when/how/why she's certainly returning.

None of this matters. A PR cannot sponsor someone while living outside Canada. Your wife should have moved back to Canada and then sponsored you. As it stands, she is simply ineligible to sponsor you.

You can order your GCMS notes (Google "Order GCMS notes") if you want to see what's happening with your file. It will take roughly a month.

You should assume that you will be denied and plan accordingly.

 

[Sam_Syr]

It's very likely that your application will be refused since you haven't followed the rules.

Another useful info: despite the terrible mistake of applying while she's outside Canada with me, we still sent many proofs that she's returning to Canada after spending a couple of months with me (about five)*, i.e. her return ticket, permanent address in Canada with her parents, different bonds in Ontario, a letter explaining when/how/why she's certainly returning.

None of this matters. A PR cannot sponsor someone while living outside Canada. Your wife should have moved back to Canada and then sponsored you. As it stands, she is simply ineligible to sponsor you.

You can order your GCMS notes (Google "Order GCMS notes") if you want to see what's happening with your file. It will take roughly a month.

You should assume that you will be denied and plan accordingly.

ok why don't they deny it already? why wasting more time?
on the other hand, do you think my wife should withdraw the application and reapply before refusal and before more wait?

You're a "champion member" you know. so your consultation matters a lot

 

[Sam_Syr]

Hello world !
I need your expert advice on my case: Outland Spousal Sponsorship.

PA (myself): Syrian citizen (was living in Sudan at the time of app receipt at Sydney)
Sponsor (my wife): Syrian citizen, PR in Canada (she was also living with me in Sudan at the time of applying for sponsorship- I know the terrible mistake you think we've done now* but please bear with me).

So we both traveled to Sudan to be able to get legally married.
I had been living in a country that doesn't allow my nationality to be married legally, and she was in Canada which I also couldn't travel to with my very weak passport (3rd worst passport on the planet). Thus we moved to the only visa-free country (Sudan) that allowed Syrians to study/work/get married/etc..
*The terrible mistake is -you guessed it- applying while she was living OUTSIDE Canada with me, which is not permitted for non-Canadians as the "Who's eligible to sponsor" page states.


Anyway they received the app on March 27th,
sent us AOR on April 3rd (YES only 7 days later),
DM on sponsor side (AKA SA) on April 4th*
Bio request on April 6th, Bio given on April 17th in Malaysia, since no VACs in Sudan, and updated the same day on GCKey.
File transfer to Rome-Italy Office on April 16th.
"We've started processing your application" on the PA side on ECAS on April 21st.
No med request yet.
*We still don't know what decision they made on the sponsor side, we're not even sure it's SA, nothing on both of our emails, not in the spam or anywhere, despite the million times we begged them to send it, we're still left with no clue.

Since that date, everything has been dead silent.


Now you might say she was accepted as a sponsor since they transferred the file and sent bio request and so on. but that's not really relieving since we unfortunately checked the " If you were found ineligible to sponsor..." option B. "proceed with the application for permanent residence" in Form IMM1344.
So we really need to know what's going on with both Sponsorship and PR applications, instead of keep waiting for an "inevitable refusal" that might take many months to come and that'll keep me parted from my wife and my coming baby for more than we can bear.

Another useful info: despite the terrible mistake of applying while she's outside Canada with me, we still sent many proofs that she's returning to Canada after spending a couple of months with me (about five)*, i.e. her return ticket, permanent address in Canada with her parents, different bonds in Ontario, a letter explaining when/how/why she's certainly returning.
*We later changed her returning date (out of fear) to be about 40 days before the original date, so she was back in Canada last month.

To get an answer for all those worrying questions, we contacted Rome VO multiple times through both webform and direct emails, about 10% of the time we got a generic useless response, and the remaining 90% we were simply ignored and our messages went to the IRCC black hole.
We also tried reaching the call center, to get any info or relief whether we have any chance to reunite this year, but the agents refused to give my wife any answers, claiming that they don't have access to the files being processed outside Canada.


We are now in panic, confusion, and uncertainty about a lot of things. Can anyone suggest what we do? were the agents honest about not being able to access the file since it is in Rome? who can we talk to?
It's a bit ironical that I expect to get useful answers from the experts in this unofficial forum, more than I do from the agents in IRCC themselves!


Sorry for the extensive details but I wanted to answer any question you might ask.. so that way I'll get just answers instead of more questions.

Thank you in advance.

"she is simply ineligible to sponsor you. "
yeah also regarding that, we got dm on sponsor? isn't that SA? if not, where's the sponsor refusal letter/email, you think?

 

[21Goose]

ok why don't they deny it already? why wasting more time?
on the other hand, do you think my wife should withdraw the application and reply before refusal and before more wait?

You're a "champion member" you know. so your consultation matters a lot

You can try withdrawing it and reapplying now that she is back in Canada. They may not allow you to withdraw. Your wife also should not leave Canada till you get a decision on this application (or the new one if you withdraw and reapply).

As to why it's taking this long - it really hasn't been that long, has it? It's only ~3 months since you applied. Spousal sponsorships take nearly a year in most cases, and your cases is complicated from the get go. You can expect it to take a while.

Apply for the GCMS notes to see what's going on with your file.

 

[scylla]

ok why don't they deny it already? why wasting more time?
on the other hand, do you think my wife should withdraw the application and reapply before refusal and before more wait?

You're a "champion member" you know. so your consultation matters a lot

IRCC doesn't refuse applications lightly. They take their time to review the application and supporting evidence to ensure the right decision is being made. So what you see as a waste of time is actually IRCC performing a thorough review before making a decision. I agree there's a very high probability that your application is heading towards refusal since a PR must be in living in Canada in order to sponsor and your wife therefore doesn't qualify as a sponsor. You should consider withdrawing the application to avoid further waiting and then submitting a new outland application once your wife is physically in Canada and qualifies to sponsor you.

 

[Sam_Syr]

You can try withdrawing it and reapplying now that she is back in Canada. They may not allow you to withdraw. Your wife also should not leave Canada till you get a decision on this application (or the new one if you withdraw and reapply).

As to why it's taking this long - it really hasn't been that long, has it? It's only ~3 months since you applied. Spousal sponsorships take nearly a year in most cases, and your cases in complicated from the get go. You can expect it to take a while.

Apply for the GCMS notes to see what's going on with your file.

"it really hasn't been that long, has it? It's only ~3 months since you applied."
for an application that will be approved at the end, it didn't take long at all..
but for an application that has a very obvious reason to be rejected.. yes it has taken more than "long", when it's just a matter of reviewing the application in 10 minutes to find out that my wife's address was "Sudan", so "here you go, REFUSED, go and reapply"..
what could take so long doing that?

 

[Sam_Syr]

IRCC doesn't refuse applications lightly. They take their time to review the application and supporting evidence to ensure the right decision is being made. So what you see as a waste of time is actually IRCC performing a thorough review before making a decision. I agree there's a very high probability that your application is heading towards refusal since a PR must be in living in Canada in order to sponsor and your wife therefore doesn't qualify as a sponsor. You should consider withdrawing the application to avoid further waiting and then submitting a new outland application once your wife is physically in Canada and qualifies to sponsor you.

She IS in Canada now Scylla, she went back there about a month ago..
And no, logically it shouldn't take so long to make a decision, if that condition of applying from inside Canada is really a deal breaker.. then they've already wasted so much of our and their time and resources..

 

[scylla]

"it really hasn't been that long, has it? It's only ~3 months since you applied."
for an application that will be approved at the end, it didn't take long at all..
but for an application that has a very obvious reason to be rejected.. yes it has taken more than "long", when it's just a matter of reviewing the application in 10 minutes to find out that my wife's address was "Sudan", so "here you go, REFUSED, go and reapply"..
what could take so long doing that?

See my message above. IRCC ensures a thorough review before making a decision. If anything, you can expect longer processing times since you applied without meeting sponsorship requirements. You should withdraw.

 

[scylla]

She IS in Canada now Scylla, she went back there about a month ago..
And no, logically it shouldn't take so long to make a decision, if that condition of applying from inside Canada is really a deal breaker.. then they've already wasted so much of our and their time..

That's great that she is already in Canada. Withdraw the application asap and submit a new outland application to limit further wait times.

 

[21Goose]

"it really hasn't been that long, has it? It's only ~3 months since you applied."
for an application that will be approved at the end, it didn't take long at all..
but for an application that has a very obvious reason to be rejected.. yes it has taken more than "long", when it's just a matter of reviewing the application in 10 minutes to find out that my wife's address was "Sudan", so "here you go, REFUSED, go and reapply"..
what could take so long doing that?

There's no point speculating about the reasons why you haven't already been denied. No one here can tell you that, it's just a waste of time trying to figure out why you haven't been denied yet, or why it logically takes so long, or whatever. None of that matters in any case.

There are only two possibilities. You will be denied, or you will be approved. There's a small chance that you may not be denied, but I'd say it's not more than a 10% chance. 90% you're getting denied.

You should withdraw and reapply properly instead of waiting for an almost certain refusal. Or you can choose to wait and see. It's up to you.

 

[Sam_Syr]

That's great that she is already in Canada. Withdraw the application asap and submit a new outland application to limit further wait times.

So no way for me to be sure that the DM we got on Sponsor side on ECAS is approval or refusal? is that true?
And are agents really unable to access people's applications that have been transferred to VOs?

@21Goose your help on those questions are very appreciated too..

 

[Sam_Syr]

There's no point speculating about the reasons why you haven't already been denied. No one here can tell you that, it's just a waste of time trying to figure out why you haven't been denied yet, or why it logically takes so long, or whatever. None of that matters in any case.

There are only two possibilities. You will be denied, or you will be approved. There's a small chance that you may not be denied, but I'd say it's not more than a 10% chance. 90% you're getting denied.

You should withdraw and reapply properly instead of waiting for an almost certain refusal. Or you can choose to wait and see. It's up to you.

I'm already not a very optimistic person, you both seem to be the same..
Anyhow I can't argue with professionals like you, so I'm giving a last shot through webform and email to Rome VO and then we'll withdraw if we got no updates..

 

[21Goose]

So no way for me to be sure that the DM we got on Sponsor side on ECAS is approval or refusal? is that true?
And are agents really unable to access people's applications that have been transferred to VOs?

@21Goose your help on those questions are very appreciated too..

You can order your GCMS notes to find out. That will tell you the notes the officer puts on your file. The call center agents do not have access to the details of your file in most cases.

 

[scylla]

I'm already not a very optimistic person, you both seem to be the same..
Anyhow I can't argue with professionals like you, so I'm giving a last shot through webform and email to Rome VO and then we'll withdraw if we got no updates..

We aren't immigration professionals. No one here is an immigration professional - we are all normal people like you. If you want advice from an immigration professional you'll need to pay to hire a lawyer unfortunately.