Stuck without a passport - Hong Kong office

[AroundtheWorld]

Hello,

I am a canadian sponsoring my husband through family class sponsorship for residence in Canada. (He is American)
we did an "outside Canada" application.
Since he is working in Taiwan during this in-between time to save up money while he waits for acceptance, his application is being processed at the Hong Kong office.

We submitted our application at the beginning of November 2013. I was approved as sponsor in late December.

2 months ago (around April 1st) our rep received emails from CIC requesting an up to date police certificate from Taiwan (understandable) as well as his passport. The request for passport was accompanied by a nice little note from cic saying that it may mean his application is ready for approval...

We sent both those things to Hong Kong 2 weeks after getting the request. (6 weeks ago)
We know that the package was received by cic there.

and are now waiting...
He may have an urgent need to travel to be with his family but is now stuck without a passport in a foreign country. !

We have a hopeful feeling that approval could be imminent as his passport was requested. On the other hand, does the request for police check mean that they still had to go through everything and assess much of his paperwork? (meaning we have months and months to go) Or that his application ended up at the bottom of a pile somewhere again...?

When we check his status online it says:
"We received your application for permanent residence on November 15, 2013.

We started processing your application on February 27, 2014.

Medical results have been received."

but that's all.
(not very informative)

Does anyone have experience with this or with the Hong Kong office asking for passports too early?
Any idea what the HK timeline is like right now?

thanks so much!
Any knowledge appreciated.

 

[Rob_TO]

You should ask the office why they even asked for his passport. American citizens are visa-exempt to Canada, so there is no need to put any special visa into the passport, so the VO should not have even requested the passport to begin with.

Typically visa-exempt applicants only need to send a COPY of their passport to the visa office, which can be a photocopy of passport bio-page that is faxed or emailed to them.

 

[AroundtheWorld]

thanks for your response.

I didn't know that. Do mean they only need a passport copy for granting his residence permit?
We obviously sent a copy of his passport with the application. So if they just needed a copy they have one.

We assumed that they would need the passport to put his residence permit or stamp in it?

We aren't, of course, looking for permission for him to enter as a visitor but to land as a resident.

 

[chakrab]

thanks for your response.

I didn't know that. Do mean they only need a passport copy for granting his residence permit?
We obviously sent a copy of his passport with the application. So if they just needed a copy they have one.

We assumed that they would need the passport to put his residence permit or stamp in it?

We aren't, of course, looking for permission for him to enter as a visitor but to land as a resident.

don't need an immigrant visa on passport if the person is from visa exempt country. the resident visa is same as visitor visa which helps a new immigrant to come to canada. but i guess since the VO deals with so many applicants who need visa, they have followed the same process with your husband.

 

[rhcohen2014]

thanks for your response.

I didn't know that. Do mean they only need a passport copy for granting his residence permit?
We obviously sent a copy of his passport with the application. So if they just needed a copy they have one.

We assumed that they would need the passport to put his residence permit or stamp in it?

We aren't, of course, looking for permission for him to enter as a visitor but to land as a resident.

even though they have a copy from when the application is submitted, they usually ask for another copy at the end of the application. i have heard they ask for copies of all pages, not just the bio page. Definitely try to get in touch with the VO to see if they can give it back in exchange for copies. I have read that VOs in visa countries don't realize applicants from visa exempt countries only require the copy, since no visa is actually placed in the passport.

I don't think 6 weeks is actually that long though. Is there way he can go to the embassy and get another issued for the emergency? I'm not sure how that would complicate the PR process, though i've heard people have 2 passports, so it's *possible* getting a new one doesn't cancel out the one immigration has. Something to check out if he has a family emergency...

 

[scylla]

thanks for your response.

I didn't know that. Do mean they only need a passport copy for granting his residence permit?
We obviously sent a copy of his passport with the application. So if they just needed a copy they have one.

We assumed that they would need the passport to put his residence permit or stamp in it?

We aren't, of course, looking for permission for him to enter as a visitor but to land as a resident.

I would be very surprised if they asked for his original passport since he's visa exempt. His original passport isn't needed to complete the process. They most likely asked for a photocopy (and yes - I know you would have sent a photocopy with your original application).

 

[Rob_TO]

I didn't know that. Do mean they only need a passport copy for granting his residence permit?
We obviously sent a copy of his passport with the application. So if they just needed a copy they have one.

Ya every situation seems to be a bit different. My wife included a photocopy of her passport (only the bio page) along with her app as well, and the visa office (Korea) never bothered to ask for another copy later so were fine with the initial one sent. But then other people have sent copy with app, but have also been asked to send another copy closer to the end of the process. Some get asked to send only bio page, and others every single page of passport.

We assumed that they would need the passport to put his residence permit or stamp in it?

Upon approval of PR, a visa-exempt applicant only requires the COPR landing documents. For applicants that are not visa-exempt, they also need to put a special travel visa directly into the passport, so they can board a plane to land in Canada. Since a US citizen does not need a special travel visa to get to Canada, there is nothing that needs to actually go into their passport.

I would contact the visa office asap, and explain that he requires passport for travel and that he is visa-exempt so you can provide them with updated photocopies of passport instead.

 

[AroundtheWorld]

thanks again!

Just wondering how you know this about americans, their passports and resident permits?

Also do you know anything about getting ahold of people at visa offices who will actually talk to you?

My husband tried calling the HK office and said he spoke to some one who sounded like they were trained to shut people down and send them away, and certainly wasn't willing or able to talk about our particular case...

You are right - 6 months is not that long.
Any thoughts on if the request for police certificate means things will take SIGNIFICANTLY longer?

 

[scylla]

thanks again!

Just wondering how you know this about americans, their passports and resident permits?

We know this because the process officially changed in 2011 for those holding visa exempt passports (not just Americans). Here's the CIC bulletin:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2011/ob348a.asp

 

[rhcohen2014]

Also do you know anything about getting ahold of people at visa offices who will actually talk to you?

in your SA letter, was there contact information for the VO, like an email or fax? Otherwise, you can try contacting your Member of PArliament, they may be able to help get you in touch. Otherwise, i'd look into getting a replacement passport, and sending photcopies of that one if it cancels out the one the VO is holding.

 

[AroundtheWorld]

great.
lots of good leads!

 

[AroundtheWorld]

Another quick question about trying to contact the office:

Our consultant had actually advised us against contacting the office about our concern as it would cause our application to be pulled "out of line" so to speak and just slow down the whole process further.

thoughts?

 

[chakrab]

Another quick question about trying to contact the office:

Our consultant had actually advised us against contacting the office about our concern as it would cause our application to be pulled "out of line" so to speak and just slow down the whole process further.

thoughts?

CIC/VO - that's a common warning they give everyone to reduce the number of silly questioning so to speak. but if you have a valid concern, they will reply if they want to, and it's not going to affect your case.

Consultant - okay wait, i missed the consultant part. that could be because the consultant doesn't want you to bypass him/her and get info from the CIC directly. it negates the superiority they seem to have over you.

 

[scylla]

Consultant - okay wait, i missed the consultant part. that could be because the consultant doesn't want you to bypass him/her and get info from the CIC directly. it negates the superiority they seem to have over you.

And keep in mind that this is the same consultant who told you that you needed to send the original passport. IMO any half decent consultant should know that the original passport isn't required for those who are visa exempt. This is very basic knowledge and the new rule has been in place for a few years now. Huge miss on his/her part. You're in a fix now and without the original passport because he/she didn't do their job.

 

[AroundtheWorld]

ok - interesting.

but luckily our consultant is a qualified friend of a friend who is helping us for free so i don't feel taken advantage of or anything.