Hey guys,
I'm in something of a tricky situation so would appreciate any advice/help/suggestions on how to navigate it.
So I'm on a PGWP in Canada. When I applied for my PGWP last year, my passport was expiring in Dec 2018 so that's when my PGWP was issued till as well even though I was eligible for the full three years.
Since then, I got my passport renewed and applied to renew my PGWP in August 2018 as well. That application is still under processing.
Now here's the tricky part: I don't have a valid visit visa as of now and I'm going to be traveling out of Canada on 30th November. I talked to CIC about this as well and they said if I apply for a visit visa on my current PGWP, the visa would only be valid until Dec 2018 as well since that's when my PGWP expires.
The issue is that I'll be returning to Canada in Jan 2018.
In an ideal scenario, I'd hear back about my PGWP renewal soon and then apply for the visit visa and get it. But since I'm due to travel in less than 2 months, I'm starting to freak out now.
CIC also suggested I could apply for the visit visa in the visa office of where I'm traveling to, but I don't wanna go down that route while I'm traveling and I feel like it'll be more complicated that way (plus if they take longer to process the application, I'll basically be locked out of Canada).
So... I guess basically what I'm asking is... is there any way I can get a visit visa that'll allow me to enter Canada in Jan 2018 ASAP? Do I have to wait to hear back from my PGWP?
I don't know if this even matters or helps, but I'll be eligible to apply for Express Entry soon as well (in October 2018 actually) and plan to submit my profile within this month. Would that somehow make me eligible to be able to enter the country (just grasping at straws here) in Jan 2018?
If there's literally no other way than to just hope I hear back about my PGWP renewal soon and then apply, I'd really appreciate if anyone who's applied for a visitor visa from within Canada can let me know how long the process takes? I know the processing time is 5 days which is great but how long does it take including the whole mailing of passport and whatnot?
Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!
I'm in something of a tricky situation so would appreciate any advice/help/suggestions on how to navigate it.
So I'm on a PGWP in Canada. When I applied for my PGWP last year, my passport was expiring in Dec 2018 so that's when my PGWP was issued till as well even though I was eligible for the full three years.
Since then, I got my passport renewed and applied to renew my PGWP in August 2018 as well. That application is still under processing.
Now here's the tricky part: I don't have a valid visit visa as of now and I'm going to be traveling out of Canada on 30th November. I talked to CIC about this as well and they said if I apply for a visit visa on my current PGWP, the visa would only be valid until Dec 2018 as well since that's when my PGWP expires.
The issue is that I'll be returning to Canada in Jan 2018.
In an ideal scenario, I'd hear back about my PGWP renewal soon and then apply for the visit visa and get it. But since I'm due to travel in less than 2 months, I'm starting to freak out now.
CIC also suggested I could apply for the visit visa in the visa office of where I'm traveling to, but I don't wanna go down that route while I'm traveling and I feel like it'll be more complicated that way (plus if they take longer to process the application, I'll basically be locked out of Canada).
So... I guess basically what I'm asking is... is there any way I can get a visit visa that'll allow me to enter Canada in Jan 2018 ASAP? Do I have to wait to hear back from my PGWP?
I don't know if this even matters or helps, but I'll be eligible to apply for Express Entry soon as well (in October 2018 actually) and plan to submit my profile within this month. Would that somehow make me eligible to be able to enter the country (just grasping at straws here) in Jan 2018?
If there's literally no other way than to just hope I hear back about my PGWP renewal soon and then apply, I'd really appreciate if anyone who's applied for a visitor visa from within Canada can let me know how long the process takes? I know the processing time is 5 days which is great but how long does it take including the whole mailing of passport and whatnot?
Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!