this may not offer too much help (and i can't say i've been a regular contributor to this board because i think many of my issues were not as relevant as the ones being raised here) but last friday (as in two days ago) i received a letter from Immigration Canada requesting my prescence to (i quote):
"appear for an interview and to receive your Confirmation of Permanent Residence Document"
which i believe is, finally, the end of my process
super quick background and timeline:
- i'm in a same-sex (two guys, both of us Mexicans), 9-year relationship, living in Vancouver. my partner became a permanent resident as an investor in 2010 but i had to be removed from the process right at the very end because we didn't qualify for common-law status (i was on a student permit in Canada and he was a tourist so we had not lived under the same roof for 1 year, as specified by CIC). so we had to wait a year and apply again, this time only me.
- this was an in-Canada application. documents were sent to Vergeville, Alberta, on Nov, 2011. Dec 2011 i received my AOR
- only relevant thing that happened in 2012 (April) was that my file was transfered to the Vancouver backlog office.
- february 26th, 2013: the dreaded INTERVIEW
- march 20th, 2013: positive result from the interview, more waiting.
- may 22nd: letter requesting my med's and police certificate from mexico
- june 10th: both medicals were re-done and the SSP police certificate with a certified translation were sent. the documents to request the PGR's datos registrales were fedex'd to the Embassy in Mexico
- june 20th: my lawyer informs me the strike is going from bad to worse. if there's any chance to get the PGR police certificate before my deadline, i should do it ASAP.
- july 5th: PGR police certificate was translated and sent to them (ONE day before the deadline
- july 24th: letter requesting an interview to give me my Confirmation of Permanent Residence is received.
now, things i learnt which i hope i would've known sooner or that i hope someone would've told me. i'd say that the majority of this stuff will only make sense to those people doing in-Canada applications, but who knows, maybe somene will find this useful.
- their online system to check the status of your application is a piece of !@#$#!. up until right now, mine *still* says: Application Received and nothing more.
- easiest time to get someone to answer at the call centre are tues/weds REALLY EARLY in the morning
- to the best of my understanding, they're still asking for TWO (yes, TWO) police certificates: the local one from SSP (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica) and the federal one (Antecedentes de Datos Registrales) from the PGR. honestly, i was surprised of how EASY they are both to get. i needed to send my mom to get them for me. she said she got the SSP one in like 20 minutes the same day she went and the PGR one, although officially it takes 10 business days, was ready in 6. (she just kept calling asking for it until they told her it was in).
- AVOID.THE.EMBASSY. even when there is no strike going on, they still take their sweet time in processing things. the average time for the PGR certificate is over a month if you do it through them and just a few business days (as i mentioned) if you get it yourself.
- don't hesitate to contact your local Mexican Consulate/Embassy if you need help. i have to say i was happily surprised by how informed, efficient and helpful were the ladies at the Mexican Consulate here in Vancouver. i really owe them lots.
- for certified translations i used MOSAIC here in Vancouver, but i think they've got offices all around the country. i also owe them my life. i was really close on my deadline to submit the original and translation of the PGR, i explained the situation to the lady there and she had the friggin' translation done in like 2 hours!
- if you have to go through the dreaded INTERVIEW (god knows i was super nervous):
A.- please take the time to review your personal history with your partner. there are things (s)he may remember that you don't and vice-versa which the immigration officer may ask. the devil's in the details. example: my partner and i met online. my interviewer asked specifically on which webpage we both had met.
B.- if you're not legally married (like we both are) there is one thing the interviewer kept on asking: MONEY, MONEY MONEY. shared bank accounts? property? insurance? credit cards? show EVERYTHING, the more you show they better they feel.
C.- although the immigration officer who interviews you may decline, it is possible for your legal representative to be present. my lawyer requested that because he said if my application was denied, we'd sue
D.- speaking about suing, even though it is true that for inland applications and there are no appeals, what they don't tell you is that you can still SUE CIC in a federal court if you feel your application was wrongfully denied.
E.- after asking a couple of people and combining it with my own experience, there seems to be this very peculiar question (or a variant of it) that they ask often: "if i deny this application, what would you do?" it is no surprise your answer should be something along the lines of "fight it, and if fightining doesn't work, then we'll go somewhere else TOGETHER" <-- emphasis on STAYING TOGETHER ALWAYS. apparently, they're trying to catch if the person who has status in Canada would be willing to simply forget about his/her spouse if the process doesn't go through.
F.- just for gags know where EVERTHING is in the house. our interviewer tried to ask this trick question to my partner of what colour the shower curtain was... but we don't have shower curtains! we have crystal doors! and she tried to imply i had indeed mentioned a certain colour to throw him off! (which of course didn't work 'cuz he knew i wouldn't be that dumb to not remember we don't have shower curtains)
G.- know how the finances of the household are run. how much to you spend per month? how much for rent? mortgage? this was a life-saver because although i manage all the household stuff, i didn't know much about our mortgage and bank accounts and vice-versa, so both my partner and i needed to 'compare notes' so to speak to make sure we knew exactly how the house is ran.
in any case, those are my 2cents here. maybe they help, maybe the don't. but to be honest, i've been such a lurker of this board, reading, learning and staying updated that i figured this was the least i could do.
if anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to drop me a line. even if it doesn't relate to this process but maybe my partner's one as an investor which was a whole other adventure on which i learnt A LOT about accounting and business practices in Canada and Mexico...
oh! and all same-sex folks out there! marriage fraud for same-sex couples is also on the rise, so make sure you're good at keeping paperwork of everything documenting your relationship with your significant other because CIC peeps are starting to get suspicious about our relationships as well :-(
