Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[SchnookoLoly]

Keeping my fingers crossed mine gets sent to Ottawa not London. There's been a few applications from sent to DM in less than 2 months, compared to 11 months for London. I wonder if more UK applicants will start getting sent to Ottawa to help clear the delays in London.

Honestly, it seems to have come in swings and roundabouts, depending on the backlog. When London first started helping with the overflow from Islamabad, nearly no applications were going to London, but then London started to pick up more. It seems to come in waves. No one has ever really been able to peg down any rhyme or reason to which apps go to Ottawa and which ones go to London. Fingers crossed and go from there. (When Mississauga was taking apps as well, some of those were being processed and approved in just one month! Check out some of the times on the 2014 tab!)

 

[goneforgood]

Sorry, got sidetracked there. We are in south Devon.

 

[croydonexpat]

Honestly, it seems to have come in swings and roundabouts, depending on the backlog. When London first started helping with the overflow from Islamabad, nearly no applications were going to London, but then London started to pick up more. It seems to come in waves. No one has ever really been able to peg down any rhyme or reason to which apps go to Ottawa and which ones go to London. Fingers crossed and go from there. (When Mississauga was taking apps as well, some of those were being processed and approved in just one month! Check out some of the times on the 2014 tab!)

All i can say is come the FLUCK on London... Yes i understand that you have lots and lots of Apps but come on............ We submitted on the 28th September meds done upfront all fees paid for etc. SA on 12th December and nothing not a bean of communcation since. It is very very very frustrating....

I thought that we would be a very standard straight forward case, Married no police record at all no children all very very standard stuff but nothing... Just wondering if it is worth ordering our notes at all???? Have other people ordered their notes???? I guess thr problem is that all the notes will show is that London has done nothing at all with our application since they received it on the 12th of December..... Once again COME THE FLUCK ON LONDON

 

[Kingsby]

All i can say is come the FLUCK on London... Yes i understand that you have lots and lots of Apps but come on............ We submitted on the 28th September meds done upfront all fees paid for etc. SA on 12th December and nothing not a bean of communcation since. It is very very very frustrating....

I thought that we would be a very standard straight forward case, Married no police record at all no children all very very standard stuff but nothing... Just wondering if it is worth ordering our notes at all???? Have other people ordered their notes???? I guess thr problem is that all the notes will show is that London has done nothing at all with our application since they received it on the 12th of December..... Once again COME THE FLUCK ON LONDON

I really wouldn't order your notes, they are working on things, as a number of us have been asked for extra documents etc. Just because you haven't is not a bad sign! you applied all of about 10 days before me, I know its frustrating but its been 6.5 months, not 16.5! ordering notes seems in my mind an exercise in futility. I really don't believe by ordering said notes, that its going to make them think ah yes better move faster on yours over the 10000 they've received since January. If anything it might be unfavourable, but thats my take.

 

[croydonexpat]

I really wouldn't order your notes, they are working on things, as a number of us have been asked for extra documents etc. Just because you haven't is not a bad sign! you applied all of about 10 days before me, I know its frustrating but its been 6.5 months, not 16.5! ordering notes seems in my mind an exercise in futility. I really don't believe by ordering said notes, that its going to make them think ah yes better move faster on yours over the 10000 they've received since January. If anything it might be unfavourable, but thats my take.

Kingsby so have you had some comms then from London? Has anyone else in the August sept october crew had any requests for further info or Passport photos?

If we submitted passport photos etc will the application will London all ways request more or will some people simply see DM on Ecas with no further communication???

 

[Kingsby]

Kingsby so have you had some comms then from London? Has anyone else in the August sept october crew had any requests for further info or Passport photos?

If we submitted passport photos etc will the application will London all ways request more or will some people simply see DM on Ecas with no further communication???

Because I'm applying to Quebec the LVO asked for my CSQ that Quebec had issued. As for Ecas, do not get too caught up on that, My wife who is the sponsor has had both Federal level approval and Quebec Gov approval and it is still saying "In Process". I have also had Documents requested which has not shown up on the "Applicant - In Process" side as an additional line. Its becoming apparent, as lots of others who were using this as gospel, that this isn't very reliable. You will likely here something in the next several weeks as that puts you more in the realistic LVO processing times between 6.5 and 9.5 months. If you got the Passport photo sizing right the first time, it is unlikely they will ask for more.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Sorry, got sidetracked there. We are in south Devon.

Cool, added!

Kingsby so have you had some comms then from London? Has anyone else in the August sept october crew had any requests for further info or Passport photos?

If we submitted passport photos etc will the application will London all ways request more or will some people simply see DM on Ecas with no further communication???

ECAS is notoriously unreliable. Read this - http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ#All_About_eCAS

As for photos, they in theory shouldn't request new ones, but sometimes if an application has taken longer then they may request updated photos. Or sometimes they request it on shorter apps. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason for asking for new photos. You may or may not get the request. Same with the copy of passport request. Some people are asked for a new passport copy, others just go straight to receiving COPR.

As for the question about notes, I'm with the other poster, don't bother asking for notes until you're above the average. 6.5 months is WAYYYYYY too soon to start stressing about things. Once you get to about 10-11 months then order notes and see from there. London's average in the past 20 applications is sitting at 11 months. Given more apps recently have gone to Ottawa, I suspect that London is having some kind of volume issue, either an influx of applications from elsewhere, other streams, manpower shortage, something of that nature. But that is only a guess based on what I've seen around these boards in ~5 years of posting. Who knows the actual reason. All you can do is sit tight. (Easier said than done, I get that...)

 

[PeterJ251]

Kingsby so have you had some comms then from London? Has anyone else in the August sept october crew had any requests for further info or Passport photos?

If we submitted passport photos etc will the application will London all ways request more or will some people simply see DM on Ecas with no further communication???

I had communication from LVO 2 days ago asking for another set of passport photos & my application went to LVO on Dec. 29, 2015

 

[Jonesy319]

COPR ARRIVED AT LAST!!

From December 9th 2014, to April 29th 2016 - it's been a long journey and finally my partner received his COPR in the mail.

We've been living in Canada since August 2015, we'll be presenting at a border later this month - good excuse for a road trip - then finally he can look for work.

The spreadsheet can be updated and I'd guess we are one of the last from this timeframe.

Jonesy

 

[SchnookoLoly]

COPR ARRIVED AT LAST!!

From December 9th 2014, to April 29th 2016 - it's been a long journey and finally my partner received his COPR in the mail.

We've been living in Canada since August 2015, we'll be presenting at a border later this month - good excuse for a road trip - then finally he can look for work.

The spreadsheet can be updated and I'd guess we are one of the last from this timeframe.

Jonesy

If it makes you feel better, there are 4 others who applied before you in 2014 still waiting!

Glad it's all done and dusted! The BRitish Expats wiki has an article on landing that would be useful to read through, but if you're already in Canada it should be pretty straight forward.

All the best and congrats! All updated!

 

[pete_sk]

This reassures me a bit - thank you! So they didn't give you a grilling at secondary? I was under the impression they really don't like it when you enter with just a COPR by air.

I landed at the end of March and was told I would need to send new photos so I preemptively sent them a new set. I'm hoping my PR card arrives before my trip (29th July) as I won't be in the UK long enough to get a PRTD.

Currently debating booking flights now and hoping for the best or holding out until the card arrives and hoping they don't increase in price too much!

No grilling at all - they just check you COPR against your passport and their system to confirm you are who you say you are and that you are telling the truth.

I don't even take my actual COPR - I just have a scanned copy on my phone.

I think the main issue was with airlines rather than the Canadian border itself - if you're turned round they have to get you back somewhere. But they essentially delayed that until the fall, so it shouldn't be a problem. Best to check with your airline though.

For what it's worth, I've been out the country twice more since I posted my original post about this, and on each time had no hassle whatsoever.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

No grilling at all - they just check you COPR against your passport and their system to confirm you are who you say you are and that you are telling the truth.

I don't even take my actual COPR - I just have a scanned copy on my phone.

I think the main issue was with airlines rather than the Canadian border itself - if you're turned round they have to get you back somewhere. But they essentially delayed that until the fall, so it shouldn't be a problem. Best to check with your airline though.

For what it's worth, I've been out the country twice more since I posted my original post about this, and on each time had no hassle whatsoever.

I would not for a second recommend going with only a scan of your COPR when you go to land, pete_sk I think you got lucky there. Go with the actual COPR document. The airline MIGHT give you a hard time boarding though as you aren't actually a PR yet, but I'd imagine that should be ok... but I don't know for certain.

Once you're landed you're fine to travel with just your paperwork until they start enforcing the eTA later this year. Once the eTA is in full force you'll need a PRTD to travel without your PR card.

 

[Telia]

It says right in what you pasted that the photographer can either use a stamp or hand-write the information. They CANNOT use a sticker. As long as it's handwritten and includes all the requested information it's fine.

Congrats!

Yes, you can send the passport using any service - it's suggested you use a registered carrier so that you can track the passport and make sure it arrives!

Thank you schnookololy .. I received PPR in 25 apr.
so I'm going to send my passport with DHL .

 

[Jonesy319]

If it makes you feel better, there are 4 others who applied before you in 2014 still waiting!

Glad it's all done and dusted! The BRitish Expats wiki has an article on landing that would be useful to read through, but if you're already in Canada it should be pretty straight forward.

All the best and congrats! All updated!

Thanks SchnookoLoly,
actually it makes me sad there are still people waiting from 2014, I hoped we'd be the last. We were lucky enough to come back last year - not sure if the others are in as fortunate circumstances, I hope so. It's a long process and seemingly random as to how long someone's takes - all the luck of whomever picks up your application I guess.

It probably didn't help my partner's because we didn't realise - or simply the information didn't resonate with us - that he'd need police certificates from the US and Israel because he'd spent time there in the 1980's. If we'd done the certificates at the time of application I think he'd have received his PR months ago.

I've already looked at the article on the other forum - it's very informative. We'll be doing a land crossing, middle of May - after a holiday in Myrtle Beach!

Thanks for all of your help too - it's been very much appreciated. We could not have done the application without the help of wonderful people like you and sites like this.

Cheers to all and I hope the remaining people from 2014 get theirs soon too.

Jonesy

 

[Shadowsun]

Hello everyone,

I have just recently sent off my application to sponsor my husband to the Mississauga CIC office. Just wondering how long it usually takes them to tell us the application was received, and how they will contact us (e.g. letter in the mail or e-mail).

Thanks!