Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[tigerpika]

sorry, that should be 'four hours' not 'fours'

 

[Dayanara]

My husband and I are the same, I am near Toronto and he is in Buffalo, I go visit him at least once to twice a month and he does the same for coming here. I will say that 80-90% of the crossings are rather painless, you get the occasional guard that asks a dozen questions, but as long as you are honest, no worries.

 

[ljane79]

Yes, FBI has been a headache for many people on the forum unfortunately. Order one to submit as soon as possible. I'd also recommend ordering an additional set (with a separate set of prints) around the same time. This way if one set of prints comes back as unreadable hopefully the other set will be ok.

I agree, send EVERYTHING together. It may save you a lot of time and headache.

 

[Cherlyn]

I still didn't hear back from Ottawa about my medical. I sent them 2 faxes to both phone numbers what I saw over here. Is more than a week since I sent the first one.
Do you know any phone # where I can talk with them directly??????
I have the feeling this is holding up my case.

 

[kerianne]

CONGRATS GIGGLES! So Happy for you!

I am in BC! Wooo. Here to 'visit' until my paperwork finishes up...whenever that will be

Border at Sumas was pretty painless too. Now, to enjoy my life a little bit, and not miss my hubby so much. Let's keep hoping for speedy processing!! Woo! Good luck to you all, (and me ugh, I still have to wait!! grrrr!)

 

[Stumpedmom]

So long as you have a home and a job to return back to, visits should be fine, even long visits, but they might want to see proof that you are applying for PR. The fee receipt is key to this, but copies of other paperwork might be useful. Frequent visits (say, weekly, or even more often) might annoy the border people if they start to expect that a non-Canadian is spending more time in Canada than outside Canada.

If we dont have the fees paid before he comes to visit, is it going to be a hassle. Its not like we can visit all the time. He lives in Arizona and I am in Ontario. We are hoping to get his medical done and pay for and file all the paperwork while he is here too. We have been collecting everything along the way, and have all the paperwork in order.

By Paying all the fees does that mean the PR fees as well??? We are going to have the money to have the medical done here and file the application fees for sure, but I have had to take a medical leave for atleast a month, so the extra right off the hop is going to be hard. Not only am I having to deal with immigration, but now employment insurace...ugh!!!!

 

[Cherlyn]

If we dont have the fees paid before he comes to visit, is it going to be a hassle. Its not like we can visit all the time. He lives in Arizona and I am in Ontario. We are hoping to get his medical done and pay for and file all the paperwork while he is here too. We have been collecting everything along the way, and have all the paperwork in order.

By Paying all the fees does that mean the PR fees as well??? We are going to have the money to have the medical done here and file the application fees for sure, but I have had to take a medical leave for atleast a month, so the extra right off the hop is going to be hard. Not only am I having to deal with immigration, but now employment insurace...ugh!!!!

I don’t know what others will suggest but my personal opinion is:
Submit the file as soon as you can. The forms and whoever is the sponsor ( to pass the first part in Mississauga around 4 -6 weeks) after (when you get the file # )that when your file is transferred to Buffalo and you will get the stickers file the rest. Try to collect till that time (FBI, Medical, RFPF).
I submitted the RFPF later on.

 

[fafi]

hey guys! i'm a new member just joining in on the fun here. i'm currently living with my common law partner in ontario. just got my AOR today! i hope to have PR by christmas. santa couldn't possibly bring anything better!

 

[BeShoo]

By Paying all the fees does that mean the PR fees as well???

If it's a very short visit, it might be okay, but when my partner tried to come for 6 months, the IO at the border kept saying, "Where is your fee receipt?" She finally let him stay for 3 months, even without it, because it kind of looked like we were going through proper channels because we had a stack of forms. There is no need to pay the $490 RPRF, but the $75 sponsorship fee and the $475 (so, total $550) must be paid before they will even look at your forms.

If he's not going to come for more than a few days or a week, I wouldn't even mention the PR application unless they ask, but he had to be honest that you two are a couple and not just distant friends. They hate evasiveness.

 

[journeyman]

I don't know what others will suggest but my personal opinion is:
Submit the file as soon as you can. The forms and whoever is the sponsor ( to pass the first part in Mississauga around 4 -6 weeks) after (when you get the file # )that when your file is transferred to Buffalo and you will get the stickers file the rest. Try to collect till that time (FBI, Medical, RFPF).
I submitted the RFPF later on.

I just wanted to stress, as some other members have recently, that sending in a complete application, including medicals, FBI clearances (and possibly state clearances for each state he has lived in for more than 1 year since age 18), and all the fees can help to speed up the process. Most of us who have gone through the process fairly quickly have stressed this point. Missing documentation can cause your file to be put in a bring forward queue and not looked at until the next bring forward date is, even if you submit it before the date they next look at it.

 

[USA2BCCANADA]

Kind of off topic but I called the consulate in Seattle (amazingly I have the direct office number to one of the workers there, I have no idea how I got so lucky) to inquire about my son's citizenship card (he is dual us/canadian) since I have yet to hear ANYTHING and I want to try to have his card before my PR processes. Normally it can take up to 10 months to get his citizenship card and my PR started processing on Sept 1st so most likely mine will finish first. Well, the sweet gal told me she would put a RUSH on it and sure enough, I checked on ECAS and his file started processing that day! She was not kidding

I only share this cause don't we all wish we could just put in a call and they could RUSH our PR file. We can all wish, right?

Have a great weekend everyone and let's all hope for a productive week ahead.

-Laura

 

[SaugaBoss]

so annoyed at this whole processssssssssssss going to Canada on friday and no sign of a PPR sucks being in canada and waiting it outtttttttt i didnt even change my address to my canadian one because i dont want mail to be lost hate this immigration process no news since my freakin AOR almost 2 months

 

[heatherusa]

so annoyed at this whole processssssssssssss going to Canada on friday and no sign of a PPR sucks being in canada and waiting it outtttttttt i didnt even change my address to my canadian one because i dont want mail to be lost hate this immigration process no news since my freakin AOR almost 2 months

Same for us

 

[SaugaBoss]

Same for us

u havent recvd any update after aOR either? this is unfair... i dont get y some are faster than others iwish they gave us a time like ok 2 months left so i would prepare better than assuming

 

[canadausa]

Update for my case to sponsor my US husband:

Application rec'd in Mississauga - April 22, 2010
Sponsorship approved - letter sent May 28, 2010
File sent to Buffalo, they started processing the case July 12, 2010
Received letter saying medicals had been received, interview waived, requested FBI clearance (I had sent without them) - August 12, 2010. Immediately fedexed FBI clearance (rec'd in Buffalor August 16,2010)

Today (September 20, 2010), I received an email requesting his passport and 3 photographs. So we're almost done!

Question: are these photographs different from the ones I sent in with his application? I thought we were done with photographs...does anyone know?