Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[canuck_in_uk]

So It turns out I over payed. The total amount I paid upfront was $1590.00
I paid 550
''A family member of the principal applicant who is 22 years of age or older, or is less than 22 years of age and is a spouse or common-law partner''
My wife is 21 so I assumed I had to pay..

But your wife IS the principal applicant, not a family member of the principal applicant....

Correct payment:

Sponsorship Application $75
Principal Applicant $475
RPRF $490

Total $1040

 

[Shaunx729]

But your wife IS the principal applicant, not a family member of the principal applicant....

Correct payment:

Sponsorship Application $75
Principal Applicant $475
RPRF $490

Total $1040

Ah I see.. I got thrown off by the spouse/ CL line of text.
All sorted then !

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Better to pay more than less.


Regarding visa-exempt vs. non visa-exempt timelines, there can be slight or significant delays, depending on what particular country the applicant is from.

Some non visa-exempt countries have very poor government records, spotty administration, corruption etc. It is much harder to track down all of the information that CIC requires.

Other non visa-exempt countries have fairly complete government records and a competent administration that is able to produce the necessary information much faster.

 

[Shaunx729]

Yes I am glad I did.

Iceland is a small country so lets hope the problems you mentioned above don't apply!
Thanks for all the feedback

 

[Shaunx729]

So as I track through all the great replies through this forum I U have learnt a great deal. So I am really appreciative of this great collaborative effort.

I see some people contacts MP's and they do so before the standard processing time has lapsed. I am in Vancouver.

How and who do you go about contacting? Obviously everyone waiting wants to know some information. If there is a way to get it I want to capitalize!

Waiting is just agony and I know I probably have a good bit still to do!
Look forward to a reply !

 

[B1007]

Hi,

I'm not too sure about the MP part. But I would defintley send them another case specific enquiry. Is there anything particularly complicated about your case which may be delaying it?

Well back in December they requested some pay slips from my work showing I'm working. In our application we stated I was going to be starting this particular job when I got back to canada but I didn't have any pay slips to prove because I hadn't started working yet.I'm the Canadian citizen. I don't understand why they did this when it states for marriage visa you don't need to show funds to support husband. They stopped for 60 days processing well I got my pay slips and sent to London. They said they would continue after the 60 days. So that must be one of the things delaying our application. My husband the UK citizen back now 12 years ago on his criminal record check he was caught 2 in smoking pot which he doesn't do anymore and also once in his teenage years was involved in a break and enter but nothing major and plus it is now 12 years ago. But really there isn't any red flags or anything and I thought once it reaches 11 years past a criminal activity it erases from your criminal record. Sorry I'm just really stressed out and trying to understand what's going on with our application. Been waiting much too long. I will try as soon as I can to contact my MP I'm thinking and will order the notes this weekend. I'll send another email right away. This is taking too long and it's frustrating when others who have applied months after us receive their permanent residency and nothing happens with ours. Hope some good news comes soon we are badly in need of it right now.

 

[B1007]

Keep the faith. I was losing it but there has finally been some movement today.

You may as well order the notes, we possibly jumped the gun and ordered them a week before it changed today to "In Process", but it's only $5 and may help you in 30 days time if there's still nothing happening. It won't do any harm.

Thanks I will order the notes as soon as I can.

 

[B1007]

I know exactly what you mean by the distance. My husband and I have been apart now for just over 6 months, and it really sucks.

B1007, I insist you contact your MP's office ASAP. I've been in contact with my MP's office when our application was even at 5 or 6 months, and they were more than helpful. Though most of the time the process was slow, we learned things about our application that we would not have known from the call centre or ECAS (like the Bring Forward Date, what stage of review it is currently in, etc).

There is absolutely no harm in trying, and in the worst case scenario, the MP's office will just tell you straight that you must wait until April 10. But in our case, we feel that the MP's contact and emails to CIC triggered some movement, leading to an "In Process" status. If your file is straightforward, there is no reason for a 10 month wait without any good reason. Good luck!!!

Ah yes I feel for you. It's very difficult being so far away for so long not knowing when you will see each other again. Heartbreaking actually. Thanks for this info about an MP I will definitely be contacting mine as soon as I can!

 

[B1007]

Trust me, we've asked ourselves the same question and really got a case of the green-eyed monster when we saw all the files ahead of us going through. Well, it seems like some of it comes down to bad luck as well but we were lucky insofar as we were not requested for additional documents and we tried to be as thorough as possible when we applied.

However, my husband is a non-visa exempt file, and the delay in getting police/security/background checks from his country of birth might have had something to do with the processing time (there was a corrupt/violent election going on, with government offices closed for a month in between).

Additionally, I feel that I can safely attribute some of it to the strikes at the London VO from ~July to September, as well as the fact that we applied in June (which obviously meant that December holidays got in the way -- which, mind you, actually does slow down a lot of processing). If I'm not mistaken, June is also the period when CIC fills in new hires, and there is some employee turnover, which leads to less efficiency. June really does happen to be the worst time to apply!

Overall, I believe that though we're a rather straightforward case (young couple, no kids, no military past, etc), the additional 2-3 months of processing time can possibly be attributed to poor communication between countries, the strike, and the extra holidays in between. All of this was made much harder on us because I've been here (and haven't been able to visit him because I'm a student with financial constraints). Hope that helps!

I feel for you and know what it's like to have financial constraints and being a student. In our case my husband is visa exempt born in the UK. Sending good luck vibes your way !

 

[Heppster]

My application has been 'in process' since 21 August 13, not 10 September 13. So slower progress than shown on the spreadsheet. My guess is that my slow progress is because I am an oldie and ex-military: so more to investigate. That is only a guess.

I noticed that this still has not been updated!

 

[Becki567]

I noticed that this still has not been updated!

Done

 

[taffy7]

Well back in December they requested some pay slips from my work showing I'm working. In our application we stated I was going to be starting this particular job when I got back to canada but I didn't have any pay slips to prove because I hadn't started working yet.I'm the Canadian citizen. I don't understand why they did this when it states for marriage visa you don't need to show funds to support husband. They stopped for 60 days processing well I got my pay slips and sent to London. They said they would continue after the 60 days. So that must be one of the things delaying our application. My husband the UK citizen back now 12 years ago on his criminal record check he was caught 2 in smoking pot which he doesn't do anymore and also once in his teenage years was involved in a break and enter but nothing major and plus it is now 12 years ago. But really there isn't any red flags or anything and I thought once it reaches 11 years past a criminal activity it erases from your criminal record. Sorry I'm just really stressed out and trying to understand what's going on with our application. Been waiting much too long. I will try as soon as I can to contact my MP I'm thinking and will order the notes this weekend. I'll send another email right away. This is taking too long and it's frustrating when others who have applied months after us receive their permanent residency and nothing happens with ours. Hope some good news comes soon we are badly in need of it right now.

Unfortunately your record in the U.k stays with you until you're 100 years old .They can go back to any age.

 

[wowsers]

Unfortunately your record in the U.k stays with you until you're 100 years old .They can go back to any age.

This is not absolutely correct. Under the UK's Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment Act 2012 sentences of 4 years imprisonment or less do not have to be disclosed by the offender (with some exceptions) after a lapse of time which varies according to a sliding scale. This statute reduces the period of 10 years which was the timescale under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. So far as I am aware the 2012 Act came into force on 10 March 2014 (ie last week). Google <<Rehabilitation of Offenders Act changes>> if you need more info. The Nacro site provides an informative guide comparing the new and old periods of rehabilitation. I have no idea how this impacts on Canadian immigration: my knowledge of criminal procedure is sketchy and I have no personal experience of the rules!

 

[Graihn]

Hi. Quick question.
We have got SA and file is sent to London abt a month ago.
After that, I moved to Sweden, and in a month my sponsor is moving within Canada (same city).
Does my sponsor need to update the mailing address (got SA)?

Where do I and how do I update my address? Email, mail, ?

 

[zardoz]

The issue really only arises when the UK PCC is applied for. There are basically three different responses that affect Canadian immigration.

1) NO TRACE = You've been good and never crossed the path of the PNC.
2) NO LIVE TRACE = You haven't been good but the PNC has "expired" information about you.
3) "ANYTHING ELSE" = Your current criminal status...

In the case of 1), CIC just mark you up as clean.
In 2), they know that there is something that you have to declare to them. they just don't know what it is yet...
For 3) however, your dirty washing is there for them to see. You still have to declare it but at least you know that...
Here's an example of 3) http://hub.unlock.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/police.pdf