Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[Kedeisha]

Finally some good news!! Wife just got a Request for RPRF so I paid right away online. It says not to mail it to CPC-M if I've paid online, but should I let Mississauga/Buffalo know that it's been paid?

You need to mail to to cpc-m

the not to mail part is if u were doing an online application where u sibmit it online ie visitor extension

so u most def need to mail cpc-m and probably BUF a copy of receipt so they update your file I would say send them both a copy as its just a matter of printing 3 copies 1 for u, cpc-m and Buf

Please see below:

RPRF payments or other correspondence:
CPC Mississauga
P.O. Box 6100, Station A
Mississauga, ON
L5A 4H4

 

[ahassa5]

You need to mail to to cpc-m

the not to mail part is if u were doing an online application where u sibmit it online ie visitor extension

so u most def need to mail cpc-m and probably BUF a copy of receipt so they update your file

Thanks. Thought as much, seeing as there's nothing tying the receipt to her app.

 

[Bargeld]

Ok. I got it now. I've emailed Buffalo a few days ago, but I had no Client ID to give them at that time. It didn't even occur to me to email Buffalo using my receipt number, though. OTOH, I'm a bit weary of emailing them again though as I don't wish to make someone upset at me.

I have checked my application status using my receipt number with e-CAS, and yep, it's still sitting in a pile in Buffalo, waiting to be touched.

As for the last part, actually, the visitor record has made crossing into Canada to visit my wife considerably easier. (it even says on my visitor record that I've applied for my PR) Back when my wife and I were still dating, I had more questions asked of me when crossing, and they advised me to bring with me a copy of my lease, and some rent receipts, bills, etc.... so that I can prove I had ties back to the US. I'm still collecting them just in case they want to ask, but at this point, they just ask if I'm bringing in alcohol or tobacco, and that's largely it. (though last time I came in, the border agent asked all the standard questions)

I have read here and there on this forum, where some people that got visitor records were looked at with more scrutiny, and even to the point where they might get three months, rather than six or 12 months. However, I guess it has to deal with the circumstances of how they got it, who they are, where they're from, etc.... instead of the fact that they've got it.

About visitor record... I just recently got mine after staying 5.5 months in Canada as a visitor with PR in process (file is currently in Buffalo following sponsorship approval a few months back), going to Fort Erie Peace Bridge entry (circled around before getting to the bridge to the U.S. heading outward on QEW), for 12 additional months, expiring mid September 2012.

One small paragraph background as to why I went to Peace Bridge. I did this after initially intending to file inland for a visitor extension but I lacked the proof of a passport stamp and at the border they would not give such proof unless I knew to ask at my first entry (they told me they don't stamp U.S. passports that often, and indeed mine was not stamped), the lack of such evidence would have been a denial of visitor extension lacking one of the fundamental pieces required for that application which is a passport stamp or equivalent showing official date of entry. So I talked to an officer on the phone, told him my situation, asked what he would recommend. He told me if I presented him with everything I told him I had, he would easily give me a 12 month visitor record and told me to reference his name and the date/time I talked to him. True enough, when I referenced him when inside at the border, he happened to be working (made sure to go around the same time I called previously), was brought inside, and suggested to a coworker who was doing the paper/computer work for a 12 month visitor record.

Now, as for the visitor record, I was informed that for a visitor record people are looked at with more scrutiny, at least, to get the visitor record itself, because, as I was told by two officers in the building, it allows re-entry with few to no questions asked after I mentioned the issue of if I would have to go through this same process again if I were to fly to Georgia to visit my dying great grandmother that I haven't seen in two decades nearly, when re-entering Canada. I was also informed that they don't hand out visitor records to people, say, visiting their boyfriends/girlfriends/friends, or just for leisure. They outright said we were given a visitor record so readily because we had a PR in process, I followed the rules, and showed proof of support to stay for that length, though they visibly looked at the sponsorship approval letter pretty much exclusively and not the guarantor's letter+receipts of money transfers from parents abroad, and my wife was there with me, visibly 9 months pregnant, to which they repeatedly pointed out that they aren't in the business of breaking up families.

Dealing with them was far easier and far more reasonable than my own border patrol in the U.S. In contrast, helping a friend out with his sponsoring of a foreign wife to the U.S., if someone intends to sponsor a spouse or fiance(e) to the U.S., and their version of an "outland" PR app that would allow permanent re-entry, while the app is in process, if the sponsored person (i.e. applicant) tries to enter with it in process it's almost always an instant denial as they (DHS/DOS) think of it as an intent to live in the states. Completely different logic between neighbouring countries.

 

[ddobro2]

Congrats, Trish1982 and ahassa5. Any PPRs today???

 

[ddobro2]

Yeah, that's pretty interesting. Even if the person is Canadian and shows significant proof of ties to Canada?

In contrast, helping a friend out with his sponsoring of a foreign wife to the U.S., if someone intends to sponsor a spouse or fiance(e) to the U.S., and their version of an "outland" PR app that would allow permanent re-entry, while the app is in process, if the sponsored person (i.e. applicant) tries to enter with it in process it's almost always an instant denial as they (DHS/DOS) think of it as an intent to live in the states. Completely different logic between neighbouring countries.

 

[Calgary-Bound]

Got an ecas tracker update this morning that medicals have been recieved.But I got that same update back on Sept 6th so I got excited for nothing lol.

 

[francohoosier]

small and redundant e-cas update last night, but my husband's account now shows "In Process" as the official status of my PR case, where as before it had just said "Application received" and then "We started processing your application on..." when you clicked on that.

Now if only we could get some PPR lovin'! 8)

 

[ddobro2]

Canada should tap into U.S. labour pool: Kenney

The Canadian Press

Date: Friday Sep. 16, 2011 6:41 PM ET

CALGARY — Ottawa is mulling ways to tap into the U.S. labour force as worker shortages loom on our side of the border, the federal immigration minister said Friday.

"We're at a preliminary point of examining ways that we could do a better job of accessing unemployed American labour," Jason Kenney told a business audience in Calgary -- a city all-too familiar with worker shortages, especially in the oil and gas sector.

"There are a number of policy things that we're considering. I don't want to go into too much detail...We think, particularly in the energy industry, that may be a significant solution to some of the emerging labour market shortages."

The U.S. unemployment rate was just over nine per cent in August, whereas in Alberta -- where a renewal in oilsands development may soon lead to another bout of labour tightness -- the unemployment rate was only 5.6 per cent.

There are "a lot of skilled tradespeople in the U.S. who could walk straight into productive jobs here. We should see if there's something we can do in the rules to facilitate having those unemployed Americans contribute to our economy," Kenney said.

There are provisions under the North American Free Trade Agreement that enable workers to move easily between countries. But the number of those visas granted each year is capped, and only apply to certain types of occupations, Kenney said.

"It's a very good model, but it's very limited," Kenney said.

"We, as a government, have begun thinking about how we could perhaps expand that model."

Kenney also announced Friday that consultations are set to take place in Calgary next month on the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program, which he admits has been "maligned and misunderstood" by its critics.

The program enables companies to bring workers to Canada from around the world on a temporary basis, so long as they can prove they can't get the labour closer to home.

Some 185,000 such workers came to Canada last year, 58,000 of whom ended up in Alberta. Critics of the program argue workers who come to Canada under the program are often exploited.

In his remarks to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Kenney took aim at those accusations.

"They paint this picture of some sort of Industrial Revolution sweatshop or something that these people are coming to. Let me say, that most of the critiques of the Temporary Foreign Worker program are ridiculous, unfounded," Kenney said.

"When I meet temporary workers across Alberta, they say to me that they're able to earn in this province in a couple of days what it would take them a month to earn back in their country of origin. And that, for them, represents over a year or two a life savings to start a new business, to build a new home."

 

[davidgarcin]

Just got an ECAS update!!!

"We started processing <my wife>'s application on September 20, 2011."

Her ECAS shows IN PROCESS as well.

Woot movement!!

 

[Calgary-Bound]

Just got an ECAS update!!!

"We started processing <my wife>'s application on September 20, 2011."

Her ECAS shows IN PROCESS as well.

Woot movement!!

Congrats on the good news.

 

[Calgary-Bound]

small and redundant e-cas update last night, but my husband's account now shows "In Process" as the official status of my PR case, where as before it had just said "Application received" and then "We started processing your application on..." when you clicked on that.

Now if only we could get some PPR lovin'! 8)

Congrats francohoosier.Your comeing from Indy wright.Im comeing out of St.Louis.

 

[seattlegirl]

Congrats! I got the same eCAS update at 4:30 this morning.. Ive never been so happy to wake up that early! Strange that ours both went "in process" on the 20th but we weren't notified until the 23rd... Oh well I'll take it!

Keep me updated if you hear more hopefully we'll be on the same timeline!

 

[seattlegirl]

Hmm wait a minute.. I see both the other "in process"'s from today were file transfers... I'm still in Buffalo, I'm curious to see who gets PPR first..... Ready, set, go!

 

[Ellan]

How do you sign up for ecas tracker updates? I have log in myself, I never get notifications...

 

[davidgarcin]

How do you sign up for ecas tracker updates? I have log in myself, I never get notifications...

Congrats!

Here's the tracker link: https://ecas.carroll.org.uk/

I'm not transferred from Buffalo, as far as I know, but they could have done it and not told me .