To our new friends - we have been working to email the Minister of Immigration to request something be done to speed up or improve communication from the AVO. If you are able to help, this is what we are doing:
So here is a summary of what we are asking people to do:
1) Sign and share the petition:
http://chn.ge/2oHm7yt
And maybe this one:
https://www.change.org/p/canada-immigration-office-dependent-visa-for-canadian-citizen-s-spouse?recruiter=852510025&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=share_petition
2) Send the following letter to the Minister for Immigration and their local MP:
Minister@cic.gc.ca,
Ahmed.hussen@parl.gc.ca,
Ministerial.Enquiries.Division@cic.gc.ca
And use this searchable database to find your MP:
http://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members
3) Second the second letter to the Minister of Immigration and local MP
Subject Line: Inconsistent Processing Times: Accra Visa Office (UCI xxxxxxxx)
The processing times between visa offices for spousal visas varies considerably. This seems to be especially true of the Accra Visa Office which appears to lag considerably behind other visa offices, especially those in developed countries. We believe that additional resources should be assigned to offices such as the Accra Visa Office to ensure that applications are processed efficiently regardless of their location. Processing times for applications should be consistent.
Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights guarantees equal rights. Yet those of us relying on offices such as the Accra Visa Office do not feel that our applications are being treated equally especially when we consistently witness other visa offices processing applications much faster.
Not only are our applications taking considerably longer to process, the political climate in many of the countries served by the Accra Visa Office prevents many of us from being with our spouses during the processing time. Visa offices with the faster processing times are also those where the applicants have more freedom to move between countries during the processing time.
Applicants from developed countries are usually freer to enter Canada before an application is submitted, and may are able to stay in Canada while their applications are being processed, or are free to visit with their spouses during the processing of their applications. But many of the countries that are served by the Accra Visa Office also have travel warning advisories. That is, our government is warning us not to travel to these particular countries, these countries where those we love are living.
Not only is the processing time longer for us and our ability to spend time with our spouses limited, but we also have limited information on the progress of our application during the processing period. Messages in the online applications aren’t kept up-to-date, or are inconsistent. We have noticed also that applications aren’t always processed in the same order that they were submitted.
Newcomers to Canada are expected to abide by the values of Canada, which we believe to be demonstrating fairness, respect, equality and equity. Our expectation is that our government demonstrates the same values when delivering services.
While we do acknowledge and appreciate that considerable work has been achieved to reduce overall processing times of spousal visas, and while we understand that some processes are out of the control of the Canadian government, resources should be in place to ensure fairness, respect, equality and equity when processing of applications. We need to not only reduce the processing times, but also reduce the gap in processing times between visa offices to ensure fair treatment of all current and future Canadians.
Subject Line: Improve Customer Service and Communication from Accra Visa Office (UCIxxx)
On February 14th an announcement was made stating that the IRCC has reduced the backlog of spousal applications from 75,000 to 15,000, and that the government has reached its target of processing 80% of new applications within a 12 month period. While this is a great improvement over previous processing times, we feel it doesn’t fully address concerns of slower visa offices such as the Accra office in Ghana.
We belong to a discussion board where we share timelines, stories, and generally offer each other support as we move through the process. In sharing timelines we see the inconsistencies between our timelines and those from other countries. We also see inconsistencies within our own office’s processing times, and the lack of communication for those of us close to or past the 12 month processing timeframe.
We believe that the target of processing 80% of applications within a 12 month period was only achieved because offices that are able to process applications quickly balance out those where the process often takes longer than 12 months.
We do understand that the process can be complicated by having to interact with governments of other countries, but when we hear that a fellow applicants have been approved, we have mixed feelings even though they applied later than us we are left with mixed feelings. We are both genuinely happy to hear that the wait is over for that couple, but it leaves us wondering why not us, why was someone that applied after us and approved and not us, what is wrong with our application and is it something we can address?
Sometimes just knowing is all we would need to feel confident that the process is working.
And while we do recognize that some of the wait is due to processes beyond the control over the Accra office (e.g. waiting on information from local governments), some processes could be improved within Canadian process to improve times. For an example, applicants that send their passports to the office wait between 2 to 5 weeks to receive their passport back. So they are still stuck not being able to plan ahead as they don’t know when they will be able to fly.
We have noticed too that information in ECAS and GCKey is not updated as it should be. If we try to follow up on our applications, we are directed to these applications, but the information housed there is out of date and doesn’t provide any explanation as to why our applications are not being processed within the 12 month timeframe. We have witnessed applicants who have been asked to submit their passports showing the same information in their accounts as was shown before they received this notification.
Governments all over the world are pushing to be more transparent, to be open and to release more and more useful datasets. But we aren’t even able to get up-to-date information on our own applications. Even if we order our GCMS notes, which is the only way we can assess what is happening with our cases, we have to wait at least a month for the request to be fulfilled.
We know the government is already aware of the stress that this process has on families, and we are sure the government is aware of the danger a lot of our families are in simply because they are married to a Canadian. We acknowledge the improvement in the process so far. We are urging that steps continue to be taken to improve the transparency and fairness of this process and to try to close the gap between processing times of offices in developing countries compared to developed countries, where citizens are safer and freer to be with their spouses during the process
