I have to share!

[zardoz]

I would imagine that the people at CPC-M have seen every combination possible of submitting applications.
They probably have pictures of the more amazing ones and joke about them during coffee breaks.

Seriously, I wouldn't worry too much. As long as they are clean, tidy and not a risk to the people working on them, it probably doesn't really matter. I think being blood stained might be a problem for example

Z.

 

[MonikaR]

I feel like this application could potentially end up covered in my blood, sweat, and tears haha. I am sure they've seen it all too... I just know that I cannot, seriously cannot, wrap my application in plastic wrap. I would feel like all of my hard work just became some sort of half-eaten food product that will probably get thrown away in the near future .

I have seen some posts on here with people putting stuff in sub-sub-sub-sub envelopes... Now THAT is ridiculous. I just have my 4, contents labeled and stuck on the front of the envelopes with Avery labels, and some paperclips to make sure I don't shuffle around papers that should stay together. Because in the end that wouldn't be good for anybody!

 

[zardoz]

Actually, the more I think about this, the more implications I see.

For example, most government organisations have an isolated area that is used solely for the purpose of opening mail.
This is because of the definite possibility of an explosive or biological "booby-trap" being sent through the post. In some cases, this may be a separate room or (in the organisations I work with) a completely different building.

It's quite possible that all our careful wrapping and packaging is already removed long before it gets anywhere near to the person that would work on it.

Anyone ever seen the inside of CPC-M or had a guided tour of how they work?

Z.

 

[MonikaR]

I'll second that... has anybody had an experience with seeing how things actually work in the physical sense of application processing?

 

[rjessome]

Re: Organizing your application

I'll second that... has anybody had an experience with seeing how things actually work in the physical sense of application processing?

Yes.

Agreed. This is the proper way to submit your application. Don't make up your own system for organization. Just put everything in order of the checklist. Include a typed Table of Contents at the beginning of the application with hand-written page numbers for EVERYTHING.

This way the VO can see all the standard forms plus the additional information you've provided. Use cling film / wrap to hold everything together. DO NOT use multiple envelopes, paper clips, colour coding, etc. Just one big pile of paper with Table of Contents at the top.

BC_guy is right. All the envelopes, folder, separate clips, etc. are IMMEDIATELY removed and the file is reorganized in Mississauga or Vegreville (wherever the application is being processed). However, I disagree with the cling film/wrap to hold it all together. Use a large binder clip or a couple of elastic bands. Put everything in the order of the checklists, and you don't have to use a table of contents if you use the checklist because THAT will be the table of contents. I will agree with numbering the bottom right hand corner of all the pages. AND KEEP A COPY OF WHAT YOU SEND TO CIC!!!!

And frankly, there is TOO much supporting documentation in this application. For example, if you've had joint bank accounts since 2009 until now, why send a copy of every statement? Send a copy of the first one in 2009 when you opened the account, one from 2010, 2011, 2012 and the most current. That's enough! Same for credit card statements. You don't need to include EVERY receipt from EVERY trip. Itineraries and a few photos of each are enough. Too much of a good thing is NOT a good thing. CIC complains about files like this that can be too large. And it's silly for common law couples to include emails and phone records (although the OP didn't mention those but I'm just saying) unless there are a few emails from when you first started dating or are currently living apart to show ongoing communication. You live TOGETHER so no need for too much of this stuff.

And FYI for the OP, the Sponsor's information goes on top. It's the sponsor that is evaluated first. Best of luck.

 

[MonikaR]

Yes.

BC_guy is right. All the envelopes, folder, separate clips, etc. are IMMEDIATELY removed and the file is reorganized in Mississauga or Vegreville (wherever the application is being processed). However, I disagree with the cling film/wrap to hold it all together. Use a large binder clip or a couple of elastic bands. Put everything in the order of the checklists, and you don't have to use a table of contents if you use the checklist because THAT will be the table of contents. I will agree with numbering the bottom right hand corner of all the pages. AND KEEP A COPY OF WHAT YOU SEND TO CIC!!!!

And frankly, there is TOO much supporting documentation in this application. For example, if you've had joint bank accounts since 2009 until now, why send a copy of every statement? Send a copy of the first one in 2009 when you opened the account, one from 2010, 2011, 2012 and the most current. That's enough! Same for credit card statements. You don't need to include EVERY receipt from EVERY trip. Itineraries and a few photos of each are enough. Too much of a good thing is NOT a good thing. CIC complains about files like this that can be too large. And it's silly for common law couples to include emails and phone records (although the OP didn't mention those but I'm just saying) unless there are a few emails from when you first started dating or are currently living apart to show ongoing communication. You live TOGETHER so no need for too much of this stuff.

And FYI for the OP, the Sponsor's information goes on top. It's the sponsor that is evaluated first. Best of luck.

Good to know all of this, thanks for the reply! I guess I'm just a little nervous about not having enough of the right kind of proof.. I mean, since I'm applying inland and can't appeal... Yikes. I just want it to go well.

And, I'm not second guessing you here, but I'm just curious where you got so much good information? You definitely sound very knowledgeable!

 

[rjessome]

Good to know all of this, thanks for the reply! I guess I'm just a little nervous about not having enough of the right kind of proof.. I mean, since I'm applying inland and can't appeal... Yikes. I just want it to go well.

And, I'm not second guessing you here, but I'm just curious where you got so much good information? You definitely sound very knowledgeable!

I do this work for a living. I've sat through many conferences/presentations from managers at CIC where they talk about file organization. There was one specifically with the Program Manager from Mississauga where she told us about spousa sponsorship applications that come in boxes and how that is NOT how she wants representatives to prepare and submit applications. When a file gets to the processing office, it first gets date stamped. When it's opened for processing, the application is reorganized to suit processing. This is where all of the clips, folders, envelopes, etc. get removed. A hole is drilled into the top right hand corner of the application and a clip put in there to keep everything together. CIC may add their OWN staples for things like photos in envelopes, etc. Then it moves on through the assessment process from there. No visa officer is even going to SEE all the care and attention you've given to organizing the file because it isn't a visa officer who will reorganize it. It's a clerk.

Let common sense prevail. If I'm living with someone why would I submit phone records? Don't I see them everyday? In a common law sponsorship you must meet the definition of living together in a conjugal relationship for 12 months. Sure you can show a bit about when you started dating to explain how the relationship developed but hundreds of pages of phone records and emails??? Why? They care that you meet the definition of common-law, not that you talked endlessly while you were dating. If I went on vacation with my partner for a week why submit 100 pictures of the trip? Isn't my itinerary and a few photos of us on vacation enough? And about photos, a shot of my partner standing on the beach doesn't prove anything. A shot of ME and my partner in our bathing suits on the beach together makes more sense. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that focus on QUALITY over quantity. And think hard about what makes sense.

 

[zardoz]

That was a superb explanation. Many thanks from me and, I suspect, many others on this forum.

Z.

P.S. Wish I'd known this a month ago. I might have been a little more relaxed with the preparation.

 

[MonikaR]

Amazing information!! Thank you so, so much for sharing with me (and everyone else on this forum!) I really appreciate it, and feel a little less nervous about sending it all in now.

 

[DGT]

I do this work for a living. I've sat through many conferences/presentations from managers at CIC where they talk about file organization. There was one specifically with the Program Manager from Mississauga where she told us about spousa sponsorship applications that come in boxes and how that is NOT how she wants representatives to prepare and submit applications. When a file gets to the processing office, it first gets date stamped. When it's opened for processing, the application is reorganized to suit processing. This is where all of the clips, folders, envelopes, etc. get removed. A hole is drilled into the top right hand corner of the application and a clip put in there to keep everything together. CIC may add their OWN staples for things like photos in envelopes, etc. Then it moves on through the assessment process from there. No visa officer is even going to SEE all the care and attention you've given to organizing the file because it isn't a visa officer who will reorganize it. It's a clerk.

Let common sense prevail. If I'm living with someone why would I submit phone records? Don't I see them everyday? In a common law sponsorship you must meet the definition of living together in a conjugal relationship for 12 months. Sure you can show a bit about when you started dating to explain how the relationship developed but hundreds of pages of phone records and emails??? Why? They care that you meet the definition of common-law, not that you talked endlessly while you were dating. If I went on vacation with my partner for a week why submit 100 pictures of the trip? Isn't my itinerary and a few photos of us on vacation enough? And about photos, a shot of my partner standing on the beach doesn't prove anything. A shot of ME and my partner in our bathing suits on the beach together makes more sense. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that focus on QUALITY over quantity. And think hard about what makes sense.

Thanks for the wonderful insight! It's so nice to know that CIC works on such common sense basis! Far more so than UKBA when my wife moved over there with me!

 

[zardoz]

I think we must have been very lucky with the UKBA then.

My wife got her Spousal Entry Clearance in about 4 weeks from the British High Commission in Ottawa from beginning to end. They even phoned her up to do a telephone interview rather than asking her to travel from Toronto. At that point, we had only been married for about a month. (Married in the UK on a visitor entry before the new restrictions came in).

When we went for her ILR after her two year "probationary" period, it was done in about 1 hour while we waited at Lunar House.

Now that DOES put CIC to shame.

 

[DGT]

I think we must have been very lucky with the UKBA then.

My wife got her Spousal Entry Clearance in about 4 weeks from the British High Commission in Ottawa from beginning to end. They even phoned her up to do a telephone interview rather than asking her to travel from Toronto. At that point, we had only been married for about a month. (Married in the UK on a visitor entry before the new restrictions came in).

When we went for her ILR after her two year "probationary" period, it was done in about 1 hour while we waited at Lunar House.

Now that DOES put CIC to shame.

WOW. How long ago was that if you don't mind me asking? For us, they made us jump through hoops for a variety of reasons (mainly financial). We were turned down and had to appeal the decision, and I got a letter of apology from the High Commission for the failure of the VO to even understand what the UK is (E.G NOT JUST ENGLAND). It was mainly because we were both moving back to the UK after 2 years together in Australia. We both had job offers but no proven income in the UK at that point (even though I've never accepted any benefit from the government in the past. Not even so much as an NHS doctor since I was a kid!). We also weren't married yet and I think our age at the time was an issue (I was 21).

We didn't get ILR for her as we decided just to get a 2 year extension because we didn't have time for her to do all the citizenship tests and nonsense as we both work 7 days a week and knew that weren't going to stay in the UK forever (my family had passed on so there was no point when we could be close to hers). But that process was pretty simple.

Having said ALL this. It was all quicker than CIC.

 

[zardoz]

March 2005 for the EC and then March 2007 for the ILR. We were married in Feb 2005.
Maybe it was helped by the fact that I was already in the UK, employed and with owned property.
Like you however, we knew that this would only be for a time and that we would eventually take her back home to Canada.

 

[Iay]

Re: Organizing your application

Yes.

BC_guy is right. All the envelopes, folder, separate clips, etc. are IMMEDIATELY removed and the file is reorganized in Mississauga or Vegreville (wherever the application is being processed). However, I disagree with the cling film/wrap to hold it all together. Use a large binder clip or a couple of elastic bands. Put everything in the order of the checklists, and you don't have to use a table of contents if you use the checklist because THAT will be the table of contents. I will agree with numbering the bottom right hand corner of all the pages. AND KEEP A COPY OF WHAT YOU SEND TO CIC!!!!

And frankly, there is TOO much supporting documentation in this application. For example, if you've had joint bank accounts since 2009 until now, why send a copy of every statement? Send a copy of the first one in 2009 when you opened the account, one from 2010, 2011, 2012 and the most current. That's enough! Same for credit card statements. You don't need to include EVERY receipt from EVERY trip. Itineraries and a few photos of each are enough. Too much of a good thing is NOT a good thing. CIC complains about files like this that can be too large. And it's silly for common law couples to include emails and phone records (although the OP didn't mention those but I'm just saying) unless there are a few emails from when you first started dating or are currently living apart to show ongoing communication. You live TOGETHER so no need for too much of this stuff.

And FYI for the OP, the Sponsor's information goes on top. It's the sponsor that is evaluated first. Best of luck.

This is good to hear. Some people keep saying that staples annoy the Visa Officer, and you don't want that to be the first impression to your application. With your post have been said, CLERKS do all this dirty job of reorganization, so I guess what Visa Officers receive for processing is already "organized" set of files that are in order like how they are expecting it.

 

[RyanThomas]

Quite an interesting thread .. i would just like to know how to send the photos ? The wedding and other photos of the applicant and spouse .. should i print it on glossy photo paper or could i print it on normal A4 size paper ?