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Is there any time line for Secondary Review !?

Dominica

Star Member
Feb 23, 2010
147
3
Hi All,

When i sent my application for PR card renewal in April,2017 i had completed 885 days in Canada. In June,2017 i got an email that my file has been sent for secondary review to the local office and processing delays should be expected.
Have not heard from them nor has the website been updated since then, and i plan to travel back to my home country in December,2017.

which would be the "local office" they are referring to? and what are they looking for in this so called secondary review.
can anyone tell how long had they to wait to receive the renewed card after file went for secondary review.

this is really frustrating the way they function/work

Those in similar situations please share your experiences.

Thanks..
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,252
3,018
When i sent my application for PR card renewal in April,2017 i had completed 885 days in Canada. In June,2017 i got an email that my file has been sent for secondary review to the local office and processing delays should be expected.
Have not heard from them nor has the website been updated since then, and i plan to travel back to my home country in December,2017.

which would be the "local office" they are referring to? and what are they looking for in this so called secondary review.
can anyone tell how long had they to wait to receive the renewed card after file went for secondary review.

this is really frustrating the way they function/work

Those in similar situations please share your experiences.
Short answer: There is no definite timeline for Secondary Review. It can range from a month to a year to even longer.

Longer explanation:

I have never been in a similar situation. I have, however, read anecdotal reports by others in a similar situation, scores and scores of them going back several years. And, I have engaged more than a little in discussions about SR, relying extensively on research in official and unofficial sources, ranging from CIC and IRCC online information to official IAD and Federal Court decisions involving PRs and issues like compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, but also other issues related to PR admissibility.

In any event, there is a lot of information and discussion here, in this forum, including in the following two topics:

Email from CIC that PR card renewal needs secondary review
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/email-from-cic-that-pr-card-renewal-needs-secondary-review.251571/

Secondary Review Petition
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/secondary-review-petition.399342/

While the last few pages of each are probably more pertinent now than the older posts, there is nonetheless some valuable information and insights among the older posts.

In any event, since becoming a PR, or at least in the last five years, you were outside Canada more than you were in Canada (885 days out of the previous 1825 days). For obvious reasons this raises concerns and a need to more thoroughly verify time periods claimed to have been in Canada. After all, if there is any question about where a person was at some time, it is more likely that person was where he or she was most of the time. So, for a person who was outside Canada most of the time, it is reasonable if not overtly necessary for IRCC to infer that person was also outside Canada for any period of time it is not clear the person was in Canada.

Once IRCC has some questions about presence in Canada, dates of entry and dates of exit are not enough to verify the PR was in Canada from last date of entry to next date of exit. So a more extensive, non-routine inquiry will often result. Which leads to delays.

Also note, the SR usually involves inquiries or investigations into more than PR RO compliance.

Ultimately, it appears, most SR cases are eventually resolved favourably, and the new PR card is delivered to the PR. The timeline for this varies and appears to vary a great deal, from just an extra month or four, to more than a year. Very difficult to forecast where in that range any particular PRC application will be.

Many share your frustration. But it is the way things work and particularly so if there is some doubt about whether the PR has actually fully settled and is permanently living in Canada (the purpose of PR being to enable a person to fully settle and live permanently in Canada).

In any event, it is very hard to predict whether you will obtain your PRC before your trip in December. If not, you will need to apply for a PR Travel Document in order to return to Canada on an airline, or travel via the U.S. and return to Canada via a land border crossing.

Many, many PRs in a similar situation avoid traveling abroad altogether until they have their new PRC in hand. If you elect to travel abroad before you have the new PRC be sure to have copies of proof of 730+ days presence in Canada, for the five year period as of the date you apply for the PR Travel Document . . . including documentation of employment in Canada and rental/ownership of dwelling place and so on, for the periods of time you were in Canada.
 

MAK12345678

Newbie
Aug 20, 2017
9
3
I was in the exact similar situation. I applied in mid-April 2017 for PR Card renewal for myself, my husband and my daughter. We had all completed around 780 days of stay in Canada in last 5 years. However, we travel a LOT! My husband has to travel almost every month. And I am also a frequent traveler. Our passports were quite messed up with thousands of stamps. in the initial PR application, we only provided the required documents (application form, passport copies, etc).On June 20th we got email from CIC that our PR has now gone for secondary review and it will take additional time. That is when i started reading this blog and to know more about what I can do from my side to expedite the process. So here is what i did:

1) I applied for Urgent PR card processing for myself using below link as my PR application was already in process. I had to travel on an official trip in oct, so I bought the ticket, attached employer letter that Its mandatory for me to travel, I attached copy of my corporate credit card as well as a proof of payment (details of whatever you need to attach for urgent processing are on CIC website).
https://secure.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/canada-case-cas-eng.aspx

- In addition, I provided supporting documents for proof of residency for my self , and my daughter.
- My employer letter
-T4, Notice of assessment, Credit card statements, personal bank statements, Summary of each and every stamp on my passport, tenancy agreement, I also attached US travel history obtained from I94 website, Utility bills.

2) Nothing much happened. When I called CIC they said They have accepted my card for urgent processing however, there are no guarantees on when it will be processed. We got to know that they had tagged my husband and my daughters PR processing as urgent as well.even though I was the one applying for urgent processing. So I have learned that they always process families together.

3) meanwhile I prepared all supporting documentation for my husband. It took me around 2-3 weeks to gather his supporting documentation. (
employer letter
-T4, Notice of assessment, Credit card statements, personal bank statements, Summary of each and every stamp on my passport, tenancy agreement, I also attached US travel history obtained from I94 website, Utility bills.) and submitted that. After few days of submitting the supporting documentation of my husband, our PR cards were approved. It was as if they were waiting for the supporting documents for my Husband. I was a regular CIC caller so I can say this with almost absolute certainty that my PR card would not have been approved if i had not provided supporting documentation for myself, my husband and my daughter.

4) What I have learnt is that the moment someone's cards goes into secondary review, they should start working on collecting supporting documents to prove their residency. This is the only way to expedite the case. I am 100% confident that if i had applied for urgent processing only without providing supporting documentation my PR card would not have been approved.

to be fair on visa officers - a lot of fraud happens here. A lot of people claim that they were here but they actually weren't. So providing supporting documentation always helps. It took me around 16 hours to summarize all the stamps on my passport, how can I expect visa officer to do that on my behalf? and also to process it quickly.
 
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Harryhere101

Star Member
Sep 19, 2019
129
4
Hi All,

When i sent my application for PR card renewal in April,2017 i had completed 885 days in Canada. In June,2017 i got an email that my file has been sent for secondary review to the local office and processing delays should be expected.
Have not heard from them nor has the website been updated since then, and i plan to travel back to my home country in December,2017.

which would be the "local office" they are referring to? and what are they looking for in this so called secondary review.
can anyone tell how long had they to wait to receive the renewed card after file went for secondary review.

this is really frustrating the way they function/work

Those in similar situations please share your experiences.

Thanks..
What happened in your case?