Rough timeline after "In Process" status and travel into Canada...

[cgat]

Hi,

So my wife is getting near the end of the application process. We applied in late November 2012, and her application reached the Vienna visa office February 2013. On January 20th 2014, her application status changed to "In Process" accompanied with a request for some updated documents. At the moment, we believe the visa office is now just waiting on an NZ police certificate (we lived in NZ for 1 year while she was applying), which should take between 2 to 4 months (crossing our fingers that it is less).

My question is in regards to how everything plays out after they receive the NZ police certificate? While waiting on this document, would they process her file as much as possible, or do they hold back any processing until all documents are received? I've read here some people mentioning a passport request. Does this alway happen, or is this something done in certain cases (also, why)? If a positive decision is made, what happens then?

The main reason I ask is because my brother will be getting married in mid May, as well as another friend in July. I'd love for my wife to be able to attend. Assuming that her file is still being process before those dates, I'd like her to come on a tourist visa (Slovaks get 6 months upon arrival) for a few months. If a decision is made while she is in Canada, can she just cross the border and re enter as a permanent resident? If the passport is requested, does it need to be picked up in person, or can it be mailed out (back to Canada)?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[wowsers]

I will try to answer your queries but some of them are outside my experience save for knowledge gained by reading posts on this forum; so I hope others will join in. Perhaps the most important point is that as a Slovak your wife does not need a visa to enter Canada: Slovakia is on Canada's list of visa-exempt countries. You can reassure yourself about that by googling CIC visa exempt states. So far as PR status is concerned persons granted PR status and coming from visa exempt countries receive a document called a COPR (so far as I am aware meaning 'confirmation of PR'), which comes through the post to the address she will have given to CIC. Person from visa exempt countries will not receive a passport request and no visa is entered into the passport: their status is conferred by the COPR. So there is no real obstacle to your wife attending your brother's wedding in mid-May nor your friend's wedding in July. If the COPR arrives when she is away in Canada and she does not want to return to wherever she is now living before landing, two steps are necessary (1) she must set up a way of getting the COPR to her in Canada. Someone else on this forum with more experience than I will I hope advise you about that. My own inexperienced view is that you would be better off making a private arrangement with a friend to collect open and forward your post rather than ask the VO to send it to a new Canadian address. (2) As for what your wife does with it once she gets it, I am glad you ask the question because it saves me from asking the same question for my own case! So far as I am aware she can 'flagpole' if she is close enough to the American border to make that practicable ie she can get into the USA then turn around and come back to Canada, dealing with her landing rites on the way back. I cannot help you concerning the procedure in the Vienna VO after her case becomes 'in process'. All I can tell you is that my own case has been in process at the London VO since about August 2013 and that so far there is no indication when the process will end. You could apply for her GCMS notes by email and after 30 days you might have a better idea of how the process is processing!

 

[cgat]

Hi wowsers,

Thanks for the response, exactly what I was looking for. The mailing address we have set up is actually my parents address in Canada, so if it does get sent out it will end up there.

You've been "In Process" for 7 months, that's crazy! When did your application reach London? From what I've seen on the forums, the application status seems a bit random, so hopefully this doesn't mean we have to wait an additional 7 months to the 12 we've already waited. I can't say I'll be surprised if we do have to wait though. What an exhausting process, eh.

 

[wowsers]

It reached London in June last year. The process in my case is I think slower than the norm for London because I suspect that I am far older than most applicants, with the result that there is more history to investigate, and I have been in the UK military, years ago. I understand that those factors slow down the process. One day perhaps I will check Ecas and a miracle will have occurred overnight. Until then I can sit at my computer and try to help others! I am glad I have been of some help to you.

 

[cgat]

Ahhh, okay, maybe that has something to do with it. You are actually still within the posted processing times for London (10 months), so the fact that they changed your file to "In Process" so early is probably a good thing. While my wife isn't too old (early 30s), she's travelled extensively so her personal history is long and complicated (lots of police certificates). I'm curious as to what they actually do with the history investigation. I mean, I can't imagine that they have special access to foreign government info, and already require police certificates, so what more can they do beyond google searches. I'm sure there are things, it's just beyond me.

Good luck with the process and I hope you don't have to wait too long.